Jonerys Appreciation - Tumblr Posts
Banter,flirting,and teasing ain't just all there is to chemistry because all a good romance really-truly needs is bonding,mutual admiration,mutual respect and mutual trust with natural,meaningful development and progression of significance.Not to mention all those shallow insignificant interactions including cheap unconvincing cliché "tension" like "staring" and 'heavy breathing",excessive unnecessary corny,cheesy,sickening,icky "fluff" filler scenes of no substance but to waste screen time are no match for compelling emotionally intimate interactions and scenes in which the characters are vulnerable revealing the human side of themselves without their masks and armor others rarely have the privilege to see due to duty and propriety,which makes for even more compelling characters individually,not just only to develop a relationship.And fluff is only satisfying when the relationship is well developed and has naturally progressed,not forced and contrived out of thin air for fanservice most didn't ask for.
Crackshippers tend invent moments/what doesn't exist and tend to be biased with their rose-colored glasses, cherry-picking for confirmation bias, confusing a dynamic they love/prefer like the majority with chemistry, etc, but conveniently dismiss canon ships actually having what they deluded themselves into believing their crackship has, using every and any excuse they find under the sun to not be convinced, to justify their opposition. Anyone who says got jonerys had no development or progression is confirming they are just biased or ignorant, against the ships for typical unwarranted, unfounded xyz "reasons". There's only so much actors can do with what they've been given. Directing tricks such as heavy breathing, staring, prolonged eye contact, grinning widely and other common, cheap tactics are often used to overcompensate for mediocre chemistry between actors. Writing and dialogue can also make it seem like there's chemistry when there's none. But bad writing, poor written dynamics, bad dialogue, bad directing, and bad editing can also dampen the chemistry they have.
It makes sense Jon "Brooding" Snow would be apprehensive, reluctant and hesitate to become close Daenerys any more than necessary because of what Aerys did to Brandon who provoked the traumatised king and Rickard who tried to save his son. So Jon relationship with Daenerys is practically forbidden. Jon is the type to suppress any feelings that could affect his dedication to his duty. Even he tells Ser Davos there's no time for this after Davos notes Jon's attraction to Daenerys "I saw you looking at her good heart" when Jon said he thinks Daenerys has a good heart after she apologized for her father's atrocities inflicted on his grandfather and uncle.
Jonsa crackshippers who conveniently dismiss the obvious fact that Jon had to fill in Ned's and Robb's shoes out of duty to family and platonic love for them as the eldest of House Stark in favor of conflating their bias towards crackship jonsa is often overlooked. With the imminent threat of the undead army looming over their heads and the possibility of losing lives, Jon seemingly needed to prevent the tragedy and pain if he were to fall in love with Dany and one or both of them were fall in the war. And it doesn't help that Jon was so desperate for acceptance and approval from the North to prove he's worthy of being their king to compensate for his bastardy.
It's strange how antis and detractors of jonerys overlook Jon being younger and less experienced when he was with Ygritte, not to mention the fact that Jon and Dany are canonically dutiful and basically workaholics. There was never any flirting or banter between Daenerys and Khal Drogo, and Ygritte was the only one "flirting/bantering" by belittling, demeaning, and insulting Jon who was always serious and brooding never once really reciprocated especially in that regard anyway. (There's even speculation in the books that jonerys would flirt using taxes.) Those were simpler times compared to S7 when winter was near, so Jon was understandably more broody and pensive + irritable, apprehensive, weary and burdened by the potential impending doom. I suppose Jon's relationship with Ygritte is like how Drogo was Dany's first love despite the complicated abusive power imbalance and Stockholm Syndrome, considering Ygritte canonically coerces Jon who is forced to bed her to survive.
More affection, intimacy, flirting, and banter (mainly from Jon/on his side) could've been incorporated into their relationship if there was enough time allocated in that type of show the opposite of Bridgeton, but people would still complain and criticize with double standards regardless about how it's supposedly out of character and out of place in the context of GoT (as if the entirety of GoT and characters were OOC from the beginning that there are different stories with different versions of the characters who aren't really themselves) due to their bias like they did with the dragon flight and waterfall scene in the North during S8. They would've damned the pairing either way as done with Dany regularly and likely supported their desired crackships in the same place because antis tend to hate Dany for having all of what they covet for their favs.
Kit and Emilia have chemistry in real life, behind the scenes, in interviews and even in photoshoots of both their characters and themselves where it was so palpable even long before Jon and Dany met. Even Kit said "as my best friend, I think she's extraordinary", and Emilia said Kit was like putting on your favorite jacket. People even call them platonic soulmates besides Emilia and Jason. Both have explained they quickly became close friends before GoT even premiered. They were hanging out ever since throughout the show, and they finally got to act in some scenes together as they explicitly made clear they wanted. So how could they not have chemistry? It just didn't translate well on-screen because they so called tools, much to be desired dialogue from a script with some of the right ideas but could've been written and executed better likely with clever directing, the actors were given to work with didn't support it.
And for how ever much flack some give to Emilia's acting, she was definitely a better actor than Kit who's acting was unconvincing to them. Emilia carried most of their scenes. Emilia is friends with his girl Rose Leslie (Ygritte) who Emilia was also seen spending time with alongside Kit, and both said it was weird acting like that and kissing each other likely because their friendship and relationship with Rose. So it's understandable if they felt uncomfortable from those intimate interactions. This situation reminds me of Paul Wesley and Candice King in TVD who had chemistry as friends but not really as romantic partners because Paul said it was weird doing those scenes with his best friend's wife.
I’m still kind of boggled when people say Jon and Dany had no chemistry. Like, yeah, their entire story was rushed as hell, and their chemistry could have been better. But to say there was no chemistry I don’t understand. People often compare them to Jon and Ygritte but I don’t feel that’s a very fair comparison, for several reasons (those earlier seasons are the show’s best, there’s no time compression, all Martin’s material to work with, K and R being a thing irl, I mean come on yes there’s a difference in chemistry).
I will say Jon and Dany’s chemistry took a dive in S8, but everyone’s entire characterizations took dives. The only character (that anyone cared about) who managed to have any consistency was Theon. That’s it. Everyone else’s characters took hits, but none moreso than Jon and Dany themselves. Even individually their characters were off-kilter.
It just bothers me when people nitpick at Jon and Dany’s relationship itself, rather than blame the real issue, that being the compressed time and the writing. Then they go dragging out the show’s earlier seasons, pointing out how those relationships were better. Of course they were, everything was better back then. It’s like pulling out a cold hamburger from last week, and pointing out how much better the burger was a week ago when it was fresh. Jfc.
Jon and Daenerys are the ASOIAF equivalent of soulmates, and nothing will ever convince me otherwise. Thousands of miles away with a sea between them, on opposite continents, in different countries. Jon only knows her as a piece of recent history, a legend across the Narrow Sea who may or may not even be real, and Daenerys doesn’t even know he exists at all. Yet they’re constantly thinking parallel thoughts, making parallel decisions, leading parallel lives. Their desires match what the other can provide. They unknowingly echo one another’s anxieties, answer one another’s questions, and feel the lack of the other’s presence.
This is also why I’m fond of AUs where they have some sort of mental link; it’s just a step above the prophetic shit they already have going on in canon.
“This fire lady, dragon mama is not so used to the cold!”