#queens? Not really. Patriarchy still is the king.

[hoarsedevours]

really what's up with all this righteousness? in my dragon show??? no wayyy! Outdo their atrocities with novel dumbfuckeries and do it in a show stopping way, this is what is all about!!!

this is why i love the greens, they were written to be the villains. One subgroup thinking they are not (alicent lol) and the others reveling in this (aemond probably but i don't know im not serious about this show tbh i only watched this because their white hairs are fascinating 😭) the greens are compelling, they are distinct. I feel like they were written better than most of team black's members. Despite that i am also for team black because they are way sexier (TO ME) the red and black costume motifs, dragons (they are very important in my dragon show ok that's why i watch this shit), fireee, dragon riders, emma d'arcy, EMMA D'ARCY, EMMA D'ARCY my queem 10000X and matt smith sometimes.

Back to one of my points that i feel like team greens were written to be some sort of villains compared to the blacks....i hate that. Please let them be all villains together. I don't like it when the audience back a character just because they're "good"??? Uhmmmm but they're boring? Boooo gtfo with your moral righteousness ! They do not even contribute well to the sexiness of the lore? If they are good, why are they laying their life over a crown? that will eventually wage wars later on? gshshshs

[lemonhemlock]

what are they doiiiing, man

The more I believed I wasn't a book puritist, the more this show is trying to make me one because what are they doing?

Everything is inconsistent from episode to episodo and from season to season, like they're not even trying to make it believable

The only good thing is fr Daemon plot and this does shock me because I wouldn't have believed it before lol

And they're kind of making me feel angry about the green (alicent the most, because what are you doiiing? Not even on a book!alicent point, but from the same shows, she is always something different and it's humiliating really)

Idk, i try to take all with a light heart but... it's still able to make me quite mad

And sorry for all the typos and errors, I'm in a rush dhsjal

i mean it's a really disappointing season

i've said it before in my critiques, we can argue all day about characterisation (maybe some actually see aemond as an emotionless psycho, maybe some actually buy that alicent would sell out her own sons for rhaenyra), but there is little to no buildup for these HUGE changes and they don't even make sense in the context of the story. the greens are so, so emotionally flat and one-note melancholy with stunted dynamics. if they don't give a shit about each other, why and even HOW could the audience? where is the tragedy? ok, you want to make those changes from the books and create completely different versions of these characters: you have to make me believe it, man. you have to put in the work.

but these writers don't even understand the politics of the world they are inhabiting. they're not fixing any plot holes from the books, they're creating more. how the heck is house hightower JUST fine with having TWO members of their family dismissed in quick succession from the small council? who is financing this war? uncle hobert should be writing angry letters to aemond demanding appropriate reparations or else the hightower armies go back to oldtown. if they are not going to advance their own interests further as a house, why are they fighting this pointless war? tyland lannister should have given aemond some lip back for his attitude since house lannister has resources (i.e. armies, ships and gold) that aemond needs. these people have power! we've already seen the riverlords take no shit from daemon and he has a dragon too!

i've said this already to our dear @stannisfactions, so i'm gonna repeat myself here, but if alicent somehow became convinced that aemond was so off the rails he was going to get helaena killed................ there are ways around that that DON'T involve selling out your entire family to rhaenyra (certainly your male relatives, even the ones who didn't do a damn thing to you, like your brother, your uncle, your cousins, YOUR OTHER SON (THE NICE ONE), who are only following YOUR lead at the end of the day, because YOU put aegon on the throne and told them to mobilize forces and declare for him and now rhaenyra will see them all as traitors.

has everyone forgotten how to stage a castle coup? i know vhagar is big and scary, but she's parked way outside KL and aemond is just one man who was NOT shown to hustle for his own connections and personal network of friends. smack him in the damn head and throw his ass in jail!! tell everyone else the now-conscious KING aegon told you to! alicent was ruling queen for many years, it makes no sense for her not to have her own resources and courtiers who could help her do this.

can you imagine joffrey baratheon, surrounded by lannister guards loyal to and paid by tywin lannister, whose war is financed by the lannisters, dismissing tywin or cersei (or even tyrion) from his small council? are you laughing yet? why doesn't alicent have her own private army of hightower guards loyal to HER? unless you want (and need) her to be the stupidest person alive so that you can write your rhaenicent fanfic 🤌

they want to humiliate alicent so much to „punish” her for ~choosing the patriarchy~ instead of her bff rhaenyra and girl power. it's such an overdone storyline. other shows, books, media have done it to death, why is it in my dragon show, too? she can't have been a competent regent for viserys and not know how to do these things or not have acquired the resources to do them if necessary. how can she be both competent and incompetent when the plot requires it? it's giving wanting to still have the cake after eating it and throwing it into outer space

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

"Yet you toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, and your son. You desire not to be free but to make a window in the wall of your prison."

Episodes 9

What's your opinion on the speech?

Rhaenys' speech here is a bit silly. What woman doesn't "toil in service to men" in this world? Medieval women were not even allowed to own property or sign contracts. Part of this show's problem is that some of the writers seem to be under the impression that Westeros is undergoing a feminist movement and Alicent is "team patriarchy" while Rhaenyra is "team feminism," as if Rhaenyra's own "right" to rule doesn't derive specifically from a man, her father, granting her that right, as if that same man couldn't snatch it from her on a whim. She has to toil in service to her own father, and even if she becomes queen, she will find herself surrounded by and beholden to men who will very quickly remove their support if she does not dance to their tune, and in fact we see this in the Dance, where Rhaenyra has terrible advisors but she's not really able to remove them because she can't risk them going over to the other side. And when she does attempt to assert herself against them, this is precisely what they do.

I think many people don't understand that the idea of women as an oppressed group, with solidarity across class lines, religious lines, and ethnic lines, that is, intersectional feminism, is extremely modern. Rhaenys cannot separate herself from her class interests, she lacks even the most basic framework necessary to do so. She might see her sex as a prison, but her greater allegiance would be to the Targaryen royalty that she was born into. Breaking free from the prison of patriarchy would mean also being metaphorically exiled from her own royal privilege. When it came to the council of 101, Rhaenys did not risk alienating herself from her grandfather the king in order to assert her right to the throne, instead she put forward her son Laenor as an alternative. In her marriage with Lord Corlys, she deferred to him rather than risk her status as Lady of Driftmark. Rhaenys did not pit herself against the might of the patriarchy because it would mean pitting herself against the might of the monarchy itself.

This isn't a criticism of Rhaenys. She only did what most women in her position would have done. She did not have what Rhaenyra had, the mandate of a king who had thrown the might of the monarchy behind her cause, declaring her an exception. Viserys did not sign a decree asserting absolute primogeniture because he could not pit the monarchy against the patriarchy when the monarchy itself relied on the patriarchy to uphold it. And in our world, knowing that monarchy and patriarchy waled hand in hand, many medieval/early modern queens regnant very much avoided overly associating themselves with womenhood, instead leaning into the rhetoric that they were female in body, but male in spirit. They believed that as exceptional women, they might claim a sort of honorary male status. Think of Elizabeth I's speech to the troops at Tilbury as they prepared to face the Spanish Armada, when she said:

"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too..."

Notice how she concedes the point about her "weak and feeble" woman's body? She then goes on to say that she has the heart and stomach not of a man, but of a king, aligning herself not only with manhood, but with royalty, which is the source of her exceptional status. And this is echoed in the idea of Rhaenyra seeing herself as an exception, when Lord Corlys reminds her that if she allows women to inherit the seats of Stokeworth and Rosby, she may lose the support of lords who took her side. They were siding not with a woman because they believed in smashing the patriarchy, but rather they were siding with monarchy, believing Rhaenyra had the mandate of the old king. However that mandate could be revoked if Rhaenyra were to turn against the patriarchy and attempt to divorce it from the monarchy.

