[myladysapphire]

Man, i thought aerion girls are freaky. Turns out baelor girls are unstoppable hahaha. Y’all win.

LMAO HAVE YOU SEEN THAT FINE MAN? can you blame us?

The scenarios I have in my head when it comes to this man are unhinged!

But I mean look at him 🤤

[mylittleredgirl]

i was thinking this morning about how i categorize fanfic authors that i enjoy like AKC breeds and decided to share my rubric with you:

the specialist: this author has a favorite kink or trope and has written 80% of the content in that tag. you know exactly what you’re getting. they have A Brand™️. no matter what other traits they display, dedicated rare pair authors belong here.

the chocolate box: essentially the exact opposite. this author will try anything once. they have 80+ works in the fandom with no discernible pattern. the shortest one is 268 words and the longest is well over 100k. this breed of author may or may not be related to:

the renaissance fan: they’ve written three things in your fandom: your favorite fic, your notp, and a bizarre crossover with a show you’ve never heard of. you hit “expand fandoms list” on their author page and have to scroll down twice to reach the bottom. whenever you curse the fact that you can’t legally commission fic writers, this is the author you’re thinking about.

the horn dog: they’re here for one thing and one thing only. if someone’s dick is not in another character’s mouth within 500 words, they apologize for it in the author’s notes. they have one (1) g-rated fic.

the rookie: this writer is usually young, new to fandom, or just got a beta-reader for the first time. their fics are a little all over the place, quality-wise, but you’re excited whenever their name pops up because their unique voice gets stronger every time. you feel a personal investment in their development, like you’re an old man reading the local high school sports page and saying “this kid’s the one to watch.”

the live streamer: the most prolific author in the fandom. their works are all over the front page when you sort by kudos. you have no idea how they generate this much work, and have seriously wondered if they have access to an extra-dimensional time portal. their stories are usually un-beta’d and the characterization varies wildly, but their best works are inspired and you’ve read them 30 times.

the cryptid: this one comes out of nowhere every two years, drops the best fanfic you’ve ever read, and disappears. fifteen months after you left a three paragraph comment about how they changed your life, you get a message in your inbox that just says “thanks.”

the novelist: we talk about “filing off the serial numbers” when someone reworks their most popular story to pitch it as an original novel; this author somehow does the reverse. their fics are excellent, usually long-reaching multi-chapter AUs that have almost nothing to do with the on-screen characters except their names. i’d like to extend my personal thanks to this breed of author because it’s the closest i get to reading an actual book.

the reunion tour: this author wrote some of the most popular works in the fandom, but either moved on to k-pop or burned out when canon took a turn for the worse. they put out one new thing a year, often an old draft that’s been haunting them from under the floorboards. their last six author’s notes all say they never thought they’d write this pairing again and “this will probably be the last time.”

who did i miss?

[depsidase]

[fandom-puff]

Anyway I made a collage of my fictional men :)

[saedynee]

tumblr has its faults yeah but i gotta say. our posts about the ao3 outage seem to be mostly "WAAAUGHHH NOOOOOOO (thank you ao3 volunteers) MY BEDTIME STORIESSSS!!! NOOOOOO (thank you for working so hard to get the website back otw volunteers) AUGGGOUAGHHHUUUU I MISS MY STORIESSSSS!!!!!!". but on twitter there's folks throwing horrifying insults at ao3 right to their face. which. what the fuck

[marsrambles]

i think as a fandom we are glossing over bertie carvel's interviews about baelor too much. yes baelor is chivalrous and kind and a good man but he is also extremely flawed. in many interviews we get more insight about him: he likes to show off his knowledge because it makes him feel superior and fills his ego, he does things that serve his public image, his plan to go at the king's guard because they're defenseless against him, ... at the end of the day he's still a prince who grew up privileged and pampered. he's also a targaryen and we know what that means.

He is a good man but he is far from a perfect one.

