#yeah it wasn’t long for eyrie but it was seven years for her

[impossible-rat-babies]

eyrie losing their emotional support not wife in post-stormblood like boy howdy you didn’t know how much you relied on her huh

[doyouevenshipbr0]

gruvia fic: a song of ice and water

chapter 1

author's note: NO ONE asked for this. deadass no one. basically this is a gruvia game of thr*nes AU. and this is just like a pilot episode so ill see how everyone responds to this, and see if i even still like the idea, and will possibly continue it. now, even if u have not watched game of thrones, u can still follow along to this. im just using the same world as game of thrones, and will explain the background. its basically a medieval AU but i dont know much ab medieval times, but what i do know ab, is game of thrones lol. so yea no promises with this fic as in if i will continue or not. but here we go! enjoy!!<333

*

Many years ago, the country of Westeros was divided into seven kingdoms. However, after the conquest of Aegon Dragneel, his dragons, and his dragon slayer magic, he conquered and unified the seven kingdoms, to which he presided rule over. Hundreds of years later, his family still remains the house that sits on the throne: The Dragneels. With current king, Zeref (or as many refer to him as "The Mad King"), the world has been thrown into chaos.

The current regions of Westeros are split into nine provinces. The North is ruled by house Fullbuster, Lord of Winterfell. The Iron Islands are ruled by house Redfox, Lord of Pyke. The Riverlands are ruled by house Lockser, Lord of Riverrun. The Westerlands are ruled by house Heartfelia, Lord of Casterly Rock. The Vale is ruled by house Marvel, Lord of the Eyrie. Dorne is ruled by house Dreyar, Lord of Sunspear. The Stormlands are ruled by house Scarlet, Lord of Storm's End. The Reach is ruled by house Strauss, Lord of Highgarden. And finally, The Crownlands are ruled by the king, which is Zeref of house Dragneel, who sits on the Iron Throne in the country's capital, King's Landing. The rest of house Drganeel resides on an island just off the shore of King's Landing called Dragonstone.

The nine provinces and many allies must now unite and overthrow their unjust, evil king.

*

"Excuse me?" Gray said through gritted teeth and felt his blood beginning to boil. He didn't want his mother to witness the outburst of anger that was to come, but it seemed that was what would happen.

"I'm sorry, son." Mika lowered her grey eyes and held a hand out to the table, putting it on top of Gray's.

"An arranged marriage?!" Gray shot up from his seat, banging his fists to the cold wood.

"Dear, calm down." Her voice remained smooth.

"How am I supposed to stay calm?! Father fights alongside all the other lords in rebellion, fighting a war against the bloody king, and you expect me to sit back and take a wife?!" Gray never yelled at his mother like this, but what she was asking of him was unthinkable.

"Gray, I know you're upset-" Mika stood and placed a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Upset?! Mother how could you ask me to do this? I've been training my whole life for something like this. My magic is just as strong as Father's. I should be out on the field with him!" Gray felt tears began to sting his eyes.

He'd fought battles before, but something like this felt like his destiny. It was a full fledged war amongst all of Westeros. To just sit on the side and watch it all unfold would make a mockery of all he'd trained for. He and his father's ice magic combined would be unstoppable. All Gray ever wanted to do was fight to protect his people, his home, and his family. It was what made him feel alive, and it was being taken from him.

"Your father needs more men to fight. Lord Lockser of Riverrun is finally willing to give aid to our cause, but only under the condition that you marry his daughter." She tried her best to explain.

"I am the future Lord of Winterfell. I am to be Warden of The North. How can I claim these titles if I have nothing to show for it?! 'Lord Gray shuddered in fear in his castle with his wife as everyone bravely fought.' How am I supposed to live with that?" His anger was simmering to frustration.

"That is exactly what you are. The future Lord of Winterfell. And doing this is a service not only to our country, but our family as well. You're eighteen now, Gray. It's time you took a wife and continued the Fullbuster name." Mika put her hands against her son's cheeks.

"I have plenty of time for that, Mother."

"Not if you go and get yourself killed in this war!" She shook him a bit.

"But I-"

"No 'but's, Gray. Now, I'm sorry that you cannot marry for love, and that you cannot be by your father's side. I truly am. But this is your duty right now. This is the best thing you can do. You know there must always be a Fullbuster in Winterfell, dear. You must be Lord until your father returns. Being a lord includes marrying and having children." She took her hands off her son's face, and Gray sucked up his tears.

He sunk back into his seat at the table with a numb look on his face. He slowly reached for his cup of wine and chugged the rest that was in there.

"So I'm to marry Juvia Lockser?" Gray let out sugh after finishing his drink and finally looked back up to his mother.

"Yes." Mika nodded.

