𝘔𝘺 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦

Professional Damsel in Distress He/Him, 22 Cersei Lannister Apologist | Robb Stark’s secret boyfriend

[robbstarknation]

Rhaenicent Ramble

Hey guys!!! i’m sorry if this seems inconsistent or like I’m blabbing without reaching a point— this was all just VERY stream of consciousness…

You guys might hate me for this tbh but I really don’t see the entire fandom’s problem with Rhaenicent. Like it genuinely makes no sense to me. WALK WITH ME HERE BEFORE YOU WRITE ME OFF. I HAVE A POINT I PROMISE.

I understand all the issues with fan behavior and ship wars and whatnot, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the show itself, and how people say that writing Rhaenicent was “disregarding the source material of an important and compelling story!”

Maybe I’m just operating off of preference here, but as someone who has actually read Fire and Blood, I truly don’t believe the book is good enough for people to be bending over backwards in order to preserve it. If you were talking about the main series, I would completely understand— A Song of Ice and Fire is an amazing saga full of magic and nuance and personality that explores everything from gender in romance to medieval feudalism, but Fire and Blood is a history book. No character within that specific text has any purpose outside of existing as a point of comparison to DAENERYS. To show that Dany exists outside her family and will rule differently than her ancestors did. It doesn’t matter how much you enjoy Rhaenys TQWNW or Daenaera Velaryon, Jaehaera, or Naerys Targaryen, they’re not written to have any discernible characterization outside of what can be recorded about them in a history book. Even the Dunk and Egg series has characters with personalities in it— Fire and Blood just doesn’t. You can’t get inside these people’s heads and you have no clue as to what they think other than headcanons and oc material you invent. Of course there are a scant few exceptions like Rhaena the Black Bride or Daemon (and I don’t even like Daemon), but they’re few and far between.

An HBO show is made for everyone, not just asoiaf superfans who want to see targaryen number 1463 do exactly what they were written to do in a book published nearly a decade ago. If you want an exact retelling of Fire and Blood, just go and reread it. Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon watchers don’t give a fuck about what Alicent or Rhaenyra were doing in the books— just like they don’t care that GoT!Robb Stark is 25 instead of 14. They just want to be entertained with a story that emotionally resonates with them. That’s why Rhaenicent was so big in the wake of season one. People wanted to see women’s stories being told in a way that didn’t inherently pit them against each other or revolve around the men in their lives.

Additionally, an argument I always seem to come across is that book Alicent is “so much better” than the one in the show, which I think is total bullshit. Alicent Hightower in the book is a one dimensional evil stepmother character. She was protecting her children, she was a badass, blah blah blah… we’ve heard it all before. She locks Viserys’ body up and orchestrates a usurpation via one council meeting… and then takes a total backseat for the rest of her tenure as Queen Mother/Dowager Queen. She does advise Aegon II occasionally, she does say that one thing to Rhaenyra that one time, she even freaks out on Jaehaera… but other than that, she disappears. HotD!Alicent has STORYLINES. Are they consistently well executed? No! But she remains important throughout the series, unlike F&B!Alicent. Being a child bride, being Rhaenyra’s friend from girlhood, actually despising the children she was forced to bear save the one that isn’t actively harming people… it all gives her layers. It makes her an actual person outside the wicked queen stereotype we see in a fictional history book. 

We already have an “Evil Queen” in the asoiaf franchise with Cersei, and you guys couldn’t even handle a heavily softened, more competent version of her when Game of Thrones was coming out. Why would they repeat that same kind of character in a different show? For what? You guys may “love” Cersei now, but no one did before. Even still, Olivia Cooke is harassed by deranged show fans because “Alicent is evil”, further proof to me that no matter what people say online, evil women are nowhere near as adored as everyone likes to pretend. So in the end, no, no one truly misses book Alicent. They just want another reason to shit on HotD or disparage Rhaenicent. They don’t like it personally, so they glaze book Alicent for little to no reason. 

