Meet the Maker

Behold, the righteous altar to my ego. If you appreciate my sass, Buy Me a Coffee. If not, I assume you will read someone else's blog.

[makerkenzie]

At the pool house, with the Bloody Mary

And here's another theory on DTF St. Louis.

Who killed Floyd?

It wasn't Clark.

Floyd went to the pool house in the sub-morning to meet Richard for one of their stepfather-son talks.

Richard rode the incumbent bicycle to the pool.

Richard handed Floyd the Bloody Mary spiked with amphezyne. Floyd drank the Bloody Mary and didn't ask why the can was already open, because he trusted Richard.

Carol instructed Richard to do this. Richard didn't know what the drink would do to Floyd.

At one point Floyd remarks that Richard has Borderline Personality Disorder. One of the symptoms of BPD is intense fear of abandonment. Carol leveraged her son's fear of abandonment to persuade him to serve his stepdad a spiked drink.

I'm not sure whether Floyd brought the Indiana Jones porn with him to the pool house to use in the stepdad-son talk, or Richard brought the porn with him and left it there. But Floyd wasn't at the pool house to meet someone from DTF St. Louis. He was there for Richard.

[makerkenzie]

It's caused by blunt trauma.

I've been watching DTF St. Louis.

Last night's episode was tedious. Maybe I feel this way because I spent years waiting tables and I want to rescue that waiter at Denny's from Clark's nonsense.

Anyway. I want to share my theory on the Peyronie's disease.

Carol did it.

Not intentionally; she didn't want to leave Floyd with a permanent bend in his dick. But...Carol delivered the blunt trauma.

And she did it in her umpire gear.

[makerkenzie]

I got the theory from seeing David lightbringers vids who suggested Tyrion as the 3rd head of dragon to dany and Jon each of whom lost their mothers when they gave birth to them (a connection iirc grrm brought up

what will be the endgame for Martells

some suggest Doran will outlive his kids or that he thinks Trystan died after arianne was killed (I saw some people claim Faegon is racist when I disagree with that notion

Sorry, what does Faegon being racist have to do with Arianne being killed or Trystane being presumed dead?

Anyway, regarding the Martells in endgame: not much of them left.

It's possible Doran outlives his kids, but if he does, he won't have much of a life. He'll be a prince in name only, if even that. If he's very lucky, the gout will abate, but even then he's powerless.

His offspring are all gonna die. If they're lucky, Trystane will get a quick and simple death behind closed doors. The elder Sand Snakes (Obara, Nymeria, Tyene) are also headed for death, and they'll be messy. I have high hopes for Sarella/Alleras, though; I think she'll survive, and she'll be important. Ellaria Sand, if she's smart, will gather up whichever of her daughters are still at home with her and hide out in the Summer Isles until the dragons stop dancing. Ellaria and her girls don't have to die, but I suspect the one who's traveling with Arianne will.

[makerkenzie]

Thoughts on the Tyrian is a genetic chimera basically he had a twin he absorbed in his womb and that genetically he is both Tywin and aerys son Heteropaternal superfecundation is an extremely rare phenomenon that occurs when a second ova released during the same menstrual cycle is additionally fertilized by the sperm cells of a different man in separate sexual intercourse.

I'm open to Tyrion being a genetic chimera much more than I'm open to Tyrion being at all related to Aerys II.

Chimerism would explain his heterochromia, sure. It would explain both the different-colored eyes and the mix of blond and dark hair. Joanna's already had one set of fraternal twins, so it's not so far out there to think Tyrion started out as two zygotes.

But, I mean...the Mad King. Also, is it even possible for a chimera to form from half-siblings? I suppose weirder stuff happens in ASOIAF, but...the Mad King? Eww. Furthermore, if we need different fathers to explain the heterochromia, then where did the dark hair come from? He's more likely to get the dark hair from his grandmothers' ancestors than from Aerys.

Overall, I'm having a hard time with the idea of Joanna getting pregnant by anyone other than Tywin. Would she have cheated on Tywin, within days of having slept with him? I doubt it very much. And if she ever cheated on him, I'm quite sure she would chug a kettle of moon tea afterwards. That leaves rape, which is bad enough already. And then we gotta wonder who'd be foolish enough to force himself on Tywin Lannister's wife. Even if some shithead managed to get close enough, he likely ended up disemboweled and fed to the lions in the Shame Basement. And even in that case: moon tea.

