every myth is a version of the truth

Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes

[paperwine]

truer words have never been spoken 🙆🏽‍♀️

[jasonmantzoukas]

Psych: A Summary

[rhaenyrastormborn]

Daenerys, to me, will always be the girl who walked into the fire and walked out with three dragons. She will always be the breaker of chains, the freer of slaves. She will always be the khaleesi of the great grass sea, the stallion who mounts the world and united the Dothraki into a single khalasar. She will always be the mother of dragons. She will always be the protector of her people. She will always be the hope for a better world than the one that was given to her.

Daenerys will always be a hero.

[adreamofspring-archive]

#she is my everything#because she represents change#she represents hope and belief#she represent the power of faith in ones self#she represents millions of women’s struggles to rise just becaue of their gender#she represents what new generations means that we are not our father#she represent a what we all want: love respect family and a home#and d&d can pry that from my cold dead body bitch

[adreamofspring-archive]

shoutout to the Night King… the only one who fucking had a clue

[foldyourfuckingdishes]

#night king did nothing wrong

[shadowy-dumbo-octopus]

No I actually don’t think he did, because look:

Did not lie to anyone about his plans (killing everyone)

Did not break any of his promises (killing everyone)

Did not fuck anyone he wasn’t supposed to

Did not kill any of his allies (quite the opposite, in fact)

Adopted unwanted babies out of an abusive household and gave them sweet blue eyes

Fished a dragon out of a lake and befriended it (also gave it pretty blue eyes)

Supported equality - anyone could join his army of undead.

Had a loyal council that wasn’t plotting behind his back (as far as we know)

Had a built-in crown on his head, which made him a pretty strong contender for the Iron Throne

Actively fought against the global warming.

Was made to destroy humanity. Look at the clusterfuck that’s happening in Westeros rn and tell me he wasn’t right.

Couldn’t be burned by dragonfire - only Targaryens cannot be burned, and they’re the rightful heirs to the throne. Therefore, he’s a legit contender. He even has a crown! (See: the built-in crown bullet point.)

#TheNightKingDidNothingWrong

[averysaurus]

is the Game of Thrones fandom okay 

[izacore]

Game of Thrones season 8 - a season to remember forget!

[eldritch-crone-deactivated20210]

I hate what they did to dany, this sweet girl who wanted freedom but also help the people, who wantes a home, a family, a normal life but couldn't let herself be selfish because others needed to her. What they did to her, how she was murdered, she deserved better. She deserves better, I'm so scared now for the books because this means she will die, she won't even have true happiness in her life

“but  [she]couldn’t let herself be selfish because others neededher”

Yeah, that’s whatI keep saying, and the fandom and/or D&D just doesn’t get it –Dany’s primary motivation isn’t “I have to be queen or god helpme!” It is a more complex motivation born out of a genuine desireto help others, saviour complex, heroism, identity, and a sense ofduty.

Dany’s actualdesire is something else – a life of happiness – be it wishingthat she could run & play in the dirt in her very firstchapter instead of marrying a king, be it wishing thatshe could be a sailor and roam the seas because it madeher feel small, be it wishing for a house with a red doornot because she had luxury in it, but because she had her ownroom there, be it wishing that she could just marry Daarioand live a normal life in a small house.

She wants toescape to a normal life, but she can’tbecause she has a greater calling, a destiny. (I guess, Destiny stillarrives. Oh hey, Tony Stark! What are you doing here?)

No, seriously. Sheis such a superhero, I almost expect her to say “With great powercomes great responsibility” (well… she sorta does: Why do thegods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’tprotect themselves?) or suddenly break into a monologue of “Thiscity needs me in that mask, Foggy!” (well… she sorta does thattoo: She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day,eating iced fruit off the silver trays and dreaming of a house with ared door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself.) Ifyou can empower people, you must. If you can ensure justice,you must. If you can take action, you must.

Sure, you can claimthat taking action is evil unless it is for yourself, and Dany shouldnever even have tried to abolish slavery. That nobody wanted her torule (canonically false: there are too many people who desperatelywish for Dany to either overthrow their society’s oppressivesystems or to rule them), but then again nobody asked Matt Murdockto beat up criminals of Hell’s Kitchen or Peter Parker tolook out for his neighbourhood in Queens or for Tony Stark toprotect the Earth.