[batmanlovesnirvana]

retweet retweet retweet !!!

you’re honestly so right for pointing this out bc i feel like a lot of ppl flatten him into just “the good, gentle prince” when he’s way more layered than that. like, yes, he is chivalrous and kind, but those traits don’t cancel out the fact that he’s still very aware of his status and knows how to use it to his advantage.

like the way he shows off his knowledge isn’t just harmless enthusiasm, it’s also about asserting intellectual superiority and reinforcing his identity as “the wise one.” and that ties into the idea that a lot of what he does is, at least in part, performative. he knows he’s being watched and he leans into that image of the virtuous prince because it benefits him politically and socially

the king’s guard point is especially interesting too, because it shows that even his “moral” actions can have a calculated edge. going after people who can’t really retaliate against him safely isn’t just bravery, it’s also strategy and arguably a bit of … entitlement. it reminds you that no matter how kind he tries to be, he’s still operating from a place of immense privilege where the consequences don’t hit him the same way they would others

and i think the targaryen aspect matters a lot here … not in a “he’s secretly unhinged” way necessarily, but more in the sense that he’s been raised in a dynasty where power, legacy and exceptionalism are ingrained from birth. even if he rejects the worst parts of that, he can’t fully separate himself from that mindset

what makes him compelling, imo, is exactly that contradiction: he wants to be good, and he probably believes he is, but his goodness is shaped (and sometimes compromised) by ego, image + the system he benefits from. he’s not a hypocrite in a simple sense, but he’s definitely someone whose morality is a bit self-serving at times.

i also think there’s room to explore how self-aware he is about all of this. like, does he genuinely see himself as purely righteous, or is there a part of him that knows he’s curating that image and justifies it as “for the greater good”? bc those two readings lead to very different interpretations of his character.

either way, reducing him to just “perfect prince” kinda misses the point — he’s interesting because he’s flawed.

for me he’s the kind of privileged guy who can go on passionately about some big issue, but then if you stopped him mid-thought and asked something simple like how much a jug of milk costs, he’d hesitate or look at you strangely, like the question itself had never occurred to him. not because he’s stupid, just because he’s so removed from that kind of everyday reality that it barely registers.

Idk if the analogy fully lands but that’s the sort of person he feels like to me.

[mjrtaurus]

So in honor of One Piece officially overtaking Superman as the most sold graphic novel series under one author worldwide, Oda wrote what the One Piece is on paper, put that paper in a chest, put that chest in a pressurized container, then sunk that container to the bottom of the sea at an undisclosed location.

So if anyone out there wants to know what the One Piece is before it’s revealed in the story, they just have to set sail for themselves and find it.

[lemonhemlock]

Rhaenyra v Cersei: Battle of the Bastards

Lo' and behold, looks like I'm not done with bastardposting after all. For this piece, I would like to compare and contrast the two main situations that the general public has been exposed as far as the issue of illegitimate children is concerned within the ASOIAF-verse: Rhaenyra v Cersei.

The parallels are obvious. Rhaenyra has three bastard children, Cersei has three bastard children. Let's see how they handle it.

Rules

According to Westerosi law, bastards can't inherit. It doesn't matter if they're the husband's or the wife's, the King's or the Queen's. Children born out of wedlock to any spouse are explicitly excluded from the line of succession.

Only the King can legitimise bastards via a royal decree. Enough of these "Roose legitimized Ramsay" lies. It's patently untrue. Tommen legitimized Ramsay.

In order to be legitimised, the children in question first have to be declared bastards. You cannot legitimize trueborn children. You cannot secretly legitimise bastards. "Viserys claimed Rhaenyra's children were trueborn, ergo he implicitly legitimised them." No, he didn't. He never admitted they were bastards.

Why does this matter? Because it is unclear where legitimised bastards fall in the line of succession. If they maintain their place by birth order or if they are relegated to the back of the line, behind any and all other trueborn claimants.

There are no genetic tests available in Westeros. People have to prove adultery or rely on common sense.

