Fb - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

— on rhaena’s journey

dawn comes after the darkness, and with it the promise that what has been torn by the sea is not lost. …

In the quiet after the storm, I hear you whisper, 'Daughter, do not linger where you are. Take up your needle and your thread, and go see to the mending...’

— Lisa Wingate, The Prayer Box (Carolina Heirlooms #1)

/ Ryan Condal, House of the Dragon / GRRM, Fire and Blood / beabadoobee, she plays bass / Raphael Bob-Waksberg, BoJack Horseman / Margaret Atwood, Negotiating with the Dead / Jennifer S. Cheng, So We Must Meet Apart - August 24, 2018 / unknown / unknown / David Beniof & Dan Weiss, Game of Thrones / unknown / Louisa May Alcott, Little Women / Stanisław Chlebowski, Tsar Peter I and his court / @ Kitty_RaccoonOwO on twt, Rhaena and Morning /

Oh please give me a break this is by far one of the most out there takes I’ve read on this app so far. I think what most fail to grasp is it’s not Rhaenyra most team green fans were saying would want to harm the green side it’s daemon. Daemon had a clear hatred for the hightowers even openly mocking Otto at small council meetings on the share chances that he did attend them hand in open court. Otto may have installed into Alicent that Rhaenyra might want to harm her children if she came to the throne but didn’t driftmark really cement that for her. Also wasn’t daemon the one who almost killed Alicent’s brother at a tourney causing almost deathly severe injuries to her brother why wouldn’t she be afraid that he would do that to her if given a chance or even her children.

Her son was maimed and Rhaenyra asked he be “sharply questioned” over an insult to see where he heard such a slander as if it wasn’t obvious to anyone. Just hearing the word and having a pretty clear idea of what it means when you connect the dots it’s will be clear to anyone. But back to my main post about driftmark. Alicent’s husband the king and the father of the four children they had together instead punishing lucerys for his clear actions. He instead insisted that they apologized to one another. Sure in the books he was calling them tons of names I will not deny that. But is it really that bad to escalate a situation to that extreme with a weapon he could’ve died. Alicent saw on that day that no matter what it will always be Rhaenyra and her children who are his main priorities when it comes to things.

And why wouldn’t Alicent raise her children to fear that one day if Rhaenyra ascended the throne she would hurt them. She was making it pretty clear she wouldn’t be afraid to order the further maiming of a ten year old boy not just any ten year old boy her own brother.

Now please people if we’re going to make takes like these let’s atleast see things from both perspectives.

It absolutely gets me that the whole thing about Rhaneyra putting her siblings to the sword was made up by Otto, Rhaenyra did nothing to indicate that she would; Alicent just fixated on it like- how do they forget that they literally pulled that crock of shit out of thin air? 😭

it gets me too, especially show-wise. the only time rhaenyra shows any bit of fire against her siblings is during the driftmark incident, where it is blatantly obvious to anyone with a brain that she was bluffing when asking for aemond to be sharply questioned. granted, should she have done it? no. is she also a mother trying her best to protect her kids? and not being a super uber-perfect person in the process? yes to both. this is yet another change from the book i don't like, considering alicent demands luke's eye in retribution first, and rhaenyra retaliates against that rather than starting it.

i'm also adding some significant points that make no sense in the greater context if alicent truly thought her children's lives were endangered; which is how she actively antagonizes rhaenyra. in both medias. she raises her children to hate rhaenyra, to view their nephews as inferior and subhuman to them due to their blood, she instills fear for their lives as a part of their everyday activities, she tells her children that aegon will be king no matter what (which is treason, so she doesn't seem to care that badly about her children being found out as participants of those efforts). she does not act like someone who believes her children are going to be murdered once rhaenyra ascends the throne. it's why i can't take her stans seriously. none of her actions make sense in the grand scheme of things. she purposefully makes an enemy that is (TO HER) capable of cold-blooded murder. what terrified mother would do that?

there's also this fetish for infantilizing and victimizing alicent and co. otto manipulated her when she was a teen, which is a fair take. otto was also ostracized from court for TEN years. ten years with minimal to no contact with alicent. she is no longer a child during that time, she is a grown woman with four children to raise and a perfectly good brain to use. we're not shown or told once that rhaenyra *ever* showed an ounce of violence towards her siblings, and at most, she was indifferent to them. it is stated, however, that during that time skip alicent bullied and harassed rhaenyra, to the point where she abandoned the capital to have peace of mind and safety for her own children. still not the actions of a terrified mother (she also wasn't manipulated into doing any of that; it was all of her own accord because she hated that rhaenyra was afforded more freedom and leeway than she was).

