Hotd Critical - Blog Posts
Throw back to season 2 episode 1 when I fucking called that the show runners framed it as comedic but people thought that ‘nooo they wouldn’t do that, there’s nothing funny about dead kids’ well lookie here! They wanted it to be comedic despite the tragedy.
Vindication is sweet but knowing this was their intentions puts a sour taste in my mouth.
“All the men in the show don’t have to worry about where they put their hands because they’re constantly holding the pommel of their sword. That obviously sounds like innuendo and you can do with that what you will but that is true. And all the rest of us are going, “Where do we put our f—king hands?”
Anyway, next year one hand is going to be taken care of. That’s what I want. I want a sword and I’ve been really clear about that with Ryan and I think that’s happening.”
(posted by the westerosies account on twitter)
Apparently that's was Emma's request which tells me exactly how much bullshit the entire cast has been fed by these writers lol. And it's not even a valid reason?!? Like, you're changing the character even more than you already have just because an actor doesn't know where to...put their...hands??? I can hear the circus music playing🤡
God forbid you lean on a chair or twist your rings! I mean it's not that bad but a sword isn't something to just give a character out of no where. Like I could think of several things she could carry or play with instead, rings, necklaces, dagger, but not a sword when she isn't trained!
idk the difference between the two is kinda funny to me.
in the book, the riots happened organically without any scheming. the rumors of helaena's "murder" simply spread quickly, probably because of how shocking it was, and because of the fact that helaena was beloved. grrm confirmed it. something like that happening feels believable.
in the show, not only was their version kinda nonsensical for many reasons, but it only really happened thanks to mysaria's plotting. first elinda massey literally has to sneak into kingslanding (which like wtf) so the white worm's spies know to spread false rumors, and then she arranges for food to be secretly sent to kingslanding in rhaenyra's name to incite them.
the show basically had to create a reason or give for them rioting in rhaenyra's name, despite how silly it was and also overlooking the fact that rhaenyra is the reason for the blockade in the first place. (yes, they have alicent give the explanation that it is natural for people to blame the crown, but its very interesting how nobody among the smallfolk sees through the propaganda) versus the book where there was no need to manufacture some sense of loyalty to helaena because it already existed.
baela not wanting or caring about driftmark for herself or rhaena is soo emblematic of hotd s2’s aversion to having women involved in any kind of compelling conflict its insane. noo grandpa you can name the toddler i have every reason to believe my aunt cheated on my uncle to get and then had my uncle unceremoniously murdered so she could immediately marry my dad. i dont mind ❤️. failing that i’m sure your bastard son my grandma went out of her way to say i dont mind im not a bitch wife cheat on me at sea all you like ❤️ about is free. youd think either of these scenarios might be ripe for exploration of this shows purported theme of how male-line inheritance degrades the family’s women telling them they’re inherently lesser than their male counterparts but no
The way the show runners and TB stans (specifically Rhaenyra stans) want me to sympathize with Rhaenyra when she is rude, spoiled, has made no sacrifices besides that of her own people, and is THE definition of a Nepo baby, is wild when you add in the fact they want me to hate Alicent. You know Alicent, the girl who was forced into a marriage against her will, a girl who was a victim of marital rape, the girl who by the age of 20 was raising all FOUR of her children while Rhaenyra was pregnant with her FIRST?
Yeah it doesn't make sense to me either. Cause out of those two options I will always sympathize with a character like Alicent before a "strong female character". I couldn't care less that she was "usurped". I don't care for the people who say she obviously wouldn't hurt her siblings, cause we never got one scene of her giving Alicent or her siblings a reason to believe she wouldn't harm them. She not on e said anything to anyone else that she wouldn't want to harm her siblings before the dance, so if I was Alicent and told that she would kill my children by all these people I trust, than why should I not trust them when the person they are telling me will do it isn't saying anything to change my mind.
Needless to say I will always sympathize with these Alicents
Before I EVER sympathize with either of these Rhaenyra's
And no one will change my mind.
Helaena but she's allowed to exist beyond autistic stereotypes. Helaena raised as a Targaryen princess and expected to follow certain social cues and unspoken rules that she has difficulty picking up on, so she prefers to spend her time with her children and her dragon, where she can be herself and not have to put on a mask and play a part. Helaena seen frequently on Dreamfyre, Queen Rhaena's mount before it was hers, the smallfolk recognizing the pale blue scales of the creature above and associating her with nostalgia for the prosperous reign of the Old King. Helaena who frequently does needlework as a stim to keep her hands busy and herself centered and embraces the creativity and craftsmanship of her art as an outlet for her many busy thoughts. Helaena who loves talking about her bugs, her dragon, and her children to all who will listen.
Then Helaena dissociated in her grief, unable to leave her room, unable to connect with her children and fly her dragon, isolated in her thoughts and dreams and increasingly disconnected from the world, others, and reality.
Until she is told of her toddler's death, torn apart by a mob in pursuit of the bounty her sister placed on his head, and suddenly she is back in the here and now. And Jaehaera is gone. Aegon is gone. Aemond is gone. Her grandfather is gone. Her mother is gone, in another cell, and they will never leave captivity. And so she takes one last look at the world outside her window.
hotd purposefully making all the greens look incompetent af to highlight how great their TB protagonists are in return backfires so hard it's actually funny.
in the book the greens were a powerhouse, they had the best warrior, the bigger army, great political minds on their side, the bigger dragons and strong competent riders to ride them. they were a threat. the show making them all stupid makes rhaenyra & the rest of tb look so weak and stupid in return. like you can't even win against those guys? really? also it shows how rhaenyra is a poorly written character - it is necessary to ruin other characters like alicent, aegon, daemon and aemond for her to appear smart & capable.