Tyrion as a chimera: plausible. Coming from two fathers: not feelin' it.

[makerkenzie]

Thoughts on the claim that all of tywins kids need to die to send the message of how wrong tywin was in contrast to eddard and his kids where eddard actually left behind a legacy people are willing to fight for him long after his death and his kids are prepared to have a lasting impact

(yes I meant needs to die )

If any of Tywin's offspring need to die, it's because death is the most satisfying conclusion to their arc.

Trying not to get lost on a side quest: death doesn't mean a narrative condemnation of the character. If one of the siblings dies in a big heroic sacrifice, does that send a message about what Tywin got wrong vs. right?

If we need the kids' arcs to make a statement about their fathers, the fact of Tywin being killed by his own son has already made a statement. Do we need to drive the point home by having Tyrion come to an ignominious end? I think not.

And then there's Cersei going through the Walk of Shame, as Tywin had done to his father's mistress decades earlier. The statement's been made, regardless of how much longer Cersei lives.

This isn't a simple narrative of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys, and even where there's an obvious line, the Lannisters aren't all on the same side of it. Most families aren't moral monoliths; just ask Sansa. If Theon and Asha come out alright, is that a vindication of Balon Greyjoy? I hardly think so. Seven Hells, look at the Targs. If Daenerys makes it to the epilogue in good standing, does that put Aerys II on the right side of history? Come on now.

Tywin's villainy speaks for itself. His children are their own people.

[makerkenzie]

did book oberyn actually promise no harm to myrcella

Not in as many words. He only mentions Myrcella when talking about his family's plot to crown her.

Which...I mean, clearly they don't want her to come to any harm BEFORE they crown her.

Realistically? The reason why they want to crown Myrcella---and Oberyn says as much!---is to mess with the Lannister regime. He's not threatening harm on her by his family; he's threatening to goad the little princess's own family into declaring war on her. If Oberyn really wanted to protect Myrcella, he wouldn't put her in that position.

[makerkenzie]

Even he knew he didn't deserve it.

Ulf is just one more Mediocre White Guy who failed up. I'll give him a chance to show he appreciates the opportunity. I may even give him a chance to become a guy who is worthy of that opportunity.

Hugh is the guy who shows up and does the work.

[scientia-rex]

I think a lot about how, if the glorious violent revolution happens, every kid with significant medical needs in a hospital where power gets cut will die.

You can decide you're willing to sacrifice your own life, but you don't get to tell everybody else on the planet that they're acceptable collateral damage.

[scientia-rex]

This gets notes every time it drifts into leftist circles. But here’s the thing: I am a doctor. I have cared for children in hospitals. Vast, intricate supply chains that rely on functioning world governments with trade agreements are necessary to the provision of modern medical care. There is no way to work it so those kids can win if electricity, water, food, or medical supplies like sterile intravenous fluid bags or EKG stickers get interrupted. Forget even permanent disruption, a temporary disruption of the sterile tubing necessary for surgery would mean a lot of kids die of appendicitis. The generators we have as back-up are meant to last minutes, not weeks. And you can say “under my new system, the total violence done would ultimately be less than the violence done by the state,” but it’s easier to say that about a hypothetical kid than one lying on a gurney in front of you. When you’ve been responsible for a life—when you’ve lost a patient, when you’ve been through a Code Blue for a one-year-old—there is nothing you would not do in order to protect that life. I think all the time about what Devil’s bargains I would make for various situations; it’s one of the fucked up things I do. I can tell you that I would kill anyone who tried to cut power to my hospital, or I would die trying. There is no alternative.

