A0random0gal - Scrolling My Life Away

Westerosi propaganda??

"if you believe westerosi historical propaganda" you guys it's so unbelievably over

I’m sorry but Rhaenyra fighting in the war is Mary Sue behavior and if true will prove once again the writers …will likely be unable to write a compelling women.

Which is a real shame because I love book Rhaenyra.

They would rather do the usual people are just mean and hate a girlboss shtick then have to write about the nuances of a woman trying to become the first Queen in her extremely cut throat dynasty.

A woman dealing with the ramifications of (likely) postpartum depression. A woman who was meant to rule since she was a child and instead she is now recovering from a traumatic agonizing birth. A birth where her own husband ignored and later assaulted her. Who is going to protect her now that her father is dead? What does it mean to be a Queen when you have suffered beyond belief in childbirth and now you cannot even ride your dragon, that dragon that marks you as “better”, no your male children must fight for you. Then die for you.

The woman lauded as the Realm’s Delight who told her fierce aunt who did fight not only for her own rights but Rhaenyra’s that the realm denied her as Rhaenys the Queen Who Never Was but bent the knee to her.

What’s the difference between The Queen Who Never Was & The Realms Delight?, what’s the difference between a Queen who fought and one who didn’t? and what does it mean that they both ended up dead?

A woman who becomes increasingly paranoid and fearful (rightfully so) after being wronged so many times. A flawed woman, a woman who’s entitled, a woman who wants to rule but has internalized misogyny. A woman who believes she’s above the rest. A woman who has never had any physical training in war or battle because she has always lived in the lap of luxury and privilege and now finds herself in a war.

So she dresses up in the style of her warrior ancestress despite never taking up arms. Is it for comfort? Or strength? If she could ride her dragon would it matter? When Syrax like her has only ever known peace and her son’s murder rides her warrior ancestresses own mount Vhagar. A dragon that helped win Seven Kingdoms against one that has never known violence?

Things weren’t suppose to be that way, and every wrong makes for a crueler and angrier woman. She won’t die in battle she means to sit on that throne.

She never wanted to make a better world, she simply wanted to enjoy the rights every other entitled man of her lineage has had but instead she must go to war? Saera Targaryen was punished for thinking she could have multiple partners like the men in her family. Rhaenyra Targaryen is punished and compared to one of the worst men in her lineage.

What does it mean for a woman to be vile and STILL have been wronged and STILL have been robbed of what was hers because of her gender?

Why must she be this paragon of perfection?

For better or for worse the writers are terrified of making Rhaenyra unlikeable and it’s just so boring.

Couldn't have said it better

Sorry people this is gonna be a long post, but I needed to vent.

A lot of people in the HOTD fandom are so quick to say that everything Alicent does "against" Rhaenyra is because she's judging her for not following the "rules" of the patriarchy, but imo the anger and conflict between them is way more personal than that. After Alicent is chosen by Viserys as his new wife, Rhaenyra, showing all of her immaturity (understandable, she's so young) feels betrayed by Alicent and starts treating her poorly. Of course Alicent in turn feels betrayed by her closest friend cause Rhaenyra abandoned her when she needed her the most. She was too sheltered and comfortable in her privilege to realize that other women cannot simply say no, Alicent was considered her father's property and then her husband's to do with as they pleased. She is continuously raped by a man she did not choose to marry, forced to carry child after child and on top of that she is refused the only comfort she had, her only friend. She never had the luxury of choice, but Rhaenyra in her naivety, still punished her for it. Alicent tried to hang on, still caring about Rhaenyra and still trying to reconcile with her and being constantly denied and judged by her.

Then, the moment Rhaenyra did something that would surely put her in trouble, she lied to Alicent's face. Alicent believed her and defended her with the king, insisting that Daemon must have lied, that her father must have been misinformed. Viserys knew this to be false, he knew Rhaenyra had lied, but still she was not punished for it. Instead Alicent is indirectly punished again, losing her only ally (Otto is a vile person, but still for Alicent he was the only piece of home, of familiarity she had) because of Rhaenyra. Naturally when she learned that Rhaenyra had lied to her, it was another huge blow to Alicent's heart, because trusting Rhaenyra has literally cost her the only bit of protection she felt that she had left. It's only natural at this point, that Otto's claims about Rheanyra's character began to take root in Alicent's mind. Rhaenyra proved that she could not be trusted and Alicent wasn't about to put her children's lives in the hands of someone who had betrayed her so. She realized that no one would protect her, not Viserys, not Rhaenyra, so she must do it herself.

From then on things were bound to go downhill cause Alicent began resenting Rhaenyra as she still remained oblivious to her privilege and she benefited from it again and again, perhaps even using her father's affection for her to her advantage. And Rhaenyra (understandably) grew tired of Alicent's treatment of her.

In light of that, what happened with Aemond inevitably had a massive impact on their situation, especially on Alicent, whose faith in Rhaenyra was already broken. Her son lost an eye (taken by one of Rhaenyra's kids). Rhaenyra refused to even acknowledge the magnitude of this offence, so quick to defend her kids (and their birthright), who would never do anything wrong and were simply defending themselves (despite there being 4 of them against Aemond) And even in such a dramatic circumstance, all Viserys cares about is protecting Rhaenyra from what essentially is, the truth.

So in my opinion Alicent is not only saying "it's not fair" because Rhaenyra constantly did things that were not "proper" and was never punished for it, what she's saying is more along the lines of "Rhaenyra abandoned me, betrayed me, punished me, hurt me, my son and others to fulfil her selfish goals and nobody ever punished her for it or even had the decency to admit that she might have been wrong".

Alicent is not questioning Rhaenyra's claim to the throne because she's a woman, she's questioning her integrity and wether or not she's trustworthy, she's doing it to protect herself and her children, who she feels could never be truly safe as long as Rhaenyra rules with Daemon by her side.

And feelings like these cannot be simply dismissed, not even with an apology, one must really work on rebuilding trust in each other in order to fix years of betrayal and mutual hurt and resentment, and sadly they just didn't get enough time to do it.

This👆👆👆

Here's a toast to the HBO Targaryen wives who were made Targaryens by men who didn't love them

Aemma Targaryen deserved better

Alicent Targaryen Deserved better

Rhea Targaryen deserved better

Laena Targaryen deserved better

And Elia Targaryen most of all, deserved so much more better

Because if you're going to take your a-hole husband's last name and are expected to relinquish all that made you you while he makes it clear he's only there to get whatever use he can out of you. Then you sure as heck deserve better

Yess

targs can excuse a grown man like rhaegar abandoning his wife and kids to pursuit a 14 years old in the name of "true love" and prophecy, but they draw the line of a teenage jace falling in love with someone else when he wasn't even a married man with kids.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2.02: Rhaenyra the Cruel)

Princess Jaehaera Targaryen with her dragon Morghul

Lmao

🤣🤣

Dreamfyre you’re still the mother of Daenerys’s dragons in my heart and will be until GRRM comes out of his hole to tell me otherwise

Spent a lil time making some wholesome doodles of my favorite SnK ship ❤️

Sometimes it's nice to step back from how heavy the show actually is and draw something lighthearted ☺️