HOTD Has Made Many Interesting Choices In Their Adaptation Of The Story Of The Dance. One Of Their Favorite

HOTD has made many interesting choices in their adaptation of the story of the Dance. One of their favorite excuses for many of their questionable choices is "feminism". Why did they remove Alicent's ambitions and autonomy? Feminism. Why is Rhaenyra less proactive and hesitant? Feminism. Why are Daemon and Otto the primary active agents in the lead up to the Dance? Well women can't be in the wrong or violent, so feminism.

These choices are the farthest thing from feminist; they're sexist, end of story. Every decision surrounding the women of the Dance reeks of benevolent sexism. One of the most obviously sexist decisions made is the purposeful removal of female cooperation and friendship.

Rhaenyra in F&B has many female allies and friends. Her ladies in waiting loved her so much, one of them, Lady Elinda Massey gouged out her eyes at the sight of Rhaenyra's death. Lady Jeyne Arryn, Lady Alysanne Blackwood, and Lady Sabitha Frey/Vypren are just a few examples of ladies who fought for Rhaenyra (Alysanne and Sabitha literally fought in battles). Lady Fell chose death over betraying her oath to Rhaenyra.

Now, we haven't had any opportunity to meet most of these women I listed in the show. Lady Fell was portrayed as she was written in the book, a very minor character who simply foreshadowed how most of the realm would choose Rhaenyra over Aegon. Elinda Massey, however was reduced to an unnamed servant, not even a lady in waiting. Her treatment is an echo of one of my biggest issues with HOTD, the treatment of Laena and Rhaenys.

Laena was Rhaenyra's dearest friend in the book, in fact it's implied that they had a romantic relationship. Whether you believe that telling or not, it's undeniable that she and Laena were extremely close. They chose to betroth their children while they were infants, Rhaenyra flew to Laena's bedside during her final labor, and she stood vigil with Daemon over Laena's body.

All of that closeness and intimacy was removed in the show to make room for Alicent. So let's break that down: they removed a long and healthy relationship between two women and replaced it with a short-lived (in terms of screen time) friendship that quickly fell apart and turned into an intense rivalry. Reinforcing an old stereotype of female friendship: that it is entrenched in rivalry and toxicity and can quickly be turned to enmity. Alicent was so quickly and easily turned against Rhaenyra and it's even implied that she was jealous of Rhaenyra long before they became enemies.

Rhaenys in the book was an ardent supporter of Rhaenyra. She happily claimed Jace, Luke, and Joff as her grandsons, advised Rhaenyra to go to war, and gladly flew against Aegon and Aemond.

Meanwhile, in the show, Rhaenys was turned into one of Rhaenyra's rivals. She constantly challenged Rhaenyra's ideas, dismissed her as a naive child, disliked her children, and even considered backing the Greens. On top of that, they turned her into yet another "peaceful" woman. She advises against the war, and seems to continue to do so in season two. Rhaenys is virtually unrecognizable in the show. They chose to take a woman who tried to prevent a younger woman being wronged by the patriarchy the same way she was and turned her into a bitter woman who resents Rhaenyra (for most of the show).

HOTD claimed to have wanted to tell a story about how the patriarchy pits women against each other. That's all very well and good, but that's not what they actually did. They took a story where a woman is wrongfully usurped because of her gender and is supported by many other women and turned it into another tired female rivalry story.

Rhaenyra has no female friends aside from Alicent. Laena was turned from her dearest friend/lover into simply a rival for Daemon's affection. Rhaenys was turned from a supportive mentor and defender to someone who took out her resentment for the system on a fourteen year old who only starts to support her when she's proven "peaceful".

HOTD chose to perpetuate a harmful stereotype about women: that we constantly view each other as threats/rivals and can't have truly healthy relationships with other women. Rhaenyra had women who supported and cared for her in the book, in the show all she has is Alicent. A woman who abused and undermined her for ten years, raised her children to hate her, and usurped her. Every change HOTD made in the name of "feminism" solidified just how sexist it really is.

I wish y’all would be real as to why Rhaenys behaved towards Rhaenyra that way. Yes it the show writing but Rhaenys has been wronged by Rhaenyra in every way when she slept with Daemon at her daughter’s funeral. When she & Daemon “killed” Rhaenys’ son. When she used Rhaena to gain Rhaenys’ support over the Driftmark succession. You lot can do all that yapping about the show but at least interact with it in good faith.