The point of the Dance is not "Team Black are the real true Targaryens, and the other ones are fakes/not real Targaryens/Hightowers only/not as pure and therefore less Targaryen." It's the story of the Targaryen family destroying itself in civil war. Explicitly both sides are Targaryen. The show pushing the narrative that that's somehow not the case greatly diminishes the story and fundamentally changes it.
Every time someone says something about Alicent not doing anything about Aegon being a “rapist” it really pisses me off 💯
Like no shit Sherlock of course Alicent isn’t going to do anything to punish her son for a crime that was only wrote to make you gullible fools hate team green. Of course the writers wouldn’t have written in Alicent punishing Aegon, THEY DONT WANT YOU TO LIKE THE GREENS!!!!!!
And while I’m here I might as well say it, I hate when y’all get more mad at the characters for their actions and not THE WRITERS. You know the ones who keep treating us like we’re stupid & playing with our intelligence….
THEY MADE Alicent betray her family for Rhaenyra. WHY? Because they only want to center this story around Rhaenyra. Why? To make up for what happened with Daenerys & in doing that they’ve completely fucked up the story & the characters.
THEY MADE Rhaenyra seek peace & not war after her sons death. WHY? So they can keep pushing this “Rhaenyra is good” agenda, which makes her SO DAMN BORING 😩
THEY MADE Daemon an abusive wife killer. WHY? Because they want us to dislike him as much as they do. They want us to dislike Daemon, but not more than Aegon & Aemond, which is dumb cause those boys are just 2 different parts of Daemon 💀
THEY MADE Alicent, Helaena, Rhaenys, and Rhaenyra weak. WHY? Because they think that’s what real women are, peaceful and soft.
THEY WATERED the story down. WHY? Because they don’t think we have the ability to sort out complex problems (which in some of y’all’s cases they were right 💯🤷♀️)
THEY MADE team green incompetent and all over the place, why? Because they don’t care about telling the proper story, they want to tell their own story with half of the work.
THEY MADE Aegon a rapist. So y’all would hate team green & mission accomplished.
THEY played y’all like fiddles and it saddens my heart to know that y’all are willing to take less than what you, we deserve.
People like "he should have dealt with this behind closed doors and just said this directly to HBO and Ryan Condal" y'all really think he didn't and somehow this is the first time they're hearing all of this? He tried telling them his perspective and they said okay go away old man we know how to make and sell TV. This blog post was his last resort to try to influence the adaptation of his work and that is something that we should be critical of Max for, not GRRM. A multi-million dollar corporation is taking control of an author's life work and destroying its integrity and reputation for the second time now, and the execs and writers don't really care what he has been saying behind closed doors and in meetings. The bad writing this season is obvious evidence of GRRM's lack of input on the process.
GRRM basically saying that Condal has no idea of what he is doing and that HOTD is heading for disaster if they don't abandon the changes planned for S3 and S4 was not necessarily on my 2024 bingo card 💀
The comments under the new HBO podcast episode with Ryan Condal can’t be fit in one post but here are some of them to give you the idea of what’s going on:
In a nutshell, this fandom learned not to hold back from GRRM himself.
The constant talk of Helanea being ‘an innocent’ is so infantilizing especially because she’s autistic code or shown as having some type of neurodivergence.
That is a grown woman with kids and who had to watch one kid be killed. She’s allowed to be mad and upset and not be brushed off as an innocent little baby who doesn’t even like her dragon.
"To you, I'm just a man,
To me, you're all I am,
Where the hell am I supposed to go?"
Something in the Orange (Z&Es Version) - Zach Bryan
"As the power shifts, and Rhaenyra starts to gain more power, it starts to ebb with Alicent. There's always this like, you know, invisible umbilical cord holding them together." - Olivia Cooke for The Hollywood Reporter
WILD that Ryan Condal keeps changing so much from the source material for no reason that the actors literally have to beg him to include certain things and not cut others
🗣️ every word that came out of alicent's mouth in s2 in regards to aemond and aegon is bad writing. she condemns aegon to public death and aemond to death in battle because she believes - and the writers believe - and we are meant to believe - that they deserve to die, that they are both so irredeemable and fundamentally worthless as human beings because of their crimes (many of which they committed by c&h's own creative choice) that their continued existence is a shameful thorn in alicent's side. the only one she cares about now is helaena because of her "innocence." to have them wiped from existence would be a sort of cleansing for alicent and a reasonable price to pay for her freedom and the end of the war.
like.... in what world??? how am i supposed to buy that aegon and aemond are any worse than daemon?? than viserys? but only the men who support rhaenyra get redemption arcs, even when those redemption arcs do nothing to address the rot in their characters. daemon's most problematic trait isn't that he coveted his wife's throne. it's that he's a misogynist who was physically violent with said wife after he groomed her as a child in retaliation for a conflict with his brother (and i happen to like the guy!!!). it's that he's dismissive of women in general, including laena and his daughters, and was downright nasty to rhea for the entirety of their marriage until he onscreen!murdered her. and okay, some of these, like aemond and aegon's, are fanon crimes, but none of this is ever brought up, none of this is addressed in any meaningful way, it's okay because he bends the knee to rhaenyra and builds her an army and swears to never leave her. redemption. he is a man cleansed of his sins and we must accept him as such.
but aegon and aemond? who are much younger than him? were written off by the narrative long ago. it doesn't matter that aegon got a few sympathetic scenes this season; the fact that they made his mother offer up his life to rhaenyra (and that the scene approves of her decision by framing her as finally free underneath an open sky, with the belief that it's just her and helaena now) tells us everything we need to know.