Thinking about HOTD a lot

Transfem. Sometimes not here. I am a big ASOIAF/Parahumans enjoyer. 27. It/fae.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Gotta love Rhaenyra being so excited about hearing Helaena's prophecies, about any sign that she will win, then when she sees her tapestry and Helaena falling she's like "woah, alright, there's some useful stuff in here." And then she looks at the bit with her bleeding on the throne as everything is on fire and she goes "well, actually no this won't happen. I'll just win." It's so fucking funny how quick she goes from "I should listen to her" to "actually fuck this I know I'm going to win. If I murder enough people surely I'll just eventually prevail."

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

A person killing themselves because their second child died is not realistic to you? The one they named to die and felt immense guilt over it? There's billions of people who find that way more natural than the show's whatever death. You just like it because "my mental health issues" feel validated. Are you a mother or even a woman at all?

I acknowledged all this in my post if you cared to even read it. I simply said it was part of a tiring pattern of female characters who go mad/kill themselves because their child/male lovers die, which is very gendered. It's a whole thing, it's called fridging.

Also, ironic, in trying to defend Helaena's death in the book, you decided to put down my own and many other's experience. You can dislike something. But what you are doing is being a cunt. Both experiences are valid, I explained this, and you didn't listen. So go fuck yourself.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Mannnnnnnnnn, oh fuck I don't think I've been more mixed on anything that this finale for HOTD. A lot of it was really fucking good. Peak, even (but not Peake). And then some parts are just... god. I'm so mad. It's infuriating.

Let's start positively. I loved Tumbleton. I think this was a very satisfying climax to all the things that the season has been building up with regards to the war. Loved the Winter Wolves going berserker mode. Ormund sending children on the front lines to deter the attackers was so fucked up but honestly really well done. And then it just doesn't matter because Roddy and Daemon literally go "fuck them kids." I liked Gwayne and Daeron turning against Ormund, and Ormund's death was... mostly satisfying. I enjoyed it. Ulf burning Tumbleton was really fucking good. Just done with everyone's shit, absolutely in line with his character. I hate him so much, I really enjoyed hating him and Ormund.

Rhaenyra finally snapped. It was set up all along, even if I think it was maybe a bit too long to get there. But she'd been repressing and repressing and repressing and finally couldn't take it anymore. And then she went fucking villain mode. Incredibly satisfying and also incredibly sexy god. I love that she finally just went "you know, fuck it, just kill the High Septon, lemme declare myself the messiah in front of everyone." I do think we should've seen the crowd's reaction though, because she went on a long and honestly, out of context, deranged speech, and we don't really see anyone's reaction bar Manderly's "huh?" But yes, Rhaenyra the Cruel is here. She's really fucking hot.

I liked Alys's backstory. Unexpected but in line with what we already knew and explains a lot about her. She really is just a tortured soul.

And Helaena. I know people are gonna be upset because "but she killed herself for no reason :c" I just need to say here, right now, they're wrong. They're fucking wrong. I absolutely hated Helaena's death in the book. Another long list of female characters who kill themselves because their male lovers or children die. Their deaths tied directly due to their gender. Helaena being fridged because of Maelor... I despise it, and quite honestly I think that people give GRRM way too much credit for his female characters. They are about average to me, and so mostly good but he's so not a progressive beacon like it seems so many think he is. He was good for the 90s, not so special now, though.

Also, I think that not just because her death isn't really tied to her motherhood or whatnot, but because it feels a lot more realistic to me. GRRM seems to think that you need one bad thing to happen to make you want to kill yourself. Can't speak for everyone here as this has happened before. This does happen to people. However, I find it very insulting that GRRM would think Helaena died here for no reason. She was trapped in a castle with her half-sister who did not care about her and wished to use her, her mother lied to her, she's having these nightmarish dreams. And there was no end in sight. As someone who deals with a lot of mental health issues, I find that way more relatable and more in tune with why most suicides happen. Helaena has remained one of my favorite characters in the show from the beginning and despite my worries, I think her death is satisfying narratively, even if it's so goddamn tragic and makes me want to cry.

So, basically, fuck you GRRM for your stupid fucking blogpost. "Kills herself for no reason" eat glass, old man.

That's for the good stuff. Now, let's get to the stuff I loathed:

Aegon and Aemond. I know, another unpopular opinion probably because Team Green Team Black fucking I don't give a shit about teams. But, Aemond begging Aegon for forgiveness... I can understand why he'd do that. You are allowed to have complex feelings about your abuser, especially when they are family. But... the show really seems like it's trying to redeem Aegon? Condal said his big moment with Sunfyre last episode was a redemptive beat, which I don't fucking buy for a second. And now here we have... what, the brothers reconciling? No mention of Aegon's abuse and how it impacted Aemond here. It's entirely about how Aemond, the victim, needs to apologize to his abuser. How Aegon was wronged because Aemond had desires about the crown and being king.

