Since my old Daenerys post is shambling back onto people’s dashboards, here’s your regularly scheduled reminder: Daenerys Targaryen is the Paul Atreides of the ASOIAF universe. Not Aragorn. Not Frodo. Not your comfort badass. She’s the pretty face on a prophecy that ends in holy war and a trail of corpses her followers call “liberation.”
Paul’s entire arc in Dune is: gifted aristocrat gets dropped into a colonized desert, becomes the messiah of an oppressed people, topples an empire, and then watches a galaxy-spanning jihad explode in his name that he cannot stop. He sees it coming and still can’t derail it. He’s not a power fantasy; he’s a warning about charismatic saviors, religious fanaticism, and what happens when you weaponize trauma and prophecy at scale.
Daenerys is running the same software on a different operating system. Exiled princess dropped into a brutal nomadic warrior culture, builds her identity around bloodline + destiny + fireproof trauma, then starts “liberating” cities with dragons and unsullied armies while building a personality cult around herself. The text is not subtle about the fact that “breaker of chains” and “I will take what is mine with fire and blood” are on a collision course.
You’re not supposed to look at either of them and go “wow, aspirational.” You’re supposed to get a little uncomfortable and ask why it feels good to cheer when someone promises salvation via mass violence.
Mirror moments: Paul & Dany
1. The inner creed vs the outer persona
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration…”
That’s Paul, reciting the Bene Gesserit litany, training himself into a weapon.
Now stack it against Dany’s little identity manifesto:
“I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria… and I will take what is mine with fire and blood.”
Paul is programming himself; Dany is branding herself. Both are building an inner script that justifies anything they do next. Fear is the mind-killer on Arrakis; doubt is the mind-killer in Meereen. Different desert, same cult starter pack.
2. Freedom as a costume for domination
From the Dune series:
“When I am weaker than you, I ask for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.”
Tell me that doesn’t vibe perfectly with Daenerys:
“I will not let those I have freed slide back into chains. I will not sail for Westeros… I will do what queens do. I will rule.”
Both are, in plain language, saying: “Freedom is the language I use when I’m weak; rule is what you get once I’m strong.” The rhetoric is liberation. The structure is empire. The people they “free” do not actually get to say no.
3. Holy war / fire & blood
Paul after the jihad:
His prescient power “had shaken the safe cosmos and replaced security with his Jihad.”
Daenerys, right as she tips fully into conquest mode:
“My reign has just begun.”
Same energy: this is not a phase; this is a multi-system catastrophe presented as destiny. Paul watches the Fremen tear across the galaxy in his name; Dany assembles Dothraki screamers, Unsullied phalanxes, and dragons and calls it justice. The machinery is identical: ecstatic violence channeled through one person’s mythology.
Why the comparison matters
Both stories are written by men who clearly do not trust messiahs. Herbert takes a white off-world noble, drops him into colonized Arrakis, and then shows what happens when you hand him religion and a guerrilla army: twelve years of jihad, thousands of planets burned, and a “hero” who spends the sequel wrecked by guilt and political consequence.
Martin takes a dragon princess, gives her dragons, slaves to free, and a backlog of fire-and-blood trauma, then surrounds her with prophecies and people telling her she’s chosen. The tension in her chapters is always: are you freeing people, or are you re-skinning Valyrian conquest with better PR? Slaver’s Bay is a dress rehearsal for what she wants to do in Westeros, and it’s already a mess.
Both texts are deeply suspicious of this whole “if the right person takes power, everything will be fine” fantasy. Paul and Dany are that fantasy. And their narratives systematically disassemble it.
Fandom brainworms, summarized
So when people slap “girlboss” slogans on Daenerys’ “with fire and blood, I will take it” speech and act like it’s a Pinterest affirmation, that’s the exact thing Dune was screaming about: uncritical worship of charismatic figures who promise cleansing violence in the name of freedom.
Daenerys is not “what if a kind girl got her throne.” She’s “what if Paul Atreides hatched three nukes and believed every prophecy about herself.” She’s a critique of imperial nostalgia, dynastic entitlement, and the idea that a morally pure conqueror can exist at all. Paul is that same critique in a stillsuit.
So yes, this is your daily reminder: Daenerys is the Paul Atreides of ASOIAF. She is not here to validate your self-care moodboard. She is here to ask why you keep cheering for beautifully packaged authoritarianism and calling it empowerment.
