Jamie. 29. Nonbinary Genderqueer (they/them). Queer. Biromantic Demisexual. Mostly an ASOIAF and Magic: the Gathering blog. New obsession is Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (mostly Stormlight Archives and Mistborn) I also post a lot of Marvel, and Star Wars, and maybe some other stuff.
I sat behind the same girl in class all year and I was painfully jealous of her beautiful curly hair and I assumed she had just figured out some hair routine I didn't know, or had more time in the mornings than me, or was somehow more disciplined or just lucky. And then my friend talked to her one day and found out she gets 500$ perms and highlights 3 times a year. The answer was literally just money. The same friend found out that most of our classmates who I thought were just naturally smarter than me went to private highschools that cost 25k a year.
This is all a metaphor to say that there will be times when you feel like other people understand something that you don't, or have some ability that you don't, or are better than you in some way because they've accomplished something you can't. And it's going to turn out that they're just rich and they spent thousands of dollars to make that happen. You are not bad, you are not broken, the system is just fucked.
it does suck that the government defunded PBS but it's also so fucking funny that now that they don't take uncle sam's slavery dollars they're running videos like "How america's foundation was built on genocide"
PBS Origins my beloved! for the unfamiliar, channel link here. they've been pointing out how fucked up USA history is for a while, but not quite that overtly.
PBS Origins is the home of history shows from PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to dive into inclusive, intersectional history content that hel
link to the specific video from the screenshot above here:
it's part of their series "A People's History of Native America," playlist link here.
Hosted by comedian and actor Tai Leclaire, A People's History of Native America is a series that explores the current social climate in Nati
and while I'm here I'll plug some other channels because PBS does solid work. also, iirc they are (...were? I'm not actually sure what applies to them now that they've been defunded) legally required to include captions and they actually do that, so you won't run into auto-generated nonsense.
I haven't checked out PBS Documentaries yet, but they have some stuff tackling similar topics. (I am adding things to my watchlist as we speak.) channel link here.
Welcome to the PBS Documentaries channel—presented by PBS Digital Studios and Independent Television Service (ITVS), dedicated to documentin
PBS Terra doesn't pull punches on climate change. channel link here.
PBS Terra is the home of science and nature shows from PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to explore the frontiers of science and tech, our mind
PBS Eons has some super cool videos on the history of life on Earth, channel here, and Storied does awesome work on linguistics and mythology, channel here.
Join hosts Kallie Moore, Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, Gabriel Santos, and Blake de Pastino as they take you on a journey through the history of
Storied is the home for arts and humanities shows from PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to explore art, culture, mythology and much more!
The
aaand while we're talking about defunded USA public media that doesn't pull punches when critiquing our history and government, I am once again going to plug a couple NPR podcasts. Throughline does deep-dives on history, culture, laws, and so on (link here); I'm especially partial to their We the People miniseries, which covers our rights from the Amendments. Code Switch covers culture, focusing on race and minority groups, and has been doing some especially good coverage on what the Trump administration's fuckery means on a practical level (link here). (these aren't the only NPR podcasts that talk about this stuff, but they're the big ones afaik.)
Throughline is a time machine. Each episode, we travel beyond the headlines to answer the question, "How did we get here?" We use sound and
What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tac
‘“As swift as the wind he rides, and behind him his khalasar covers the earth”…The old woman trembled and looked at Dany almost as if she were afraid. “The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world.”’
✎ᝰ. slazete
dany week 2026 — day i | prophecies, magic & visions
the mad king spoilers under the cut! caveat this was truly so detailed and long and at several points I was like fuck there’s no way I’m gonna remember this when I try to write up later. but I’m gonna bullet point it first and then I’ll get into more detail on the bits that interested me most + you can ask about anything you want to know more about. btw the chronology is going to be fucked I’m sorry.
Lyanna opens the play asking the old gods that she might choose her own fate. she meets Howland, and we meet her bros. they have a cute dynamic. rip. Lyanna is to be introduced to Robert at the tourney.
Robert’s tragic backstory is played up to 11 in this, they really focus on his grief for his parents and how that’s led him to become the drunk he is. btw Nedbert shippers will LOVE them in this they are very touchy w each other
Rhaegar is introduced: he is the conspirator at Harrenhal. Arthur and Oswell are his right hand men, and they’ve generally agreed that Aerys is unfit for rule + Rhaegar has been dreaming the song of ice and fire for his whole life, and wants to unite the realm
Elia and Rhaegar are??? easily the strangest part of this production. they are not a love match and never were; Elia is exhausted by his ‘dreaming’ and wants him to step up as a leader. she later alludes to the fact that she wouldn’t really care if he did take Lyanna as a second bride, but she wants him to take his role seriously. she also alludes to having had a love before Rhaegar but I didn’t catch who this was.
Rhaegar is??? Rhaegar is. he’s very earnest and wants to save the world. he’s nonetheless weirdly cold w Elia - they’re cold w each other. she gives birth to Aegon at the tourney and he’s like right. so no third kid. and then dreams of Lyanna
in another story, would’ve found early Rhaelya faintly charming. they dance together in the style of swordplay. later, Rhaegar discovers her in the woods and unmasks her as TKOTLT. he lies on her behalf to Aerys, and when they abscond it’s not shown - we go straight to the burning of Rickard.
back to Harrenhal. Aerys arrives w an open shirt bare feet and acrylics. he’s really fully lost it in this, and some of this is attributed to the trauma of Summerhall (make of that what you will). he and Rhaegar have an interesting relationship?? there’s some level of love on Aerys’ part for Rhaegar but he doesn’t trust him at all. Rhaegar wants to murder his dad straight out but when aerys literally invites him to do so he can’t. this btw takes place in a scene following Aerys’ intro where Rhaegar removes his acrylics and trims his hair to make him presentable lol
Jaime’s story is extremely close to canon in this, so he shows up to the tourney, is inducted into the KG and abruptly dismissed. his role gets bigger in act 2.