what's more, there is minimal, if any, precedent that rhaenyra would be forced to kill her siblings to secure the throne. viserys was only the fifth targaryen king, not exactly enough time to really establish any killing family as a basis. maegor is the only one to have done so, and he's reviled for it even up to the current timeline. it is even thought that his death was the consequence of kinslaying. it's not normal. there has technically been some sort of succession crisis for almost all the rulers up to this time: aegon the uncrowned and maegor, rhaena and jaehaerys, baelon and rhaenys, viserys and rhaenys/laenor. there are, once again, many ways for aegon, aemond, and daeron to renounce their claim to the throne (night's watch, kingsguard, maester); but that would take away the power alicent and otto wanted to have, so not an option.

i wouldn't even consider daemon that much of a threat if rhaenyra had ascended peacefully. they've changed his character significantly in the show, but daemon explicitly states in fire and blood that they need to find a peaceful way to end this dispute, and not resort to fighting dragons versus dragons (a line they gave to rhaenys in the show) because it would only end in disaster. he doesn't resort to any brutality until after the first blood is drawn by the green's.

basically, it's just another ploy, a 'red herring' if you will, to distract from the true reason why rhaenyra was usurped (and hook, line, sinker; it's working fantastically for some in the fandom).

King Aegon II Targaryen and his family, circa 129 AC From Left: Otto Hightower, Aegon II Targaryen, Aemond, Daeron (in portrait), Jaehaerys, Alicent Hightower, Queen Helaena Targaryen, Maelor, Jaehaera

The Young Queen Jaehaera Targaryen with her grandmother, Alicent Hightower, circa 131 AC

Also on Insta

A Defense of Viserra Targaryen

I just realized I've never actually collected these thoughts in one place, so it's time for me to do so.

This is the main quote from F&B used as character evidence for Viserra:

No squire was ever going to win Viserra, Queen Alysanne knew; not her heart, and certainly not her maidenhead. She was far too sly a child to go down the same path as her sister Saera. "She has no interest in kissing games, nor boys," the queen told Jaehaerys. "She plays with them as she used to play with her puppies, but she would no more lie with one than with a dog. She aims much higher, our Viserra. I have seen the way she preens and prances around Baelon. That is the husband she desires, and not for love of him. She wants to be the queen."

EXCEPT PRINCE AEMON IS STILL ALIVE AND HEALTHY. BAELON IS NOT THE HEIR. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO INDICATION FOR VISERRA THAT MARRYING BAELON WOULD MAKE HER THE QUEEN. ALYSANNE WOULD HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE THIS.

So, what gives?

Maybe this is a situation of "George forgot." He's infamously bad with numbers, after all. Maybe he got his timelines mixed up, and didn't realize that Prince Aemon outlives Viserra by five years and Baelon isn't the heir at the time of her death.

Except Fire & Blood is deliberately written as an in-universe history, and we're supposed to treat it as such, with the understanding that some of what Archmaester Gyldayn says is biased or not 100% accurate. This quote is supposedly from Alysanne to Jaehaerys. Who would have heard this? Who would have written it down? Combine that with the straight up factually incorrect information it's based upon, and this has the makings of an apocryphal quote from a bad source. The factual error undercuts the validity of this entire section, and I don't think it can be blindly accepted as proof of Viserra's character.

So, onto the Baelon incident.

(note: the entire existence of the Baelon Incident can also be called into question, given that Gyldayn begins that section with "if court gossip can be believed." We are not all maesters at the Citadel with access to his bibliography and primary sources, though, so I'll leave that alone for now and choose to treat it as fact.)

Here are our facts: Viserra Targaryen is 15 years old. Her parents have arranged a marriage to an old Northern Lord who has been widowed 4 times already. They have refused to break the betrothal. Viserra has a drinking problem. While drunk (and apparently unsupervised) she manages to sneak into Baelon's bed, naked, in an attempt to "seduce" him.