People also say Rhaenicent distracts from Rhaenyra and her story, but it really doesn’t. Rhaenyra is a central character in House of the Dragon, everything revolves around her. Not Aegon, not just Alicent… but Rhaenyra. We’ve been following her journey for three whole seasons— we may be taking some detours and the road may be poorly paved, but that’s what we’ve been doing. Just because they gave Alicent a personality that didn’t translate into an envious and zealous stepmother harassing a child doesn’t mean that made Rhaenyra less of an impactful character or more difficult to root for. It just highlighted the fact that the “powerful evil queens” in stories like these are victims too, that they are often made into the people they become. Their choices are their own, but everyone is a product of their circumstances. Nothing about that makes Rhaenyra look any worse, nor does it stop people from focusing on her. Giving the main character of the series queer romances isn’t a disservice.

Not to mention Rhaenicent is written quite well in comparison to the rest of the show. It’s new and incredibly refreshing for media in this genre— a queer love story in a fantasy environment that places more emphasis on women than men. Game of Thrones was such a dudebro show no matter how you spin it, and I actually quite enjoy the direction the show runners of HotD took when they chose to make Alicent and Rhaenyra closer in age. It provides more emotional complexity and depth— two friends torn apart by the actions of the men in their lives and having to survive in a world where they’re seen as less than is so much more compelling, and it’s not something we see very often. Queer women are either fetishized or entirely ignored in media and in real life, especially in favor of queer men, and it’s exhausting. On that note, I guarantee you if Rhaenicent was a yaoi ship they’d have the same amount of shooters as Dunkaerion or Throbb or even that one random Blackwood x Bracken ship that delighted everyone for a while. That last bit also proves my point. Two minor characters with zero discernible personality traits being gay was infinitely better received than two women, who are the central figures in the show, having any kind of romantic interaction.

But I think the primary argument people make is that “THE DANCE IS SUPPOSED TO BE RHAENYRA VS AEGON NOT RHAENYRA VS ALICENT”. Well let me tell you something. Aegon II is nowhere near as interesting as Alicent Hightower in the show. I will admit that aspects of her characterization in the show are poorly handled, let me be very clear, but the premise has so much potential! Aegon II is an alcoholic bum who rapes servant girls and leaves his bastard children to fight and die in squalor. He whines about being unloved and ignored when he had every opportunity to make something of himself— an opportunity he did not take, as pointed out very clearly by Larys Strong this season. He had the whole world at his fingertips, and he chose to be lazy, incompetent, and vile. Alicent (in the show) was a young girl manipulated by her power-hungry father into a position where she has to compete with her friend for influence— her piety could even be interpreted as religious guilt and her closeness with Rhaenyra is actually fun to watch! She’s layered and interesting and infinitely more likable than her book counterpart, and while many people make the argument that evil women should have more representation, that’s not what the vast majority really want. Aegon is the king, yes, but he’s significantly less likable and far more difficult to enjoy and invest in. Of course, there will always be niche sections of Tumblr or Twitter that say otherwise, but the general public doesn’t seem to care. So why would HotD, a show made for everyone, not just asoiaf fans, choose to feature Aegon over Alicent? Alicent is much easier to like and watch, and maybe people don’t want to see more of the rapist drunkard king who doesn’t make a single decision himself save the one that gets him charred half to death. 

HotD has always spotlighted women’s stories. The theme of the Dance, even in the book, is about gender. Rhaenyra was usurped because she was a woman. No matter how people try to spin it, there was no other reason. So why is it that people have such an issue with the show prominently depicting women? Have they done it well 100% of the time? Of course not; and everyone is within their rights to just dislike something. But stop pretending Rhaenicent is some great insult heaped upon Rhaenyra or Alicent, or even Aegon, just because it’s not your cup of tea. 

[thelittlebirdandthemeandog]

I just thought of that scene where Robert slaps Cersei (hard enough that she falls to the floor) in front of Ned (and his lack of reaction) and I wonder if Ned had imagined just for a fraction of a second, his sister being in Cersei’s place then and there.

I want to start by saying that I love naïve and idealistic characters like Brienne and Ned and Sansa: characters who never stop to want to see the best side in others despite the abuses and pains that life has inflicted on them, and who follow chivalric ideals as best they can.

But TO ME the answer is NO, for more than one reason.

