If HBO Favors The Greens Over The Blacks (probably Because The Blacks Are Dany's Direct Ancestors), I

If HBO favors the Greens over the Blacks (probably because the Blacks are Dany's direct ancestors), I kinda fear a Dunk and Egg show playing favorites with Aerion over Egg for the same reasons. Also wouldn't be surprised if every female character in Dunk and Egg gets turned into a passive, sobbing knock-off Sansa like Alicent is in HOTD (at least book Alicent is more interesting, even though I find both versions of the character to be pretty vile people).

I'm hoping that if HBO does choose to do a Dunk and Egg show, they'll have better show runners than Condal and Hess, but I'm not holding my breath. If they choose to follow the HOTD model, here's how I think it'd go:

Maekar actually married his wife, Dyana Dayne, when she was fifteen, while he was thirty-two (don't think about the timeline, just watch the fun marital rape scenes!). Dyana is actually a repressed lesbian who's in love with her handmaid. Maekar doesn't care about any of his children, instead he's obsessed with medieval legos!

Daeron's visions make him be completely unable to have conversations with people, he just whispers ominously in a corner. Aerion isn't actually a sadistic asshole who tormented his little brother by the way. No, he's just sooo misunderstood and no one bothered to teach him that killing animals and threatening to mutilate his brother is wrong! Aemon is completely devoted to the Faith and hates his heathen family members but he still wants to be a dragon rider for some reason.

Daella wants to be a man, she hates womanhood, motherhood, and femininity! She wants to be a knight, but never actually does anything to try to pursue those dreams, just mentions it once in the first episode. Rhae exists, maybe.

Meanwhile, Aegon, despite being a titular character, doesn't get as much screen time as his more "interesting siblings". No, he's doing things, maybe, meanwhile we get to watch random rape scenes and Aerion jack off a few times. Duncan is far from your stereotypical noble knight, oh no, he's a borderline psychopath when he doesn't get his way, but somehow is still redeemable? He also actually did kidnap Aegon, Daeron didn't smuggle him out, he did this because Daella slept with him but refused to run away with him.

This is a joke post, but I'm truly genuinely scared of how HBO would handle a Dunk and Egg adaptation. Neither HOTD nor GOT are actually good adaptations, they both ignore important plot points and themes. Dunk and Egg would just become a mess of "subverted expectations" and sexist fake feminism.

I personally like it. I mean, it’s not in Fire and Blood, but honestly it wouldn’t make sense for this prophesy to be in it. How could the maesters know about it or even Mushroom?

One of the many things I have always loved about the Targaryens is how magical they are, compared to the Andals. This prophesy adds to that.

I know that the biggest question is: how could Jaehaerys have found out about it? He was, after all, the youngest of Aenys’ sons and not expected to inherit the throne.

My personal headcanon would be: Aegon told Aenys, who told his children who were destined to be King and Queen, Rhaena and Aegon the Uncrowned. And then Rhaena told Jaehaerys when he took the throne.

And even after all those years had passed, some sort of prophesy is heavily implied to have reached Rhaegar in Asoiaf (which might make it book canon as well):

"Until one day Prince Rhaegar found something in his scrolls that changed him. No one knows what it might have been, only that the boy suddenly appeared early one morning in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He walked up to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, 'I will require sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior.'"

So, what do you guys think? Since it’s GRRM’s idea and not the showrunners’, I am inclined to see the prophesy as canon. And I like the idea of it.

Im re reading fire and blood and I know its a suppose to a history book and all BUT I love how book!Rhae doesn't mope about not being a son or thinks her father naming her heir is wrong (and keep in mind, she was made heir before/at 8 so even younger then show!Rhaenyra)

She's strong and loves her position as heir and despite being apart of a society who breaks down women just for being women, loves being female.

"Palestinians were killed long before Hamas was formed and would still be getting killed even if Hamas never existed."

Watching this video essay about Yellowjackets and somehow HOTD came up and I saw the tweet and I roll my eyes so hard

Uh. Yeah. Bc she uses the faith (basically Catholicism or Christianity) to act as this pious queen when she is paying maids to keep their mouths shut about her own son raping them.

And she didn't just hang up some four pointed stars, if I remember, she REPLACED, the targs sygils with the faith of the seven stuff.

Alicent stans just love to forget her fanaticism until they can use it to make her look more pathetic. I have to say, accusing Rhaenyra of religious fanaticism is a new to me lmao. I've only ever seen people call her a godless whore, but I'm not on X, so maybe I've been spared.

