If I Am Killed, Write About Me And Tell The World About My Dreams

“If I am killed, write about me and tell the world about my dreams”

The martyr, Reem Mahmoud Abu Daya. Reem's greatest fear was not death itself, but rather being remembered only as a statistic after being killed in the Israeli aggression.

She often told her friend Mohammed, "If I am killed, write about me and tell the world about my dreams. Tell them that I had undergone LASIK surgery a few months ago and started seeing Gaza with my own two eyes.

Tell them that I want to buy a camera to capture the beauty of Gaza."

Reem Mahmoud Abu Daya is not just a number; she will be remembered. Reem, along with her family, was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on January 7, 2024.

Those who were once oppressed under an Apartheid regime have stepped up to help those being oppressed under another one.

Meanwhile, the so-called "free" world is still trying to find ways to justify "standing with" and defending Israel's rogue racist Apartheid regime.

They should feel deep shame. They don't. But they all should.

“Rhaenyra wants to be the exception, not the rule.”

Did you, perhaps, skip the part where she’s literally usurped and forced into the bloodiest civil war Westeros had seen up to that point in history?

She wasn’t even allowed to be the exception, which is kinda the whole point.

Every Arya & Lyanna parallel: → harrenhal

LYANNA

Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty's laurel in Lyanna's lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.

—  A Game of Thrones, Eddard XV

The king was wroth, and even sent his son the dragon prince to seek the man, but all they ever found was his painted shield, hanging abandoned in a tree.

—  A Storm of Swords, Bran II

"The tourney Lord Whent staged at Harrenhal beside the Gods Eye, in the year of the false spring. A notable event. [...] "But that was the tourney when he crowned Lyanna Stark as queen of love and beauty!" said Dany. 

—  A Storm of Swords, Daenerys IV

ARYA

It wasn't Harren, Arya wanted to say, it was me. She had killed Chiswyck with a whisper, and she would kill two more before she was through. I'm the ghost in Harrenhal, she thought. And that night, there was one less name to hate.

—  A Clash of Kings, Arya VII

Barefoot surefoot lightfoot, she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal.

— A Clash of Kings, Arya IX

I'm not an evil child, she thought, I am a direwolf, and the ghost in Harrenhal. She put her broomstick back in its hiding place and followed him from the godswood.

—  A Clash of Kings, Arya IX

"aegon is an interesting and complex character" imagine finding a character who is an abuser/rapist " interesting" what is your morality to find a character like that complex? "all the characters are bad people" yes but I don't see anyone calling Ramsay Bolton interesting or complex. TG stans are so weird, they keep making these stupid excuses for aegon just because Tom is a good looking guy i think....Like Aegon all you want but accept that he is a horrible person, don't make excuses just to not feel wrong for liking a character like that

A character having an abusive mother (yes, Alicent abused him, even before he was raping women) and negligent father isn't exactly an original backstory. Because of this the characters/antagonists with it need to be well written or at least have more to them to make them be actually complex. There are interesting characters with the same backstory traits as Aegon, but they have more substance to their characters; their more than just "my mom doesn't like me and my dad doesn't care :(".

That is a tragic childhood, but if someone never grows past this and uses it constantly excuse their shitty actions (like rape), they loose any sympathy, for good reason. Aegon isn't a complex character, he's a bland trope played by an attractive man. The only deviation from the trope is Aegon's whole "I don't want it :(" thing, which is basically just him not wanting responsibility. Yeah, someone can like that trope, everyone has favorites, for antagonists and protagonists alike. However, people calling him "complex" or sympathizing with him are blatantly wrong.

Aegon is perpetually infantilized by the show and the fans and it's just so frustrating. Aegon isn't a child, he's a grown ass man, who rapes servant girls, rapes his wife, hates his family, and doesn't want any responsibility. Honestly, Ramsay is a better antagonist than him, because at least Ramsay is fully committed. D&D weren't interested in trying to make him "sympathetic" (probably one of the only good things I'll ever say about them).

Aegon is a rapist, a negligent father, his brother's bully, and an awful ruler. There's nothing redeeming in his character, the only thing close to that is his reluctance to take the throne, something he quickly lost once he got a taste of the power. Anyone who sympathizes with him or likes him needs to help, Condal and Hess included.

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.