1. the narrative openly says to us that he did NOT think about it deeply enough to connect it to Lyanna, despise Robert being the one insterting Lyanna in the conversation to justify himself - this was the perfect moment for Ned to think about how Lyanna would have hated Robert for it or if Robert would have been able to do it to Lyanna as he knew that Robert would be able to kill Lyanna's son if this meant kill Rhaegar's son :

Purple with rage, the king lashed out, a vicious backhand blow to the side of the head. She stumbled against the table and fell hard, yet Cersei Lannister did not cry out. Her slender fingers brushed her cheek, where the pale smooth skin was already reddening. On the morrow the bruise would cover half her face. "I shall wear this as a badge of honor," she announced. "Wear it in silence, or I'll honor you again," Robert vowed. He shouted for a guard. Ser Meryn Trant stepped into the room, tall and somber in his white armor. "The queen is tired. See her to her bedchamber." The knight helped Cersei to her feet and led her out without a word. Robert reached for the flagon and refilled his cup. "You see what she does to me, Ned." The king seated himself, cradling his wine cup. "My loving wife. The mother of my children." The rage was gone from him now; in his eyes Ned saw something sad and scared. "I should not have hit her. That was not..that was not kingly." He stared down at his hands, as if he did not quite know what they were. "I was always strong...no one could stand before me, no one. How do you fight someone if you can't hit them?" Confused, the king shook his head. "Rhaegar … Rhaegar won, damn him. I killed him, Ned, I drove the spike right through that black armor into his black heart, and he died at my feet. They made up songs about it. Yet somehow he still won. He has Lyanna now, and I have her." The king drained his cup. "Your Grace," Ned Stark said, "we must talk …" Robert pressed his fingertips against his temples. "I am sick unto death of talk. On the morrow I'm going to the kingswood to hunt. Whatever you have to say can wait until I return." (A Game of Thrones - Eddard X)

2. Now, ignoring the part where Robert tempt to justify himself as all violent and abusive men do by put the blame on the victim, we can see some interesting things in Ned's reactions.

First of all that Robert himself gave to Ned the perfect opportunity to ask himslef what Lyanna could have done in all this but Ned refuse to think about it, in this he is like Sansa before Sandor opened her eyes - he ignores those thoughts or red flags that can make him suffer, with the difference that Sansa seems to be more aware of it than him .

If only she had someone to tell her what to do. She missed Septa Mordane, and even more Jeyne Poole, her truest friend. The septa had lost her head with the rest, for the crime of serving House Stark. Sansa did not know what had happened to Jeyne, who had disappeared from her rooms afterward, never to be mentioned again. She tried not to think of them too often, yet sometimes the memories came unbidden, and then it was hard to hold back the tears. (A Clash of Kings - Sansa II)

Secondly we can see that Ned, again like Sansa before Sandor, always try to - like we say in my city - found a colorful tissues aka a justification that will support the idea that the other person is not that bad, its just misunderstood. He saw sadness and fear in Robert's eyes and probably he wants to really belive that is because Robert is ashamed of his action but then Robert mentions Lyanna and Rhaegar showing us that it was because Robert had the awareness to get that he was the type of men that Lyanna hated - Ned does not.

Then we see that he is not even able to speak his own mind to Robert. Yes, he is the king but he is also his best friend and yet he is so meek to Bobbie the Piggie that he cant say nothing.

3. Ned had a second good opportunity to think about it when he show us that he understand and recognize that Cersei is abused and is even able to show her kindess despise disliking her - same here, i hate Cersei bue she is still a victim :

The queen watched his face, wary as a cat. "Is that why you called me here, Lord Stark? To pose me riddles? Or is it your intent to seize me, as your wife seized my brother?" "If you truly believed that, you would never have come." Ned touched her cheek gently. "Has he done this before?" "Once or twice." She shied away from his hand. "Never on the face before. Jaime would have killed him, even if it meant his own life."  (A Game of Thrones - Eddard XII)

This is very interesting because immediantly after this quote Ned says to Cersei that he is aware that Robert would kill two innocents souls as Tommen and Myrcella as he would do to Jon, yet again he does not connect Cersei to what Lyanna could have suffered with Robert.

Ned get that Joffrey was not the prince that Sansa really wanted only AFTER learn that he was not Robert's son despise Joffrey acting as his adoptive father : obessed with wine, violent with everyone that made him nervous, genuinely convinced that its strenght and violence what make you a man.