But I hate the "forgive your abusers because they are family" trope. I hate it. Aemond doesn't need to apologize for shit. We're supposed to believe that Aegon has learned or smth but honestly all we've had is him being told he was bad, then asking someone else if he really was bad, and having a brave last stand, and then that's it. Listen: for once I'd like it if media took this kind of shit seriously. I love Ward because it doesn't follow that traditional bit of trauma recovery at all. It says something more complex than "forgive" or "get revenge." The idea Aemond has to earn his brother's trust back is disgusting to me. It was far more interesting to have them kinda doing their own things. I think it makes the story more interesting and having them go on their own journeys is like, a big part of the fun. And then they go "actually Aegon was just a little guy who needs help :c" goddammit I'm so mad.

And yes, I am taking this personally because I've had to here this rhetoric about abusive family members for a lot of my life.

Finally: Mysaria and Rhaenyra.... wh-what? Why? Not even because I like the ship, just, writing wise... why????? Why send her away? There's literally no reason to do that. Absolutely none. Fucking sure it was foreshadowed but this seems like drama for the sake of it. They literally had Rhaenyra and Mysaria commit to a relationship LAST EPISODE. AND THEN THEY UNDO IT???? What the fuck Condal??? What is wrong with you????? What do you think you're doing?????

Anyways, that's all. If I'm being generous, i loved season 2 a lot more. I'd give season 3 a 7 out of 10... if I'm generous. But probably closer to 6. Show has a lot going for it, it's not nearly as trash as the fandom makes it out to be... but it's flaws became a lot more apparent this season and my excitement and enjoyment has gone down a bit. They can course correct it still but honestly I'm not having very high hopes atm.

[purpleserpents]

my favorite ongoing bit this season is the comedic timing every time rhaenyra is in the council room yelling mostly to herself and mysaria about all the things she's gonna get done that day and all the decisions she's gonna make by herself in her infinite wisdom as queen to DESTROY the HIGHTOWER TRAITORS and then it immediately cuts to her storming into alicent's chambers to get her piece of daily advice and a peck on the cheek

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

So with the caveat that I am one of maybe three people who actually enjoys the song of ice and fire/prince that was promised prophecy in HOTD, and that I do enjoy it with regards to Robert's Rebellion... the way that this keeps up appearing through all of Targaryen history is so weird that it starts becoming comedic.

Sure, Aegon's dream that the Others would usher the Long Night and wipe out all life, he invaded Westeros to unify it for that, alright. He's 300 years early and his entire dynasty gets overthrown without the Long Night ever happening. Then you have the song of ice and fire be part of why the Dance happens in the first place (I'm aware that's show only, don't burn down my house please I'm making a point), which as I have said I am actually pretty okay with. Then it is stated that Aerys I and Bloodraven have read that the dragons will return. Then Daeron the Drunken has dreamed they will return. And it's implied Aerion, Aemon, and Egg all had dreams of the same thing, and for Aerion and Egg that kinda led to them doing something insane and dying.

And then Jaehaerys II had Aerys and Rhaella married on the word of the Ghost of High Heart saying the prince that was promised would be born of their line. From cut draft material from ADWD which may or may not still be canon, Maelys the Monstrous burnt his only son to try to wake dragon eggs from stone but failed. And then Rhaegar becomes obsessed with the prophecy which somewhat leads into Robert's Rebellion and the entire dynasty being overthrown. And then Melisandre proclaims Stannis the Mantis is the prince that was promised. And then we have the red priests and Aemon independently declare that Daenerys is the prince, (and it so obviously is her, come on y'all, it's fucking Dany, she's the promised prince 1000%)...

Like. Using it a few times seems like it's alright. Sure, prophecy will bite your dick off whatever nonsense Archmaester Alex Jones says. But the way this happens basically the entirety of the Targaryen reign, the reason their dynasty is founded AND OVERTHROWN, the amount of times it comes up, it doesn't feel that epic. It feels lazy and reductive and like a constant teasing that something will happen eventually. And it's exhausting.