So the ironic thing is, Rhaenyra is doing very nearly the same thing Rhaenys is accusing Alicent of doing, except if womanhood is a prison, then perhaps rather than building a window in the prison, Rhaenyra has secured parole for good behavior. She could be put back into the prison at any time and is keenly aware of that. The prison of patriarchy, after all, still exists within the walled confines of feudal monarchy, and neither Rhaenys nor Rhaenyra are attempting to climb those walls.

[eternalsa2z]

Counter-Culture / Fight the Man

My boyfriend and I were always different. I was a tatted-up doll who broke the mold of pretty, pink, plastic trophy wives. A rockstar, counter-culture queen who needed an equal anti-establishment king. In many ways Rocky was the perfect fit. A punk metalhead who loved guy-liner and was secure enough in his masculinity to wear pink. We bonded over being different and unique.

However the longer we were together, the more my thinking changed. Could we really be alternative icons if we were presenting the same styles? Did our shared nonconformist looks actually make us standard and boring?

I couldn't stand the thought of being a poser. So I talked with Rocky about it. We agreed that it didn't make sense for me to become a cookie-cutter bimbo trophy doll - even in an ironic sense it was too traditionalist. But if my bf rocked an alternative look, became the very thing society said he was supposed to be attracted to, then that would be the biggest middle finger to norms. Fighting the man by fighting his own manhood.

A few months later and I'll admit, my 'girlfriend' really went deep into the role. Plastic tits, fake platinum blonde extensions, doll-like makeup and filler so no one would recognize the old Rocky. The mental training was amazing - sometimes I wondered if 'Diamond' really still believed in our cause with the way she babbled and giggled about inane material things. She fought the man and her inner feminine Barbie doll won.

Our relationship sure has changed. I now wear the pants, at least compared to the skimpy slit dresses that Diamond wears. I have to do most of the thinking for both of us when Rocky used to be such a smart alternative thinker. But as I see the two of us together, I realize we are perfect. Because nothing says 'fuck you' to the standard heteronormative patriarchy like a female-led relationship with a trans lesbian barbie doll wife. Or as my girlfriend likes to say - 'It's, like, totes metal!'

[drakaripykiros130ac]

Fact: Rhaenyra had the strength to confront the patriarchy and Alicent hated her for it

Westeros has been a misogynistic Realm for hundreds of years and that doesn’t really change in the ASOIAF universe. However, women with certain privileges still have the opportunity to make something out of their lives. Some women choose to show strength and rise above the restrictions imposed on them by men, and others choose to remain meek and follow them obediently. These two types of women are perfectly represented by Rhaenyra and Alicent.

Neither one of these two choices are fully right or fully wrong. It depends on how you look at it. And this is not a simple classification of rebel and obedient women. However, what I find important is that once a decision is made, you stick to it without protest. That is exactly what Rhaenyra did…and exactly what Alicent did not do!

I am beyond tired of Alicent being victimized by her stans.

We have heard the story of her youth one too many times. Her father forced her bla bla bla. She didn’t want this bla bla bla.

Rhaenyra suffered a lot in her youth as well. More so than Alicent. I don’t hear people talking about how the burden of the crown Rhaenyra didn’t initially want was put on her shoulders, how she had to lose her mother because her father pushed her to have a son, how she was constantly undermined by men during Council meetings although she had been named heir, how certain men were whispering and plotting behind her back to support her half-brother, how she was humiliated when her father had secretly been seeing her handmaid behind her back and then spontaneously announced their engagement, or how her so-called best friend didn’t even have the decency to tell her beforehand that she was sneaking into her father’s chambers. And let’s not forget about how she was forced to marry a gay man, and at the same time, forced to produce heirs.

No. All I hear is poor poor Alicent.

There comes a time when that young girl becomes a woman. And as a woman, you have to make a decision and stick to it.

Rhaenyra made her decision. She chose to do her duty to her House and fulfill the Conqueror’s prophecy but she also chose to be happy. She had the children she was denied by her gay husband to show the world she was not barren and perfectly able to produce future heirs. She did not let a forced marriage to a man who could not reproduce stop her.

After managing to rid herself of the unwanted union, she chose a husband she loved, and had children with him as well. And she did so without anyone’s approval, regardless of any consequences she might have to face.

She created her own little family and was happy. She deserved it.

At the same time, she demonstrated her capability by successfully ruling Dragonstone for many years.

Alicent on the other hand, chose differently. She also chose duty, like Rhaenyra, and had the heirs expected of her (much easier for her since her husband was not gay), but she denied herself happiness and chose to serve the men in her life and do their bidding.

That is how she ends up like this:

And this:

They’re not pretty pictures.

But ultimately, these are the consequences of her own choices. She and her stans constantly complain that Rhaenyra did what she wanted because she was privileged.

First of all, Rhaenyra hardly did what she wanted. Do you think her dream was to be married to a gay man and forced to reproduce with another? She loves her first three sons, but if she had the choice, you think she would have wanted to have them? She didn’t want to give birth (she was afraid because her own mother died of childbirth), and she most certainly wouldn’t have wanted children who are not her husband’s.

Secondly, Alicent was given privileges as soon as she was married to the King. She went from being the princess’ handmaid to the Queen. It is not Rhaenyra’s fault that Alicent didn’t know how to use her position in order to make a good life for herself. Life is not fair. Some people are born with everything. Others are born with nothing. It is up to you to take advantage of what you do have in order to make your life better.

Alicent had her chance to make her life better, and she wasted it. Not only was she the queen, but she had a husband who indulged her. She wanted to wear green dresses (a symbol of war), she got it. She wanted a murderer to be named as her sworn shield, Viserys accepted it. She didn’t want Helaena married to Jacaerys although her husband did, Viserys indulged her. She wanted to marry Helaena to Aegon, she got it. She wanted her father to return as Hand, Viserys accepted it. She wanted to be on the Small Council, Viserys allowed her. She had PLENTY of privileges.

Yet, despite all that, we still see her do her father’s bidding and live her life in sorrow. She could have dismissed her father, she could have dismissed Larys, she could have insisted to Viserys that he spend time with his other children, she could have taken a lover (why not? Viserys was pretty old. He wouldn’t have noticed it. And even if people whispered to him, he wouldn’t have believed them. She could have even taken Crispin to bed. Obsessing about and sleeping with high ranking women got him promoted after all). She did nothing. Alright, she made a decision. But she wasn’t happy with it, and the clear indication of that is her constant obsession with Rhaenyra and the life she created for herself. Alicent, in a fit of rage that Rhaenyra did what she never dared to, constantly obsessed about her, tried to undermine her and created trouble for her and the entire family, out of pure jealousy. She instilled hatred in her children and created division lines in the family. All her anger was revealed when she attacked Rhaenyra in episode 7. But she directed it at the wrong person. Or one would argue that she wasn’t in the right to direct it at anyone. She made choices - choices which cost her.

Rhaenyra made her own choices and she had to suffer plenty of consequences herself. The life she chose for herself was nobody’s business but her own, however.

All in all, the fact that Alicent wasn’t smart enough to take advantage of her position and privileges in order to be happy isn’t Rhaenyra’s fault. She made a decision, and then was upset with the outcome. She wanted to be pious and do what she perceived was the right thing? Good for her. Pretty debatable concerning what the “right thing” was, but alright. She did what the men in her life expected her to do. It was her choice, but she never owned up to it. And because of that, she ends up losing everything. Her very actions cost her what she feared most: the lives of all her family members.

Rhaenyra had happiness and love in her life, despite all her struggles. She had that because she made it so. And despite her own outcome, her bloodline continued on the Iron Throne. Her cause eliminated the usurper and any chance for a traitorous and opportunistic House to take power for themselves. Her sons by Daemon end up on the throne and the Conqueror’s prophesy is fulfilled through her line. Rhaenyra basically became a martyr in death, which led her armies to victory. Everything she did was worth it. Can we say the same about Alicent?