Also Laena wasn’t sidelined cause of Alicent or Rhaenicent, she was sidelined for Daemyra (something y’all clearly support since y’all claim that Daemon was never in love with Laena in F&B). I hate Alicent but y’all gon have to stop blaming that woman for everything. Alicent didn’t forced Rhaenyra disrespect Laena in her own home.

Either anon's talking about this post I wrote OR this post. @pessimisticpigeonsworld wrote.

A)

Anon, why are you trying to make an argument about Rhaenys' attitude against Rhaenyra as a someone who occupies the position she wished she was in by using events that occurred after the ones I describe to support my thoughts about Rhaenyra's rewrite in HotD?!

I described & focused on Rhaenys' behavior in episode 2, not episode 7.

B)

In the post where I talked about Rhaenys' treatment against Rhaenyra, Rhaenyra & Daemon haven't even kissed. Rhaenyra wasn't married yet, and neither had their first kids yet. I am well aware with why Rhaenys doesn't like Rhaenyra after episode 7, I never said she was stupid or absolutely wrong for her feelings there.

I, however, was talking about Rhaenys coming out gate trying to lecture Rhaenyra and fans passing it off as "wisdom" when it isn't. You can be well aware of how men will never/be unlikely to ever "accept" a woman as their ruler, but:

Rhaenyra already knows that because she's not stupid nor that mentally-sheltered, so how useful was this "advice"?

advice is instructions for how to perform an act(s) or how to observe certain phenomena for a particular purpose; what about Rhaenys saying "you'd do well to remember no onw wants you, men will rebel against you" sounds like advice and not a complaint and prediction wrapped in one?

Now it's not entirely what Rhaenys says, but mainly how she does and why. This is what Rhaenys says:

Quite the opposite. Whether it's to my daughter or to someone else's, your father will remarry sooner than late. His new wife will produce new heirs, and chances are, better than not, that one of those will be male. And when that boy comes of age and your father has passed, the men of the realm will expect him to be heir, not you. Because that is the order of things. ........................................................................... Do you remind your father's men of that [that Rhaenyra will be queen and that they swore to her] as you carry their cups? Here is the hard truth, which no one else has the heart to tell you. Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne. And your father is no fool.

Rhaenyra is just standing there. Rhaenys began their conversation.

Rhaenys had been watching Viserys and Laena speak to each other in the gardens, obviously anxious about what a new marriage for her father would mean for her position as well as very likely missing Aemma. NO ONE HAS TO TELL RHAENYRA A THING ABOUT WHAT VISERYS' MARRIAGE TO ANOTHER WOMAN MEANS! The awkwardness is that everyone knows she knows and she know they know and she's expected to chin-up, present herself royally in front of others, etc. while still sometimes grieving. BC apparently she has no other friends at court, no ladies in waiting, (and has never seemingly even approached Laena, the girl who is supposed to be Rhaenyra's greatest friend as she was in the original story)...

This is not how rational, well-intentioned, and constructive communication works. What was the purpose of that initial question that determined the tone and value of the entire conversation? If show!Rhaenys were actually smart, she'd know all this as just basic observation. So if we say she does have a brain, then she says the first question as a rhetorical question just to draw Rhaenyra into an confrontation. Instead, Rhaenys calls her out on emotions that any normal person in Rhaenyra's position would feel, poking the wound.

What's funny is that even if Rhaenys were giving advice in good faith and not just to express resentment, she could still "poke the wound" in a way to get Rhaenyra to focus on thinking constructively OR to distract her & give her new perspective. Anger is a good way to get someone out of their funk.

Use the words about Viserys going to marry again because that's "the way" of things as way to segue into asking what Rhaenyra thought she could do or was thinking of doing about the scenario where Viserys remarried and had sons.

Or this could have been a scene where these two commiserate: Rhaenys askes that question, Rhaenyra either doesn't answer and Rhaenys goes on to how she reacted when she was voted against with some sort of anecdote OR Rhaenyra answers and the two remark on men ruling the realm, where Rhaenyra even could have acknowledged that Rhaenys should have been queen or would have been a great one.

