Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon.

A mostly ASOIAF/Greek Mythology blog. Annoying book purist, SCP author, and Ovid defender.

[sarafangirlart]

Hermes and Apollo when Hephaestus pulled not one, but two love goddesses

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[daemonwaters]

Love Apollo and Hermes complaining he gets all the girls:

HERMES: To think that a cripple and a blacksmith like him should marry two such queens of beauty as Aphrodite and Charis!

APOLLO: Luck, Hermes—that is all. But I do wonder at their putting up with his company; they see him running with sweat, bent over the forge, all sooty-faced; and yet they cuddle and kiss him, and sleep with him!

HERMES: Yes, it makes me angry too; how I envy him! Ah, Apollo, you may let your locks grow, and play your harp, and be proud of your looks; I am a healthy fellow, and can touch the lyre; but, when it comes to bedtime, we lie alone.

[daemonwaters]

Love how shocked Cate was that after everything, they would actually try and rescue her from Elmira... someone give her a hug.

[daemonwaters]

As someone who's only watched the first season of Gen V, I'm really curious as to how Jordan manages their hair. The first time we see them shift to male, they clearly have slicked back hair that they don't have in female form. Do they have to wash and style their hair twice? Could Jordan avoid shifting for multiple days in order to preserve their hairstyle? Or would their hair in one form or the other get messed up even if they're not "using" it?

[daemonwaters]

Just binge-watched season 1 of Gen V. Some general thoughts:

1: All of the main cast is handled really well, instantly clicked with them from the start. Jordan Li is probably my favorite. Very interesting that their powers differ in masculine/feminine form. Them and Marie are very cute.

2: I was expecting Rick/Golden Boy to be a huge jerk behind the scenes, but he seems like the nicest guy on campus. His two closest friends are a bi-gender east Asian person and a bisexual black man, so he seems to be somewhat open-minded. He did kill Brink, but he was involved in the whole Woods thing so it's not like it was entirely unjustified...

3: Cate has done nothing wrong ever (except maybe gaslighting everyone around her)

[daemonwaters]

It's funny how Black Noir II doesn't really have a problem with all the fucked up things the Seven does, it's just that he doesn't get enough credit or the chance to express himself. Let him perform on Broadway and make him Employee of the Month and he'd be Homelander's most loyal soldier.

[daemonwaters]

Presented without comment.

[daemonwaters]

Saw Project Hail Mary. Did not expect to cry over Ryan Gosling and a rock alien. 1 million stars and all the Oscars in the world

[daemonwaters]

Hot take, but i think sometimes people let their dislike of Jaehaerys I (which is not unfairly recieved) get to a point where they start distorting events in F&B to fit their view. This is obviously something that happens with other characters a lot, but it's something that's been knocking around in my head for a bit given how many people seem to assign the majority of the blame for the Dance on Jaehaerys.

Which is like... sure, the Great Council of 101 AC did sow some seeds for the Dance. But giving anyone but Viserys the lion's share of the blame is just ridiculous. The guy was king for 26 years (third longest reign btw), decided to remarry and have more children after naming his daughter as heir (which happened only after he got pissed at his brother) and ended up doing nothing while he watched his family descend into bloody factionalism.

With Jaehaerys in particular, I get the feeling that people dislike that he's considered the best king (by GRRM, at least) and end up distorting events to challenge that view, which is how you get takes like "Jaehaerys caused the dance" or "Jaehaerys actually didn't do anything as king" or "Jaehaerys stole Rhaena's rightful throne," or other theories that seem to come more from a place of personal bias than actual facts.

[daemonwaters]

Uh oh, people on Twitter are starting to find out how Daeron died and are turning on the idea of him and Kiera...

[daemonwaters]

Saw a surprising amount of people who were confused that Valarr referred to Aegon the Conqueror as the greatest Targaryen king and took it as a flaw of the writing, because apparently the point of that flew over everyone's heads?

Like. Aegon may have been a good ruler, but the pont of the line isn't to tell us that Aegon was the best king, the point of that line is that it tells us who Valarr thinks is the best king. Valarr, being a young warrior prince who jousts in tourneys, is obviously going to identify more with the Conqueror than the Conciliator (even if Jaehaerys was a pretty good warrior himself).

In ASoS, Tyrion praises Viserys II to Oberyn. Does this mean that Viserys II is the best king? You could definitely argue that. But the point of that is that Tyrion identifies with the uncle who did the thankless job of running the kingdom as Hand of the King while reigning in the excesses of his nephew(s).

Who someone praises as the model king often times says more about themselves than the king in question, they're not supposed to be objective.

[daemonwaters]

Someone should probably go tell Raymun how sex works. Sweetie you're very chivalrous but you cant tell you're pregnant the night after you have sex, that's not how any of it works.

