They Killed The Olive Trees. They Killed The Little Children. They Killed The Unborn. They Killed The

They killed the olive trees. They killed the little children. They killed the unborn. They killed the father. They killed the mother. They killed the journalist. They killed the journalists entire family. They killed all the aunts and uncles. They killed the doctors. They killed the soul of his soul. They killed the groom. They killed the bride. They killed the cats. They killed the elderly people older than their apartheid state. They killed the thousands of memories painted on the walls. They killed 30,000+ Palestinians that we will never get back. [@/ missfalsteenia on X. 01/07/24.]

GRRM and the Medieval Setting (Part One - Daenerys)

ASOIAF, like most high fantasy, takes place in a medieval-esque world. There's medieval aesthetic, technology, and sensibilities. These sensibilities in ASOIAF include misogyny, racism/xenophobia, classism, and the allowance of slavery. These things are objectively bad, however, the fandom is obsessed with trying to justify them. Their argument is that these things aren't actually bad in ASOIAF because that's just how things were in the Medieval period and they're cultural norms. This is far from what GRRM is trying to communicate.

GRRM uses most of his pov characters to criticize the medieval sensibilities and ideas. I'm not going to go into every character, but I will do a few of the main ones in a series. This post is going to focus on Daenerys.

Daenerys' primary arc at this point in the books is her campaign against slavery and ruling Meereen. Obviously, the main issue GRRM condemns in her chapters is the existence of slavery. From Dany's first chapter, we are introduced to the Essosi slave trade from the perspective of someone being sold.

Throughout AGOT, the horrors of slavery are introduced. Pentos keeps their slaves thinly disguised at servants despite their agreement with Braavos, Dany is raped routinely by Drogo, the Dosh Khaleen and Khalasars use enslaved eunuchs as servants and healers, Khalasars raid villages and enslave their people, Drogo's Khalasar rape the Lhazareen women, and Eroeh is gang raped and murdered by Khal Jhaqo and his bloodriders. While ACOK doesn't make a point of showing the horror of slavery, in ASOS and ADWD Dany devotes herself to ending the slave trade in Slaver's Bay, foregoing her original goal of the IT.

GRRM fills Dany's chapters with horrific descriptions of the effects of the Essosi slave trade. He portrays the slavers as cruel and "cartoonishly evil". Despite the criticisms of certain fans who routinely defend Essosi slavers, these portrayals are on purpose.

GRRM does have issues with writing characters of color (many of the Dothraki) as stereotypes who don't have much do differentiate them from each other. However, this doesn't actually apply to the antagonists of Dany's story. Kraznys mo Nakloz, Hizdahr zo Loraq, Galazza Galare, Grazdan mo Eraz, and the other slavers are meant to show just how abominable slavery as an institution is. Their cruelty and inhumanity is a conscious choice to reflect the real world people who did the monstrous things that inspired GRRM's version of slavery.

Moving on from slavery, Dany's arc also addresses the misogyny inherit to the Medieval era. Dany is mocked, underestimated, undermined, and devalued because of her gender. She suffers marital rape and a traumatic miscarriage. Each of these things are portrayed as the injustices they are.

Dany is demeaned by her adversaries not just because of her gender but also because she's a non-conforming woman. The slavers spread rumors of her being a monstrous demon who's driven by her lust for sex and power. She's condemned for being a woman who refused to remain in the position society assigned to her.

GRRM shows the common misogynistic beliefs and methods of Medieval men used to suppress women of the time. He also shows that it's his antagonists who employ the smear tactics and refuse to alter their worldviews because of Dany's gender.

GRRM took the femininity that Dany is demeaned for and turned it into symbols of her strength. She's the Mother of Dragons, Mhysa, the Dragon Queen, Khaleesi, Aegon the Conqueror with Teats.

GRRM touches on racism and xenophobia in Dany's chapters. The Dothraki and other Essosi people are viewed and savages and less important by the Westerosi lords. The Lhazareen are demeaned by the Dothraki and Ghiscari. The Qartheen view themselves as superior to everyone around them.

GRRM gives a unique perspective to Dany concerning regional and cultural divides. Dany is a refugee and an exile who has never known a true home. She's travelled throughout many cities of Essos, come into contact with many different cultures, and has learned to appreciate them.

The Ghiscari culture is the one Dany has the most complicated relationship with, but that's purely because of slavery and her constant struggles with the slavers class. She appreciates the Ghiscari people, and embraces their culture, just as she does with every culture she lives in.

GRRM uses Dany and her openness to show how every society has its flaws and its goodness. Just like his characters, the cultures he's created are flawed and very human. Ultimately, GRRM likes the thought of unity between nations, this is reflected in his writing of Dany's chapters.

Finally, GRRM addresses the classism which is intrinsically tied to feudalism. This is already sort of addressed through the slavery section, but he does also go into the class divide outside of this. First off, through Dany's early life, he examines how, without wealth and familial ties, she and children like her are left defenseless and in poverty.

He shows how it's the lower classes and impoverished people who are most often enslaved. The Meerenese nobles are able to afford feasts while the lower classes starve during the siege of Meereen. The Free Cities are ruled by the wealthy slave masters.

Dany, as I've said many times, was raised in poverty, this informs the way she treats her people. GRRM makes a point to show how everyone, from Dany's Dothraki handmaids to the Ghiscari nobles are allowed to speak in Dany's council meetings. She sits for hours to listen to the cases brought before her by all her subjects, the lowborn, the freedmen, and the nobles. She listens to them and takes their opinions and best interests into consideration.