Alicent refused happiness and blamed Rhaenyra for her own inability to rise above her designated station. And despite all her “sacrifices”, she lost everything. She never knew the love of a man, she never felt true happiness, she had the soul of a bitter old woman in a young body, she never knew any carnal pleasures, she went insane, she lost her children, and her bloodline ended - and she lived long enough to see it happen, before dying from a fever. The life she chose for herself was full of misery, deception, jealousy and cruelty. And absolutely nothing came of it.

That is why I am proud to be a supporter of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen 🖤. She is not perfect, but she is a true inspiration and I will always defend her, and her children.

[thesunfyre4446]

The lord who support aegon didn't do so because they hate woman, but because they see them as inferior to man. The green's propaganda was based only on misogyny (same the lord who support aegon) , and that funny cause they rely on the same system who basically destroy alicent and haelena's life. I really do not understand female who are team green, they basically based everything on the subjugation of women and their inability to govern and they rely on a system that sees them only as churning out children. Aemond said "rhaenyra may call herself queen but she has women's part", aegon's men cut off Rhaenyra's breasts to awaken Sunfyre, lord borros otto Jasper and many others spend their life claiming a son came before an older daughter (and for what reasons?), lord pike (im not sure of his name but he is one of aegon' supporter who survive the dance) was describe as "a men who fought to prevent the accession of a woman to the throne". It doesn't matter that rhaenyra have bastards cause people were plotting her usurpation wayyy before her marriage (it wouldn't matter if she were jaehaerys himself born again, rhaenyra is a woman. Otto's word on ep. 3. He admit that rhaenyra may have been the perfect princess and thos still wouldn't prevent her from usurpation). Do you really feel represented by them? Rhaenyra may not be a femminist but it's undeniable that her ascension to the throne would have been a great step forward for women and that she had all the cards in order to become a good queen. It is sufficient to see her positions the council in ep 6, how she always manages to remain calm in front of horrible circumstances (such as the driftmark petition or the black council), how she rule peaceably dragonstone for years. Obviously the war, the usurpation and the death of all her children made her lose her head (as is normal). But if that hadn’t happened she would have been a good queen, definitely better than alicent, Aegon or anyone else. And please do not say that this was the vision of the time because things can change, our society is not equal to the medieval

ohhhh i love this ask so much

ok so first of all, different lords supported the greens for different reasons. misogyny was def one of them!! @green-aeggs-and-spam made a really great post about this :

so now let's talk about the greens themselves :

otto : while i do believe that otto is a misogynist , his main reason for wanting aegon on the throne is to be the grandfather of the king = personal interests. like if he was aemma's father you know he'd be selling "equal rights for women" T-shirts lol

alicent : wants aegon on the throne because if rhaenyra will ascend the throne her children will die. the patriarchy might have ruined her life, but she also has something to gain from it - the system supports aegon as king and keeps her children safe. so as much as she hates & was hurt by the westerosi patriarchal system her family's survival is dependent upon upholding it. same with helaena , her own children will also be in danger if rhaenyra ever became queen. (i've made a post about why rhaenyra would have to kill alicent's sons when she ascends the throne : https://www.tumblr.com/thesunfyre4446/739501560667734016/ok-so-ive-been-getting-a-lot-of-rhaenyra-would?source=share)

criston : pre ep 4, he was very much team rhaenyra. he didn't seem to have a problem with her inheriting over aegon, he's dornish, so that might seem very normal to him. criston supports the greens because of his hatred towards rhaenyra & love towards alicent = he's a man driven entirely (some may say a little too much haha) by his feelings.

so of course the greens are going to try and uphold the patriarchy, because - while it also ruined alicent's life - they have everything to gain from that system being kept. their lives are dependent on it & their political power.

no, i don't feel represented by alicent. i don't need to feel represented by a character in order to love & support them. of course that I believes in equal rights & am a feminist. but i don't need the fictional characters i like to represent my values. westeros is not a real place, alicent & rhaenyra are not real people. i don't need to pick the the team who'd be better for the realm - [ though i don't think that the blacks would be better to the realm then the greens]. - i'm going to root for the characters that i find interesting & love.

my main reason for disliking rhaenyra is that i find her character boring and lacks interesting inner conflict. also, as you've said, rhaenyra is not a feminist. rhaenyra is team rhaenyra, and that's fine! she wants the throne for her own personal reasons, and when she's queen she doesn't do anything to help other women - she even refuses other firstborn daughter to be named heirs because it would destabilize the realm = rhaenyra has no intention to "break the wheel". she's not dany. so would her reign have been a step forward to all women? i honestly don't know, because a woman sitting on the throne does challenge the patriarchy, but rhaenyra herself has shown no interest in helping & advancing other women. (not to mention lowborn women).

another great post by @blackcat419.

[horizon-verizon]

HOTD IS ALREADY A VIOLENTLY ANTI BLACK SHOW BUT RACIST PIGS WANT TO HAVE ANOTHER BLACK GIRL SIDELINED IN FAVOR OF AN IRRELEVANT & UNINTERESTING WHITE NON-CHARACTER.

When Aegon III look at Jaehaera, her face, her eyes, I know he saw Aegon II’s face. With Jaehaera, he can’t escape him, he can’t escape his mother’s violent death, he isn’t allowed to think of anything else, he’s forced to revive his olympic trauma over and over again. But with Daenaera, it’s UTTERLY different.

Jaehera dying is the story coming full circle. A greedy and ambitious hand wanting to make his daughter queen started the war but now his line ended by another greedy and ambitious hand who wanted to make his daughter queen. The point is that the Greens didn’t get what they want in the end because someone, one of their supporters, had the exact same mindset as Otto. Karma got to them. The Greens started this entire war to get their blood on the throne and their last chance to get their victory is dashed by one of their own people doing the same thing to them, GRRM is a genius, it’s ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.

Y’all REFUSE to let Rhaenyra have some crubs, it’s so disgusting. The Greens already have their own victory, Aegon II is the one remembered as king and Rhaenyra as an usurper, but he must also have descendants (the Blackfyres I guess) who tries to usurp Rhaenyra’s descendants and grandsons who became kings ??? OUT OF QUESTION, LET IT GO. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

The Greens started this entire war to get their blood on the throne and their last chance to get their victory is dashed by one of their own people doing the same thing to them

Heavy on this, anon. In fact, let me go back an insert the part about Jaehaera being the green's last botched "chance".

Anon refers to this post I wrote from a person expressing why they thought Jaehaera's death was "narratively irrelevant". And why Daenaera can still be written in without marrying Aegon.

It's true Aegon the Elder is held as one of the kings in the line of monarchs while she is not. That is not bc she usurped Aegon, but because they wanted to discourage the idea and practice of naming women or girls as heirs altogether. It was about female rulership being made into the cause of disaster or conflict, not Rhaenyra necessarily!

I still don't think Rhaenyra is universally remembered as the/a usurper, because by their own vocabulary Rhaenyra can never be a usurper...she was declared heir by the monarch and held as the true heir for years. Gyldayn calls her "Queen" several times and unironically and out of the then-living people's perspective. To be a usurper, you need to violently or unlawfully seize power, which Rhaenyra never ever did. The greens did that.

Once again, Stannis is not a reliable source to judge history, because the man is a walking self-denier and nihilistic user of fear to get his way. In the actual novels, Rhaenyra is thought of a civil conflict more than the direct cause of one through usurpation and "usurpation" itself is never mentioned unless it's Stannis saying so. And yes, Arianne Martell had the right of it, even though she is also using history for her own claims...the difference is that her reading of history and Rhaenyra's position is correct.