Instead, we get hostility, and like how--in the 2nd post I already linked and reblogged--this on top of the Laenyra erasure//quick blowup of the nonsensical Rhaenicent relationship perpetuates a stereotype of female friendships being unstable and unfulfilling because:

we constantly view each other as threats/rivals and can't have truly healthy relationships with other women [female friendship is] entrenched in rivalry and toxicity and can quickly be turned to enmity

What offense did Rhaenyra give to Rhaenys for Rhaenys to pick at her? How does this make someone more amenable to you trying to give them unsolicited "advice"?! Again, epi2!Rhaenyra hadn't "killed" anyone atp. Is not even lusty after Daemon yet. Again, a conversation that began with Rhaenya trying to confront Rhaenys instead of actually drawing her into a conversation where Rhaenyra could be receptive to a real attempt at advice.

And later on in that post, I talked about how Rhaenys' words to Alicent (not Rhaenyra!) is further proof of how she is not whatt HotD or many fans claims she is, which is "wise". You can't be "wise" and then foist a lot of your resentment on another girl who is in the place you wished you were. "Petty" and "wise" are antithetical.

C)

1.

I was not talking about Rhaenys Laenor left of his own accord, he could've stayed. But he wanted to leave his parents behind. So you, and I mean you can't say that show!Rhaenyra took anything away from Rhaenys. Rhaenys can feel those things, because she doesn't now. We have no excuse as the viewers, though, to feel and think like her.

2.

As for Rhaena, you say:

When she used Rhaena to gain Rhaenys’ support over the Driftmark succession.

a)

Rhaenys obviously refused to give Rhaenyra an answer:

Rhaenyra: I wondered for many an hour what your purpose was in coming here. Whether you'd speak for or against the suit brought by Ser Vaemond. But then, I realized... you intend to advocate for yourself. (thunder rumbling) This is no fair proceeding. It is a trap set by the Queen and the Hand, I'd wager, to proclaim my son illegitimate. Rhaenys: Yet you did worse than that with Laenor. Did you not? Rhaenyra: I loved your son. You may not believe it to be true, but I did. I did not order his death. Nor was I complicit in it. I swear this to you. (pause) I'll make you an offer. Back Luke's claim, and let us betroth Laena's children to mine. Baela will be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and her sons will be heirs to the throne. Rhaena will rule in Driftmark, and... the seat will pass to her and Lucerys's children in time. Rhaenys: A generous offer. Or a desperate one. Rhaenyra: What does it matter? Rhaenys: You are right in this, at least. It does not matter. You can bargain with me all you like. Bring my granddaughter with you to soften my resolve. But tomorrow, the Hightowers land their first blow. They force you to your knees... and I must stand alone.

So idk why you are making as if Rhaenyra succeeded in convincing Rhaenys to support Lucerys' claim through that move in particular.

Rhaenyra had to cry to Viserys' paper-thin cask of a body to get him up later. And Rhaenys really speaks about Corlys' wish for Lucerys after Viserys finally shows up and beats back against the greens' running roughshod. Bad writing aside, this is the intent. We were supposed to be as anxious as Rhaenyra, holding our breath as to how Rhaenys would choose to answer in the hearing.

b)

Don't Corlys AND Rhaenys approach Viserys with their daughter with their pitch of joining their houses, strengthening those two houses? Was that not business, as Rhaenya does in her offer to marry Baela to Jacaerys so Baela becomes Queen and Rhaen rules jointly with Lucerys in their own proposed marriage? Laena's marriage to Viserys was for Corlys' ambition, not Rhaenys' satisfaction, while here Rhaenya is at least trying to appeal to Rhaenys directly. And neither nor Rhaena were going to lose anything in this deal, but stood to have a lot to gain without having to be so young as Laena was to get it, with men the same age or just a bit younger than their own parents.

c)

I'm sorry that the show made it seem like Rhaenyra or anyone with their exact circumstances made it seem like a ploy to people, but realistically we know Rhaenys would have visited Rhaena often on Dragonstone and vice versa.

Look up Dragonstone and Driftmark on a map, you'll see a dragon ride is practically light work for Rhaenys and a boat to Driftmark is not so big a deal for Rhaena.

Yes, even with Rhaenys being left to be the overseer of Driftmark in Corlys' absence. Unless you're saying that in HotD these two locations are so far apart Rhaenys nor Rhaena could spare a day of a visitation to each other, this is the fact. Even if HotD's universe had these locations far apart, you best believe that Rhaenys could and would still fly back and forth. Bad writing.'

d)

The context matters here, too. In the context of Rhaenys believing Daemon & Rhaenyra were both somehoe responsible for Laenor's "death"....If the writers of HotD decide to make Rhaenyra perform such a transparent act knowing/not knowing how strange it would be for Rhaenyra to try to convince Rhaenys when she knows Rhaenys blames her for Laenor's "death"...they are deliberately making a situation that was really didn't need to be as mortifying as it was.