Targaryen antis don't seem to grasp just how much of the Valyrian culture the Targaryens have given up for the sake of Westeros. Calling the Valyrian wedding ceremony an "arcane marriage ritual" is not only insulting to the Valyrian culture but also completely hypocritical.

Valyrian culture was steeped in magic, they themselves have magic in their blood. Is it any surprise their marriage customs would be the same? That's like expecting the Starks' ceremonies to happen separate from the Old Gods. The Targaryens have given up their gods, most of their magic, their language, and their marriage traditions. They never forced other people to follow their traditions, they never forbade following the Faith and the Old Gods, they fucking conformed as much as possible aside from the incest, which was the only way they know to preserve the last bit of Valyria's magic.

Alicent wouldn't be seen as a religious extremist if she didn't actively repress and hate other religions. She badmouths the Valyrian traditions, not just the incest, but also their love of dragons and their art. She removes all the Valyrian and Targaryen heraldry and artifacts and replaces them with the the symbols of a religion known for being intolerant and repressive.

As I said earlier, the Valyrian culture is dying out and the Targaryens have given up so much of their mother land. Removing the last pieces of someone's culture just because you follow a different religion is fucked up. Alicent isn't even the actual ruler or a Targaryen, it's not her place to choose to abandon their Valyrian heritage while her husband is too sick to interfere.

But the real issue of Alicent's actions are her motivation. She doesn't actually care about morality and her own religion, she cares about supporting Aegon and undermining Rhaenyra. That's why she criticizes Valyrian incest then turns around and forces Helaena to marry Aegon. That's why she calls Jace and Luke savages when her own son bullies his siblings constantly and later rapes women. That's why she harps on about honor and decency while actively protecting and covering up the actions of a rapist, a murderer, and a kinslayer. That's why she removes the Valyrian heraldry while Rhaenyra is gone and replaces them with the symbols of the Faith.

She's literally the definition of the hypocritical woman for Trump. She harps on and on about morals then turns around and does reprehensible things for her own gain. She complains constantly about a culture different from hers and actively tries to remove its influence. She hates people who don't conform to her ideas.

Alicent isn't a good person, period. She's a hypocrite, constantly upholds the patriarchy, sacrifices others for the sake of her interests, and is xenophobic. The efforts to take her flaws and project them on other characters, usually Rhaenyra, by her stans is ridiculous and really shows how little they actually like her character. They like her aesthetic and the idea of a perfect suffering victim.

https://www.tumblr.com/radicalsansa/739060101195907072/if-youre-looking-at-hotd-through-a-medival

😨

How exactly does GRRM want us to look through a "medieval lens"? Does he want us to look through a medieval lens when we're watching underage girls be married off and suffering marital rape? Does he want us to look through a medieval lens when soldiers rape and pillage innocent smallfolk? Does he want us to look through a medieval lens when tyrannical kings are supported just because they took the throne?

GRRM's books may take place in a medieval-esque world, but that doesn't mean he wants the audience to support the atrocities normalized by a medieval society. He uses his setting to criticize the actions of the medieval world.

He uses Daenerys' campaign against slavery to show the monstrosity of the slavers and those who stand by allowing it. He uses Sansa's treatment by Joffrey to show the hypocrisy of the order of knighthood and medieval chivalry. He uses Jon's treatment in Winterfell to show the harm of bastardphobia. He uses Arya's time among the smallfolk to show how the petty wars of lords impacts the people. He uses Brienne's life to show the damage the patriarchy does to non-conforming women. He uses Rhaenyra's story to show the far-reaching harm to the world the patriarchy causes. He uses Barristan Selmy and Jaime Lannister to show the dangers of blind loyalty to a king.

We the audience are not supposed to justify a character's actions just because it was normal for the time. That's like justifying Thomas Jefferson's owning of slaves because it was the norm for rich men in Colonial America. We are supposed to be horrified with the world's treatment of people who don't conform to it. We are supposed to feel angry at the normalized and rampant injustice. We are supposed to acknowledge that, while the books (much like the world) are filled with people who do the wrong thing, the characters are not all equally bad.

This post was deleted since I started writing this a few days ago (so sorry it took me so long to finish this answer), but the gist of it is that TG is right because of the medieval standards of Westerosi society. In the case of Rhaenyra, like I said earlier, GRRM uses to Dance to show the damage of the patriarchy and male primogeniture. The dragons are wiped out because of TG's greed and sexism. The realm suffers thousands of deaths because the greens couldn't stand a woman, a non-conforming woman no less, to take the throne. GRRM doesn't want us to just nod along and say, "oh that's fair, after all it is normal for the time :)". No, we are supposed to see the injustice of the situation and the harm that injustice causes.