The people who want things to be more "equal" or "balanced" bt the greens and the blacks or have the greens have a sort of victory like the blacks just sound really desperate. And for what? For patriarchy to reaffirm itself deeper than ever and more than if Rhaenyra had just been queen?🙄

[luneengene2]

MY HEIR IS STILL MY HEIR (Ethan Lee)

• Warnings : ANGST, Mention of death due to childbirth, misogyny (?), patriarchy, Grammatical errors

• A/N : This story is not a story about Character x Reader, but rather character's love for his daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan glared at his mother and father because they dared to say the word he hated so much. Married again. Yes, Ethan really hates those words.

Since the death of his wife due to giving birth to their only daughter, Ethan has found it difficult to recover from this bitter reality. In fact, he didn't want to see his daughter, who had just been born at that time, for a whole month. However, with unwavering strength, Ethan slowly began to accept the wound. He took care of his daughter, raised her with love, looked after her with all his might. He didn't want to lose his gems again. He promised his late wife to always look after their baby. In fact, he was determined never to marry again. He just wanted to focus on taking care of his daughter and his duties as crown prince.

However, his parents, who really wanted a grandson, always made him angry. They insisted that their daughter would never be fit to be Queen. For his parents, this kingdom still needs a man as King when Ethan dies, Queen Ruler for them sounds strange and doesn't suit them.

"Haven't I said for eighteen years that I don't want to marry again, Your Majesty the King and Queen? Or have you forgotten about that?" Ethan asked, he didn't want to look at his parents. His hands clenched tightly into fists, restraining himself from punching objects around him.

"I know about your wounds, Ethan. But this is all for the future of this kingdom," The Queen said softly with her son. He spoke softly so that Ethan would understand their good intentions.

"If you understand how injured I am, why are you still discussing this thing that I don't want to discuss?" Ethan asked sharply. The father sighed, he massaged his temples looking at his stubborn son. "Your mother said this for the future of this kingdom, you need a male—"

"The future of this kingdom is in my hands, then in the hands of my daughter, father. Wasn't that clear a long time ago?" Ethan interrupted in a harsh tone.

"This kingdom needs men, not women as their leaders," The King looked at Ethan with a serious gaze and tone, and that was enough to make Ethan even more annoyed. "Nonsense. I can change those ancient rules if I ascend the throne in the future," Ethan said snorting and his father immediately glared at him. "Don't mess with royal regulations, Ethan—"

"Therefore, stop continuing to ask me to remarry and get rid of your obsession with that unseen grandson!" Ethan again interrupted his father's words. He's gotten bolder because he's been real about this in recent years. Parliament and his parents literally forced him to indulge their obsession with a grandson. "Prince Ethan—"

"What? You want to be angry with me? I should be the angriest one here, father! You openly told me that you wanted to get rid of my daughter in front of me!" Ethan snapped and he stood up from his study chair. He stood in front of his father with angry eyes.

"I swear I would never intend to get rid of your daughter, Ethan! After all he is my granddaughter!" Ethan laughed sarcastically and looked at his father, who he thought was very hypocritical. "More nonsense, you never loved my daughter because she was a girl. You only intend to keep getting rid of her, and I know that." The father grabbed Ethan's shoulder quite hard, making the Queen panic, she was afraid that her husband and son would end up fighting. "I'm just being realistic, Ethan. I'm not selfish, I just want the future of this kingdom to be bright!" Ethan threw his father's hand away roughly after his father said the thing he always used as an excuse. "And you think the future of this kingdom will be dark if my daughter is in charge, Your Majesty?" Before his father had finished answering his question, Ethan issued a crazy ultimatum. "Don't ever tell me to remarry and let my daughter retain her rights as my heir or I resign and renounce my title, Your Majesty?" His father and mother were immediately shocked when Ethan let those crazy words out of his mouth.

If a crown prince steps down from his position, aka takes off his title, the stability of the kingdom will worsen and can be used by anti-monarchy groups to attack the kingdom. And if Ethan did that, it would be the same as the royal family would be at the 'suicide' stage.

"It's better for me to live as an ordinary person with my daughter than to be surrounded by people who only want to take away her rights. I also don't want my wife's rights as Queen to be taken away by another woman," Ethan continued, his parents still shocked by those words. Because Ethan never plays around with what he says.

Heeseung even has a plan that when he ascends the throne, his wife's grave will have its title changed to 'Her Majesty the Queen' and will be moved to the burial area of ​​kings and queens.

"You better think carefully if you really want to impose your will on me," Ethan bowed briefly then left his study, leaving his parents who seemed to have been attacked many times, because Ethan dared to say those words which were classified as forbidden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he walked back to his room, Ethan's gaze was straight ahead, but his eyes were filled with tears. The people closest to him had such evil behavior towards his daughter. Even though their methods were indirect, Ethan knew they only wanted his daughter removed as the heir.

If Ethan remarries, he considers it the same as betraying his wife. He once promised not to marry again until the end of his life. Swear allegiance. The death of his wife and his struggle to defend his only daughter, Ethan will not just let it go. If his wife could bet her life for her daughter's life, then Ethan could also bet his life for his daughter's rights.

Ethan couldn't imagine if Ethan failed to protect his daughter's rights. He just wants his daughter to be his heir, that's all he wants until the end of his life. Not remarrying for the ambition of a son who may not be able to give the best like his current daughter.

"I promise you, darling. Our beloved daughter will not lose her rights, I am willing to do everything for our daughter's rights. I will not let the sacrifice of your life be in vain, my love,"

[anghraine]

I was busy with my family and housemates most of this week, so I missed the Tolkien OC week day that I was most looking forwards to, the OC-canon character relationship.

This could be any form of relationship, not necessarily a romantic one, and after thinking about it a bit ... probably the one of mine that I really feel the most about is the fraught and complex relationship between Ar-Gimilzôr of Númenor (the canon character) and his older sister, Princess Belzîrân (the OC).

The thing is, I simply do not buy that there are so few Ruling Queens in later Númenórean history simply because the princesses of this era were always younger children and the throne legitimately went to the firstborn son after firstborn son. I particularly don't buy it upon consideration of the framing of the later Ruling Queens who are named—Tar-Vanimeldë, who supposedly relinquished much of her authority to her shitty husband who then usurped their son after her death, and Tar-Míriel, whose authority was seized from her in still more horrific circumstances (I think it's clear that Tolkien ultimately abandoned the idea of Míriel as a willing collaborator).

It seems doubly odd because in the first four generations after Tar-Aldarion established the policy of the firstborn child of the king inheriting regardless of gender, we get two of the four queens regnant, and the only two who seem to be particularly interested in exercising political authority—Tar-Ancalimë and Tar-Telperiën. Then there are these long lines of king after king after king in the later years. I got to wondering about why there was such a dearth of firstborn daughters in the later era for such long stretches of time, and decided that the intensifying nationalism and tyranny of the later Númenóreans might well also involve intensifying patriarchy. It's established that firstborn daughters could decline the heirship, and I imagined that they were increasingly pressured and socialized away from positions of any kind of political authority, and particularly away from the rule of Númenor, in a way that became so normalized that nobody really thought that much about the dearth of ruling queens.

But then I got to thinking: we're talking about royal princesses of the line of Elros (many times over in later years). These are women raised amidst ever-more-extreme wealth and privilege in other respects—which isn't to say that they don't also experience extreme patriarchy, but that it's very possible that sooner or later, one of these firstborn Númenórean princesses raised amidst unimaginable wealth and power will refuse to relinquish her birthright to her younger brother. She would be backed by the law but likely not popularly—but perhaps she'd have enough supporters to cause problems.

This "what if a princess did try and fight for the throne" figure soon became more vivid to me: Princess Belzîrân, acknowledged as heir by their father, and actually close to her brother Gimilzôr in their youth, but very much in the line of hard, iron-willed, unrelenting Tolkien ladies. She is never going to surrender her claim. She has enough supporters to make Gimilzôr's accession difficult and bloody. He doesn't want to inaugurate his reign with open civil war and, despite everything, he's fond enough of her that he doesn't want to fight her personally, yet he has no intention of abandoning his claim to the throne.