Heroes do it,because some part of them knows it is theirduty/destiny/purpose. They take it upon themselves to change the world.      (“the city needs me in that mask, foggy”/“look when you can do the things that i can, but you don’t and then the bad things happen. they happen because of you.” / “i know in my heart this is right” /“why do gods make kings and queens if not to protect the ones whocan’t protect themselves”

I guess saviourcomplex and a sense of personal responsibility is only cute when itis shown by male heroes.

I have seen metaafter meta either ascribing Dany’s ambition as cruel and rooted inblood supremacy (this is laughable, even if Dany’s desire forWesteros was solely because of her Targaryen heritage, it is no more“supremacist” than Starks desiring Winterfell); or that herambition was misguided because Viserys fed her stories (it is not,Dany believes that Viserys was a fool to believe that Westeros wouldwelcome him); or that her ambition is a morphed desire for her familythat spilled over into her heritage (this might be a contributingfactor but not the sole reason);  but I rarely see how herambition is a by product of her heroism. If you can help people,it is your moral duty to help them. It is born out of her saviourcomplex.

It comes down tothis: You have extraneous senses/arc-reactor/spidey-senses/dragons,now what would you do with it? You are given threedragon eggs and you (perhaps solely you) can hatch it, so what wouldyou do with it?

Ser Jorah took her arm. “[…] Better to sell [dragon eggs] in Asshai. Sell one and we can buy a ship to take us back to the Free Cities. Sell all three and you will be a wealthy woman all your days.”

“They were not given to me to sell,” Dany told him.

Daenerys is the last Targaryen, and she has hatched three dragons (the symbolsof her house) after almost a century and half of dragons beingextinct.

What would she do? Does she sell the eggs and live herlife as a wealthy woman? Does she sell the dragons and live as awealthier woman and ignore all the bloodshed and horror around her?Does she keep the dragons as pets and pretend that they arehouse-cats and never utilise the power it brings her for greatergood? Or does shechange the world?

I know a lot oftheories speculate that Dany would take a “darker path” and itwould be remorse that  turns her purpose to fighting theOthers.  While this is probably going to happen, I can just aseasily see that Dany’s ambition would instinctively turn towardsfighting the Others than the Iron Throne.

“They were notgiven to me to sell.” Dany instinctively knew the gravitas of that moment,of magic, and the miracle happened, and now she has dragons - weapons/ symbols of her house/ her children. Why did the gods giveher her dragons? Perhaps to restore her almost-extinct house with thelast living symbols of her house, and so she pursues it. However, anobler, a greater cause appears – the War for the Dawn. It is verymuch in her nature to commit to this greater cause because her rootambition is to protect people and ensure justice.(“This mother of Dragons, this Breaker of Chains, is above all arescuer.”)

As for Dany’sdeath, yeah. I’ve always felt that she would sacrifice herself inorder to save the world. It felt like grrm was telling the story ofthe last scion of this great house who saved the world. I won’tlie, I was a bit more hopeful about Dany’s survival after readingFire and Blood, but it was wishful thinking. She’s too much of a messiah to live on.

Dany is a tragic hero. And the fact that, as ADWD progresses, she relates more and more to Rhaegar is a proof of that, I guess.

[menofgot]

Jaime & mythical creatures 

[loisfreakinglane]

#he’s too dumb and thotty to feel fear and i Respect That

[saltydornishman]

he looks so offended#‘a zombie? right in front of my salad? fuck you guys thats disgusting

[chris-evans]

🍵

[christophernolan]

OnLy DaNnY StAnS HaTe tHIs SEasOn.

[gameofthronesdaily]

The coldest cutest Mother of Dragons

[emmacharlottewatson]

Nathalie Emmanuel photographed by Justin Coit for Byrdie

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

What bothers me is the saying that when a Targaryen is born, god flips a coin on whether they’re good or mad. So how many known mad Targaryens are there? Is it truly 50/50 or is it heavily inflated?

Short answer: Very heavily inflated.

Long answer: There are a few things to clear up before I start compiling the list. ‘Madness’ is classified as ‘the state of being mentally ill’: 

So, those who make my ‘mad’ list are going to fit this definition, whereas Targaryens who, say, took lives due to participation in medieval wars or battles, will not fall into the ‘mad’ category.