The world is too interconnected to allow one part of it to go down. When Puerto Rico got slammed by hurricanes and the US did fuck all about it, we had a nationwide shortage of bagged IV fluids. I was working in hospitals through that. Things we normally do as part of routine medical care, like giving the puking kid with the migraine IV Zofran and Reglan, got a whole lot harder. I was working inpatient during COVID, when there were sudden shortages of pain and anxiety medications we relied on, like opioids and benzodiazepines. There was a nationwide shortage of lidocaine last year and we had to save it for biopsies of suspect cancers. Surgery requires not only a surgeon but an entire team of people and complex equipment to safely sterilize tools, most of which are now based around laparoscopic surgery that requires camera tools instead of the old-school open surgeries. You could not even say “but the surgeons can still operate” because no. They can’t. Not safely. Not with ether instead of succinate and fentanyl. I could deliver your baby after the apocalypse, but who’s staffing the blood banks when you have a post-partum hemorrhage and I don’t have three trained nurses with a kit of specialty meds to slow the bleeding? I still remember the time during the worst of COVID when I couldn’t fly a patient from our rural hospital to an urban hospital that could have done the operation he needed, because the hospitals were completely full. I had to buy time with heavy-duty IV antibiotics (the one and only time I’ve been allowed to use a -penem) while he lay there in agony for 12 hours until a bed came open and we could transfer him. If we couldn’t treat the pain and keep the infection from killing him long enough to operate, he would have died then and there, in front of us, while we stood there helplessly.

So how many kids are you OK with watching die from a ruptured appendix? That’s what comes in to the ED at two in the morning and within half an hour if you’re lucky has an ultrasound proving the diagnosis and a surgeon getting scrubbed in. If there isn’t ultrasound, ultrasound techs, pain medication, anesthesiologists, ventilation machine for when you’re under, light-up scopes with blades to allow for intubation bc then there’s direct visualization of the vocal cords, paralytic medications to keep you still, medications to keep you asleep, monitoring machines that read your blood pressure ans CO2 levels and pulse oximetry while you’re under, computer scheduling for OR time, post-op recovery nurses, gurneys, autoclaves, specialized small metal tools for the surgery—if there are interruptions in training or production of any of these and a whole lot more, anyone could die of a surgical problem, but it hurts worse when it’s a kid. Watch breast cancer come back into vogue, as we lose mammograms. You ever treated a woman who’s ignored breast cancer so long it’s now a fungating mass? Go Google what that looks like. Two cases have walked into my office and they are both dead now. One was schizophrenic. Without modern global supply chains, we don’t have lorazepam or morphine for humane death, let alone psych meds. How many people would deteriorate? Get specific. Which friends would you be willing to watch die? Which of their kids are expendable?

What kind of violent revolution are you planning where you are able to look a patient in the eye and tell them, “Your death is necessary to my vision,” and not understand that you are the villain?

You get to decide whether you want to end your own life for this glorious future. You do not get to decide to end my life or my patients’ lives or anyone else’s. You are not God and you do not get to make plans as if you are, as if you have the One Correct Vision and the rest of us just need to fall in line and follow the prophet. Fuck you. You think the Black kid whose treatment team I was on while he writhed in pain on a hospital bed because he had a kidney transplant and it was rejecting wouldn’t tell you to go fuck yourself about your violent revolution? Our society is no longer able to tolerate large-scale disruptions. We have built too much and we would lose too much. We are too big to fail, and although it’s easy to see that as a bad thing, what I keep seeing, over and over, is that transplant team. How the nephrologist and the resident and the nurses and techs and pharmacists and therapists were working together to keep that kid alive. The scientists who did the research, relying on impossibly complex systems that have taken hundreds of years to build. Collaboration is how we survive.

We cannot allow the vulnerable to die and call that progress. We cannot turn the lights out on any hospitals, because the people in the ICU on ventilators will stop breathing and die within minutes. Would you want that to happen if it’s your mother in that ICU? Would you tell your mother the answer to that? What if it was your child? What about your favorite sibling? How many of other people’s families are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of something that stands a virtually 100% chance of going up in flames immediately, when we look at prior attempts at creating a new government out of war and chaos? The massive impacts of even “small” shortages on patients is not theoretical and has killed patients since I’ve been an attending, starting three years ago.

You do not own the right to anyone else’s life.

And if you think you want a violent revolution, see how you do with your next toothache without pain meds, lidocaine, dental expertise, and composite that lets you keep the tooth and keep chewing. How long would you have to suffer to crack?

[adhdedrn]

#i think about this all the time #as a disabled person #the violent revolution fantasies always reek of genocide to me #how convenient that you get rid of all the undesirable people too #how convenient that your new world order necessitates the death of the disabled sick and elderly #oh you wont say you think of us as a burden on your ideal society #but you can hear it (via @hollowedskin)

[makerkenzie]

I was about to say "those who glorify violent revolution tend to assume they won't be amongst the casualties," but that still sort of misses the point of scientia-rex's post.