Ned himself pays the price to not being able to understand WHO Robert really was and why Lyanna was always right about avoid him at every cost. In conclusion IN MY OPINION if he was able to ask himself if Robert would have hurted Lyanna and ADMIT THAT HE WOULD then he maybe could be alive and Sansa away from Joffrey.

[witchlingcirce]

Whenever people talk about the smallfolk ‘hating’ the Targaryens I remember that somehow mad king Aerys has shooters

[kingofcourtjesters]

"Im team smallfolk" and only care about their suffering when it a) makes one house look bad or b) makes another look morally righteous. Largely the books are noble POVs (and “official” histories shaped by them) who tell us what THEY THINK the smallfolk want/need/deserve.

Like brev why would the smallfolk care about ned stark?? They dont know him like we + the lords and ladies do. Likewise why would Raymund Fossoway like the targaryens?? He's likely in social circles closer to maekars loser kids. Speaking of, their differing accounts of history are even worse with a person like Egg the Unlikely. The smallfolk loved him because he tried to protect them, the nobility hated him and considered him a tyrant.

But frl theyre probably only worried about not being molested robbed or murdered

[robbstarknation]

It is IMPERATIVE people stop glazing fire and blood like it’s the main series. I genuinely see more content about Targaryen queen #347 who died in childbirth or random targaryen king/prince who did this thing one time than content about the main series and I’m literally not joking.

It’s so odd to me that whenever I talk about this people are like “NO!!! character no. 283747 is NOT flat and one dimensional she’s actually a BADASS BECAUSE—” and then proceed to rattle off a bunch of headcanons or things this person did during a war because they just sort of could. We don’t see their thought process, we don’t get inside their heads like we do in asoiaf. That is why people like fire and blood so much, it gives you 945 Targaryen blank slates for you to fill with oc content. The Targaryens in fire and blood ONLY EXIST TO BE A POINT OF COMPARISON FOR DAENERYS. I think people are forgetting this. They don’t have discernible personality traits and interesting nuance to them the way characters like Arya or Dany or Jon do— that’s just a fact. Of course there are glaring exceptions like Rhaena the Black Bride or Daemon (and I don’t even like him), but they’re few and far between. Even still, if you compare them to any character in the main series that actually matters, the main series wins out. Asoiaf is SO GOOD, and yet no one actually reads it. They read fire and blood instead. Why? Because that book is just a list of easily digestible information about random silver haired royals they can make stuff up about, that’s why.

READ THE MAIN BOOK SERIES PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU.

[robbstarknation]

hey guys!!! quick reminder that no man in asoiaf is sexy or “interesting” or tragic enough for you to start hating the women around him because of what happens in his story!!! These very highborn very privileged men have more agency over their sneezes than these women do over their entire bodies and lives!!! please keep that in mind when reading!!!

[robbstarknation]

Can I say something? I actually think it’s really misogynistic for people to say that the downfall of the Targaryen dynasty came from Targaryen men discarding and disregarding the women in their family. Not to mention it completely absolves Targaryens of their wrongdoings as a family by simply attributing their decline to a lack of women on the Iron Throne.

Targaryen women are women, and women are people! Women can be evil, women can have negative feelings and do bad things! Relegating Targaryen women to any box, even if it’s positive, is generally stereotyping them. While I think Targaryen princesses like Rhaenys TQWNW would have made a better monarch than the man they did choose to do the job, there are Targaryen women who just wouldn’t make good rulers, just as there are MANY Targaryen men who wouldn’t make good rulers! Humans are humans! As characters like Dany have proven, your aptitude for rulership has nothing to do with your gender!

Additionally, the Targaryen dynasty was toppled because a mentally ill ruler acted tyrannically and abused his absolute power, not because he was a man. Asoiaf is full of characters like Cersei Lannister or Alicent Hightower who have shown that women are fully capable of doing the same. Perhaps they didn’t go to the extent Mad King Aerys did, but that’s not the point. Why would Targaryen women have any incentive to be better? Because they’re women? The issue with House Targaryen was inbreeding and thinking they were above the people they ruled over because they had “the blood of the Dragon”. That doesn’t go away because you’re a woman. Women are perfectly capable of being just as evil and elitist as men are! Immediately saying that women are kinder or gentler or whatever it is that’s behind this sort of reasoning is honestly just perpetuating stereotypes. Not every woman is maternal or wise or kind, and that’s okay! It’s almost saying they don’t have the capability for evil, which I think is weird.