So what’s the quote, exactly?

“King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.”

Now, let’s bust that ‘Targaryen Madness’ myth!

Depending on the type of coin used, the probability of a coin flip differs. It’s either 50/50, 51/49, and in some more extreme estimations, as high as 55/45. Which, according to the above quote, means Targaryen madness has a roughly 45-55% chance of occurring.

Even in the Wiki of Ice and Fire, Targaryen Madness has its own entry, stating that:

“It must be observed that of the Targaryen kings who ruled Westeros for almost 300 years, only Aerys could be considered truly mad.”

List of ‘Mad’ Targaryens (6):

Maegor I ‘the Cruel’ Targaryen

Baelor I ‘the Blessed’ Targaryen (this one is debatable)

Prince Rhaegel Targaryen

Aerion 'the Monstrous’ 'Brightflame’ Targaryen

Aerys II 'the Mad King’ Targaryen

Viserys 'the Beggar King’ Targaryen (this one is debatable)

(To better understand why these Targaryens are classified as mad, visit the Villains Wiki for a nice description for each character)

Possible ’Mad’ Targaryens (4):

Helaena Targaryen (became depressed and descended into madness, committed suicide)

Aelora Targaryen (driven mad with grief after losing her husband, committed suicide)

Daenerys 'Stormborn’ Targaryen (no madness in books, yet show made her 'go mad’ from grief and ‘bells’, apparently)

Maelys I 'the Monstrous’ Blackfyre (not actually a Targaryen. Ruthless and cruel, not necessarily mad, did possess a physical deformity)

List of non-Mad Targaryens (80):

Aenar Targaryen

Gaemon 'the Glorious’ Targaryen

Daenys 'the Dreamer’ Targaryen

Aegon Targaryen

Elaena Targaryen

Maegon Targaryen

Aerys Targaryen

Aelyx Targaryen

Baelon Targaryen

Daemion Targaryen

Aerion Targaryen

Visenya Targaryen

Aegon I Targaryen

Rhaenys Targaryen

Aenys I Targaryen

Rhaena Targaryen

Aegon 'the Uncrowned’ Targaryen

Viserys Targaryen 

Jaehaerys I 'the Wise’ Targaryen

'Good Queen’ Alysanne Targaryen

Rhaella Targaryen

Aerea Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen

Vaegon 'the Dragonless’ Targaryen

Maegelle Targaryen

Viserra Targaryen

Saera Targaryen

Gael Targaryen

Aemon Targaryen

Daella Targaryen* (maybe had anxiety?)

Baelon 'the Brave’ Targaryen

Alyssa Targaryen

Rhaenys 'the Queen Who Never Was’ Targaryen

Viserys I Targaryen

Daemon 'the Rogue Prince’ Targaryen* (maybe suffered narcissism?)

Baela Targaryen

Rhaena Targaryen 'of Pentos’

Viserys II Targaryen

Aegon III 'the Younger’ Targaryen* (Had a temper, I guess?)

Jaehaera Targaryen (committed suicide, maybe? probably murdered)

Jaehaerys Targaryen (born with six fingers and toes?)

Aegon II 'the Elder’ Targaryen (Was cruel?)

Aemond 'One-Eye’ Targaryen (Was a shitty person, I guess?)

Daeron 'the Daring’ Targaryen

Elaena Targaryen

Septa Rhaena Targaryen

Daeron I 'the Young Dragon’ Targaryen

Daena 'the Defiant’ Targaryen

Aegon IV 'the Unworthy’ Targaryen (Was a shitty person, I guess?)

Naerys Targaryen

Aemon 'the Dragonknight’ Targaryen

Daemon I Blackfyre

Daeron II ’ the Good’ Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen of Dorne

Maekar I Targaryen (Had a temper I guess?)

Aerys I Targaryen

Baelor 'Breakspear’ Targaryen

Matarys Targaryen

Valarr 'the Young Prince’ Targaryen

Brynden 'Lord Bloodraven’ Rivers (Was kind of a shitty person, I guess?)

Shiera Seastar (Was rumored to be a murdery sorceress?)