What's the more likely motive here? That she's a sly manipulative ambitious girl who's just so determined to be queen that she'll seduce poor widowed Baelon? Or that she's drunk and desperate and scared and trying to get her brother to rescue her the same way Jaehaerys once rescued Alysanne?

I rest my case.

The Prince of the Hightower and the Heir to High Tide

Artist: erchitos

Daeron Targaryen and Addam Velaryon as Sergio Cupido's “Romeo and Juliet” by Moonie

Who can know the heart of a dragon? Was it simple bloodlust that drove the Blue Queen to attack? Did the she-dragon come to help one of the combatants? If so, which? Some will claim that the bond between a dragon and dragonrider runs so deep that the beast shares his master’s loves and hates. But who was the ally here, and who the enemy?

me telling grrm that the reason tessarion and seasmoke’s battle looked like a mating dance and tessarion came to seasmoke’s aid was because addam and daeron were in love

“More mating dance than battle.”

Commission.

Mine.

Another Daeron & Addam by the sweetest @wweskywalker

Facebook's way of telling me I need more friends.

everything is the same in firebringer but only snarl likes keeri

And she had them! She was just a daughter of a second son. What would she have as a dowager queen at Rhaenyra’s court, knowing that they despise each other and Rhaenyra probably won’t respect the Widow’s Law (as we saw with Vaemon Velaryon, she wasn’t the nicest person either)? Nothing, even if - and it’s a big IF - Rhaenyra really wanted to give her siblings high positions at her court (and let’s be real: she probably didn’t). Alicent fight for her survival and position as well, as any other woman would do in her shoes. You think Laena as a queen wouldn’t fight for her potentional son’s rights to the Iron Throne? Or, I don’t know, Jeyne Arryn or any other noble lady Viserys would marry after Aemma?

The truth is, Alicent wasn’t a wicked villain from the very start. She had good relationship with Rhaenyra first but it was destroyed after Aegon and Aemond’s births - and probably Alicent wasn’t the only force here, because it was in her best interest to keep Rhaenyra happy, so she would be easier to manipulate. There were many opponents of Otto at court and they probably weren’t afraid to tell a growing princess that her stepmother will try to usurp her position as an heir because it was in their best interest to pit Rhaenyra and Alicent against each other. Alicent even suggested at first to marry Rhaenyra to Aegon and let’s be real: with that age difference, it would be Rhaenyra who would be the real ruler then.

Alicent always had reasonable motives. She wasn’t a saint, but she wasn’t a hag either. She’s very humane character hidden behind deeply misoginistic narration of FaB. It’s not only maesters, it’s also that GRRM himself visibly DOESN’T LIKE Greens and is not interested in making them nuanced in any way. So it was always easy for readers to frame Alicent as a wicked stepmother with fairy tale-villain’s mindset, against Rhaenyra who isn’t a girlboss feminist icon either. They believe every bad word about Alicent in FaB so easily but suddenly it’s radio silence if you ask them whether they believe that Rhaenyra sent Alicent AND Helaena to brothel so they will be r*ped until they get pregnant. And it also comes from Mushroom’s stories and Mushroom was 100% pro-Rhaenyra, so? This apparently is not true but EVERYTHING BAD that is said about Alicent is? Because what? Because it fits your narration?

my point about alicent and the fandom was the she can’t win, couldn’t win, and never will win. it’s not possible…

some people want her to be one dimensional evil hag that they can hate. some people want her to be complex villain they can hate. some people hate her because she isn’t like from the books - some (same people) people hated her in the books. some people want her to be another cersei, so they can hate her. some people say that cersei was awesome and alicent can never be her and so they hate her. some people hate her now more because she will in the future be mean to rhaenyra. some people hate her now because she isn’t mean enough. some people think that she is misogynistic witch in the books because she is pro patriarchy. some people think her portrayal as being without agenda is misogynistic. some people thinks she has agenda from the beginning…

alicent is meant to be rhaenyra’s opposite in the story. clearly, they try to make her more sympathetic to the viewer, so that her change in attitude hits harder and the already obvious patriarchy is more visible and prevalent. if you don’t vibe with that, that’s cool.

like i’m sorry, if you hate this character you would hate her no matter what. you hate her now because she is too nice and you will hate her when olivia cooke plays her and she’ll try to stab rhaenyra. it. doesn’t. matter.

alicent hightower can’t win and won’t win.