1. Cersei has a distinct advantage over Rhaenyra, since her children look like her. She can very easily argue that they favour her, as their mother, and this is exactly what everyone believes for years, including Robert. Since Jaime is the male version of Cersei, Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella can look like no else. Catelyn's kids look like Catelyn and no one bats an eye. Only Arya and (to Catelyn's irritation) Jon look like Ned. However, Ned doesn't ever doubt his children are not his.

Rhaenyra's kids look nothing like Rhaenyra and nothing like Laenor. They, instead, share distinct physical traits with her sworn shield, a man seen very often in her presence. People are not idiots. There is no plausible deniability here. You can bet your bottom dollar that if Cersei's kids were, say, Dornish-looking, people would be calling her out for her bullshit.

There is a way you can reasonably get away with passing over your bastards as someone else's, but that is 100% not Rhaenyra's way. This is why Cersei is chilling in the Red Keep, living her best bad bitch life, while Rhaenyra is running away to Dragonstone when the rumours are nipping at her heels. They are not the same. There are no paternity rumours to quell Cersei's girlboss vibes. She is sly enough that even Robert is convinced he inseminated her (gross).

2. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of Ned Stark's Scooby-Doo, Hercule Poirot mystery plot of unraveling Cersei's misdeeds. Ned has his own beef with the Lannisters and is convinced they are up to no good. He investigates them like the meddling kid he is and comes away with a suspicion. He knows nothing (heh) for certain until Cersei verbally confirms it for him. yOuR bRoThEr Or YoUr lOvEr. boo!

Had Ned not been on the Lannister trail from the very beginning, a fair assumption can be made that he never even would have suspected anything untoward. He never questions the children's paternity when they visit in Winterfell.

Again, this is distinctly different from Rhaenyra's situation. No one believes Cersei's children are bastards,* whereas no one believes Rhaenyra's children are trueborn. Pretending otherwise is very, very strange.

*at the beginning of AGOT, at least

3. Robert claimed Joffrey all his life and specifically named him his son and heir in his will, under dictation, to Ned. In turn, Ned deliberately changed Robert's words and wrote them down as "my rightful heir".

This is a parallel to show!Alicent, who misunderstands Viserys' dying words and him naming his son Aegon as heir. If Alicent didn't have the right to muddle the King's meaning, then neither did Ned. However, no one in their right minds is arguing that Ned is a traitor to the Crown. I wonder why is that?

I have already pointed out the circular logic in arguing that Robert only said that because he didn't know the children weren't his.

4. So what does this mean? Can anyone just accuse anyone they don't like of being a bastard and, thus, endanger that person's entire social status?

No, of course not. But, unfortunately for Cersei, Ned and Stannis aren't just some randos in a tavern. Ned is the Hand of the King. Stannis is Lord of Dragonstone and on the Small Council. These two men have a stalwart reputation and are renowned for their obsession with justice, duty and, in Ned's case, honour.

If Ned Stark stands in front of the Iron Throne and proclaims Joffrey a bastard, risks his daughters' lives and literally ends up losing his head as a result of this,

if Stannis Baratheon sends letters throughout the realm claiming Cersei's children are illegitimate,

the people of Westeros are going to pay attention.

These two very important men using their public platform to denounce Joffrey and starting wars over this? Say what you will about them, but they are not oathbreakers and they are not liars. No, they don't come with DNA tests, but for a lot of Westerosi, this is enough. They believe it.

Is this foolproof? No, of course not! But it convinces enough people that they are willing to band together to support rival claimants to the throne, thus igniting the War of the Five Kings. Speaking of political headaches, this is a huge one!

That being said, while Cersei is playing in the Champions League, Rhaenyra is fighting for her life in the relegation zone. She doesn't even need a Ned or a Stannis to cast doubt on her because no one believes her kids are not bastards.

