God The Hotd Fandom Really Got One Crumb Of Its Favourite Divorced Couple And Rose From Its Tomb.

“Just don’t lose this one or mom’ll have my head”

“Words hurt, Bill”

Bonus

Some four years later:

I hate that man I hate him so much

Vaemond deserves so much better than to have his house stolen from him like this

He deserved to be heard not unhonorably executed

He was murdered and his Muderer got away with it

Daemon is fucking EVIL

He is not a protective hubby

He is not a great step-dad

He is a racist and a murderer

And he deserves to die like the bitch he is

souls tied, intertwined by our pride and guilt

“You toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?”

A couple of things:

1)  Alicent is a queen consort and is a Hightower by birth, so no, she cannot imagine herself on the Iron Throne, because Targaryen succession does not work like that. This is basic knowledge that 5-year-olds would presumably be expected to know, and I am astounded and embarrassed that Rhaenys, with her age and experience, lacks this fundamental bit of common sense.

2) Alicent has been the functional regent of Westeros for the past six years. In the previous episode, we see her actively governing the realm and overseeing all royal matters (while Rhaenyra sits on her ass with her loser husband in Dragonstone). We also literally hear Vaemond tell Rhaenys “It’s not a king who sits the Iron Throne these days, good sister. It’s the queen”, so I can assure you, Rhaenys, that Alicent has physically sat on the Iron Throne just fine. She lacks authority, obviously, as she is the consort and not the king, but she certainly did not and does not lack power, to say nothing about influence. This ridiculous show, however, does not seem to be able to differentiate these terms.

3) Does this show not understand that Alicent installing her son as King is not just beneficial to him (which the show acknowledges) but also directly beneficial to her? This is a patriarchal and patrimony-inclined world; Alicent’s son being King would not only mean immense prestige for her family; it would also mean the ultimate peak of power and influence for her (which we see her unapologetically wield in the books). In Westeros, we see Visenya Targaryen supporting her brother and her son’s kingship rather than angling for the throne in her own right, and wielding absolute power and authority in their reigns. Historically, Empress Matilda (the female claimant to the throne in the Anarchy, the war this story is based off) relinquished her claim in favor of her son, Henry II, presumably because she recognized he stood a better chance at gaining the throne (which he did) and continuing her legacy. Joanna of Flanders, who literally wore armor and led troops into battle, did it to support the cause of her husband in direct opposition to the claim of his niece. Yet according to this show’s logic, every single woman who has fought for their fathers and brothers and husbands and sons subscribes to internalized misogyny rather than, idk, supporting their families and gaining power, security and status in the process. Not to mention, Alicent relinquishing her children’s claim and stepping aside would not only be utterly humiliating and degrading for her from a political and personal standpoint, but also legitimately life-threatening for her children and her family. More competent writers would understand that she did not have much of a choice.

4) “You desire not to be free but make a window in the wall of your prison” is the MOST SICKENING PIECE OF VICTIM-BLAMING BULLSHIT I have ever heard in a long, long time. Alicent was a teenager when she had to marry the much-older King (her best friend’s own father) because of his desire for her. He repeatedly raped her and forced at least four pregnancies on her that she did not want. She was utterly isolated at court after her marriage, lacking comfort and friends (including Rhaenyra, who abandoned Alicent for three years after learning that she was being made to marry her father and, based on the comments she made, did not even stop to consider the awfulness of Alicent’s predicament). She had to endure the humiliation of her father being fired and made to leave court, leaving her even more alone than she previously was. She had to endure her husband constantly favoring his firstborn and his grandchildren by his firstborn rather than Alicent’s children who were a direct result of her rape by him. Her son was maimed and bleeding and her husband chose to defend his firstborn’s moronic decisions rather than bring him justice.  She is not a Targaryen, she does not and cannot ride a dragon. WHAT WAS ALICENT SUPPOSED TO EXCEPT TRY AND SURVIVE? HOW ON EARTH IS SHE BEING JUDGED FOR IT?

(And this ridiculously condescending comment is coming from Rhaenys of all people, lmao. A dragon-riding Targaryen who was an actual claimant to the Iron Throne, unlike Alicent. So, what was stopping HER from seizing power, pray tell? After all, she even has the Velaryon forces to back her claim. Instead, in her own words, she made peace with her sidelining. She constantly disagreed with her husband’s ambition regarding her claim and her family’s power. She volunteered her 12-year-old daughter as a child bride for her own aging cousin. The hypocrisy and double standards here is pathetic, and the lack of self-awareness on the part of the show is even worse)

Alicent was legitimately terrified for her children and her family’s lives, and she was entirely justified in doing so: if Rhaenyra ascended the throne, Alicent’s children would inevitably become threats to her whether or not they directly opposed her. This is unavoidable. Look up any historical usurpation, and that’s the inescapable result - and that’s not even going into the fact that Rhaenyra and Daemon are people who are reckless, cruel and indifferent to violence, and would not hesitate to kill any opposition to their reign. The show’s so-called claim that Alicent is upholding the patriarchy falls apart when you consider the fact that this is the only solution that guarantees the security of her children and herself. How is Alicent’s perfectly understandable motivation written as internalized misogyny? 