While I understand experience with the patriarchy can make women more aware of the struggles that people face, and therefore more attuned to the people, that doesn’t mean much. The schism between the highborn and the lowborn is VAST AND WIDE. Rhaenyra or Rhaena TBB obviously had no idea what it’s like to live as carrot farmer number three. Neither did Jaehaerys I or Aegon the Conqueror. The downfall of House Targaryen was never about women dying in childbirth or being passed over for the Iron Throne. It was about feudal monarchs being so far removed from their subjects that they genuinely thought themselves gods. Why would Targaryen women not think of themselves that way, too? They have the same blood, they have the same royal upbringing…

Not to mention the men of every other noble house in Westeros treated their women similarly. You don’t think a Stark woman was ever made to marry a man they didn’t know and push out children until they died? You don’t think a Tyrell or an Arryn girl was kept out of the line of succession in favor of a less capable male relative? Sexism is a massive issue all throughout Westeros, it’s not just a Targaryen issue. Yet these houses remained in power for thousands of years… the Targaryens didn’t. Clearly that is not the reason for Robert’s Rebellion or the Targaryen family’s unpopularity. No one woke up one day and went “Daella and Viserra and Rhaella Targaryen were all treated so badly… Rhaenys was overlooked and Rhaenyra was usurped because they were women… DOWN WITH THE TARGS!!! VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!”. That just didn’t happen.

The moral of the story: let women be evil asoiaf fandom! Women aren’t always ever gentle and kind and capable, and that’s because they’re humans, not caricatures of the loving wives and hardworking mothers men want them to be!

[robbstarknation]

PLEASE STOP MAKING SHIT UP TO VILLAINIZE CERSEI PEOPLE. SHE GIVES YOU PLENTY OF MATERIAL ON HER OWN.

⚠️TW- mentions of extremely underage sexual activity and CSA⚠️ I am not comfortable with this, I just think it needs to be talked about.

I just have absolutely no idea when this is going to end.

We have actual canon instances of Cersei’s sexual autonomy being taken from her by MULTIPLE MEN, and we’re still trying to paint her as some sort of sexual abuser of Jaime?

This is not about general/verbal/any other kind of abuse. Cersei is not a good person, nor is she kind and loving to Jaime after a certain point. She is not a good person. Let me just get this out of the way right now so no one comes to me with this bullshit. However, going so far to say that Cersei, a child, sexually abused her twin brother who was also a child at the time, is absolutely ridiculous.

We have no indication of who started their affair, we have absolutely no confirmation of who started it, and even if Cersei did start it, that doesn’t necessarily mean she was raping him. People are just trying to make her seem worse by making things up in their heads. Cersei was a child. She wasn’t pushing girls down wells or getting with Taena at that point, she was a child. And the fact that some of you would make her a literal rapist from the age of eight onwards just to make Jaime seem more sympathetic speaks more to your character than to hers.

This is just another example of this whole Jaime babygirlism curse the asoiaf fandom is fucking saddled with.

Jaime was not sexually abused by Cersei, we have absolutely no indication that he was sexually abused by Cersei. She slaps him she insults him she makes him feel inadequate and inferior for losing his hand and being forced into a situation he couldn’t control, but before all that? He was exactly where he wanted to be. He wasn’t manipulated by Cersei into joining the kingsguard, she asked him a question and he said yes. Even if they did have sex all night that night he didn’t want power, nor did he want the Rock. He wanted Cersei, and so he joined the kingsguard after she arranged it. Jaime was exactly where he wanted to be for quite some time. Of course he didn’t expect everything that went on with Mad King Aerys, but still. It was an active choice he made, and that he was a part of.

The same thing can be said with this whole affair thing. Jaime actively chose to have sex with Cersei, and he did for the majority of his life. Not to mention we have actual canon instances of her respecting his boundaries. When he says no, she listens. When she tried to suck him off in White Sword Tower, he pushed her off, and she listened. She said one thing in argument, sure, but it was literally a refrence to the time he had sex with her and she said no over and over but he STILL CARRIED ON.