Moreover, Vaemond obviously parallels Ned in this story. He tells the truth in open court and loses his head for it. In the show, Daemon and Viserys play the same role as Joffrey. In the texts, Rhaenyra and Daemon are stand-ins for Joffrey. This is not meant to be a triumphant moment of girlbossery. This is an abuse of power and an act of terror.

All in all, I'm sorry to say, but Cersei wins this hands down. She is savvy enough in her choice of sperm donor and can maintain plausible deniability without looking like a goddamn clown and the entire circus to boot. She holds the capital and has access to all the emblems of state after Robert dies. In contrast, Rhaenyra is floundering across the Blackwater Bay, yelling at the dragon gargoyles that her children are trueborn.

Why is this issue important in the story?

a). No one has a problem with Jace being King.

If people had a problem with Joffrey being King, enough to go to war over it, it would be narratively inconsistent for them to just accept an obvious bastard as King. It would contradict the internal logic of the fictional world we're talking about. That's quite some level of suspension of disbelief just because some fans like Jace. This isn't about him being amiable or a good kid.

b). They're still Rhaenyra's sons / it's a Targaryen internal matter and concerns no one else / the concept of Jace being King doesn't personally affect anyone else, so why does anyone care?

Because it's the freaking law! The name of the crime Rhaenyra commits is high treason! Punishable by exile or death!

No, the crime is not adultery, it's not having bastard children, it's specifically putting said bastard children in line to the throne. In that, Rhaenyra is as guilty as Cersei is.

It absolutely does affect others, since Rhaenyra actively steals the inheritance of House Velaryon for Luke. How is that not a crime? I would even go so far as to say that Laenor and Corlys are complicit in it and should be punished as well.

Contrary to bafflingly-popular erroneous beliefs, the monarch can't just do whatever they want. Even in absolutist monarchies, the sovereign serves the vital social role of upholding the law and the rights of their subjects. Rhaenyra breaks said law by committing theft, murder, high treason and destabilizing the entire system of inheritance.

c) Rhaenyra breaks the social contract

Jock Locke argues for the "right of revolution" in the Second Treatise of Government. He writes that when the government acts against the interests of its citizens, then said citizens gain the right to overthrow it and replace it with an authority that will protect their interests.

I am not trying to impose 'progressive' understandings of the political process anachronistically, in a medieval fantasy; my thesis-statement is that we have already seen this concept at play within the world of ASOIAF: the Faith Militant uprising against Aenys I and Maegor due to their practices of incest and polygamy and Robert's Rebellion, caused by Rhaegar kidnapping a noble lady and Aerys II carrying out executions without due process. The people of Westeros are not unfamiliar with opposing monarchs who don't abide by the law.

The question of Rhaenyra having bastards is framed in a lot of commentary through the lens of her right as a woman to have extra-marital sex and not be demonised for it and to find fulfilling love within the constraints imposed on her by her station. While debating the personal individual freedom of women in a patriarchal feudal society is not to be side-lined, her fundamental fault is that she is demanding rights and exemptions for herself, while the rest of the country have to abide by an entirely different set of rules.

The laws of inheritance, as unjust as they may appear to our modern eyes, are in place to prevent crises of succession, violent conflicts or even large-scale wars from starting every time someone's estates are passed on. Illegitimate children suddenly gaining access to inheritances threatens the political and economical calculations that predicate many Westerosi marriages.

Imagine paying a handsome dowry for your daughter, just so her husband's bastard birthed by some high-born mistress to make use of his maternal family's resources and cheat your legitimate grandchildren out of theirs.

Imagine being married to some lord and now his random bastards threaten the inheritance of your lawful children. Because, hey, the Queen acts like this is fine! This is Catelyn Stark's worst nightmare.

You think you can just sue your husband? What a silly notion. You think you can sue the bastard claimants after your husband is dead? Tough luck, your liege lord may rule in their favour by taking a leaf out of Queen Rhaenyra's book. You think you can appeal to Queen Rhaenyra? How are you going to travel all the way to King's Landing? Good luck with that, maybe you're built different and don't die during this dangerous and expensive journey.