The civil strife Númenor is inexorably moving towards is averted, for the time, when Belzîrân dies in her sleep in mysterious circumstances. This is nakedly suspect, but much of the opposition to Gimilzôr collapses, and things are smoothed over a bit when one of his first acts as Ar-Gimilzôr is ordering the construction of an elaborate tomb fitting for the king's beloved sister. Belzîrân lies embalmed in honor there until the sinking of Númenor.

Part of the Belzîrân tragedy, in my imagination, is that she's so deeply entrenched in the world of King's Men politics that the King's Men vs Faithful tension seems largely irrelevant to her own struggle against the systematic misogyny of the nationalistic empire she's part of. The Faithful's numbers actually include some very powerful nobles who might have backed her had they felt she would be an ally to them, but she never considered reaching out to them or trying to recruit them to expand her power base.

And they were focused on their problems and disinterested in the extent to which their oppression and Belzîrân's were interconnected. Maybe an alliance between Belzîrân and the Andustar wouldn't have stopped the assassination if she'd attempted it, and maybe it would have, but none of them ever know, because nobody tried.

[attonitos-gloria]

jb for the ship asks?

jaime and brienne are truly a breaking of fourth wall. it is george turning to his audience and going "you DO get what is going on in this world, don't you? tell me you get it." he does that with tyrion in ADWD, too, and i just love it when george goes meta.

i think they are the most romantic thing to ever happen in asoiaf because of the way they are the embodiment of the true problem of love and courtly romance in westeros which is patriarchy and misogyny and the absolutely insane cages of gender these characters are in. it's very hard for me to get jaime and brienne without jaime and cersei as contrast. this is a jaime/brienne/cersei situation.

what if you grew up as a man, believing you were born to reclaim the fate of a true man - knighthood and glory - and it turns out in real life this just means violence and bloodshed. what if you cope with the horrors of feudalism and patriarchy by blending into one single golden unit with your twin sister who is you who are your sister and that goes on forever. what if you fed each other's cruelty, and bred monsters into the world, and death, and it's all perfect and golden because you're each other's reflection.

what if you often thought if you were a woman you'd be your sister because who else could you possibly be - but of course you'd never be a woman hahahaha this is crazy. of course you are not a woman. (but your sister is, and your sister is you. so what does that even mean? you never think about it, you just disappear inside.) what if your sister is trapped in a house of violence you can only bear witness to, but do nothing about, even with the sword in hand and a white cloak around your shoulders, because this is the fate of all women - marriage and motherhood at whatever cost. what if this isn't even the first time you bear witness to a king being violent to a queen in this same castle in this same bedroom. and your sister thinks if she were a man she'd be you but hahahahah this is crazy, obviously, of course your sister is not a man. (but you are a man and you are your sister. and she is being sacrificed in the altar of gender conformity that is monarchy and you are standing by the door because you are a man and you are a knight - you are thinking, what does that even mean? you disappear inside again.)

what if you believe this is really all there is to being a knight, to being a man, to being a person?

and then what if you meet a woman who is, as far as you can understand it, a better man than you: by being a better knight, by simply being a better human being?

pairing of all time. they don't even need to fuck for it to be real. i think there's a undertone of tragedy in them - i can't imagine jaime ending this series as a happily married man to brienne, i don't even know if both of them will survive, but like. i'm not expecting the next books for them to be canon because in my head jaime and brienne are already a canon relationship of true courtly romance.

(Post edit: might be the reason why I usually don't read fluffy fanfiction of them because it often goes the way of... they will get married and have babies and rule casterly rock together! and while I think it's okay to forge happy endings for beloved characters - i'm a sansa/tyrion shipper, i do this all the time lol - i think there is something apocalyptic about this ship. Like they have the power to ruin this system. Spiritually. I mean, i still read braime fic because the writers are just too good but. I like endings when one of them die. Or jaime goes to the Wall! I like this one too. Or at least they escape Westeros together lol anyway. It is also why i'm also EXTREMELY wary of some jaime ships who just play harder into the gender conformity that i think jaime and brienne are, canonically, breaking and ruining.)

so. basically there is no one else for jaime and brienne but jaime and brienne themselves. perfect pairing. i'd say maybe the only canon pairing ever

[real-sun-wukong-fan01]

Wukong successfully gaslit the entirety of heaven into thinking he’s a cis man. “Didn’t you introduce yourself as a woman when you first-“

“No?? Obviously not?? What is with you??”

Wukong accidentally made everyone think he was a cis male and then he starts saying how he relates to women issues (physical ones) because he has them, because he never transitioned and never really had the idea of doing it. He has no gender or body dysphoria, especially because he's comfortable in his body and he has no real concept of gender. He knows he's a female, everyone just calls him a he and he genuinely dosen't care. He's male? Okay.

So, when he starts saying how he does relate to those specific women issues and sometimes talks specifically like a woman (those bits where man and woman can't comprehend each other, but wukong can exactly understand women, but can't understand men) everyone gets confused.

Because, weren't you a MALE monkey?

his case of trans (or well, genderfluid in my eyes) is really fun, because he isn't like the classic type of "i ain't a girl I'm MAN" no.

It's him. Not caring about human way of seeing gender. Being comfortable with his female body of a macaque. But he still calls himself a male because he likes it that way. (He doesn't like the idea of woman at the time jttw takes place at least, he's fine on being any kind of gender really. As long as you don't expect him to be something he isn't, he can be everything. Your mom, your dad, your uncle, a female, a male, non-binary. Anything he wants that day.)

But when heaven or the jttw do fits out, they need a minute to process, especially when it's very early in the time (around 1500, and people weren't so..fond of women being strong ect. Y'know, the stereotypes and patriarchy.)

Because, a FEMALE MONKEY DEFEATED HEAVEN?

A female is that strong? What?

Wukong must be joking.

I would say they would be rather transphobic or just straight up don't understand.

because i do know that they didn't care about lesbians or gays, they were fond of it, emperors used to have male lovers. Not only in china, but the Roman empire also had emperors who had male lovers as well, and so on. It was a common thing at the time.

But trans? Genderfluid? Anything that isn't in the binary?

Eh. I don't think so, i still need to research about it, but i doubt.

If they are fond of it, then the only problem would be the sexism.

If women couldn't even work, imagine how much of a shock it would be having a "woman" being such a strong demon. Y'know?

but again there's the Kingdom of women, and there's the king macaque (pretty sure it's QUEEN, king in Chinese is the same as queen) so i also wouldn't be surprised if jttw was okay with women being strong ect.

Silly thought.

[kazz-brekker]

hotd episode 8 thoughts

boy! this family really never can have a funky good time together without something happening, can they? (i say as a distraction from my immense emotional pain)

rhaenys you may never have been queen of westeros but you are queen to ME.

really liked the bits of daemon and rhaenyra’s life married that we got to see and how comfortable they were with each other. hbo, i’m just saying, but it’s not too late to abandon this whole “adapting the dance of the dragons” idea and just do a 5 season sitcom about the dragonstone household.

wow alicent really has become the westerosi equivalent of a christian housewife but also with girlboss ambitions.

the scenes with the dying viserys made me so sad. rhaenyra trying to talk to her father but he’s too incoherent to understand … introducing him to the grandkids … daemon helping him climb the iron throne … god it really got to me see how much they care about him and how much he was hurting :(

baby aegon iii and viserys ii were really cute though!

no … alicent … please don’t uphold the patriarchy and become complicity in the oppression of women … don’t continue the cycle of abuse begun by others that you now perpetuate…

i am impressed by how quickly this show made my opinion on aegon ii go from “annoying yet entertaining” to “die in a hole you rat bastard.”

congrats to daemon and rhaenyra (and rhaenys!) for raising some much better-adjusted teenagers, definitely liked what we saw of the older versions of the kids.