Without the Laenor-death thing, this could have been the scenario instead: Rhaenyra had already come with the entire family she & Daemon raised on Dragonstone, wouldn't it have been weird if she left Rhaena behind? Especially since she knew Rhaenys would come with Baela? Yeah she's making an opportunity of Rhaenys getting to see her granddaughter/Rhaenys' happiness, but is she really "using" Rhaena nefariously? She's not threatening Rhaenys with the possibility of not allowing Rhaena to see her again or keeping her hostage. What Rhaenyra was doing was more like someone bringing their kid to their parents' place not just because they had something to pick up and had to bring said kid, but to also ask their parent for advice or anything really. Whether or not the stakes are high for the parent/asker in Rhaenyra-Rhaenys' case, there simply was no malicious intent, a malicious effect, nor any disrespect. You're saying you never did something similar with a person you knew didn't like you or was angry with you?

3.

I also find it hilarious how you protest against Rhaenyra's actions here and not Rhaenys' episode 2 ones where she PURPOSEFULLY gets into an argument to just throw her angst onto Rhaenyra. Because at least Rhaenyra is trying to get shit done and benefit all parties involved instead of tearing people down!

Because let's thin for a second here...what if Rhaenys had advocated for herself to become the hea dof House Velaryon? Who's the heir she's ruling for? Would the house itself accept her as its head with Corlys still out there and no confirmation of his demise? Neither Baela nor Rhaena were named his heir in any will. But more importantly, the greens would have still backed Vaemond...because he is a Velaryon an and they are trying to substantiate Aegon's claim to the throne as a man, and they anticipate obtaining a very loyal man in the new hypothetical Vaemond-head of the house with the largest fleet. It would have been better for Rhaenys to not arrive at the Keep at all and try to just takeover Driftmark herself, but then we will have to really think about the house' reaction & whether or not she'd risk the fallout. I don't see this Rhaenys doing that.

So much for "wise" Rhaenys. [post by @rhaenyragendereuphoria]

4. *SLIGHT DIGRESSION*

Show!Rhaenyra was under stress in the book to get Luke Driftmark, but it was a choice to make her that subdued and rejected. I think we should also go back and really see how everything was shot, the color grade, Emma's posture during and after her talk with Rhaenys. It's a picture of almost accepted dejection, a mood of quiet desperation.

Where is the impatience and indignation that matches the "proud" woman GRRM describes in So Spake Martin?:

She was very proud and stubborn ............................................... Though Rhaenyra could be charming, she was quick to anger and never forgot a slight.

Read that description, consider how Rhaenyra feeds Vaemond's corpse to Syrax, and let me know if you truly think that this change into a paled and mortified waif is a good change? Not because you can't be sad, but because Rhaenyra has been converted away from her passionate original Adult!self into a dourer, less self asserting person.

I really don't care for the explanation of her changing over the years because it is certainly not a guarantee that a person gets more..reserved even in the face of Rhaenyra went through. This was still a choice the writers decided to go with to make her more palatable to more people who are looking for a more "peace for peace sake" element. Their/the writers' trying to create a story for that doesn't make the fact that Rhaenyra was much fierier than this away. Again, GRRM describes who Rhaenyra was OUTSIDE OF F&B!

Also, she has had 6 years of happy times with Daemon by the beginning of the 8th episode, we couldn't get Rhaenyra make at least some snide comebacks at Vaemond?!

Okay, let's say that F&B is unreliable, two canons, etc....why are we acyting this is the best or only way to write how the Driftmark claim and Rhaenyra's bearing?!! Why are we (the HotD writers) choosing to make Rhaenyra seem to have so many helpless images of tolerant agency-lessness? Why are we choosing to make Rhaenys so hostile form the beginning to the very last episode, only when Rhaenyra shows her what she thinks is good for the "realm" and (when the war with the greens was inevitable if the green susurped Rhaenyra and she is expected to at least plan how to get it back without/as little bloodshed as possible)? Why are we making Rhaenyra so destitute in female connections when there's proof of otherwise in the original story?!

Why are we choosing to rely on one negative stereotype of women...to avoid another perceived negative stereotype against of women?!

