I’m sorry, the scene where Maekar is sitting with Aerion as he recovers…
He’s sat there, grappling with the fact that he just killed his own brother. By all rights, he should blame Aerion for starting this mess, for attacking the puppet girl. But he doesn’t. He seems to blame Ser Duncan, but that’s Targaryen honor talking. He knows it’s Aerion’s fault— and so it’s ultimately his own fault.
He didn’t intend to kill Baelor. He loved Baelor. He and his brother were close. Their relationship was strong and built on years of trust and friendship.
And then Egg comes in. And he’s clearly here to kill his brother. And the look the Maekar gives him…
Incredulous, and in disbelief. Not “what are you doing” but “Could you? Would you really?” And he already knows the answer.
How did this happen? How are his sons strangers to one another— worse than strangers— when he and Baelor were so beloved to one another? How is it that he’s grieving the death of his brother so wholeheartedly while his sons plot fratricide?
It’s no wonder he talks so fiercely about ‘Blood of the Dragon’ and Targaryen honor when he sees it put under so much strain.
This scene is so good. It’s so good that it makes that final scene, where Egg sneaks off without his father’s permission, mildly infuriating. Because it’s so so clear that this moment is pivotal. That no matter what Maekar’s first reaction is to hearing Dunk’s condition to take Egg to squire, he’d come back to this moment and ultimately change his mind.
I just. This scene is so fantastic, probably my favorite in the whole season. And you can see why.
Do you have any of your own AKOTSK scifi au ideas? I simply want to see how other folks wanna play with their dolls!!!
I didn't but now I do, so.
Humans are space orcs + humans aren't seen as sapient beings LETS GO
The Targs are a shipping company, they all live on the same ship, they are Valyrian, a reptilian race that walks on two legs, has hands with claws, draconian wings, scales all over with a mane that goes from their forehead to in-between their wings, they also have a tail. They are actually a pretty dangerous species, but they have one main problem: they have hollow bones, they are fragile.
So the Targ decide to get a guard dog, they go ti the space kennel of dangerous species and find Dunk there, the biggest human they have ever seen, and they've seen what damage a normally sized human can cause. They are a bit hesitant at first, but the vendor assures them that Dunk, while strong and perfectly capable of protecting, is actually quite docile.
They buy Dunk and for a while they're basically trading him like a pet, the younger are especially attached to him, while the adults are like a bit doubtful because he is extremely gentle and it seems strange to see him as capable of hurting others (even if he keeps on doing things that creep them out immensely, like the time he ran BACKWARDS without looking at where he was going).
Meanwhile Dunk isn't exactly mining the arrangement because, sure he would prefer to be considered sapient and not a pet but like, he had a pretty shitty life on heart, and he's well aware he could have ended up with all kinds of aliens, he's not minding this too much, he has a big ass room that contains a lot of things to do like climbing and a bunch of puzzles, he even has ropes he can swing from and other such things, plus he's pretty pampered all around, and the children are sweet. Now, he would prefer understanding the language, but beggars can't be whiners his old man used to say, and he agrees.
Then one day some bitches attack the ship, and Dunk at first is pretty scared because they have strange weapons and shit (and in general they look a bit scary) but then, while he's sneaking around trying to find his family crew he sees one of them grab the children, and He. Sees. Red.
Let's say that the bad guys are no more, the children are traumatised but thought it was really cool, and the adults are horrified and just happy that Dunk apparently pack bonded.
Now this incident is the start of them realising that Dunka actually is sapient, and over time they teach him the language.
Over all Dunk is actually quite happy, even if he has to pulverise a couple of aliens that get the bright idea to go for the kids, or in general for the Targs.
This was a bit rushed, but I hope you enjoyed, as usual any questions are welcome.