This is something GRRM has gone out of his way to show in his books. His books are full of lords and kings ignoring the smallfolk and using them as disposable pawns. Dany and a few other characters are specifically written to view the common people as significant. This is meant to be significant.

Dany's story is not meant to be read just as someone conquering for power or a spoiled girl who doesn't care about the economies she disrupting. GOT sent the message that Dany is wrong for going against the status quo and many in the fandom seem to just accept this. Just because GRRM wrote a story set in a world with medieval values doesn't mean we should accept the norm of that world as right. He chose to write characters who are outsiders to criticize the world that ostracized them.

Dany's story is about equality, social change, and freedom. The slavers aren't in the right just because their cultures normalize slavery. The men aren't more worthy than Dany and other women just because Westeros and Essos are misogynistic. It's not ok to be racist or xenophobic towards other cultures just because most cities/regions in Planetos have a superiority complex. Classism isn't acceptable just because the nobility think they're superior because of blood or money.

I have a feeling Ryan leans into Alicents victimhood so bad that we get all these unnecessary shots of alicent looking into the distance in the s2 trailer over important people like Jace and Cregan (who they're probably saving in the later half) because they want Olivia to come out of this an a Lister and use the show to launch her career

I don't feel super comfortable speculating about the actors since I know very little about them. However, I do know that Condal's obsession with Alicent is damaging to the show and will continue to be in future seasons.

Characters have already been sacrificed in the name of giving Alicent more unnecessary screen time. They removed Laena from most episodes and she's only there to marry Daemon and die. They removed Rhaenyra's ladies in waiting so they can focus exclusively on her friendship with Alicent. Helaena is just there in her scenes, any scene where she's meant to be a central character are always overtaken by Alicent. Baela and Rhaena have no distinctions from each other or personalities in general.

I'm completely expecting this trend to continue in the next season. Jace already has very little screen time or established character and we probably aren't going to get anything else until he dies. Cregan is probably going to be made into a minor character in the Dance or he's going to be turned from a complex character to just a war hunger monster.

Meanwhile, instead of seeing the actual conflict of the Dance, we're just going to get scenes of Alicent reacting to news. She's going to stare sadly into the middle distance while doing her pathetic doe eyes. The war itself isn't going to be shown very much, I'm sure, instead Alicent will cry over men doing things and Rhaenyra will randomly revert back to pining after her childhood friend who betrayed her constantly.

My expectations for season two are in hell. Condal just flat out sucks, I disagree with basically all his decisions and his writing is riddled with holes. Alicent is so clearly his favorite, it's like watching D&D obsessing over Sansa all over again.

I must be the minority of the minority here but god... HOTD is a mediocre adaptation, I don't understand people who treat HOTD as the new GOT (when GOT was good) the script of this series is poor, getting close to a poorly made fanfic made by Ryan. The characters are not 1% of what they are in the books (Rhaenyra/Alicent/Helaena/Rhaenys are practically new characters) and yes, it was only the female characters that they did that i think.... GRRM needs to stop letting people ruin his work, I thought he learned from GOT but no...

HOTD is definitely a mediocre adaptation. It falls into the traps of all the subpar and straight up bad adaptations do. It fucks around with character ages, it removes important plot points and characters, it changes characters' motivations and arcs, and it tries to cram too much information and too many events into too short of a run time.

The writing is sloppy or at best mediocre, the actors are good, but they can only do so much with what was written. The fundamental and purposeful misunderstanding of the story of the Dance alone shows how much HOTD has failed as an adaptation.

Actually, they did fuck over some of the male characters; Viserys becoming an old creep when he was in his late twenties in F&B when he married eighteen year old Alicent, Daemon murdering Rhea and marrying a teenage Laena, Laenor abandoning his children willingly. But it all is just a sign of how little Condal and Hess care about the actual story of F&B, just their rhaenicent fanfic.

I think this show wasn't GRRM's call, since HBO had already bought the rights to ASOIAF and it's world. He did have some input, as we see from Aegon's Dream, but clearly not very much.

I think one of the only reasons people pretend HOTD is a "good" adaptation is because the bar is in hell for those. Because it is, at the very least, better than the Eragon and Percy Jackson movies. But better than awful isn't anything close to good. Anon if you're in the minority, then I'm right there with you, HOTD isn't a good show.

Do you think alicent and larys relationship is sexual assault? Because it's what her fans say to defend the fact that she has been practically prostitution, and this put her and rhaenyra on a same level since alicent entertain sexual relationship out of the marriage

No, I don't think it was assault. Alicent chose not only to employ Larys but also chose to feed into his fetish. Alicent is the queen, the second most powerful person in the realm, she could easily get rid of him. She could literally have him executed for his sexual advances. But she chooses to continue this dynamic with him because it helps her cause.

Is Alicent happy about doing this? Well, no, but Alicent isn't happy about anything. After all, how can one be happy if they refuse to try to find happiness? Larys is a piece of shit, yes, but Alicent is continuously making the choice to ally with him, knowing how he likes to be repaid.

Larys is a piece of shit, yes, but he's not assaulting or raping Alicent. It's a professional interaction, just like sex work is (I'm not calling Alicent a "whore", I'm just saying she's engaging in a form of prostitution). She's doing sexual favors for a man in exchange for information while married.

The irony is that in terms of the Faith's morality, Alicent is on the same level as Rhaenyra. For all of Alicent's false piety and obsession with "honor and decency", she's stooped to the level she accuses Rhaenyra of being and enables men to do far worse than Rhaenyra ever did.

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

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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.