And once more, just bc the book is unreliable in terms of who's telling what, how, and for what reason (Septon Eustace dislike of Rhaenyra with the deal with her bleeding from the throne and other things, Mushroom's hypersexualizing and objectifying her while seemingly favorable, Gyldayn's sexism towards Nettles, etc.) doesn't mean that characterizations, events, dates, appearances in Fire & Blood are totally subject to interpretation and absolute changes. Otherwise we can say that Daemon or Viserys were totally different people and re-characterize Daemon as a scholar--a Samwell Tarly-- for life who never hurt a life and only went to war to supervise command over the Stepstones wars from a tent!! Or we could make Nettles into someone who insults everyone she meets after finally getting a dragon, high on a victory she never got to have. Or we could make Mysaria into a crybaby and have her controlled by some john with aspirations for throne instead of a woman who independently worked with Daemon to do horrible shit, and that's how she becomes even more victimized into her eventual death. We could then write Otto to be the brash, unsecretive agent pushing Viserys through glaringly obvious intimidation insteadof the staid politician and manipulator that he was.

Why is it that with these women, we're okay with them becoming their polar opposites?!!! Why are women take with being the "voice of reason" and men show destructive anger, or just hot anger and indignation? Why are women the ones keeping males' "natural" warring in check as if they themselves have not also sprung for wars in real life?! Why are women in HotD (more often than not) the failed keepers of men and the ones to temper their male aggression & ambition?

The final paragraph of the Introduction of the anthology Dangerous Women, where GRRM wrote "The Princess and the Queen". Which is the precursor of Fire & Blood, and relates essentially the Blacks and the Greens chapter of F&B:

5.

You:

Also Laena wasn’t sidelined cause of Alicent or Rhaenicent, she was sidelined for Daemyra (something y’all clearly support since y’all claim that Daemon was never in love with Laena in F&B). I hate Alicent but y’all gon have to stop blaming that woman for everything. Alicent didn’t forced Rhaenyra disrespect Laena in her own home.

1.

Watsonianly: Daemyra still likely happens in Fire & Blood, before Daemon's married to Laena...so...idk what to tell you.

Doylisticaly: GRRM has said Daemon was written for Rhaenyra and that this was one of the thing he loved most about Daemon.

They were literally written to be each others' great loves and Daemon & Rhaenyra were always meant to propogate the Targ line. If we argue that Laena was sidelined here, we'd have to say she was sidelined for the entire Targaryen bloodline leading up to Dany, you know. Then we;d have to say Mysaria and Nettles, Alicent and Aemond and Aegon II, etc. all were. Nah.

2.

I actually argued that he was in love with Laena...but it was a different relationship than the one with Rhaenyra (and all the 3 posts that one gives). Not the same sort of passion. Another post by pessimisticpigeon HERE more explains it, too.

He's starving because of a war a siege and on top of that because of the oppressor don't want to let food reach this baby and millions more in front of the world which some government's are supporting this monsters action

alicent is a “childbride at 15” and suddenly her growth is stunted forever and she can’t be held accountable for her actions but luke was “nearly a man” when he died at 13 so therefore he deserved to die and has to answer for the “sin” of taking his uncles eye out? mkay.

Rhaenys killing smallfolk is so…. Like wtf, and then people be like “Kinslaying is the worst crime there is! She’d be stupid to do it!”, first HOTD never introduces the notion of kinslaying, and killing hundreds of people is a crime too! She is already a criminal for what she did, why stop halfway if you’re going full murderer ? If you’re gonna commit a decapitation worthy offence, then you might as well kill the people who are a legitimate threat to your future great grandchildren and granddaughters themselves.

Them coming out saying that Rhaenys didn’t kill them because it’s not her war…. Lol, it was her war the moment she agreed to betroth her granddaughters to Rhaenyra’s sons. Her family (the little that is left of it) is in legitimate danger and she passed up the opportunity to kill people who WERE ACTIVELY PLANNING ON KILLING HER FAMILY ANYWAYS. (Yes, I know it was mostly Rhaenyra and Daemon but Jace and Luke and Joff would have to go too and Daemon is the father of Rhaena and Baela, the twins have legal claim to the throne, so no ways they letting that slide either).

Yeah, this has been my argument as well. I will never not be angry about this damned episode, esp this scene.