Aegor 'Bittersteel’ Rivers (Had a temper, I guess?)

Rhae Targaryen

Aegon V 'the Unlikely’ Targaryen

Daella Targaryen

Maester Aemon Targaryen

Daenora Targaryen

Aelor Targaryen

Maegor Targaryen (fears that he would inherit his father’s madness, I guess?)

Daeron 'the Drunken’ Targaryen

Vaella Targaryen (simple-minded or low IQ, I guess?)

Prince Duncan 'the Small’ Targaryen

Jaehaerys II Targaryen

Shaera Targaryen

Rhaelle Targaryen

Daeron Targaryen

Queen Rhaella Targaryen

Rhaegar 'the Silver Prince’ Targaryen

Rhaenys Targaryen

Aegon Targaryen (👶?) (or… may be Young Griff?)

Non-'Mad’ Offspring from Targaryen Mothers (11):

Laena Velaryon (gave birth to a deformed son, I guess?)

Jacaerys Velaryon

Lucerys Velaryon

Joffrey Velaryon

Joy Penrose

Jon Waters

Jeyne Waters

Viserys Plumm

Robin Penrose

Laena Penrose

Jocelyn Penrose

Targaryens who died as babies (11):

Vaella Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Gaemon Targaryen 👶

Valerion Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Maelor Targaryen 👶

Baelon Targaryen 👶

Jaehaerys Targaryen 👶

Aegon Targaryen 👶

Daeron Targaryen 👶

Shaena Targaryen 👶

Targaryen babies born with physical deformities (2):

Visenya Targaryen 👶 (twisted and malformed)

Rhaego 👶 (born deformed… likely the result of magic)

Equations and Conclusion:

If we want to get VERY generous and say that EVERY Targaryen baby who died young would end up mad, we’d be at 23 Targaryens out of 114 known Targaryens, or a madness rate of about 16%. That’s nowhere near the 45% chance of a coin toss.

Still being a generous, we’ll lump together all the mad Targaryens, possibly mad Targaryens, all the non-mad ones with footnotes, and the deformed babies - we get 27 total, which would be about 24% - but this is including people who just have bad attitudes, anxiety, rumors spread about them, or FEARS of madness… is that fair? No, it’s not. Then literally every character in Westeros or Essos would be classified as mad.

If we aim to be a little fairer, including only the known 'mad’ Targaryens, the four debatably 'mad’ Targaryens, and the two babies who were born deformed but died young… then we’d be at a whopping 12 cases of madness out of 114 Targaryens, or about 9%.

However, provable cases of genetic madness? Fuck, I’ll even throw in Daenerys! That brings us up to SEVEN cases of madness out of 114 Targaryens.

…SEVEN ‘MAD’ TARGARYENS.

OUT OF ONE-HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.

Which means that about *SIX PERCENT* of Targaryens have shown any actual 'madness’ in the hundreds of years they’ve inhabited Westeros.

[pyotra]

manifesto of the dalit panthers (a radical, militant mumbai-based organization in the 1970s that was modeled after the black panthers and fought against brahmanism and casteism) 

via gail omvedt’s understanding caste

[lyannas]

Literally if there’s any nation that deserves its independence it’s the one that had multiple wars waged against them because they refused to yield to the Targaryens, that had their princess and her children murdered by the crown (with no avenue for justice offered to them), that has been the target of racist sentiment by the other kingdoms for years, whose culture is drastically different than the other kingdoms, who joined the other kingdoms through marriage and not through force, who is paid so little respect despite their wealth, knowledge, and valuable relationships with Essosi nations, and who originated as a nation of refugees.

Dorne. I’m talking about Dorne.

[stridersister]

those brute brown savages sailed back east with their tails between their legs and the white people overcame their foreign female tyrant by Inventing Democracy and the wildlings stayed on THEIR side of the wall, what an inspiring fucking message

[chris-evans]

GOT: Inside the Episode - Season 8: Episode 5 by Safety Patrol

[moroccanmanga]

Comparing the character of Daenerys Targaryen to western imperialist powers and colonisers is a false comparison and shows just how dumb some of you are.

