#stannis cant see it even in the brother he hates because that would require him to recognize society as abusive

[visenyaism]

this particular paragraph has stuck with me since i read it. recontextualizes everything. joffrey as the aggregate of a thousand thousand acts of violence every single one of which he has seen an adult in his life be rewarded for. and joffrey as an open wound. and joffrey as little boy who wanted to make his father proud of him so he opened up some poor thing’s ribcage and stole its babies because when robert did this they called him a king and they called him a husband and a father. and joffrey as a little boy who got hit so hard the other adult in the room thought he died. and joffrey who gets remembered in this moment by his uncle who concludes from this story that maybe it is a good thing he got violently murdered after all because maybe there was just something inherently wrong with him. just heartrendingly bleak all around