Forget the ending of the show. I mean, I have. I'm not even talking about it in the context of the show. Even without the show entirely, this is still so fucking stupid. It feels like GRRM kinda just has a few different notes he hits when writing the history of ASOIAF and it's all just "one day the world will end and a prince will save us all, OOPS IT ISN'T YOU, TEEHEEHEE" for like 500 fucking times. Once, twice I can handle. But it's the repetitive nature that like everything is built around this that makes me fucking insane. It's not a good worldbuilding decision or writing decision, and kind of exposes that the way he's thought up the history of the series just doesn't make much sense (and I absolutely loathe Fire and Blood, easily the worst book of his by a long shot).

Watch Blood and Fire come out and we learn that actually Bloodraven was doing everything because of a prophecy he read or dreamed or that Daemon Blackfyre thought he was the prince that was promised or fucking whatever.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

REALM'S MISERY LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was worried about this episode. Last episode made some weird decisions I did not enjoy while over all being good. I heard that this episode would be the most deviations from the book so far and compared it to some of the worst episodes of GoT... and I gotta say, I don't think I agree, but there is a lot of stuff happening that I am uneasy about.

I still don't like the Corlys subplot, that hasn't changed. But I truly did enjoy the episode. As I've said before, accuracy to the book is not a factor in if I enjoy the show or not. So for the rest of the episode, I enjoyed it well enough.

I will say, while the Aemond/Alicent kiss in the premiere imo wasn't for shock value, the dream sequence of Aemond having sex with his mom definitely feels like it is. That got me, I thought it was real at first but the longer it went the more I thought and hoped it wasn't. I enjoyed Alicent at Harrenhal with Aemond and his little weirdo girlfriend. I bet Alys hates Alicent because of her star sign or something. Anyways, Alicent tried to kill Aemond. I love her so much, she's such a good mother.

Still, it feels like the show doesn't know what to do with her... she's kind of just doing stuff and I'm not sure how that factors into her overall arc. It's a bit disappointing. She's felt very underutilized.

The Rhaena subplot has resolved in a very unexpected way. It's really messy. I did not see Sheepstealer dying actually happening. It's ambiguous enough that Sheepstealer is really wounded and so implied to maybe be dying, but also we saw that Sunfyre is back, if mangled, so it's hard to say if he's gone for good. Not sure what more there is for Rhaena to do, though. The Nettles plotline stuff feels like it won't happen? At the same time, I'm glad it didn't drag any longer because it was already pretty dragged out.

We had so much Helaena in this episode. I think this was the best Helaena content we've ever gotten. We actually see some of her dreams, AND WE SEE DREAMFYRE. In the dream ofc but... you know, I think Helaena should actually mount Dreamfyre and go on a rampage because she's really been going through it. I love her riders outfit too. Poor girl just wants to be left alone and never is :c

And then Rhaenyra. Oh Rhaenyra, my dear... we finally got to see some of her cruelty this episode, but also it does feel like the show is restraining itself from allowing her to be more unsympathetic. It feels like it is afraid of letting her be a more morally grey protagonist. On the one hand, I understand it, the discourse around her is already insane, and audiences have proven elsewhere they can't handle morally grey female protagonists. On the other... I think that they shouldn't care about that and just do it anyways.

I do love seeing Realm's Misery just get confirmed AGAIN this episode. I've been waiting all season for them to get together and it finally happened and I'm so happy. The chuds are pissed off and those who said "it was just a kiss it doesn't mean she's bi or they have anything going on" can finally shut up.

Aegon's storyline was great this episode though. I liked that he decided he wasn't going to run anymore, and then the moment he is faced with his impending death he realizes "fuck, I made a mistake" before committing to it anyways. Very Aegon of him. That said, Condal describes the moment he has Sunfyre burn the Mootons alive as redemptive. And... I'm sorry, no. Guy who is vengeful as hell and is burning people alive while laughing maniacally is not being "redemptive." Tonal dissonance from what the creators intended compared to what was onscreen. It was satisfying though, I'll give them that.

Finally, Ulf. Putting this under spoiler since it spoils future events.

For once, they answer a lingering question from the book of why he betrays the Blacks at Tumbleton. And here they explain it as Ormund simply offering Ulf something more and Ulf agreeing to it. That actually is really nice and makes a lot of sense. If only GRRM wasn't lazy and actually wrote a story and wasn't trying to be so clever all the time saying "oh but we don't know why this character did that"...