"Hmph." Gray poured himself another glass of wine. "I wish I could at least marry someone I'm already acquainted with. Lucy Heartfelia or Erza Scarlet. Even Mirajane Strauss. They're all beautiful and skilled in battle.

"As is Juvia. I know you've never met her, but I'm sure you've heard stories." Mika sat back down at the table.

"Stories?" Gray raised a brow.

"Juvia Lockser: The Rain Woman."

Gray choked on his drink. "Oh lord, that is her isn't it?" He remembered. Just as he said that, he heard ran begin to pitter outside the window of the castle.

"Indeed it is."

"That'll be just great." Gray rolled his eyes. "A wife who brings rain with her everywhere she goes. We'll never see a sunny day in Winterfell as long as she's here."

"Like we see any sun anyway." Mika gave a teasing look to her son.

"Suppose you're right." Gray sighed.

"Don't be so glum. I've heard stories that her blue hair actually controls the waves of the oceans and that she can flood out her enemies with just a flick of her wrist." Mika smiled warmly, trying her best to comfort Gray.

"Yes, and I've heard everyone in The Riverlands fears her." Gray muttered.

"That must make her a great warrior." Mika reached out again to Gray's hand, to which he didn't retract his.

"When do I might my scary, gloomy, warrior bride?" Gray said, slightly annoyed.

There was a knock on the door. It was Gray's adopted brother, Lyon. His family was a great house in the north that attempted to rebel against the Fullbusters and take their spot at Winterfell. However, they were unsuccessful. The entire family was killed except for their only som and heir, Lyon Vastia. He was just a boy when it all happened, just as Gray was. Silver Fullbuster decided to spare the boy and raise him as his own. In turn, Gray considered him as a brother.

"My Lord, My Lady," He entered the room. "Juvia Lockser has arrived."

"Thank you, Lyon." Mika nodded, and Lyon nodded back before exiting the room.

"She's here?!" Gray exclaimed.

"Yes, I was, well, putting off telling you, to say the least." Mika chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe! When was this deal made?!"

"About two months ago..." Mika said, sheepishly.

"Two months?! Mother-"

"Come, come, dear, we have to welcome your bride-to-be." She wrapped her arm in Gray's and began to walk them out the door.

The two made their way through the castle grounds, past all the servants and throught the stone towers. Lyon was with them, holding an umbrella over them to keep them dry.

There was a carriage at the gate of the castle. It was blue and red, the colors of Riverrun. One of the knights opened the carriage, and another held out an umbrella. A pale hand took it and stepped out of the carriage.

Her hair was a vibrant blue, just as all the stories said. The ends were curled tightly, hanging just above her shoulders. She wore a blue gown that puffed out a bit, and on top of it was a poncho. Once her deep eyes met Gray's, he felt a pang of emotion strike him. Her rich blue eyes- while firece- seemed so sad, and they were practically hidden by her long, heavy lashes. She wasn't at all what he pictured her to be.

Juvia steadily approached Gray. "Hello, My Lord." Her voice was quiet as she curtsied.

"My Lady." Gray nodded and took her hand, planting a light kiss on it, as was what was expected of him. A light blush grazed her cheeks, and she looked down.

"Hello, My Lady." Juvia turned to Mika and curtsied again.

"It's nice to meet you, Juvia." Mike gave her a soft smile, hoping to make her feel more welcome.

"Come, dear, let's get you settled in and ready for your welcome feast." Mika reached out to Juvia, wrapping an arm around her, and she sheepishly followed.

"I will see you tonight, My Lady." Gray gave Juvia another nod who blushed once again, averting her gaze.

Lyon and Gray watched her walk away with Mika.

"She doesn't seem as scary as everyone says." Gray shrugged.

"She's a young girl who was shipped off to a completely foreign land all on her own to marry a stranger. I'm sure she's the one who's scared." Lyon said.

"Yeah. I guess I do feel bad." Gray admitted.

"Well I certainly don't feel bad for you. She's absolutely gorgeous." Lyon gawked.

"Damn, Lyon, calm down. She is my wife after all." Gray teased. "And I'd much rather be on the battlefield than getting married. You know that."

"She's not your wife yet." Lyon focused his gaze on Juvia as she walked away, seeming to disregard Gray's joke and put all his focus on her.

"Well," Gray broke his stare. "Let's go get ready for this welcome feast, I suppose."

[kallypsowrites]

Game of thrones: Conquest and Rebellion

I’m a happy camper this Christmas as I finally got Game of Thrones season 7 for myself. And I was surprised when it came with this beautiful little DVD that contains an over 40 minute history of the Targaryens in Westeros, narrated by several of the characters in Game of Thrones including: Viserys, Varys, Euron, Peytr Baelish, Sansa, and Jaime. I say characters and not actors because it is clearly supposed to be from the perspective of the characters and what they have learned about the history of the Targaryens.