Those who glorify violent revolution tend not to understand just how bad it'll get, and for how long, before it gets better. IF it ever gets better.

[liberalsarecool]

There is a shift. Keep pushing!

[mini-wrants]

When absolutely 0 of Biden’s accomplishments have made any kind of news, and we’ve been fed a steady diet of fear and panic for 3 years, no one gets to be shocked when he loses the next election to Donald 2.0.

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

It’s easier to protest against a president you don’t like then to actually remain in charge and keep pushing ahead, even if small, consistent accomplishments are all you receive.

[mini-wrants]

I know I’ll never be missing an election in my life again (barring some kind of major medical event).

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

Low cost hearing aids, lower and $0 student loans, concrete investments in green architecture…there was an announcement like 2 days ago to replace all leaded pipes out of US cities over the next 10 years, which will be an absolute boon in jobs for construction workers and can make our homes safer for kids. I’m sure I’ll see a headline in a year, “Biden’s lead pipe program causes drivers traffic headaches.”

[mini-wrants]

Republicans want 20 foot concrete barriers topped with barbed wire across the entire southern border, and Democrats want amnesty and ease to citizenship for just about anyone who crosses, and it really seems like until a compromise is made somewhere in there, Republicans will continue to turn out in massive numbers to elections because God told them to, and Democrats will continue to stay home because the last president didn’t accomplish 100% of their goals and voting for an imperfect president is a personal and ethical failing.

Now take that mentality and spread it over every single social and economic issue.

[lennat2]

I remember how utterly scared and angry we were sone years ago when Trump was trying to bankrupt the USPS. People were talking about it left right and sideways, asking people to buy from the USPS gift shop, start a stamp collection, anything. Then, Biden got elected and put a huge stop to that by getting rid of the unfair laws that only the USPS had to abide by. Overnight, the USPS was saved, and how did everyone react?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

About a month ago, BAM, it was restored because Biden appointed a Democratic leader to the FFC. Did anyone talk about it? Nope. I saw ONE post.

[ansodie]

okay, so as much as I think that Biden was the least shitty of two garbage presidential candidates, and as much as I disagree with some of the things he’s done… …I have to admit that the Biden-Harris administration has done more for the average American’s life than any other I can remember in the last 20-30 years. even with a congress made up of majority spoiled toddlers who would rather kill a man than vote “yes” to save a hundred thousand, they have:

changed the Medicare enrollment periods for elderly and disabled individuals, so that they don’t have to literally enroll in the designated period for enrollment and then STILL WAIT for 2, 3, 4, 5, or even SIX months for their healthcare to start

along the Medicare line, they have added special enrollments for: people who just got released from jail, who lost their low-income healthcare through Medicaid, had a medical emergency or natural disaster that made them miss enrollment, didn’t enroll because they were lied to by their employers, etc

they CAPPED THE COST OF INSULIN to $35/MONTH FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES!!!!! and they are working to get it capped to that for all Americans!!! (but of course, Republicans are fighting it)

Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana and started the review process to get weed rescheduled federally

provided hundreds of billions nationally in funding for the repair of roads/bridges/highways, expanding high-speed internet access, improving public transportation, adding electric vehicle charging, adding clean energy sources, removing pollution still leaking into communities from industrial manufacturing from DECADES ago, and REMOVAL OF LEAD PIPES not just on state land but on TRIBAL land and TERRITORIES!

cracked down on the (frankly, abusive) overdraft fees from banks - to the point that many banks have removed the fees outright rather than deal with an investigation from the federal government over them - and the last minute surprise fees from hotels/concert venues/etc.

They are working to change Social Security taxation so that those making above $400,000/yr actually have to fucking CONTRIBUTE - because, if you didn’t know, currently Social Security taxes cap out at $160,000. Yes, meaning that those who are MOST ABLE TO AFFORD paying more taxes, and who would contribute MORE in taxes, are paying pennies (if anything).