And moreover, from a writing perspective … why give her this arc at all? Fire & Blood was badly written, but it doesn’t change the fact that they looked at an ambitious woman who wanted to enhance her power and improve her family’s standing, who directly defied her husband’s wishes in terms of succession in favor of her own, and rewrote this choice into one borne from internalized misogyny. They wrote her as a child bride, a rape victim, an abuse victim and a teen mother and then used this backstory to say that she was conditioned to become the so-called agent of patriarchy (which they do not support with believable evidence) who opposes their so-called feminist protagonist (whose primary enabler is Alicent’s rapist and abuser, btw, not that his abuse is acknowledged nearly enough by the narrative considering how heavily he was romanticized in the last few episodes) It’s a heinous, disrespectful, absolutely terrible writing choice, and I cannot emphasize this nearly enough.

(Oh, and speaking of Rhaenyra, let’s talk about how her queenship solidifies Viserys’s claim over Rhaenys’s. Let’s talk about if she truly cared about women inheriting the Iron Throne - as opposed to just herself - she would have considered this. Let’s talk about how she disregarded the claims of Baela and Rhaena in favour of her son when it came to Driftmark. Rhaenyra is not challenging the patriarchy, her ascension to the Iron Throne will not change anything for anyone except for herself, do not make me laugh by claiming otherwise)

ON TOP OF THIS, the show can’t even decide on a consistent motivation or characterization for Alicent. They repeatedly show us her visceral and justified fear for her children’s lives, which is somehow forgotten in episode eight in favor of her saying that Rhaenyra will be a good queen. Her desire to see her son crowned and thus ensure her children’s safety is disregarded in favor of her actually wanting to fulfil Viserys’s half-baked wishes on his deathbed. They have her say that everyone knows Aegon will be king, and then act surprised when the Green council plots to install him as King. They do not care about Alicent’s personhood and individual character; what they care about is her position as a foil and antagonist to Rhaenyra.

In conclusion: this show sucks. It shows absolutely no understanding regarding the politics of its own world and our medieval history and is a parody and a travesty of respectful storytelling. It has inconsistent and baffling character motivations and downright misogynistic writing, and this is not acknowledged nearly enough by the fandom.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2.02: Rhaenyra the Cruel)

This facebook hotd meme I found is so based and true. Pleasantly surprised to find non team black content there

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship not only embodies what a grooming relationship looks like but also with how it progresses once the minor grows up. Not every person who was groomed is going to admit that it happened to them because it make the situation so much more real. And sometimes the person who was groomed doesn’t even realize that it happened to them until years down the line.

And the saddest part about their relationship and people who are in similar relationships in real life almost always go back. Because that person has been with them through their entire life and has quite literally seen them through thick and thin(even if the abuser was the cause behind it all) and it make the victim believe that the abuser could never be a bad person. We see that when Daemon celebrates Aemma and Baelon’s death by toasting Nyra’s brother as, “Heir for a day.”

Then Daemon goes on to steal the egg she chose for her brother and effectively take over Dragonstone-the castle of which she is now Princess of. And when he comes back to court after being away for four years at war she just forgives him since he’s the only person she has left at court. Even years later, when Harwin and Laena are both dead and Laenor is becoming increasingly depressed because of his sister’s death, Rhaenyra goes back to Daemon because she’s associated him with a relying hand who can help her at court.

She’s so convinced that he’s only looking after her to the point that when he starts an affair with teenage Nettles, all Rhaenyra thinks is that it must have been Nettles who ‘lured’ Daemon into her bed and sends word that she wants Nettles killed.

B&C not haunting the narrative is the most horrendously bad writing choice in this entire show.

Hell, even Luke's death is not haunting the narrative as it should.

What gets to hunt the narrative? The goddamn memory of Viserys. Oh, and the fucking ratcatchers, too.

Just wanna say this cause I’ve been seeing it around. This is my opinion, I may not have the same opinion as yours but I ask you respect it.

Rhaenyra and Dany are not alike. They are not the same. They will never be the same.

Rhaenyra could never do what Dany did. She wouldn’t survive that. Dany is her own storm in herself, she suffered through a lot and still had hope for a better tomorrow. Rhaenyra could never. I don’t like when people compare these two because you can’t compare Dany to Rhaenyra.

Dany is what a true Targaryen should be like. She’s a true ruler in her own right. She rules with justice and fights for her people. She locked away her own children when she released that they had killed her citizens baby. She didn’t like it, but she has no choice. Dany didn’t grow up with the same privilege Rhaenyra did, nor did she have the support and options to gain control that Rhaenyra did.

No, Dany gained loyalty all on her own. She inspired hope in her people and they in return had faith in her rule. Dany built herself from the ground up. She struggled and fought for her right.

And my knees bend once more