Now, I was intrigued to watch this because I am actually midway through a big ol’ post on unreliable history in Fire and Blood. The basic thesis is that by telling the history of his world through the eyes of someone in that world, he makes it unreliable and biased and this is very much by design. I have my ideas about what is exagerated vs what is real in Fire and Blood, but I wanted to see how this video compared. Especially since it contains what the SHOW views as the most important notes in the Targaryen conquest.

And boy did it confirm my suspicions about unreliable history. In fact, hearing individual characters bring in their bias illustrated my thesis perfectly. But let’s talk about some of the highlights. Because I was surprised to see how the Targaryens were represented her.

1. Viserys suggests that the Targaryens may have left Old Valyria because of a court mishap and not the prophesy from ‘The Dreamer’. I have had my suspicions about some of the “prophetical” motivation behind the Targaryen conquest, because in large part it seemed like stories written to justify Aegon’s conquest. Like it’s his “destiny”. However, I never thought to question the idea of the dreamer foreseeing the doom of Valyria. Now, if this was from any other character’s narration I might call it unreliable and an attempt to discredit the Targaryens but this is Viserys, “number one Targaryen fanboy”, “my family is the best and like GODS among MEN” Targaryen. Even he thinks that perhaps the vision is just a story. At the very least, the vision wasn’t super clear as the Targaryens left a full twelve years before the Doom. Already the show seems to be calling attention to the fact that the Targaryens are just like everyone else.

2. This continues with the implication that Aegon conquered for resources and knew he could win because of dragons. This is also Viserys’ implication. He also makes a statement about Aegon “teaching the squabbling families the meaning of greatness” and it sounds very villainy. Again. This is Viserys who later on calls Maegar the cruel, “the wise” and says the title of cruel was slander! Viserys is 100% team Targaryen and yet he does not begin to make Aegon’s intentions sound noble. Even though the Targaryen history books are FILLED with that kind of thing. Viserys also calls them “strangers” to Westeros which follows the narrative of this being an invasion. in fact the next section is even TITLED ‘invasion’

After this, we switch to Varys’ narration. As a narrator, he’s probs the most trustworthy as he is the most neutral. And HE adds in the suggestion that Aegon used the hands of the envoy sent to him by Argilac the arrogant were just a PRETEXT for the conquest he’d been planning for a long time. He wanted to rule the seven kingdoms and was just looking for an excuse to attack. He also suggests that Argilac the arrogant was surpassed by Aegon in arrogance. Not a great picture painted of Aegon.

3. “Before he was done, the rivers fields and skies would turn red” -- Varys on Aegon the conqueror. Continues to speak of this man like a villain. in sharp contrast to the ‘noble conqueror’ painted in Fire and Blood. Speaking of which, Aegon is the one who comes up with the words ‘Fire and Blood’ according to this video, which definetily makes him seem like he was hoping for some casual mass murder.

4. Obviously, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant sucked. Totally not coming to their defense. But how are their deaths portrated. Well, Euron is given the chance to describe the death of Harren and he is CLEARLY turned on by the destruction of his ancestors which is a bad sign. It’s description is horrifying and the animation is dark. Obviously if Euron likes it, its supposed to be kind of freaky.

Argilac, however, is given a heroic final battle seeming almost noble. Orys Baratheon, the most humanized of all the conquerors, seems to respect him enough to take his sigil and words “out of respect”. We’ll talk more about how the characters are drawn later, but there’s a big difference between Orys and Aegon.

5. Jaime describes the field of fire and he himself looks VERY MUCH like Lorren Lannister. He stresses that Aegon had “no mercy”. But its no surprise that he hates Targaryens cause they have a bad history. But still, the Field of Fire is shot like a horrifying war scene and the Targaryens are again depicted as the villain. Thousands return home as “scarred monsters”.

Favorite line “Aegon had a fetish for collecting swords”.

6. Sansa narrates the bits about House Stark and House Stark is indisputidly depicted as heroes. Now, this isn’t surprising. Sansa is loyal to her house. But she implies that the north was different than the other kingdoms because they were focused on survival not power. There is focus for a lot of time on the white walkers and how it is a Stark problem to deal with and they are a greater threat than dragons.

She puts emphasis on how Starks are willing to make alliances for survival, regadless of pride as well. She seems to respect Torrhen Stark’s decision to kneel saying ‘he had no choice’. Aegon was offering a very ‘kneel or die’ message after all. The Starks would have died if they did not bow. But their swords are still taken for the throne!

The most ominous bit is this:

“The swords Aegon took from them were not twisted or mangled” - Sansa

“Yet” - Viserys, very ominously

What an ominous thing to throw in there Viserys!