Is this fair for the illegitimate children? Hell no, but Rhaenyra and Viserys are not planning on reforming family law in any meaningful way, because they know what a hassle it would be and how much opposition it would meet!

It reeks of rights for me, but not for thee and I, for the life of me, don't understand the stronghold she has on the liberated feminist brigade.

and finally

d). The Green Coup is not dependent on the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children.

No. But her committing high treason earns her an automatic disqualification from her right to rule, rendering her claim null and void.

[danyswift]

fanfiction etiquette is practically nonexistent nowadays because why are YOUUU monetizing your fanfiction and putting it behind a paywall??? this is clearly some of yall’s first fandom i need anne rice to rise from her grave and smack some sense into yall

[fubukisimp]

thinking about the parallels between big deal and gapryong’s gang. jake who mirrors his father. samuel and elite, the traitors. sinu han and jinyoung park, not only connected by the pills but both went missing for a period of time. much to the dismay of other members. the one guy who sees himself in lineman. hell i’d even throw in lua im and reporter kim, the (forgotten) woman who collects and distributes information.

[sncrlynwtms]

fandom etiquette as a whole died when people who didn’t grow up on fandoms became stans during lockdown, yes, but why am i seeing people openly mocking fics on twitter. why am i seeing screenshots of fics with captions like “bro what is this 😭.” why am i seeing people mock fic writers for not knowing how sports or theater or college or any other organization operates in the real world.

“college is absolutely nothing like this” “why are we writing four people on the team scoring a hat trick in one game” “so tech work is nothing like this, hope that helps!”

if you don’t like a fic, and if you can’t suspend your belief enough to enjoy a fic that exaggerates or ignores real-world orgs, you don’t have to read it. you don’t have to screenshot it and put it on blast for twitter. you don’t have to post a link to it in the replies. the back button is literally there on your phone. it’s not giving baby’s first fandom anymore, it’s giving entitled asshole and it isn’t as cute as you think it is.

[strangebrew]

filter on ao3 that only shows fic by women in their 40s who has a degree and works an office job and probably leaves authors notes that are like “sorry for the wait on the chapter guys! i had to give birth to my third kid😂”

[zeraparker]

we've all become the erotica writing secretary from 10 Things i Hate About You.

[transformativeworks]

gif by @joliecomer

[darsynia]

[iheartcoffeecakesm]

[flew-like-a-moth-to-you-sunligh]

"I don't write my draft before I start writing, I simply write, and then if I don't like it, I edit it, and when I say I'm done, I UPLOAD IT. I AM NOT WRITING THAT SHIT AGAIN."

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

❝ What’s the point of bots mass commenting on people’s works on AO3? What do they get from doing this? ❞

Besides trying to get your personal information and/or get you to “commission” them (you will almost certainly not get what you paid for, or it will be just AI-generated stuff), the only reason I can think of as to why these bots would do this, is because they want to use/steal your works to train their AI, and in order for them to avoid getting a copyright strike (since the works you create are YOUR OWN—even if it’s fanfiction of other people’s copyrighted characters—you can absolutely copyright strike anybody who steals your fics), they want you to delete your works off the internet.

Once the original material, which in this case is your fic, is deleted, it becomes way more difficult and complicated for you to claim ownership of your own work. Because it’s already been deleted. There’s no proof that you posted it first.

The bottom line, the bots are trying to get you to delete your works so that it would be easier for them to steal your works to train their AI without getting hit with a copyright strike from you.

Don’t delete your works.

MORE ABOUT BOTS AND SCAMMERS PLAGUING AO3’S COMMENTS SECTION

[synergy27]

Me at 13: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

Me at 17: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

Me at 21: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

[frederickchiltonsdivacup]

Give a man a fanfic, and he will read for a day. Teach a man to write, and he still won't do it.

He'll think about it though, and boy oh boy, he'll be thinking about it...