adult aemond is an absolute menace and i am going to enjoy every single second of his screen time.

jesus christ rhaenyra it’s been SIX YEARS and you still haven’t told rhaenys and corlys their son isn’t dead? please get on that! did love that those two had another scene together at last, though.

the scene where viserys dragged himself to court to sit judgement over the inheritance case was pretty powerful.

damn vaemond velaryon was kind of an ambitious asshole but he really didn’t deserve to die like that. kind of love that daemon was like “talk shit about my wife and you get a sword to the face” though, very in character.

those 30 seconds at the dinner party where everyone was getting along were so bittersweet, it did such a good job of establishing that the whole impending tragedy COULD have been averted if things went differently.

viserys really did need to put his foot down more often and be a stronger king, but it’s also so sad that he just wants his family to get along and love each other and it’s just not going to happen.

helaena honey i am going to rescue you and your ominous prophecies from your terrible husband, you deserve so much better.

the fact that viserys left the room and things immediately went to shit and the younger generation got into a fistfight was peak black comedy, not gonna lie.

the dramatic pause before aemond finished his “strong boys” toast … yeah i love him.

mentally chanting kiss! kiss! kiss! at rhaenyra and alicent as if this could someone how avert all the impending doom.

god, that last scene with alicent and viserys was so good and i am obsessed with how viserys’s obsession with prophecy and the future of his house is actually what dooms it.

PEAK asoiaf vibes to have the prophecy that was supposed to be the duty of the house instead lead to its downfall!

i’m really going to miss paddy considine as viserys, he brought so much depth and complexity to a character who was pretty flat in the book.

i know this whole show has been building up to the dance of the dragons but ohhhhh man am i not ready to see things actually begin in earnest now that the king is dead.

if anyone needs me i will be sitting here trying to process the hour of television i just watched!

[mummer]

Is it Rhaenyra's fault that women are not allowed to rule?

well i can try to be as measured as possible here: No. Absolutely not. westerosi society is... yknow... a hyperpatriarchal feudal monarchy, it was that way long before the conquest and it still is long after rhaenyra's death. whatever might be speculated about valyrian gender roles differing from westerosi ones, aegon still makes himself king instead of visenya, even though she's older (also, yknow, not gonna give the slave society props for being progressive). rhaenys' inheritance (through laenor) is passed over by a huge margin by the great council (jaehaerys himself having no faith in female inheritance rights, considering he felt the need to call the great council over it in the first place). there are very few scenarios where i can imagine westeros was ever going to be conducive towards a ruling queen.

patriarchy isn't the "fault" of "bad examples" of women in power. not to mention the history we see in f&b is, yknow, fairly unreliable. it seems fairly clear cut that her government made some extremely bad ruling decisions— treatment of smallfolk leading to the dragonpit, etc— and in this case it feels prudent to mention her disinheritance of the rosby/stokeworth female heirs in favour of their younger male relatives. that's a huge problem for rhaenyra considering her rule relies on female inheritance! however, she also... was subject to overrule by an otherwise male council, and subject to the conditional support of mostly male lords. asoiaf has always complicated the idea that monarchy is solely the will of the ruler and not subject to external pressures. tbh, it complicates the ideas of "agency" and "fault" in general— characters are defined and caged by a society with deeply entrenched ideals and roles. i think she's a tragic character; wanting so badly to do what's right, believing very sincerely that her rule is just. but the series is very clear that no matter our best intentions these systems of power are poisonous! what rule is ever just? any justification for war falls apart at the horror of its human cost!

was she a totally good queen making perfect astute political decisions, slandered by the histories? i don't really think so. was her rule ever meaningfully trying to institute feminist policies? No. do i think that, post-dance, people may have used rhaenyra's alleged misrule as justification for passing over female inheritance? yeah, sure, probably. but that would never be the sole justification. this is a systemic issue and not a personal one! One Perfect Woman is not going to topple patriarchy overnight!

[stromuprisahat]

Hi! I saw you read fire and blood, and i really like your commentary on books, so i wanted to ask what you think of the "theory" that the targaryen women are curse or that the have the some of the worse fates of the book? Cause i see that on tiktok a lot, i dont think it is very true.

Any way, hope your having a good end of year and a lovely new year! Ps. English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes haha

Well, their fates are not exactly rosy, but tbh woman's fate in most of Westeros rarely is.

What makes it more prominent is that Targaryens are both ruling family- therefore theoretically closest to possible change- and foreigners with different customs at the beginning. Customs they abandoned to better fit in and because *cough* Jaehaerys is a dick, who got sick of listening to his personal babymaker *cough*.

It's a gradual loss of importance.

Rhaenys and Visenya ruled alongside Aegon. They made decisions in his absence, they sat the Iron Throne just like him.

Alyssa lived in the shadow of the Queen Dowager and her own weak husband. Later she got married off to an abusive prick, who fucked her into her early grave. That's certainly a horrible way to go.

And the long reign of Jaehaerys "Viva La Patriarchy!" came.

You can trace plenty of what went wrong to him.

The original Heir was his older brother Aegon. Perhaps "Uncrowned", but he had heirs of his own before he died- twins Aerea and Rhaella- girls, but heirs. What's more- their mother, Rhaena Targaryen, was three years older than her brother-husband. There's the question how does Valyrian succession really work, since Targaryens always liked to marry the oldest "couple" to keep the line "pure", but more than man/woman, they seems to care about whether you're a dragonrider or not. Even if we accept Westerosi law, where son comes before daughter, Rhaena should still be Regent to her children. Instead they're skipped in favour of a third son of their grandfather, their uncle. Apparently, Andal and First Men's laws can be ignored as long as it strengthens patriarchy.

At first, Jaehaerys claimed he'll rule with Alysanne, but then she started to get unpleasant ideas and it got more comfortable to sidetrack her to cradles and children's rooms. Once wifey was out of the way, it was unlikely daughters will fare better. Especially since there was so many of them. Their value shrunk to their maidenhead, Jaehaerys' interest in them to how to get rid of them before they lose their worth. Although one could argue (I totally would.) he didn't see daughters as "enough" even before there was so many of them.

Jaehaerys was a sexist pig, who shouldn't even sit the Iron Throne.

Next on the list of his dick-enforcing deeds, is the Great Council. His Heir died- again, uncrowned-, but with a granchild on its way. Instead of naming Rhaenys, or even waiting for her firstborn to arrive, so they can check for appropriate parts, Jaehaerys names his own secondborn- Balon- and after his death, poor Jaehaedick has no idea, who else should rule after him. It's not like the rule above says it's clearly Rhaenys- at that point with a son of her own for fuck's sake-, so he figures the fate of the kingdom should be decided by a bunch of MEN, and summons the Lords to choose their next liege. Surprise, surprise! They pick a weak man, instead of "a fiery maiden".

There's not much positive to be said about Viserys, but his insistance on succession would certainly be the no. 1. Rhaenyra could've been Targaryen's way out of stiff patriarchy. Feminine, adored by masses, supported by her spouse, leaning to her Valyrian heritage... that could've changed Westerosi society from up, but the Dance killed that hope. Even though her children ruled eventually, neither the Broken king, nor his wife-less brother were likely to do anything.

Targaryen or not, a woman is a walking womb now.

Their "curse" is patriarchy and shitty men with power.

Their fates fit their "importance".

Rhaenys and Visenya died as conquering Queens- in a battle and lucky to die of old age.

Rhaena was sidelined by her weak father, by her younger brother, she lost too much and never learned to let go. It killed one of her daughters- ironically the skipped Heir.

Alysanne was killed by her brother-husband's sexism. He was at least partly to blame for the fates of all his daughters (and I count Aemma here too, because her marriage was his doing too). Only the most strong-headed one managed to escape.

