#of Forge and Fire

[dark-e-arts]

"The Furnace"

"Facing a full set of blackened armour, flames burning from within, and going by the moniker of "The Furnace", people often assume they are dealing with some form of construct. A useful misconception when elementals are generally considered resources and genasi mostly unheard of." Another older piece, this one originally from 2021 or so. "The Furnace" is the alias of a fire genasi that I've been playing in an Eberron D&D campaign since early 2021. She was initially designed all the way back in 2019 or 2020 if I recall correctly. Probably the character I've painted the most over the last few years, so I'll likely be posting more art of her in the future.

[cupofcolors]

🫵

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[its-tea-time-darling]

➸ The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) vs. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Look at this. They're holding hands. I want them dead.

[thymbraeusrising]

I think the thing about Spy X Family that I love so much about it is that there IS like suspense and tension, but it's never like…."these two characters are upset at each other and it makes me uncomfortable."

In situations where that kind of deal arises, it's either portrayed in such a goofy and over the top manner that it doesn't come across as disconcerting, OR it's a scenario where WE as the audience are in the know, and we know pretty much everything. And even then, the characters react out of LOVE and CONCERN rather than distrust or fear.

The perfect example of this is when Yor gets wounded and Loid IMMEDIATELY thinks she hates him. What does he do? HE COMES UP WITH EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO DATE IDEAS THAT WILL NOT ONLY MAKE THINGS EASIER ON YOR BUT ALSO WILL SHOW HOW MUCH HE LOVES AND APPRECIATES HER.

And how does Yor react? SHE DOES HER DAMNEDEST TO MAKE LOID HAPPY BY ENGAGING IN HIS CUTE DATE IDEAS. Even though she feels rough and is in pain and is worried about not being grateful enough, she struggles through because she knows how important this all is to LOID.

After so many fucking rom/coms (which, let's be real here, Spy X Family is a fucking rom/com) having miscommunications be poor and lazy excuses for conflict and lies and hurt, Spy X Family is over here using miscommunications for growth and as opportunities for KINDNESS and CARE.

And that's because they trust each other SO DAMN MUCH. I don't think I've seen a media property where conflict is used for positive growth as consistently and with such skill.

The strongest metal must pass through the crucible, but the crucible need not be one of stress and fracture. Let yourself be forged stronger by care, by reassurance, and by love.

[caiusthecat]

Brave Robin🥺❤️

[charmwitch]

Timerra!!

Congrats on being in FEH!!! (again)

[blindbisexualgoose]

That moment when you’ve stayed up until 3 am and just read the most earth shattering, heartbreaking, sob worthy chapter of a fanfic and have to wake up in a few hours and do things and carry on like your entire fucking worldview hasn’t been reshaped by a stranger’s writing about two fictional gay dudes

[thinwhitedoc]

SHERLOCK | Martin Freeman as John Watson

[saintmachina]

As an indiscriminate bisexual I don't really have a "type" persay, but one time my best friend looked me dead in the eye and said "are they actually hot? Or are they just a brunette wearing a vintage costume?" and I don't think I ever really recovered.

[lovegrowsart]

"zk is an awful ship they'd be so horrible and toxic together" zutara is literally baby's first EtL ship who go from enemies to close friends in canon they're one of the most wholesome interations of the trope imaginable but also i want everyone to know i'd still ship it even if it was horrible and toxic <3 because they're 2d moving pixels and not fucking real <3

[the-impossible-bird]

probably spent way too much time on these little copia studies but I just couldn't resist the silly poses

[mochilled]

they wouldn’t stop throwing picks at each other and aether got bitten

just chilling vs [ angry chihuahua noises ]

[r0zzk1ll]

kind of a coincidence that geordi naturally has trouble with women and he was with aquiel that one time but she was never mentioned ever again (GEE I WONDER WHY), and data had a girlfriend but immediately lost her after trying too hard (GEE I W

kind of a coincidence that data hyperfixated on media with two characters that are basically gay for each other and then told geordi "can u be the watson to my sherlock please please please please p" and he went "ok!" and then they cosplay said characters like they AREN'T in a relationship like okaayyy

kind of a coincidence that geordi's the chief engineer and a total nerd and data is the most technologically built lifeform on the enterprise (and also a total nerd), so of course geordi is his doctor, and obviously there's sexual tension bc he's literally playing with his wires like come on

kind of a coincidence that data only really gets visibly nervous/worried whenever geordi is in danger ("i have no emotions mcgee when geordi is in trouble") and geordi is overly aggressive/tense whenever data's off on his own/something happens to him

KIND OF A COINCIDENCE THAT GEORDI'S SO-CALLED WIFE IS NEVER MENTIONED OR EVEN NAMED IN PICARD!!!!!! JUST A THOUGHT TO PUT OUT THERE

what isn't a coincidence though is that they're literally polar opposites in every way and made to be soulmates totally not homoerotic best friends

just look at how they fucking look at each other for example like good god merge your quarters already freaks

[artbyanca]

A young Artemis getting her golden bow from Hephaestus.

[gummmy]

Forge is realizing he may have made a mistake. Plz read paranatural