My biggest gripe about this fool of an episode is that if Rhaenys says she doesn't want to "be involved" in "their" war is that in ANY iteration of these events where Baela & Rhaena exist without turning this into a full-fledged AU like sweetestpopcorn's "The Black and the Greens", Rhaenys will ALWAYS be "involved"...

because those girls are DAEMON'S DAUGHTERS and ONE OF THEM LIVES WITH DAEMON AND RHAENYRA!!! And this Rhaenys constantly has said she primarily cares about her own kids and grandchildren, not Viserys, Daemon, or Rhaenyra...so what gives?!

In a world where these strategy-minded people would, you know, think strategy...Rhaenys practically spoon-fed them a public reason to go to war and assume a protective-justice persona!!!

To further paint the blacks as violence mongerers or even just shit-starters, even with those killed being peasants, bc the sheer number of people killed simultaneously who live around you & around your castle who have historically been a part of some Faith-led attacks against the crown (Aenys, Maegor, Rhaena & her brother Aegon--the Poor Fellows) is astronomical. Killing that many smallfolk doesn't pay and rather makes for a larger number of angrier smallfolk with a reason to be angrier than average. You'd think she'd realize that and idk, maybe not kill dozens if not thousands of smallfolk.

Otto will always look to them as possible rivals because of that connection to the person he thinks will likely always contend with him/anyone for power, espe after he includes the younger boys' hostage-taking in his terms in episode 10. Aside from Otto--who had a grip on Alicent's decision-making until it came to Rhaenyra (as if Rhaenyra doesn't come with her kids, who Alicent has accepted the risk of exile or total ruination for 10 years, but I digress).

And Alicent--by the next season's 2 trailers--appears to go back to Otto as a consultant and guide as to how the greens will face the blacks, so we can't argue that she will not escape his influence even with her allowing herself to understand his manipulativeness. She obviously didn't want a war and has tried to stave it off by holding Rhaenys hostage and sending that damned page to Rhaenyra with Otto's terms--that is if she actually sent it--she also sets up a possible war through usurping Rhaenyra in the first place! And Alicent isn't actually fighting against Rhaenyra for the sake of "the realm" but for for her own position as the mother to a possible king/wife of a past king and the lives of her kids.

Even in the book--if you are inclined to believe that she believes this and/or has sincerely taken Otto's fear of Daemon as her own maybe bc similarly to the show he instilled in her that fear of him--Alicent brings up Daemon's supposed bloodthirstiness and inevitable murder of her kids as reason to usurp Rhaenyra ("The Blacks and the Greens"):

As for the kinslaying part, they refused to insert Rhaenyra's lines of that, instead making her grab Otto's pendant and throwing it off the bridge in a much more flaccid version of what she does with Orwyle's chains in the book. Without the context of her giving Aegon that chance to withdraw AND criticizing Orwyle taking the green side and basically going against his own maester code of following traditions and laws, show!Rhaenyra's protests against Otto is more losing the desired cool & careful, wise reservedness that HotD already favors over original "proud" book!Rhaenyra. And I think that it's to give the Dance story this faux measure of "balance" that ozymalek talks about HERE:

