Broken down to my bare obsession

Perpetuating dissatisfaction and disassociation. Michael Myers is my favorite guy. I write sometimes. .

[geraniumstudy]

Smallfolk listening Rhaenyra after she killed the fucking High Speton in holy land and declared herself God, that will save them of a threat they have never heard before so they must suffer under her and she started screaming in ancient language nobody knows

[gothicdecays]

on the subject of good and interesting character arcs, I have particularly enjoyed Aegon’s, particularly how it is contextualized by Larys’ “the reason you suck” speech. Aegon’s journey is on becoming a great man, not a good man; becoming a man of principle, if not of morality. It makes for a really interesting watch, because as a person this guy still sucks, but unfortunately the worst guy you know is now willing to not only develop perspective, but to work hard to achieve his dreams.

And unfortunately that’s going to be what puts him over Rhaenyra.

[gothicdecays]

I think the show did Rhaenyra right. Helaena clocked her so well, because Helaena zeroed in on a core truth about Rhaenyra— she pretended to give a fuck about the bugs, the same way she pretended to give a fuck about the people. Because she wants to be SEEN as just and peaceful. Optics matter(ed) the most to her; mind you not in a politically advantageous capacity, like Otto. But in the capacity that serves her own self mythology. More than any real ethical concern for the people around her, the only true philosophy Rhaenyra has consistently espoused is her divine right, and the entitlement she has to that right. Most of her incompetence, beyond where she is cajoled by people who have ther own agendas, is born beyond her nose; she really cannot see reality beyond herself. Reality bends to her, because she is Chosen.

truly she is her father’s daughter.

Unfortunately for her (and for the fantasy pope), her brother having a grander mythology is the true immersion breaking experience, and then well who gives a fuck about optics, time to start a holy war, dump the communist girlfriend, and embrace the Valyrian supremacist uncle-husband.

Baela ALSO clocked her. I enjoyed that talk. We really need more of Baela.

[andrew-garfielld]

“Helaena Targaryen, sister, wife, and queen to King Aegon II and mother of his children, threw herself from her window in Maegor’s Holdfast to die impaled upon the iron spikes that lined the dry moat below. She was but one-and-twenty.” — Fire & Blood

Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S03E08 | "The Treasons at Tumbleton"

[andrew-garfielld]

If your world is to survive, I must light the way. Because I am the Shield of the People. I am Rhaenyra the Chosen. I am the Prince That Was Promised.

Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S03E08 | "The Treasons at Tumbleton"

[eloiscbridgerton]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3.08 – The Treasons at Tumbleton

[alvsanne]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Aegon and Sunfyre in the opening credits for 3.08

[daenerys-stormborn]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 3 Episode 8 — "The Treasons at Tumbleton"

[casszanova]

Wet cat x mentally ill dog

[eloiscbridgerton]

HELAENA TARGARYEN & DREAMFYRE HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3.07 – The Dragon in Winter

[gothicdecays]

My last annoyed HOTD hot take.

The narrative suffered when the show abandoned the inter generational structure of their story. The first season set up, quite nicely, the thesis of families forcing their offspring to inherit familial ambitions, quarrels, and fears. Children become pawns in feuds and factions, they grow up and repeat the cycle. Alicent and Rhaenyra inherit their father’s ambitions, their children quickly inherit their feud, so on and so forth.

unfortunately, besides Aegon and Aemond, the show refused to allow the next generation take center stage as active agents in this conflict. Maybe because they were afraid of “losing” Rhaenyra and Alicent as main characters, but this is an intergenerational story.

[random-french-girl]

i do really like that rhaenyra ever since she took the throne has been growing more and more desperate for people she trusts to tell her/make her believe again that she is a Good Queen Worthy of Her Power. part of it is definitely because everything keeps being more complicated than she thought, but also i think after losing jace (and luke) there's this real question for her of personal worthiness, because it was such a personal loss in an otherwise impersonal war.

but she hasn't been able to quite get the reassurance she needs from daemon, because while he absolutely believes she is meant to be queen, it's less about her personally and more about their targaryen line, their destiny, about the two of them being gods together. which matters to her, certainly, a great deal, but isn't about her.

and she hasn't gotten any reassurance from alicent, who has so much experience reassuring all the men in her life (including rhaenyra's own father!) that they are Worthy and Good, rhaenyra probably, even unconsciously, thought she could expect the same just by visiting her regularly and being mostly benevolent in her authority. but alicent, actually, has been remarkably candid about the fact that whether rhaenyra is "worthy" or not is the wrong question to ask. having power will make her do things to keep it that she wouldn't have done otherwise. alicent may believe in rhaenyra's "goodness", but she also firmly believes it won't matter, and this is not at all what rhaenyra wants to hear

and so of course it falls onto mysaria, who comes to the bitter understanding, in this episode, that this is what rhaenyra (and daemon, and all her other patrons) will always want her for: sexual and/or emotional solace. so mysaria gives her little utopian speech, lists all the things rhaenyra desperately wants to hear said out loud by someone she's close to, and rhaenyra listens avidly like a child being told a fairytale and choosing to believe it's Real, while mysaria resigns herself to this role, because what else can she do, really, if she wants to keep her position and the little bit of power she's gained?