Abir Qesheth (I saw it in a documentary, which is a major 🚩🚩 tbh)
Rating: Jew-ish but we recommend staying away
None of us had heard of this before this ask, but having looked into it a bit… The dude who is promoting Abir Qesheth is genuinely Jewish, but his claim that it is a secret Jewish martial art form dating back to the biblical days is extraordinarily dubious. There is no evidence that any such practice existed, and it is contradicted by elements of his own backstory that he’s expressed previously (see slate article). To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with creating a Jewish martial art style (see: Krav Maga), but pretending that it’s an ancient tradition you’re passing on is, at best, a scam, and at worst… well, cult leader behavior.
Indeed, Abir Qesheth set off a number of cult alarms for us. Some major cult warning signs include:
demands ideological and/or physical purity from his followers
zero tolerance for questioning the narrative
promoting a strong us vs. them philosophy
emphasis on very narrow definitions of masculinity and femininity
… all of which are present here.
Furthermore, while Abir Qesheth is not Messianic in the common usage of the term (i.e., Christians cosplaying as Jews as a concerted effort to trick Jews into accepting Jesus as the Messiah), given that this guy is claiming
a) a unique connection with the Divine, b) i) that this secret martial art form goes back to King David and is
ii) passed down patrilineally which would make him
iii) a direct descendant of King David and therefore
iv) in the messianic line
c) promising to revitalize Judaism to be stronger with
d) a cadre of young men who hang on his every word plus
e) his whole mock-biblical aesthetic lead me to conclude
f) this is, in fact, a messianic cult, and he’s setting himself up as messiah.
In short: This guy may be Jewish, but he’s bad news.
Trump's cult doesn't really care about their religion. They care about not feeling like shit every day. Not happy in their broke-ass homes, their small-town, low-wage, broke counties. They don't read books, they soak in FOX NEWS, Breitbart, News Max, OANN and all the other podcasts and online MAGA Cons that convince them they are the greatest and it's immigrants, Blacks, Liberals, who are the cause of all their woes. That is what Trump gives them. He makes them feel they are winners, even when they act like white trash.
If anything was going to be done re: getting rid of trump and the filth he brought to this country and the world in the name of Christianity, it would have already been done. Today's so-called Christians are a daily commercial for atheism.
this dude here? this fine looking felt fucker? thats kermit the frog. the genuine fucking article baby, in the foam.
look at that subtle head crest where the the middle finger rests, the tasteful eye focus. oh my god, it even has dimples. this is a man i know and love. hes like a father to me. there for me since sesame street up through my rocky muppet show adolescence and into jim henson hour adulthood. this is a face you can trust. go on little man, take a seat on kermits lap and tell him what you want for muppet christmas. is that flying penguins i hear? very popular choice. anyway, onto what im really pissed about.
who, the absolute fuck, is this douchebag? lets start at the obvious. this motherfucker has some hey arnold ass skull disorder. theres no give to that baby, no indication of skull bones. looks like a middle aged dad going through a rough divorce and getting botox. kermit the frog would never. were gonna refer to this guy as false kermit from now on. like bigger luke before him, false kermit is a liar and a fraud here to take advantage of your good will twoards the real kermits sensitive soul.
it isnt enough that this impostor is out there, no, hes on everything. you go into a wal mart and try and find me even the slightest hint at real kermit. go on, ill wait. no luck? thats what i thought. obviously disney is in on it, his proliferation goes hand in hand with disneys dominance of the brand. what are they hiding from us? wheres real kermit, walt? is this some faul shit were on, are the clues there for us to find. one things for sure, this guys an impostor and must not be trusted.
for more information on the case visit plushrump.com
'Umar b. Khattab went along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the company of some persons to Ibn Sayyad that he found him playing with children near the battlement of Bani Maghala and Ibn Sayyad was at that time just at the threshold of adolescence and he did not perceive (the presence of Holy Prophet) until Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) struck his back with his hands.
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Ibn Sayyad, don't you bear witness that I am the messenger of Allah? Ibn Sayyad looked toward him and he said: I bear witness to the fact that you the messenger of the unlettered. Ibn Sayyad said to the Allah's Messenger (ﷺ): Do you bear witness to the fact that I am the messenger of Allah? Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) rejected this and said: I affirm my faith in Allah and in His messengers. Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him: What do you see?
Ibn Sayyad said: It is a Dukh. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: May you be disgraced and dishonoured, you would not not be able to go beyond your rank. 'Umar b. Khattab said: Allah's Messenger, permit me that I should strike his neck. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: If he is the same (Dajjal) who would appear near the Last Hour, you would not be able to overpower him, and if he is not that there is no good for you to kill him.