Also, to increase the minimum SSA benefit from just a cut-and-dry figure that has to be manually increased (and is therefore subject to NOT getting increased), to a scaling percentage of 125% above the poverty line

Also, also, to increase benefits for surviving spouses who abruptly lose 50%+ of their income when a spouse dies, then are shit out of luck for paying for homes/vehicles/etc

Not only that but:

as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic

provided massive student loan debt relief

ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods

Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that

are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits

reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)

I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

Changed the Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug program, so that EVERYONE on Medicare who is under 150% of the federal poverty level can qualify for zero monthly premiums, zero deductibles, and capped prescription costs at $4.50 generic/$11.40 name-brand.

Provided $3.5 million in grants to expand internet coverage on and to tribal lands.

And $728 million to provide clean, sustainable drinking water to rural and tribal communities and support water and river conservation in the Colorado river basin.

Provided funding for the expansion of Medicaid, meaning that now 40 states offer a year’s worth of health coverage after birth, so postpartum complications can be, y'know… treated without putting you into massive medical debt.

Demanded an additional year of coverage for children’s healthcare under CHIP, via the CAA of 2023, with a hopeful continuation even further under section 1115.

Invested $265 million across 16 states for natural disaster preparation and recovery, including streambank stabilization, flood prevention and watershed restoration projects.

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

Please register and vote in 2024.

[timemachineyeah]

the current electoral system is an unfairly weighted corrupt mess that will not save us, but

abstaining from voting does nothing to destabilize or replace it

participation can reduce harm and be strategically applied to your larger more revolutionary goals

(plus following electoral politics just keeps you aware of what specifically to expect from The Powers you oppose)

there is no materially revolutionary argument against voting if you are at all able.

[dancinbutterfly]

I live in Georgia.

I have SEEN what can happen if you SHOW THE FUCK UP! You can, in fact, turn the tide.

I'm originally from Florida. I was in Florida for the 2000 recount that cost this country Al Gore as our president.

I've watched what happens when progressives abandon voting. You can, in fact, lose the war by not voting. You can, in fact, lose EVERYTHING by not showing up to vote electorially by a few HUNDRED votes.

YOU HAVE TO SHOW UP. YOU JUST HAVE TO.

[dreamerinsilico]

I will treasure the number of times I overheard the phrase "Herschel fucking Walker" while standing in line to vote in the runoff election probably for the rest of my life, despite how much back pain I was in at the time because of having to stand in said line.

(I had previously been a SC resident. Less so with the hope there, though there was a very intense, albeit obviously unsuccessful, campaign to unseat Graham. Doesn't mean we should stop trying, put that fucker in the garbage where he belongs.)

Not incidentally, I stood in line for roughly 45 minutes in GA to vote in the general election, and nearly an hour to vote in the Senate runoff. When I was voting in SC, I was in a heavily white, heavily upper middle-class district, and... line? what line? except in 2020 early voting, when I stood in line for nearly two hours. Got a solid bit of sock knitted.

[vaspider]

Lauren Boebert won by ~330 votes.

Next time, she could lose.

Just saying.

[viridianriver]

also vote in local elections. the ones about school leadership and funding, and who's got the ability to ban books. who the local judges are. all those have relatively low turnout but impact a lot of people so your vote is really meaningful there!

[makerkenzie]

If voting didn't make a difference, then voter suppression wouldn't exist.

[makerkenzie]

"Never. You will wed the king."

Okay, the title is a misdirection, as this isn't about Maggy's Prophecy. It's more on the Martells' misplaced loyalty to the Targaryens. But still! The tension between marrying the prince and marrying the king is relevant.

Prince Rhaegar was the eldest son of the king, and he married Princess Elia Martell.

Again: he was the eldest son of the king. He was next in line for the throne. When he became king, Princess Elia would have been his queen. Her son would have been the next king after that.

Who knows what kind of interactions the Targaryens had with the Martells before the rebellion? And really, who cares? That marriage joined House Martell of Dorne to the royal family. It meant their blood would become royalty. No other House in the realm could have given the Martells what they had with Prince Rhaegar.

AAAAAND then Prince Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna Stark. That was a crappy way to treat Princess Elia and their two children, but nothing could change that she was his wife and she DID have two children with him. Those children were still high up in the line of succession. King Aerys made everything worse and the realm went to war.