[gothicdecays]

Also another rant on my end about Harrenhal. How is it possible that Daemon had a stronger relationship with that location than Aemond currently does? How is it possible that Daemon had a more interesting relationship with Alys than Aemond currently does? I mean I know how. I mentioned last season that the primary weakness about the Harrenhal storyline was that Daemon’s hauntings and visions had little to do with the location itself, or with the characters he encountered there. You did see a weird friendship build between Daemon and Alys, and a banter between Daemon and Simon, but neither really informed the other, and certainly neither actually informed Daemon’s experiences at THEIR ancestral seat. These characters and relationships were isolated. You really never got any understanding of Simon and Alys’s dynamic, how Harrenhal impacted them as individuals or as a family. Which is insane, considering that House Strong has been thematically haunting the edges of this inter-personal political drama.

Anyways, the answer is that once again HOTD is not interested in writing interactions outside of people who “need” to speak to each other. Which then leads to Aemond annihilating a household directly related to his first act of kinslaying, becoming enmeshed by a “member” of that household, and then the narrative having nothing interesting to say about it. I am not sure how this narrative is an effective examination of Aemond’s hubris and cowardice. It is bizarre.

[gothicdecays]

this show has lost the plot. Guys I LOVE HOTD, i rewatch it for fun all the fucking time but the narrative beats it chooses to prioritize are so fucking bizarre. The reason the first season and parts of the second season were watchable was BECAUSE there was more or less a foundation of a family at war at itself. A nice blend of the interpersonal and the political, but there’s NONE of that this season, and the parts that could have been interesting come off hollow as fuck because there is no movement!

Why should I care about daemon and Rhaena? He barely interacted with either daughter, negatively or positively. The only sense of neglect I was able to pinpoint was that of the narrative towards that interpersonal dynamic. Same thing with Helaena and Rhaenyra’s scene. Same thing with just Baela as a character, honestly what they are doing with her is pissing me off the most, there was exactly ONE relationship that gave her any sort of dimension (hint- wasn’t with her dad!) and even Jace’s death hasn’t had any payoff with her. She hangs out with the Velaryon boys I guess, but holy shit, no care into how she got there. No confrontation between her and Rhaenyra, or even a scene showcasing Rhaenyra icing her meaningfully (except for one blurred shot in ep 3). And ya know lol nothing with Daemon. She’s just like. An isolated, static character that I guess has zero relationship with her family, whether positive or negative.

And Alicent. Holy shit. Holy FUCK. You know I had said since season 1 that I was okay with an Alicent that wasn’t Cersei 2.0, and that in fact I am perfectly happy with her being visibly resentful of her children. Of even hating them. Please, go for it. People act as though it’s impossible for a woman to hate her children but I promise you it happens all the time. But man. Does the narrative explore this? Especially in a society in which kinslaying is the sin of sins? In a society in which a MOTHER slaying her own children is the subject of folklore because it stretches that culture’s sense of realism? In a world in which THIS WOMAN came from like, a family besties with the fucking Pope? The answer is NO. Instead the story has her looking traumatized and running around I guess because that’s interesting.

literally the only two consistent characters are Rhaenyra and Aegon. I like what they’re doing with Rhaenyra and Aegon. They’re both entitled brats, and only one got a reality check.

Also how can you make Aemond and Alys’s story so thin? I’m so annoyed. And I don’t want to be.

I think the main thing for me is that I’m not mad about the show making changes. Some risks are worth taking. I was actually very interested in what they were doing with Rhaena until they did nothing with her. I am for a transformative work. It’s based on a “history” after all. But there comes a point man, when not even turning off your brain distracts from bizarre storylines.

[gothicdecays]

I’ve been enjoying the majority of season 3 but this past episode was the first one this season that made me question what the fuck these writers are on.

[shanebuffys]

Alicent Hightower in every episode:

[eddtollett]

[15-lizards]

Mysaria trying to pass Medicare for All, Daemons trying to get Martial Law declared, Baela and Addam being the heads of the wildlife management, Orwyle is busy running Westero’s first planned parenthood, and Rhaenyra is trying to take out the oppositions nuclear war capabilities. Absolutely no agreement and nobody is in lockstep. Welcome back the modern Democratic Party