No Matter What Happens Tomorrow, We’ll Always Have Jonsa

Going forward the writers don’t need to stray from history, only consolidate characters and events. The truth is already insane! 

Things get so crazy!

They better include Catherine’s best frenemy Jeanne de Albert (Antoine’s wife) next season. Watching the two queens of sass and sarcasm try to take a bite out of each other will be glorious! 

as much as i enjoyed "the serpent queen" i feel like the second part of the season was a bit... meh? i much preferred it when they kept much closer to the actual history, and while i understand the need for changes for plot clarity (charles V and henri II dying at francis' wedding instead of elizabeth of valois and philippe II of spain's wedding) i wish some parts had kept the actual facts? i think it would have been more interesting to have henri dying while wearing diane's colours, and then catherine doing everything so that diane never saw henri until he died. i also would have preferred it if they kept francois II's cause of death instead of giving him consumption (what is it going to be when charles IX actually dies from it? lol) and also the whole nonsense plot of mary stuart being made regent when she has zero (0) claim to that throne (and antoinette de guise saying 'respect the sanctity of rules' yeah that's what's being done by naming anyone but mary regent actually) like the show can't both be like "if catherine doesn't have children she'll be packed home" and at the same time, when mary is also childless, pretends she has a reasonable claim to the throne? mary was pawn for the de guise as long as she was married to françois, but once dead, she didn't serve them anymore (rightly so) and that's why she was sent back to scotland.

anyway i fucking loved the bourbons though

Edmund: My only....sister. Yep, that’s right... [Starts to sweat]

I love Mansfield Park—there's a reason it's so important to my dissertation—and it's not only for the things that seem appropriate enough, but also the ones that kind of break my brain a little.

For me, the Peak WTF has to go to Edmund (surprise), after his sisters have separately run off with two fairly shitty men. He greets Fanny in a burst of emotion:

she found herself pressed to his heart with only these words, just articulate, “My Fanny, my only sister; my only comfort now!” She could say nothing; nor for some minutes could he say more.

I always think ... well, having Edmund refer to Fanny as his sister that late in the book, while simultaneously disowning his actual sisters, is certainly a choice. I don't actually mind it because I don't read MP for Fanny/Edmund, lol, but I find it interestingly bizarre.

(It reminds me distantly of Lord Orville presenting himself as a brother figure to Evelina in Evelina, but iirc that pretty obviously falls apart further from the end and it's clear that he doesn't really see her that way.)

Quiet…… I am Yearning

The face of a man who let a million people burn so he could be king

Bran knew that he would be picked to be king.

So when Bran spent the end of season 7 and the first part of season 8 constantly saying how important it was for Jon to know who his parents are… it was so Jon would break up with Daenerys, she would go mad, burn a million people, and Jon would kill her; leaving the throne open for… Bran.

I mean if the show had made Bran an intentional villain or morally grey; acknowledge that he knew a city would be destroyed, and didn’t do anything to stop it, rather did his part to set up the pieces to make it happen, that would be a great twist. But the writers don’t seem to be aware of the implications of Brans psychic abilities and the choices he made ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Could write an essay like this on Bran? I still don’t understand why GRRM chose him of all people to be king at the end. His story has almost nothing to do with being a leader and ruling. Am I missing something? I feel like Daenerys’ storyline was always (in the show and the books) much better written and plotted than Bran’s, but maybe I’ve just been overlooking something all these years.

Floppy Ears

A Dance with Dragons is the most important arc Daenerys has had since she hatched her dragons at the end of A Game of Thrones, and is a huge turning point for the trajectory of her character. And while GRRM’s books have always been incredibly detailed and focused on character, this book and A Feast for Crows is when he really mastered that style. Those two things combined make Daenerys’ ten chapters incredibly dense, and full of very important details. If I were to write it all out in one post, it would be just ridiculously long (and considering the length of my other posts, that’s really saying something…). To try and keep these posts from turning into books, I’m going to split my analysis of Dany in A Dance with Dragons into three separate posts; one dealing with the political aspects of her arc, the next a look at the outside forces that influence Dany’s decision making, and the last will center on the personal struggle that defines her arc. Here is the first, where I breakdown the political merits of Queen Daenerys Targaryen…

Holding Court

Running parallel to all of the symbolic choices and struggles Daenerys makes in A Dance with Dragons is the practical decisions she makes as Queen of Meereen. GRRM is famous for his quote about “Aragorn’s tax policy”, and it is clear that he tries to answer that question in this book. We get chapter after chapter that gives Daenerys a new political trial, and get to see and examine how she decides to move passed it. The first three books gave us small moments to look at and decide how Daenerys would rule Westeros, but A Dance with Dragons gives us definitive examples of how she would. This book asks would Daenerys be a good queen? and also gives us the answer: No.

Keep reading

ok this is probably going to appeal to like. 5 people. but this is just what it is like to watch hbo Rome (2005-2007) AFTER watching Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World (2003) 

Margaret was born in Westminster Palace on November 28th, 1489, she was the second child and first daughter of Henry VII and his queen Elizabeth of York. She was named in honor of her grandmother, Margaret Beaufort. Margaret was betrothed to James IV, King of Scots in 1502 when Margaret was 12, her mother and grandmother insisted that her marriage wait until she was older and so Margaret was married by proxy on 25 January 1503. Her younger brother Henry succeeded their father in 1509 and tensions between England and Scotland began to rise which came to a head with the battle of Flodden in 1513, where Margaret’s husband James would be killed in battle leaving Margaret a young widow and their young son James as king.

Margaret was made regent to her son, but Margaret would make an ill fated marriage with Archibald Douglas the earl of Angus which would make Margaret flee to England in 1515 where she gave birth to her daughter and only other surviving child, Margaret Douglas. Margaret returned to Scotland in 1517, she would marry for the third time in 1528 to Henry Stewart, Lord Methven. Margaret was never able to achieve peace between England and Scotland, her brother and her son James would never be true allies and the relationship between her two countries would remain tense.

Margaret died in 1541, her son would outlive her for only a year and Margaret’s granddaughter, Mary, become queen at only a week old. Margaret’s great grandson through both her son and daughter, James VI, would follow her nice Elizabeth as the next king of England in 1603, uniting the crowns of England and Scotland, Margaret is the ancestress of every British monarch since.

I think their first kiss was sweet. He just went for it! It’s Brienne’s first time, of course it’s going to be a little awkward...that’s why I loved it! Brienne’s so cute!

GUYS, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAPPENS?!

Really: first of all this horrible kiss scene?! Where is this tenderness between them? Nik and Gwen played it as good as they could, but scenarists just should be burned.

And then, when Jaime left her alone. She begged him to stay, but he left. WHAT?! Is that our honorable Jaime Lannister, who returned to Harrenhall and jumped into the bear pit?! No, this is the Jaime Lannister I want to kill. He made my baby girl cry and I will never forgive it. I will if only Jaime will kill Cercei by himself!

I’m just so disappointed bc of this episode(including Missandey’s death). I really hope they’ll make things better in next two episodes, and we’ll forget about this one as a nightmare.