[daemonwaters]

Prefacing this with the fact that overall I'm a really big fan of the show and I think Ira Parker and the rest of the team knocked it out of the park, but I'm not a big fan of them having Maekar refuse Dunk's idea.

Sure, technically we don't know if that happened in the book as well (because I know someone's going to point that out), maybe Egg stole his father's ring or whatever. But I'm thinking more about character development than logical consistencies.

Maekar at the start of the story is a dad who's neglectful of his sons and not really in touch with them. He think Daeron just needs to toughen up and joust in a few tourneys, and he's ignorant of Aerion's sadism. Aemon is fine, but he was sent off to the Citadel at an early age. Aegon's alright, but looking at his elder brothers the odds aren't great.

So when Dunk proposes taking Egg as a hedge knight, Maekar thinks it's insane. Only for Dunk to point out that Aerion and Daeron are princes as well and their privileged upbringing wasn't necessarily for the best, which shuts Maekar up. His pride won't let him admit it to Dunk, but he goes and sends Egg off to squire for him, recognizing his faults as a father and trying to do better for his youngest son.

Only in the show, he doesn't do that. Dunk points it out, Maekar seems to acknowledge it for a second... and then refuses. He implicitly agrees that Dunk is right, but he doesn't want to give up Egg. We also see that Maekar's a bit more aware of Aerion's shortcomings in the show, which makes him come across less neglectful and more willfully blind. Rather then make the right decision for his last son, Maekar doesn't really learn anything new and continues to close his eyes to his poor parenting.

Or who knows. Maybe this will lead into a season 2 subplot for Maekar, but according to an interview with his actor he's not showing up in the second season. Ira's certainly done an amazing job on the show, so I suppose he's owed some faith when it comes to future plots, but I do find it a little disappointing.

[daemonwaters]

General thoughts on AKOTSK, Episode 6: The Morrow

Not as much happens in this episode as it did the last, but that's to be expected. I'd say 8/10, maybe 7.5.

Lyonel asks him to go to Storm's End, which I expected. Makes his choice to take on Egg more weightful if he has an alternative (though he doesn't really consider that one either). Interesting that he seems to have really hated Baelor, not sure what's up with that. Ego, maybe?

Raymun's choice to marry after a one-night fling with a courtesan was... interesting. He's clearly not aware of how sex works or that she was sleeping with Lord Dondarrion earlier in the week, if she's pregnant at all that child's definitely not yours.

We only got Valarr for a short scene, but it felt well-spent. That monologue about how fathers tend not to die in their son's armor really sold his grief.

(Side note: I really do like how he compares Baelor to Aegon the Conqueror. Baelor himself might model himself more on someone like Jaehaerys, but it's more about what Valarr sees as the epitome of kingship than an objective observation)

The scene between Dunk and Maekar was great. Both recognized that they'll end up carrying the stain of Baelor's death for the rest of their lives, despite it not being either of their faults. Not surprised that they had him object to taking Egg as a squire though, figures they need a bit of padding.

More of Ser Arlan was great... but I dislike them puncturing heartfelt moments with comedy. It kind of ruins the tension.

Not sure about the scene with Egg and Aerion. Not that Aerion didn't deserve it, but kinslaying is considered one of the worst crimes imaginable. I wonder if Maekar saw it as his fault - he killed his brother, and Egg is following his example? Who's to say. He seemed very understandable about it, which is better than most fathers.

Speaking of which... I guess in the show Egg skips out on Maekar instead of granting permission. Which is something I'm not really a fan of, but I think I'd rather discuss it in more detail in a later post.

And that's it for Season 1 of AKotSK. All in all, definitely a great show, I'd say around an 8.5 out of 10. Few minor bits here and there I wasn't a fan of, but overall I definitely loved it.

[daemonwaters]

Daeron was spindly and round of shoulder, with a little belly that wobbled when he walked. Daemon stood straight and proud, and his stomach was flat and hard as an oaken shield."

Eustace, why did you know exactly what Daemon's abs looked and felt like?

[daemonwaters]

"The very one, though he named himself Aerion Brightflame. One night, in his cups, he drank a jar of wildfire, after telling his friends it would transform him into a dragon, but the gods were kind and it transformed him into a corpse."

Imagine hanging out with your friend who's the heir to the throne and one day he says "watch this" before chugging a jar of wildfire and dying on the spot. What do you even do? It's like Baelor's death at Ashford, but a million times more bizarre.

[wittythunderwitch]

[daemonwaters]

Asoiaftwt is actually... decent for once? No overly toxic teams. No brain-rotting discourse spilling over everywhere. Most people are just enjoying the show. Dunk and Egg really is something different huh

[daemonwaters]

Annnd a new HOTD trailer is releasing tomorrow. Right on queue, huh.