1 Unlike western powers Daenerys is not a “foreign invader”. She and her brother were forced into exile and to return to the continent of their literal ancestors. She has spent all her life in Essos, running from city to city, because she has nowhere else to go. She and her brother were alone, mostly unsupported for a large part of their lives and have had to rely on patronage of Targaryen loyalists. They eventually became “beggars”, so this is not a family with means to “invade”. It was the two of them and she is now alone.

2 Unlike western powers, Daenerys is the symbol of everything that stands against patriarchy. Daenerys is SOLD as a bridal-slave to a warlord, who after dying left her in a dangerous situation. She did not gain the title of Khaleesi by her own volition, so she had no intention to become Queen to begin with.. The people that became hers thought her nothing more than a brood mare, as is the nature of a woman in the cultures described in these books. This made her understandably depressed and suicidal. She found strength to live by believing in herself. And by showing herself to be resilient, she amassed a following of people, young and old, strong and weak, man and woman and child. Freed people.

3 Unlike western powers, the first law she sets is ordering the freedom of the enslaved, instead of exploiting its nature… Telling her people they can take off their collars. Despite having been raised on a continent that still supported slavery and would have allowed her to gain from it economically, she goes against it on moral grounds.

3 Unlike western powers, Daenerys has no institutional support (economic or political) that is able to fund a campaign that allows her to conquer territory or subjugate people. She’s climbing up the hierarchy of the city states’ power structure through both force and strategy and the support of the people. But she is not subjugating people, she is giving them power and agency.

4 Unlike western powers, she’s not in it for profit. She frees enslaved young soldiers and other people and asks of them only to do the same for others if they choose to follow her. She is dismantling the economic backbone of the world she was thrown into, all in the name of freedom, not profit. There is no economic or political gain [at least from the wealthy] in her actions. Quite the opposite. 

5 Unlike western powers, she attempts to help the freedmen, despite the crash in economy by instituting systems and laws to help their self employment. This is the opposite of what western imperialist powers do, who leave the people to drown in debt and famine.

6 Unlike western powers, Daenerys is not colonising territory. Colonisation is the supplantation of native people and appropriation of a country in order to profit off the land’s resources and gain political power in new territory. Daenerys is not doing that. Firstly, her people are OF Essos and the cities she’s “conquering” are made up of Masters, merchants and freedman from all corners of the world. She’s not supplanting anybody, the Free Cities are inherently/imperatively made up of a multi-culture, or are rather multi-ethnic. Besides that, her army and following are there only to free people from their shackles and to ban any traditions that uses the enslaved. She has not attempted to change all their cultural heritage or its demographics. She’s actually tried very hard to uphold their cultural heritage, even when they seemed strange or unsettling to her.

6 As far as the white-savior trope… It’s very much a problem on the show, but in the actual books the enslaved are not all POC.. some are white. This resembles slavery in antiquity and early Medieval along the Mediterranean and not more modern Europeans history in which mostly west and central Africa were forced to supply enslaved peoples… Not what’s going on in the books. 

Daenerys is more like… Che Geuvara I suppose. She’s leading a revolution for the people and against the “state”. I’m not surprised that GRRM and D&D would then turn her into a villain. It’s funny because GRRM wrote her… so he had absolute control over her story and actions and knows exactly what he wants to say and yet… he has no idea what makes an Imperialist… If that’s indeed what he’s trying to say with this character.

[andwhatofmywrath]

I agree.

I hate that show scene with every fiber of my being to be honest. It was completely tone deaf and ugh…. but that’s the show for you.

Interestingly in the books, Dany has significant Dornish ancestry. The children of Aegon V (who had a dornish mother and a half dornish father) and Betha Blackwood are like 3/8 dornish. Since no new genes entered the gene pool since then (targs lol) so is Dany.

We get this description of Egg in The Sworn Sword:

“Egg might want a soak as well, though the boy looked cool and dry, more dusty than sweaty. He never sweated much. He liked the heat. In Dorne he went about bare-chested, and turned brown as a Dornishman.”

and in ACoK 

“The merchant must have taken her for Dothraki, with her clothes and her oiled hair and sun-browned skin. When she spoke, he gaped at her in astonishment. “My lady, you are … Tyroshi? Can it be so?””

MAKE DANY BROWN BITCHES (@GRRM) 

GEORGE GIVE ME MY BROWN DANY AND EGG