7. Most unsettling display of Targaryen villainy happens in the Eyrie, narrated by Littlefinger. Queen Arryn arrives to see that Visenya is with her son, next to her dragon. Visenya doesn’t say it, but she is fully threatening the boy. You can see it by her smile which is just...oof. It’s scary. She clearly intends to kill him if his mother doesn’t give the crown. She has “no choice” and Littlefinger describes him as a “poor boy”. Visenya is clear villain in this. This is in HUGE contrast to the two women apparently relating and connecting with each other in Fire and Blood.

8. Viserys mocks the “religious” reasons for old town’s surrender suggesting that they knelt because otherwise everyone would die. This once again undercuts the idea that the septon saw some grand purpose for Aegon which is suggested in Fire and Blood. The septon is just afraid, again, according to Viserys the number one Targaryen fanboy. Bonus: calls the north savages because Targaryens are better than everyone~~ He even calls the Targaryens the "Greatest dynasty ever.” when Aegon is crowned.

9. But after Aegon’s victory, the neutral Varys comes in to remind us of the Dorne failure. Rather than making Rhaenys seem unflapable and invincible as Fire and Blood did, Varys suggested that the yellow toad of Dorne SCARED Rhaenys. And later on, of course, Rhaenys gets taken down. Dorne really is painted as the heroic underdogs of this scene. and emphasis is placed on the fact that Aegon and Visenya set every city on fire except sunspear. If there HAD been people there, they would all be dead. Fire and Blood indeed.

10. We skip right from the conquest to the Dance of Dragons.

“With no enemies left they started fighting each other.” - Viserys

This defs doesn’t sound like the centuries of peace and prosperity that Dany talked about. This video is focused ENTIRELY on the wars of the Targaryens and not the good things or building of infrastructure. No mention of Jahaerys the concilitator at all. Instead we focus on Aegon, Maegar, the Dance, Aegon the Unworthy and the Mad King. All the very worst Targaryens. And there are lots of good things the Targaryens did! But instead of focusing on that, the show focuses on the war, which means they know that Dany’s line about “centuries of peace” is wrong.

Bonus, we have more of Viserys arguing for blood purity and that Targaryens are SPECIAL and that they would have been fine if Aegon didn’t legitimize so many dirty half breed bastards.

11. The greatest Targaryen threat, however, is madness (according to Jaime who saw the Mad King first hand). We bring up that line again: “Every time a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin”

“We put up with Aerys hoping Rhaegar would be better but then he also proved mad when he took Lyanna Stark”

This does not place Rhaegar as the sane, good sibling most people do. Instead, it also paints him in a negative light. Which, this is Jaime, so take it with a grain of salt. But he actually never hated Rhaegar so yeah...

12. Jaime is so bitter about Ned condemning him and it’s kinda funny. I love Nikolaj narration

“I saw what Ned Stark couldn’t. Robert was ashamed of the bodies of the children... and more ashamed at his relief. Glorious heroes didn’t kill children. They simply didn’t punish their murderers” - Jaime being smart with one of my fave lines.

He clearly sees things as they are. He doesn’t like the Targaryens but he also doesn’t elevate Robert as a god. Jaime doesn’t believe in heroes and it shows here.

13. Then we end with a particularly ominous note.

“One day I’ll return and repay all traitors with the only coin my family knows. Fire and blood” - Viserys. 

These are the last words in the video. A threat. It really does not paint the Targaryens as tragic characters pushed out of their rightful throne.

And this is where I want to talk about the character drawings. Every pose from the original three dragons (Aegon and sisters) is the most villainous thing in the world and the music behind their conquest is intense and dark. Their faces are often lowered but with their eyes glaring up and shrouded in shadow. Their smiles are sharp. Their body language is arrogant. It is victims of the conquest like Lorren and Torrhen who are given more humanized designs.

On the Targaryen side of things, the most humanized design belongs to Orys Baratheon who has much kinder eyes and a more open expression. And the there’s Viserys and Daenerys at the end who look like scared children more than anything. But the Targaryen dynasty that is their birth right doesn’t appear to start out on a great foot.

This kinda all backs up my point that if Daenerys wants to break the wheel, she will have to reject and correct the legacy of her family. The show clearly does not view Aegon as a great hero. So if they mean for Daenerys to be a hero, I hope they have her recognize the history and take steps to correct it (maybe even destroy the iron throne, plz?) And if she doesn’t recognize her history or tries to emulate Aegon, she could be headed down a bad path.

I love the Targaryen family because, like lots of my favorite Westeros families, they are SCREWED UP and have lots of interesting characters, and I look forward to exploring them more in my Fire and Blood post. But if anything, this video just backs up my thesis about unreliable history and what Dany will have to do if she wants to be a good ruler. Break that wheel! It was forged in fire and blood!