The rebels won the war and Prince Rhaegar never became king. Princess Elia and her children were killed in the Sack, and the lord who presented their bodies to the new king was rewarded for their murders. He was rewarded in the form of getting his daughter married to the new king.

Princess Elia would never become queen. Her children would never inherit anything. No, no, Robert Baratheon killed Prince Rhaegar and wedded the daughter of the man who orchestrated the deaths of Princess Elia and the children.

Elia Martell wedded the prince. Cersei Lannister wedded the king.

I can see how Elia's brothers would be enraged at the new regime.

In the period between Rhaegar running off with a younger lady and him dying on the Trident, Prince Doran and Prince Oberyn may have been asking themselves: IS this jackass prince coming back to his marriage to our sister?

But then after he died, they'd never know what he had intended to do regarding their sister and the children.

In the short period of time between Rhaegar's death and the Sack, Elia's brothers may have been telling themselves the Targaryens still had a chance to win the war, and if they did, then their blood was still next in line for the throne.

And then there was the Sack, and their blood ran red through the halls of Maegor's Holdfast.

Before Rhaegar died, Doran and Oberyn may have had some concerns about how he was treating their sister. After Rhaegar died, though, and after Elia and the children were killed in connection with the Targaryens' defeat, then the narrative changed. They'd never know what Rhaegar had intended to do...but from there, it wouldn't have been much of a leap for Elia's brothers to start telling themselves that of course Rhaegar was going to come back and make their sister his queen, but Robert Baratheon made that impossible.

The Martells' blood was supposed to become royalty, but Robert Baratheon killed their royal brother-in-law and joined his House to the Lannisters. Elia never had a chance to be queen, whereas Cersei went straight to queen. She got the position Elia should've had. House Lannister got the position that should have gone to House Martell.

After the losses their family suffered, I can understand how the Martells would look at the new Queen Cersei and hate her. From there, it wouldn't have been much of a leap for Doran and Oberyn to start telling themselves Tywin must have hated Elia the same way, and that's why he had to have her killed.

(I'm sure it didn't help matters that Joffrey looked like he fell straight out of the Lannister family tree, and his sorry ass became the next king.)

Now allow me a digression, on Tywin's relationship to King Robert vs. the Martells' hypothetical relationship to King Rhaegar. Tywin built up an undue level of power as the king's father-in-law...because the crown borrowed so much gold from him. That debt resulted from two factors: 1) Littlefinger was actively sabotaging the crown's finances, and 2) Tywin was the wealthiest man in the Seven Kingdoms. If Rhaegar had become king, it's highly improbable that he would've had such a toxic Master of Coin as Littlefinger. Even if he did, the Martells don't have nearly as much gold to throw around. So, even in the alternate universe where King Aerys II died peacefully and the Martells were the in-laws to the royal family, they would not have had what Tywin had with the Baratheon regime.

POINT IS. I can see how the Martells would be pissed as hell at seeing Cersei Lannister wed the new king. That doesn't mean Prince Oberyn's narrative of Tywin Lannister's motivation holds any more water than a fishnet. I can see how the Martells would come to view Prince Rhaegar as a martyr rather than a reckless philanderer. That doesn't mean the Targaryens were good to them, or that a new marriage alliance with the surviving Targs would benefit the Martells, or that restoring the Targs to the Iron Throne would provide justice.

After the war was finished and Robert became king, I can see how the Martells would start telling a certain tale. That doesn't mean their tale adds up.

[makerkenzie]

Apropos of little, but I am annoyed that there's so much unknown about the tragedy at Summerhall. It's not even confirmed that Aerys was there. Da fuq?

[makerkenzie]

Viserys the Third?

More like Viserys the Turd.

[makerkenzie]

Deep Thoughts

Does anyone else get the impression that the Mad King viewed Viserys as his heir and Rhaegar as his competition? Because I think that mentality would explain his general pattern of behavior around his sons.

Then my question would be: when did he start to develop that antagonism toward Rhaegar?

[makerkenzie]

Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys were just as much a threat to King Robert as little Rhaenys and Aegon, and they were secure at Dragonstone for months after Robert’s coronation.

[makerkenzie]

How’s this for a What If?

If Princess Elia and the royal rugrats had been living at Dragonstone at the end of the war, how much longer would they have lived?

I guess we’ll never know, as the Mad King held them hostage at the Red Keep.