Rhaenys died as the Queen she was- perhaps uncrowned just like her father-, but she went out in a battle, mutilating her foes, leaving grandchildren in the line on the Throne behind. If only they'd live long enough to get there. She might have died relatively young, but she played important part in her side of the Dance and she's one of few, whose death I'd call good.

Rhaenyra had particularly cruel life. Ironically, it was work of a woman working within the confinces of patriarchy that kept ruining her life, and said woman's sons, who eventually took everything from her, including her life.

No curse's necessary.

P.S.: Neither is it mine, so as long as we figure out what we mean... 😉

[lets-talk-spirituality]

2023 Recap

2023 was quite a fucking year. I’m a markedly different person now than I was at the beginning of the year. I opened up my life, with the help of some amazing people, and created one I had always dreamed of having. During the pandemic, I used to feel like my life was devoid, empty, and I was the walking dead. Even felt that when I first moved here. All I wanted was for my life to feel full. I’ve been reflecting a lot as I begin my next internal journey through sexual trauma, and that reflection fills me with gratitude. Because I can see where what I asked came to be, my life is so full now, and there’s even room for more!

I fell in love with my island, with myself, my life and with other people. Some people left, but my love was never lost for them, just dormant. Jesus, as painful as that has been, was someone who showed me so much about the ways I was still afraid of embracing myself, I wish our lights could’ve flickered together longer, but I’m glad he illuminated me for the time he did. He made me glow when he lit me up to myself. My mom was right, he came to bring me community. To show me how to create it for myself. I always admired how he could talk to anyone. And before he left, he brought me together with new friends who I cherish.

As I examine the year ahead and a big year for me it is, I’m proud of 2023. Like I predicted it was a year about relationships, where I realized so much more about what it means to actively maintain and form friendships, how to communicate better and how to show up more. I’ve been realizing how much I shut myself off from people and I’m trying to learn how to let people in and how to be there for them too. A lot happened in the world, a lot happened internally. Here are some other recaps of the year!

Best books I read this year:

My Body— Emily Ratajkowski

“In my early twenties, it had never occurred to me that the women who gained their power from beauty were indebted to the men whose desire granted them that power in the first place. Those men were the ones in control, not the women the world fawned over. Facing the reality of the dynamics at play would have meant admitting how limited my power really was—how limited any woman’s power is when she survives and even succeeds in the world as a thing to be looked at”

The Woman in Me—Britney Spears

“In some ways, they turned me into a teenager again; in other ways, I was a girl. But sometimes I just felt like a trapped adult woman who was pissed off all the time. This is what’s hard to explain, how quickly I could vacillate between being a little girl and being a teenager and being a woman, because of the way they had robbed me of my freedom.”

Ain’t I A Woman—bell hooks

Best music I discovered:

Barbie Movie:

I just watched it and I cried my eyes out multiple times. I think what broke my heart most was seeing Ken uphold the patriarchy to Barbie. In Barbieworld, men are subjugated much like women are in reality, and I didn’t like that. But when he took away her place in her world and made it a place where she didn’t have anything, not even female friendship, I cried harder.

I thought of every man I’d loved and that inevitable moment of shock and a drop in my soul that came with him reminding me of who was really the power player between us. When he rubbed in my face my inhumanity as an object for sexual observation and that I was in competition always for his attention.

I was curious to know some women, including my friend, didn’t like the movie or cry. I wonder if they maybe hadn’t been hurt the way I had, maybe it’s an age difference. My friend my age said she cried too. It was another moment where I was hit with the reality that what my pain has been isn’t normal and is sadly, so normalized that it’s universal. The pain of being a woman so easily communicated on screen, without even broaching the topic of children. That’s what made it sell the way it did. To be seen.

Insights or profound shit I thought and wrote down:

At the core of existence is the question of what am I and why do I exist, consciousness is asking that and all of us are just expressions of this question

Don’t wrap your politics around you in the cold dark night, for you forget, you may be a less marginalized body but you are still a body who has no rights except the ones we collectively believe we hold, rights are a belief until they are held, humans don’t have rights yet, not fully

I lost myself inside myself, I buried myself so low, I’m still finding me in the rubble, that’s the thing when your coping mechanism is suppression, that’s why I don’t even feel feelings.

Sex is the only thing that feels safe when you have intimacy issues, it feels like love and it feels like connection but things that force us to feel instead of allowing us to blossom are illusions, sex feels real and it’s the biggest performance of all

We first have to free our enslaved bodies from the chokehold of misunderstanding humans have been holding bodies to this whole time, without knowing the truth, body’s aren’t to serve us or be bent to submission, they are meant for freedom too

We overreact with emotions when we are trying to suppress them, it creates tension that allows them to explode

The West’s hatred of Islamic subjugation of women is a projection of their self hatred for how they subjugate women in our society but refuse to acknowledge it

Sex can’t be only for pleasure because men and women alike are told to wrap our worth and gender into our sexuality, when men want to fuck me I know really they feel powerless and want me to give them some time to feel manly, that they don’t want to fuck me, they want to fuck in general to reassure themselves of their own fragile masculinity

In conclusion:

Emotionally heavy and taxing, I did open my life like I’d planned. And this year has impacted me so deeply. I have ideas that next year will be tied into structure and further care of self for me personally. I’m excited to do a collective post.

I’ve turned off my asks, and may keep them off until past the new year as I will be going out of the country for a bit in early January! I want to clear out my inbox as much as I can before the new year as a way to create space for new energy. I’m planning to do my 2024 post soon as well. I also have been thinking up an astrology post! If you want to message me to talk, please do, as I love being able to help you guys and provide insight, but my inbox is closed for a bit while I get things a bit more structured for myself. Mahalo. Mucho love and happy holidays 💕✨💋

[davinaswp]

I really don’t understand this divide between greens vs blacks in the fandom.

*** this post got way longer than I wanted it to be so be warned aha

*** also this is about the show I could give a fawk about the books ngl

like i get choosing a side in a playful way but you’d think it was real life politics atp with how far it’s been taken like shit is it really that serious? enough for u to be attacking real people over? 😭😭😭😭 and then to pull 2022 morals into it as if one side isn’t romanticising incest and age gaps and wife killing and the other side isn’t sexist and borders on religious fanaticism. Do either have a leg to stand on in regards to morals? Be real.

On top of that, I feel like it’s much easier to root for individuals in this show rather than entire teams because each character has their own motivations, at least that’s how I’m finding it. I don’t think I could say I’m wholly on team green or team black because I love Rhaenyra and want her to get her throne but I also love love love Alicent and will be rooting for her regardless of morals or politics. I want to see her character absolutely pushed to the edge and going nuts. Can’t stand Viserys, want to punch Otto, i flip flop between liking and hating daemon but absolutely LOVE the velaryons esp Laena (also if Rhaenys was queen this shit really wouldn’t be happening I’m so serious) but yeah, idk it’s much easier to root for individual characters I think.

Another reason why this greens vs blacks thing is dumb is that both sides are kinda moving with the same motivation, it just so happens that their motivations make them enemies. Both sides see themselves as the protagonists of their own story, they’re very similar in that they’re just trying to promote their own self preservation because they genuinely see the other as a threat. It’s not a victim vs perpetrator situation, they both see themselves as the victim and in “retaliation” are becoming the perpetrator.

I think that’s very obvious in the figureheads for both sides which are Rhaenyra and Alicent. The parallels between them bc how they’re supposed to be opposites that are being put down by the same sexist system have been evident from the first episode.

On one hand, you have Rhaenyra who has been exposed to the sexism of the court through unit only herself and being dismissed as a claimant to the throne despite being Viserys’ first born but also through her mother. She saw how much pain her mother suffered for a potential male heir and saw how much no one cared about Aemma’s life so long as she had a boy. By seeing someone she loved go through that, she could recognise it as wrong and that’s one of the biggest differences between her and Alicent in that she doesn’t recognise it at all.