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

One of my more popular posts is about a yaoi ship... clearly I haven't yuriposted enough. Time to talk about Rhaenyra and Mysaria having sex for five plus hours you know it got crazy in there. She was literally staring at her pussy that whole discussion she needed her so bad.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Ashara Dayne is such a creature. Like, I think Westeros could've been saved if she married everyone. Let her have like a hundred husbands and a hundred wives. You know what, fuck it. Overthrow Rhaegar, let Elia be queen and Ashara can be her queen. The rebellion would NEVER happen if she did. Bisexuality and polyamory would've saved the Seven Kingdoms is all I'm saying. Wokeness would've prevailed. Total Dornish victory.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Lyanna Stark at the Tower of Joy:

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

It's fucking insane the reaction to the Mad King play and what it does with Lyanna and Elia. I know the Rhaegar hate circlejerk is like really popular but the play actually manages to make Elia, a character who literally has no truly defining features, into a really engaging and interesting and active character. Making Lyanna someone who goes hard on the prophecy to cope with her family's death is something I've suspected. It makes these characters so much more fun to think about than if they were just perfect little saints who are powerless victims (not withstanding the very problematic age-gap with Rhaegar and Lyanna that is all too common with ASOIAF).

Also, Elia plotting to keep House Martell on top is suddenly viewed as a bad thing? You mean the thing every single noble house in Westeros does? What makes Elia more evil than anyone for doing what everyone else does? And why does it make Tywin "justified" in having her and her children killed? Murder and rape is still bad everyone.

I'm just tired. Female characters finally have agency and depth and intrigue and the response is "but they aren't pure and noble anymore :c". The misogyny in this fandom is incredible.

[riana-one]

Because it isn't about 'perfect victimhood' to completely change the character in order to whitewash Rhaegar's idiot actions.

Because it isn't about agency, depth, and intrigue to make the brown wife sexually promiscuous, completely okay with her husband openly having an affair, humiliating her publicly, and be blase about him taking a sister wife.

That isn't being politically astute, it is political suicide.

Rhaella Targaryen getting turned in an abusive bitch that hurts her son and wishes for a daughter to burn the world isn't feminist.

Lyanna Stark morphing into a greenseer that wants to be a walking womb for Rhaegar isn't progressive.

Having the women have their own arcs with their own interests and not centered on explaining away the actions of the men that hurt them.

Seven hells, apparently the play has Elia and Lyanna play at being pen pals during the rebellion where one is being held hostage with her children by a mad king and the other is locked up in a tower pregnant knowing half her family is dead and a war is raging.

That isn't giving these characters agency, it is assassinating them.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

How is it character assassination if we knew literally nothing about these characters before? Like, we had essentially no characterization with Elia or Rhaella, and only a bit with Lyanna. This feels consistent with the characterization for Lyanna tbh. You can dislike the characterization but it's not character assassination if we knew nothing about the characters in the first place.

Also, literally nothing you said about Elia being okay with this is remotely true. This is a bad case of internet telephone that has run rampant because outrage gets clicks and there isn't the full context. What happened was that Elia was made at Rhaegar for crowning Lyanna, because it's a matter of propriety more than upset at having an affair. She isn't "totally onboard" with Rhaegar and Lyanna. She's locked up by Aerys and had no idea about Rhaegar's plan to run away with Lyanna, so she's pissed. But she's trying to get Rhaegar to come back and win the war because she and their children are in danger from Aerys. So she mentions him taking a second wife as a desperate attempt to salvage a bad situation and to get Rhaegar motivated to get his bum ass back to King's Landing.

Finally, I said the fandom is misogynistic, not that the play is feminist or progressive. You're putting words in my mouth. And, lest you start accusing me of another thing I didn't say, I'm not saying you are a misogynist for disliking these plot points. I don't think this really absolves Rhaegar completely to be honest. He did not communicate with Elia while she was trying to plot the scheme he was working on, he still ran away with a teenager, and his indecisiveness is the cause for most of this mess in the first place.

Also, I do understand the criticism of writing all the Dornish women as a bunch of hypersexual freaks. It's not really great that that's something supported even in the books because it is very specifically racialized. I don't think that the fact the Dornish are predominantly bi and poly is an inherently bad thing, I think the problem is the sexualization of a non-white culture, and George is an old man and might be writing with one hand when writing the Dornish. I like having a place where we can have a bunch of openly queer characters exist without being forced to hide. George just GRRMs it up with his weirdness.

That said, nothing I've heard says Elia is sexually promiscuous. She's married to a guy that she doesn't even love and Ashara is basically her wife. She's hardly going around sleeping with everyone she meets.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

It's fucking insane the reaction to the Mad King play and what it does with Lyanna and Elia. I know the Rhaegar hate circlejerk is like really popular but the play actually manages to make Elia, a character who literally has no truly defining features, into a really engaging and interesting and active character. Making Lyanna someone who goes hard on the prophecy to cope with her family's death is something I've suspected. It makes these characters so much more fun to think about than if they were just perfect little saints who are powerless victims (not withstanding the very problematic age-gap with Rhaegar and Lyanna that is all too common with ASOIAF).