Brandon and Ashara are lovers and very romanticised in this. Barristan selmy is portrayed a weird creep in the bg more or less. also this show does NOT care for Barry generally lol he is bystanding the fuck out of proceedings.
Ashara is extremely close to Elia and Arthur. however their stories and characterisations are the ones I suspect most have been spun a bit for the play - following Rhaegar and Lyanna running off together, Elia is literally imprisoned in CHAINS with Ashara caring for her children in the Red Keep. anyway generally Elia is very politically minded in this and wants her children on the throne, with or without Rhaegar.
Rhaegar and Lyanna have an odd relationship as well, you can see in the Rhaegar/Lyanna/Elia triangle that they’ve struggled a bit to make things really emotionally click. Rhaegar and Lyanna are in love but like. on another plane kind of. they have been in each other’s dreams I think before they even met?? they establish a connection because Lyanna just ‘gets’ his song, which is the song of ice and fire and for those wondering, is basically choral Valyrian idk.
Robert and Lyanna are not enemies in this - she likes him and even pities him and doesn’t want war with him. but she’s not into him and we get the canon lines from her about his not keeping to one bed. Btw I really can’t stress enough how much they’ve hammed up Robert’s grief in this like there’s a bizarre bit where Aerys says hey I’ll unveil a to scale model of the ship your parents perished in and Robert is like oh amazing cheers and then aerys unveils a fish tank w splinters in it and he’s like there you are. idk I laughed nice one aerys
god I’m so sorry for the chronology ANYWAY. at the tower of joy, Rhaegar is actually kind of done with the prophecy and it’s Lyanna who is into it. she and Rhaegar ardently believe Jon will be TPTWP. they literally create a red comet in this for Jon to be conceived under, it’s clear they want you to understand that he is at least one of TPTWP, assuming there can be two.
BUT. bizarrely, Dany is also conceived under the same comet. Dany stans are gonna absolutely hate this so I’m sorry, but here goes!!! Rhaella is summoned to Aerys’ room, because he wants to conceive under the red comet and birth TPTWP. Jaime tries to defend her and fight the other KG (including Barry smh smh), but Rhaella (who is very arch in this, not a soft character) says she will do her duty but she will birth a daughter who will bring her vengeance, and burn the realm to cinders.
Ned and Cat’s wedding features briefly. they negotiate the terms of their marriage and then decide they want to bed one another.
Arthur and Oswell (at TOJ) are really impatient for Rhaegar to put an end to the war, but Rhaegar as I say is done w prophecy. Lyanna meanwhile has been exchanging letters with Elia (who knows where they are I forget how) and they’ve agreed together that Rhaegar needs to take action. Rhaegar agrees to go to war so long as three KG remain to protect Lyanna, who is now heavily pregnant.
anyway the trident happens. Rhaegar repeatedly offers Robert the opportunity to yield but Robert’s rage is implied to be a mix of bitterness about Lyanna and bitterness about Rhaegar’s tangential relationship with his parent’s death. you know what happens then.
back in KL. Jaime really disillusioned w Aerys. Tywin arrives at the gates and Aerys is remembering him as a bosom pal, decides to let him in against Jaime’s protests I get my kingslayer scene and I am so grateful. it’s line by line accurate and exactly as I pictured it. aerys’ actor lies on the steps of the throne for literally about 20 minutes after this I applaud him. Jaime ascends the throne, the scene w Ned happens, then Tywin marches in and you think he’s gonna hug Jaime but he actually just rips the cloak from his shoulders and chucks it over aerys which I thought was a fun adaptational bit.
Gregor (who is played by an enormous puppet) drags Elia and her children’s bodies into the throne room. Ned and Robert argue heatedly, before Ned agrees to go find him Lyanna.
Ned arrives at ToJ and this happens as it does in the show. we hear Bran calling to Ned a few times. Howland ultimately wins the duel with Arthur for Ned by getting him in the back.
Ned goes to Lyanna and she gives him Jon, asks that Ned let him live ignorant of prophecy and choose his own path. JON IS NOT NAMED BY LYANNA AT ALL. Ned later names him beneath the heart tree in winterfell, as Benjen says Jon must join the watch some day for his own safety. Cat (Robb in arms) meets Ned with Jon and is furious, storms off.
Jaime and Cersei talk. people from the wings name Jaime kingslayer and pelt him w cabbages. Jaime falls to the floor whimpering. me and several others laughed but I don’t think we were meant to. Jaime wonders why Tywin didn’t claim the throne when given the opportunity. Cersei says the throne is only a crown, Tywin wants real power. Jaime asks what Cersei wants - she says she wants it all. then she says that they should have children together and sit them on the throne. Jaime says that treason, Cersei’s like fuck it why tf do u care.
the show ends more or less with Robert demanding the deaths of Viserys and Dany, and Ned objecting. Robert criticises Ned for burying Lyanna in the North, Ned screams that Robert isn’t the only one grieving. they part ways on bad terms, and Robert goes to marry Cersei.
I see that "learned helplessness" is the hot new psychological term getting wildly misused. the phrase you're looking for is "weaponized incompetence," babes
weaponized incompetence is when your partner does chores shitty on purpose so that you stop asking them to do chores. learned helplessness is when you've experienced so much trauma that you've developed the mindset that you can't meaningfully change your situation and have become accordingly passive.
if your partner is exhibiting learned helplessness they aren't manipulating you, they're displaying a trauma response.
actually in love with the idea of daenerys accidentally blowing up the city both her parents wanted destroyed. king's landing is like house targaryen's harrenhal