She didn’t continue touching him because “she knew he wanted it” (cough cough sept scene), she didn’t tell him to “come here and be quiet” (like Jaime said to her in the Broken Tower in AGOT). She got angry at him, she sent him to Riverrun, but she didn’t keep going. In what world is are those the actions of a person who’s been sexually assaulting this man since childhood??

You can talk about Taena Merryweather, you can talk about Lancel, you can talk about Sansa or Melara Heatherspoon till the fuckin cows come home, but that’s not the point. The point is Cersei has not sexually assaulted Jaime, nor did she do so when they were children, and we have evidence to prove this. So for some people to headcanon that Jaime is a victim of csa and Cersei is the perpetrator of that is literally insane and beyond abhorrent to me.

[robbstarknation]

I have so many metaposts drafted I just forget about them

[beardedmrbean]

[theman]

I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF

[tattooedzombigirl]

This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.

[imanutcase-10]

Then bring me luck

[thirddeadlysin]

the day after I posted this last time I was notified that I was selected for a really cool mentorship gig and got an unrelated glowing review at work

[icantbearsedtothinkofone]

Hey Potato, cure my -ing cold so I can have a good time while away.

[dduane]

Here's the potato. Make what use of it you will. :)

[cangelala]

God I need this so bad for my Midterm so please let this work again for me.

[skwangmbyul]

I could use some luck

[robbstarknation]

please potato give me a good summer internship opportunity PLEASE 😭😭😭

[artemisia-tyche]

People being like “oh poor little Raymun 🥺 Rowan manipulated him”

Besties he’s not stupid. He’s seen her around, he knows she’s a sex worker, he knows that logically she cannot already know if she’s with his child (imo he was just joking around in a very bro way, like “daaaaamn dude we fucked so hard we probably made a baby!” because embarrassing Dunk is funny and Oh So Easy)

Raymun seems to be very aware of how their society works. For example he sees the Targaryen dynasty as the threat they are, he’s not in awe of them like most of Westeros. He may be green but he’s not clueless.

That guy just got out of a deadly trial with knighthood and plans to create a new house, then this gorgeous woman who’s been cheering on his and Dunk’s team comes up to him, rock his world and then go like “hey let’s get married!”, why on earth would he refuse????

Don’t worry about Raymun, he’s exactly where he wants to be 😂

[antigonehappy]

asoiaf is a Trope Deconstruction machine but I think one of my favorites it's taken on is "what if the stereotypical jealous and conniving Evil Queen was actually a victim of horrific abuse who believes that the only way to protect herself and her children is to take on the attributes of every man who has abused her, thereby perpetuating the cycle of violence and harming and pushing away everyone else in her life?" cersei can be one of the most powerful people in the entire kingdom and still deep down inside be terrified and vulnerable because no matter how high she manages to rise within patriarchal society and no matter how many other women she harms in order to do it she refuses to admit or even realize that becoming the oppressor will never save her from being oppressed.

[robbstarknation]

I miss twitter you guys

[robbstarknation]

My hot take:

Jonarys= ❌

Jonsa= ❌

Jon Snow x peace and happiness= ✅

Guys I understand shipping people ig (incest is odd) but sending ppl death threats over FAKE SHIPS is crazy. You guys have lost the plot. Asoiaf are not romance stories we should all be counting our stars that any of these characters end up alive and moderately happy at the end of the series

YES EXACTLY!!! ASOIAF isn't a Sarah J Maas book. Romances are not the only factors that drive the plot (cough ACOTAR cough). I live for Snowstorm personally, book!Snowstorm especially, but the ship wars this fandom is MIRED IN are absolutely insane. All of these characters are so intensely complex and interesting, you can ship them with who you please, but that can't be all they are...

[robbstarknation]

every time I rewatch GoT the lack of glamour irritates me severely. The total lack of political intrigue in favor of mindless assault and gratuitous violence, swapping out finery and fashion for ARMOR ARMOR ARMOR (even in the women's costumes) and Jon Snow wandering around in the snow looking constipated... ugh. I know the show was made for dudebros who don't care about "silly girl stuff" but it's just so ugly I can't 😭😭😭

[gaya-the-k]

I can't stop thinking about this

[bl6ckcat]

violet i am the tea that you are having freaky ass bridgerton

[vampfox]

really drunk rn. highkey thinking about westeros.