Alicent doesn’t see what could be or what should be, she sees the world as it is and accepts it. She recognises the rules and laws laid down on them by society and the gods and doesn’t question it, there’s no point, it’s just how it is. That’s why she’s always done as she’s been told, she’s always out duty first because she genuinely believes that to live a good life, you just have to abide by the rules and honestly, she doesn’t have the privilege to think otherwise. Rhaenyra does.

Rhaenyra is undoubtedly privileged, she’s the princess, of course she’s privileged. She might still be a victim of the patriarchy but her station still elevates her above other girls and even above other men. She knows that too which is why she’s constantly pushing the boundaries and she’s not afraid to stand up for what she thinks shoukd be hers by right. She can afford to be reckless and brave and someone who steps outside the box because there are less consequences for her if she does. Who’s going to scold the kings daughter? That privilege is magnified by the fact that her feminism has a powerful male mouthpiece in the form of Viserys, the king. That’s another thing, Rhaenyra has a father who will let her get out of his control and keep her safe while Otto would never allow Alicent to get out of his control but wold put her in danger. Viserys sees Rhaenyra as his daughter while Alicent is only viewed as a tool which is another privilege.

That difference in privilege is shown in their first scene together where Rhaenyra could fly off on her dragon and away from the worries of the world while alicent knew she didnt have that privilege and not only had to but chose to stay on the ground because shes very acutely aware of her station and accepts it because she believes she should. rhaenyra could live in the sky, in her dreams and in her ideals, alicent cant because she’s very aware of consequences and that the world has an “order” per say and she thinks by following that, thats how she’ll excel.

Alicent does that. She follows her fathers orders because as the dominant male figure in her life, he controls her future. That leads to her getting married to Viserys which was the worst thing to happen to her because now shes more lonely than ever, it put her on a station she wasnt ready for and isolated her from her closest friend and also viserys is just hideous ik she resists the urge to puke every time they segz. She chose Viserys over Rhaenyra (someone she genuinely cares about and feels comfortable with), duty over love and sure it made her queen but it also robbed her of any happiness. She’s followed the rules and she’s miserable and that conflicts her worldview massively.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, you have Rhaenyra who is constantly going against the rules and she’s somehow happier. She has people who love her and side with despite it. And that’s great! Good for her! Alicent is even one of the people who will side with her,,, but then it ends up negatively affecting her.

Yes, I’m talking about The Lie.

I know its easy to dismiss that as alicent holding a grudge over a lie or being judgy and jealous bc rhaenyra got to fuck whoever while Alicent was stuck with crusty old Viserys but I think it’s so much more than any of that.

That lie cost alicent a lot. It got her dad fired, leaving her alone at court when she was already feeling vulnerable and not only that but it showed alicent that she didnt have rhaenyra either bc the one person she thought would never hurt her, didnt care that she got caught in the crossfire. Rhaenyra showed alicent that she could be deceitful even towards her and there was a level of mistrust between them now even without the men coming between them. Alicent got left alone at court because Rhaenyra was excused for her recklessness and even Rhaenyra didn’t seem to care.

On the flip side youve got Rhaenyra who could never have told Alicent the truth, she was the daughter of the hand and the wife to the king and she’d went behind rhaenyras back before to perform her duty and she could do that again. For the record, I dont think alicent wouldve ratted her out, she would most likely have encouraged her to confess or thrown criston in it. but rhaenyra didnt know that for certain and she couldnt take that risk, she had to lie for the sake of protecting herself even to Alicent.

A similar incident happens again during the whole Aemond eye debacle.

Now i know Aemond is a shit, i dont like him either (yet) but … he lost an eye. Alicent and Viserys’s son was sat there bleeding because one of Rhaenyras kids slashed his eye out. And listen, i didnt expect for Viserys to take Jaces eye or anything but to stand there and question Aemond, YOUR SON BTW, over an insult which he’d already paid the consequence for because Rhaenyra asked you to? For Rhaenyra to order that Alicents already mutilated son be tortured so her lie could be protected? I can see why Alicents so fucking pissed. Thats not me saying she was right to call for Jaces eye or to attack Rhaenyra but to make her out to be purely evil and without reason is insane to me. Her son was permanently damaged and all everyone seemed to be focused on was protecting Rhaenyra and gaslighting Alicent, including her sons own father. Rhaenyra’s lies were being put above Alicent yet again. For her to break in that moment and do something that isnt in the rulebook made sense, shes followed the rules and still she has no one fighting in her corner. Alicent gave up her life, her autonomy and her happiness to have Viserys’ children and he didn’t even care.

I do think Alicent’s anger is misplaced. I think her worldview is kinda breaking down and she can’t handle that. She’s frustrated at the systems in place but is taking it out on Rhaenyra and blaming her for not following rules rather than criticising the rules. She’s been conditioned to see the systems as faultless because they were put in place by the gods so it must be people causing disruptions and that’s why she fixated on Rhaenyra.

Their differences when they were younger and less involved in the mens world is what made them such good friends. Alicent was a comfort that could bring Rhaenyra down to earth and make sure she didn’t get lost in her dreams. Rhaenyra was brave and bold and is always looking to pull people up with her away from the constraints of the world and Alicent was one of those people. They worked but then the external factors got introduced and their differences became weapons.

It’s sad because both of them are being kept down by men and dealing with it in the only way they know how. Rhaenyra through cheating the system and Alicent by playing along. They’re both trying to win a game that sets them up to lose and leads to them having to fight each other.

That’s why I don’t think either side was trying to start a fight (apart from Otto really, he was itching for one).

The second aegon was born, there was always going to be an issue of inheritance. Hell, I’m willing to say that the second Viserys pushed Aemma for a boy and therefore pushed her to her death instead of crowning Rhaenyra or Daemon, there was an issue to be had because he would have had to remarry anyway. And if from that marriage there came a boy, then that boy would have always been put against Rhaenyra. Whether that be through another council decision or an all out bloodbath. I mean can you imagine Corlys letting Laenas potential son by Viserys be snubbed in favour of Rhaenyra? After his own wife was denied the crown based on her sex? No! He would make sure Viserys stuck to the very law which got him his crown in the first place.

Even if Alicent and Criston and Otto didn’t bring up an issue with the inheritance themselves, someone else would have. The second Rhaenyra pissed someone off, her claim would be challenged and Aegon’s would be pushed because that court is ready to stop a woman from ruling. It’s the same court that chose Viserys over Rhaenys despite Rhaenys having more leadership qualities. It’s not like that decision was made 100 years ago by different people, literally the same sexist fucks that robbed Rhaenys are a part of Rhaenyras court. That precedent of male over female was set not long ago. The only reason Rhaenyra has any claim at all is because of that precedent.

So a war was always coming from the minute Aemma died and Viserys chose to remarry. On the greens part, the question was whether they be prepared and choose themselves & the lords or side with rhaenyra and there simply wasnt enough of a good relationship there for them to pick her when the better option was to pick themselves. On the blacks part, they were handed a difficult card and did their best to protect themselves. Rhaenyra was Viserys’ only heir for a long time (except for daemon) so the decision to name her heir was made when it seemed all hope was lost for a male heir. Rhaenyra then got married to a gay man who struggled to produce her heirs which she needed to secure her claim so she had to find a way. it wasn’t out of selfishness or indulgence but necessity.

“alicent couldve married helaena to jace and united their sides” mmmm no she couldnt. theyre very obviously bastards, the second rhaenyra pisses someone off, her kids legitimacy would be brought to question. that then backfires on alicent who now has herself and her kid implicated in this mess & why would she be willing to go down with someone who has been previously deceitful towards her anyway? Alicent stuck to her worldview which was that truth should prevail above else and she wouldnt help perpetuate a lie. Besides, if they wanted to unite claims then Aegon and Rhaenyra would’ve been married as icky as that is. But there’s too much damage for a union now.

anyway that’s all i have to say, stop attacking people over fictional characters, bye