Also, Elia plotting to keep House Martell on top is suddenly viewed as a bad thing? You mean the thing every single noble house in Westeros does? What makes Elia more evil than anyone for doing what everyone else does? And why does it make Tywin "justified" in having her and her children killed? Murder and rape is still bad everyone.

I'm just tired. Female characters finally have agency and depth and intrigue and the response is "but they aren't pure and noble anymore :c". The misogyny in this fandom is incredible.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Don’t tag hotd under fire and blood pls. The books are completely separate from the show as the writers have unfortunately proved.

I like to talk about them in relation to the book often. I'm afraid that I'm not going to stop because someone doesn't like the show. It's your problem if you are upset by that.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

I find it so incredibly funny that literally both of Otto's children have the hots for Criston Cole. Like, the guy majorly sucks and yet the homos at the High Tower can't get enough of him. Doomed yaoi so good it could almost be yuri.

So thank you House of the Dragon, for getting me to care about a yaoi ship.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Soyjakking Ormund vs. Looksmaxxing Daeron

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

I am a tireless defender of House of the Dragon. And this episode had some incredible moments, some of my favorite in the series. And also some very big "why are we doing this?" moments:

The Butcher's Ball was fucking excellent. It's exactly as I wanted it to be. And almost exactly 1 to 1. Criston goes out exactly the way he deserves, and by our lovely Black Aly too! Go girl!! This may be my favorite scene of the show now.

Aemond and Alys are wonderful. I adore them. They are literally hetgem until Alys ofc gives Aemond the estrogen potion and she realizes that she's a woman. I love the Rhaena lore. You know Alys and Rhaena were lezzing it up in Harrenhal like come on. These freaks are delightful to watch.

I fucking adore Gwayne this episode. First off, Gwayneston confirmed??? After last episode I can't say I'm surprised that Gwayne is gay. In fact, his gayness is literally what saves Ormund. What a man. Secondly, I really like Gwayne and Daeron's talk. Poor Daeron, he knows what Ormund is and hates who he is with him, and he and Gwayne have such a strong bond. But Gwayne is so tired... also, I saw Daeron 1v3ing those guys in the training yard. Fuck yeah.

Rhaenyra being cut on the throne was really great. And her kind of reaching the end of her line and getting a lot crueler towards Alicent and Helaena is nice to see. More Rhaenyra the Cruel please. Also, Alicent going to kill her stupid chud son for her wife... she's such a good mom, I hope I can be her when I grow up. Also it's SO NICE SHE FINALLY RECOGNIZES HELAENA'S PROPHETIC ABILITIES. AND NOW RHAENYRA KNOWS. THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT.

Alright, that's the good stuff, which is the majority of this episode, ofc. But I need to complain about some stuff.

Baela and Alyn's kiss... I mean, yeah, makes sense. They get together in the book. But that was extremely rushed and only in their second scene??? It definitely came a little out of nowhere and I felt they could've done a way better job of that. Like, at this point Baela had more chemistry with Addam than Alyn and they had ONE SCENE TOGETHER.

I am starting to get a little tired of Rhaenyra arguing whether or not to burn Tumbleton. I guess the Rivermen army is still on the march but... it does feel like they are stalling for time and it's getting slightly frustrating. And, as much as I think people overly hate on the show for this, I do think they could make Rhaenyra more of a morally grey protagonist. Surely by now she'd be more morally ambiguous.

The ending scene is... they really don't know what to do with Corlys, huh. Again, I understand the sequence of events, but it's getting a little silly. Not sure what this adds to the story other than raise the stakes? Which... don't really need to be raised at this point? It's hard to articulate but this really felt so random and I am continually disappointed in what they are doing with Corlys. It's just frustrating as hell.

Otherwise, great episode. I fear for the future, but still enjoyed a good 80% of it.

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

♪ We are Criston Cooooooooole, we light the wayyyyyyyy, we fight for the Sevennnnn, we honor his naaaaaaaaaaaaame ♪

[thinking-about-hotd-a-lot]

Cognitive behavioral therapy prince arriving at Harrenhal to see his uncle isn't there: "Think positively. He's probably ran away from me for a reason. Maybe he's training with his men. Maybe he just needs some time to focus. " Daemon Targaryen: "I am da prince of da city."