Reassuring bottom Baelor talking his adorable and very worried top Dunk through his first time fucking him that way, telling him how good it feels in detail and every single thing he likes that Dunk's doing, and poor Dunk is blushing all the way down to his feet and apologizing profusely for every single extremely wanted inch sliding into him being so damn thick, how could it possibly not be hurting his lover, but no. Baelor's having the time of his life and is not going to let Dunk think otherwise for even a second no matter how much he squirms and sweats at all the compliments.
bc i stay loving epistolaries but also i imagine Dunk can’t write super well for the first few years of their relationship. Instead, he does send Baelor beautiful sketches of where he’s been (flowers and trees and cute animals and sketches of people who have been kind to him, market scenes, etc.) and little cartoons making fun of people—Maekar with steam coming out of his ears at the sight of Aegon’s bald head, Maester the donkey lecturing Daeron on his drinking habits, tiny Eggs with egg themed captions (he’s sprawled in the dust post training and the caption is ‘scrambled egg’; he’s sweating under the dornish, ‘boiled egg’).
baelor does keep them all. He ends up pulling some of them out so often, he needs to get them framed in glass so the oil of his hands don’t degrade more of the paper.
#artist!dunk#he'd have an eloquence all his own in the way he composes his little drawings#and clearly a charming sense of whimsy in his illustrations!#does he ever draw baelor?#baelor strikes me as almost ruthlessly pragmatic about his looks#whether because he has a hundred and one things to think about at any given moment#or because so much of his formative years were spent being told that his looks were *wrong* or undesirable#so i imagine it might be quite the revelation to see how dunk sees him in his drawings#or even realize that dunk is staring at him to sketch him (tags from @sevenums)
Ok yes! you get me!!!
I feel very strongly about Dunk's intelligence vis a vis his literacy. Like, he's not 'learned' but he is observant and thoughtful and it definitely shows up in his drawings! Like, he's familiar with animals and trees and rivers and the way they move; he's probably an experienced forager and can 'read' whether a plot of land is fallow or not. And that shows up in his little details! Like, his letters are def. catnip for future historians.
I agree w you 100% re: Baelor's relationship to his own appearance. I think his mother probably taught him that looks were important but it was fine balance. he had to be handsome and well kept but nothing too Dornish and nothing too desirable. I think the two of them, when Baelor was like 15/15, sat down and sorted out a kind of uniform of what was acceptable for different events / crowds, gave the list to Baelor's manservant and I don't think it's until Baelor starts falling for Dunk that he ever really reconsiders his appearance (bc I HC as falling in love for the first time like @motherrthing just posted about and now he's worried about whether Dunk finds him attractive and what he finds attractive on himself for first time in his life)
I think the way Dunk looks and draws him def helps himself as a fuller person -- in the sense of his Dornishness and his sexuality. I remember my first gf--I was so so oblivious in college but there was something undeniable about the way that she looked at me that changed something chemical in my brain and think Dunk does that for Baelor. I think Dunk flusters and challenges Baelor and I think Baelor gets addicted to that freefall feeling of discovering yourself through someone else.
I like to HC that Baelor has beautiful curls but he doesn't feel confident growing them out until he's King, his rule is stable AND he's got a gentle lover who likes pulling his hair. I think the curls make him feel beautiful and closer to his mother (literally bc of looks and bc he would have grown up watching her care for her own hair with oils and things and oiling his own hair, even as a grown man, even having buried his mother, makes him feel good and special bc it's something that was unique to his relationship with his mom that he didn't share with his brothers and that was relatively untainted by the cruelties of court.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Soon, you may rest, my love,” Baelor says. Dunk’s breath catches in his throat, a weight, he hadn’t realised he was carrying, lifting from his shoulders. Baelor pauses, frowning at him. “Dunk?”
“I-I wasn’t…” he stops, swallowing. He’d tried not to think about it. Tried not to let himself brood on it. Allowed the only times he dwelled on it to be when he and Kiera were sat around the fire, sharing their fears for those they’d had to leave in the dark. Sharing their determination to return to them, even if their loves themselves had moved on. “It has been so long, and surely you must have… you must have thought me dead. I didn’t know if-“
“Oh, Dunk,” Baelor says, stepping forward, pressing against Dunk’s chest. Dunk stoops to meet him when Baelor reaches up to kiss him. It’s chaste, Dunk doesn’t have the energy for anything more, and neither does Baelor. “My love. I was set to mourn you for the rest of my days. Never fear that you will lose the place you hold in my heart. You are my man, my knight, my love. Always.”
My @dunkbaelorexchange2026 gift for @snakeonthewater
This was so much fun to write!!! Now I must scurry to work.
As much as I think it would be fun to have emotive anthropomorphic ears, I also recognize I can barely control my facial expressions. Like hell can I keep from Angry Ears-ing during meetings
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