People often argue whether HOTD showrunners are biased in favor of Team Black or Team Green. I think the answer to this question can't be encapsulated within the context of "bias", at least not fully. They are biased for both and neither at the same time and it's difficult to explain, but I will try to articulate how I see it. The Dance era in "Fire and Blood" is something that will fundamentally cause the feelings of cognitive dissonance. I think this is why people initially disliked this book when it first came out. It did not provide easy answers, it was written as a historical account, the in-universe historians were clearly biased. People, however, had trouble realizing who the historians are biased for and against. Team Green would have you think that "F&B" is biased against the Greens, because their allegiance as maesters clearly being to Hightowers notwithstanding, they could not evade simple historical facts: that most of the kingdom supported Rhaenyra, that Greens were horrendously misogynistic and that her usurpation was clearly wrong. That's why, approaching it from the "choose your favorite war criminal" point of view, it was difficult for Greens to accept that their preferred side is so cartoonishly evil - obviously bias must have been involved, even though the only pro-Black narrator of F&B is Mushroom, the rest are Greens. The maester's anti-Targaryen bias, however, manages to sneak in and mess with the reader's balance, causing said cognitive dissonance. It's hard to deal with it as a reader, let alone as a showrunner who's trying to adapt a story in which not everything is set in stone. They incorrectly assumed that, because they are constantly forced to question what is happening in the story, the bias is with the underlying idea that there was a correct side. As such, they assumed that all the inconsistencies result from maesters not choosing to view it that way. Ryan Condal repeatedly stated that he does not want watchers to pick sides, while George RR Martin embraces it and even encourages it (and I think that he himself has picked the Blacks). Such is our nature as human beings. So they decided that they have to balance the scales. Because Greens are poorly developed, they added more characterization for them that contradicts their book personas (abused child bride meow meow Alicent who is clueless about the plans that in the books she herself set in motion, for example) while simultaneously taking the characterization AWAY from team Black members. Rhaena and Baela barely have any lines, and though this may be the case of simple racism, it's pretty telling that they ignored the fact that Baela is tomboyish and has short hair. Rheanyra herself is so toned down that she does not resemble her book counterpart in the slightest, making her seem weak, stupid and undecided. Daemon straight up becomes a villain and a wife murderer rather than a throughoutly gray character (book!Rhea Royce unambiguously dies after a hawking accident while Daemon is still fighting in the Stepstones); that's because Team Black was in a desperate need for a corrupting influence in order to balance the scales. But some Greens aren't spared from this treatment either. Otto is made much worse than he was in the books, he straight up pimps out his teenage daughter so that he can elevate House Hightower. While Aegon is also a sex pest in the books, showing him openly rape a lowborn woman was a risky decision (as was the not very subtle implication that he rapes Helaena as well); not to mention that the child fighting pits come from Mushroom, whose entire gimmick is making shit up. So neither side is really spared from being villified and whitewashed, depending on whom we look. The showrunners were fully committed to making choosing sides a confusing process, making the cognitive dissonance of this story to be even stronger. This is why they aren't really biased for or against anyone.

Today (April 8) is The International Romani Day. The Romani people (also called Rromani, Romany, Roma) are Europe's largest ethnic minority with an estimated 10-14 million people, though knowing exact figures is hard because the Romani often live on the fringes of society and many Romanis choose not to disclose their ethnic identity. The Romani are unique among peoples in the sense that they've never identified with any territory or claimed they have a homeland where they came from. Their origin was somewhat a mystery for a long time (the slur "gypsy" comes from Europeans thinking they came from Egypt) but later genetic research has traced their ancestry to northern India and more specifically to the casteless Dalits. The Romani arrived in southeastern Europe by the 1300s and in western Europe by the 1400s, and in modern times the live in every continent.

The Romani experience a very high level of discrimination and marginalization and are among the most persecuted groups of people in the world. The entire history of the Romani people has been filled with ostracization, deportations, slavery, and systematic abuse ranging from segregation to forced sterilizations. Anti-Romani sentiment reached its peak during the Holocaust when 25%-50% of the European Romani were killed in the genocide called Porajmos, and some countries' Romani populations were destroyed completely. After the war the communist Central and Eastern European states tried to forcibly assimilite and suppress their Roma populations. In the present day anti-romani racism continues to be extremely common, with the studies showing most Europeans (especially Eastern Europeans) have unfavorable views of Romani people, hate crimes against them being common, and many of them living in poverty and marginalized.

People have many misconceptions about the Romani that often trace all the way back to the Middle Ages. The Romani are often confused with other itinerant groups like Irish travellers which are culturally and ethnically a completely separate group. Despite being almost synonymous with the nomadic lifestyle most Romani nowadays are not migratory, and with those who are it's often not by choice but because of persecution or homelessness. Most Romani are Christians or Muslims and they don't usually practice witchcraft, and if they do it's never to try to curse of hex anyone. There is a prevailing conception that Romanis are seductive and hypersexual despite that Romani communities tend to be fairly sexually conservative. Fetishization harms especially Roma women who are often victims of sexual violence. While it may be true that there's more crime among the Romani populations (there are conflicting studies about this) majority of Romanis are not thiefs or otherwise criminals, and it's important to understand that the crime is a direct result of poverty and deprivation, with it often being almost impossible for the Romani people to get jobs or higher education and being generally rejected by the society around them. The Romani themselves are frequently victims of crime, for example being extremely overrepresentated among the trafficked people.

Despite all this, the Roma people have persisted for hundreds of years and managed to retain their culture and identity. The Romani populations around the world have very diverse cultures and traditions but have many similarities too. A very high value placed on the family and deep love that the Romani people have for each other is something i think has helped them to survive. Despite all the challenges i'm optimistic about the future and i believe that the Romani will continue to survive and the things will get better even though it may take time.