We were along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) that we happened to pass by children amongst whom there was Ibn Sayyad. The children made their way but Ibn Sayyad kept sitting there (and it seemed) as if Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not like it (his sitting with the children) and said to him: May your nose he besmeared with dust, don't you bear testimony to the fact that I am the Messenger of Allah? Thereupon he said: No, but you should bear testimony that I am the messenger of Allah. Thereupon 'Umar b. Khattab said: Allah's Messenger, permit me that I should kill him. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: If he is that person who is in your mind (Dajjal), you will not be able to kill him.
Abu Sa'id reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) met him (Ibn Sayyad) and so did Abu Bakr and 'Umar on some of the roads of Medina. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:
Do you bear testimony to the fact that I am the Messenger of Allah? Thereupon he said: Do you bear testimony to the fact that I am the messenger of Allah? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: I affirm my faith in Allah and in His Angels and in His Books, and what do you see? He said: I see the throne over water. Whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: You see the throne of Iblis upon the water, and what else do you see? He said: I see two truthfuls and a liar or two liars and one truthful. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Leave him He has been confounded.
Kids don’t know they’re supposed to play along with the narcissistic delusions of adults. Umar wanted to hack his head off right then and there, but Muhammad said no. Not because Sayyad was a kid, not because kids say snarky things, not because people can believe and think what they like, but because it wouldn’t help them against the magic of the Dajjal.
Ibn Sayyad ultimately became suicidal because, thanks to Muhammad, everyone around him thought he was the Dajjal. Because they were stupid and gullible.
(Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, the “False Messiah,” is basically the Islamic plagiarized version of the Antichrist, the false prophet associated with Judgment Day.)
Femto, the Wings of Darkness, the Blessed King of Longing, the index of the Hand of God.
# Femto’s name isn’t actually a reference to a science-fiction novel like the other members of the God Hand (or at least not one we know of yet). Femto is actually a mathematical prefix for a quadrillionth of something (for exemple, the quadrillionth of a second is a femtosecond, and same thing for femtometers and the like). Many fans like to think that it is a nod to the extremely small percentage of chance Femto had to be be created.
# Femto does not seem to be a precise reference to any of the Cenobites from Hellraiser, he simply bares the same “Cenobite aesthetic” the God Hand has. However, Femto’s cloak and helmet are a clear reference to the 1974 musical movie “Phantom of the Paradise”, a Brian DePalma dark comed that is a modern retelling of “Phantom of the Opera” in the 70s music industry. The main protagonist, the vengeful Phantom of the Paradise, wears a costume similar to the one of Femto to hide his ugly scars. Interestingly, “Phantom of the Paradise” actually is a movie about the supernatural and deals with the devil, since it is also based on both Faust and The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
# Femto is a clear reference to the specific Devil archetype of the “fallen angel”. Griffith’s transformation into the monstrous Femto was due to his arrogance, his pride, his jealousy and stubborness, which are also the traits that usually caused the fall of whatever “fallen angel archetype” a mythology has, whether it is Iblis or Lucifer. Femto’s "archetype” is however the most obvious in his role as a reincarnated Griffith/neo-Griffith : just like Lucifer, whose name means “bringer of light” and who was said to be the most beautiful and powerful of the angels, Femto-Griffith appears as a being of utter grace and perfection, with an incredible beauty and a symbolism based around light. All of that hiding, of course, an incredibly dark heart. Femto also represents the religious belief that evil will manifest itself as a false prophet, an evil messiah, for exemple the belief of an Antichrist from popular culture or the figure of the Beasts appearing in the Book of Revelation. Just like these entities Femto poses as Griffith, a supernatural and perfect savior of “divine” nature that protects people, lead them to a country of peace and prosperity, and wins over the love of people, armies and the Church - while in truth he is actually manipulating and tricking these people into following a group of monsters, demons and evil spirits, and devoting themselves to a manifestation of evil.
# Femto, like other God Hand members, seems to corresponds to one of the Chaos Gods of the Warhammer universe - I would say he corresponds to Khorne. Khorne is a deity of hate, rage, war, feuds, discord and massacres, a gigantic demonic deity drinking blood and sitting on a throne of skulls, leading armies of wrathful monsters to attack, pillage, destroy and burn everything they can lay their claws on. The comparison might not be obvious at first glance, but Femto actually reflects a secondary aspect of Khorne - Khorne is also the god of military law, order and honor. He is a spirit of bravery and courage, a demon of determination and of conquest. It is in this second aspect that Femto-Griffith, the idolized army leader conquering the entire world to become its warrior-king, looks like Khorne.
