What I’m going to add this is that the book series include a lot of topics and perspectives, which is why it also reached such a great success, but it also pulled a lot of racists like flies sticking around a streetlight.
I deeply hate Ry*n Condal and his work not only he miserably and disrespectfully failed at every given change to improve his storytelling of the dance, he also himself was one person that got the Targaryen dynasty very wrong. Targaryens were coming from an empire famous for its unmatched power and obsession with magic, training dragons and brutally owning people as slaves and forced them working in inhumane conditions for centuries. They were a part of it, so their gods and their ways were not the same as the people residing in Westeros. That was probably emphasised at least ten times in a row by the showmakers and writers, there’s no problem with expressing this after all.
But because of their traditions not lining up with First Men or Andals (then with Dorne, Rhoynar) did it make them the victims of what they started?
Nobody, especially under the circumstances Westerosi people were living with, wants to be opressed and then ruled by a foreign monarch because they wanted it to do so. Three dragons burning their lands and people if they don’t accept their terms and requests, three dragons to threaten if they attempt to raise a complaint or disagreement with their ways, three dragons they kept reminding people that they were superior and special and not like any of them. Because they had massive, experienced war machine dragons to ride and lead to battle fields.
So I find it disgusting when people come up and say “Starks are racists towards Targs”, “Hightowers are hating for no reason”, “Wars with Dorne were necessary because the blood of the dragon blah blah blah” etc. This is the propaganda even the characters themselves are naturally adapting without even intending to do so. There is a feudal system like there was in the Medieval Europe, yes. There is a hierarchy between the nobles and the peasants, there is another yes. Injustice and cruelty contains a big part of George R. R. Martin’s storytelling; there are many characters who are racists, misogynists, frauds, child predetors, war criminals, sadists and liars. In Targaryen history there happens to be both good and bad natured men, just like any noble house produces men, but the difference is that Targaryens provide a better propaganda.
If a prince tortures an innocent woman, he does it because he’s proud and feisty like a dragon. If a king commands his mistresses to be beheaded or his own kin slayed for no true reason, just to spread fear and pure obedience, it is good because the blood of the dragon makes a man go half mad. They’re closer to gods than men. They don’t find themselves facing a real punishment because it would mean they are actually equal to any lesser human they always bragged that they were above of all of them.
If one of them ascend to the throne and screws up so bad that the historians call the entire reign as a big joke, it’s also normalised to a level because people (the people who used to rule their own lands with their own laws and ways) were expected to serve rightfully and endure even it would cost them heavy.
A cruel Targaryen prince and a cruel lord from the Reach are not the same. Even after the dragons were gone some of their privileges remained during the political crises because people perceived loyalty, honor and duty (the things that matter very dearly) equal to serving to the “rightful rulers” — so they follow their oaths to the heirs of the throne.
So calling a noble man from the Reach, who is privileged in his own rights but not as privileged as a Targaryen noble is batshit crazy to me.
If I was living in the era where Targaryen/Valyrian supremacy was skyrocketing I would too be not kind about showing my opinions on that.
Calling people who don’t practice diplomacy and don’t put the effort to understand their subjects and their livings as the opressed party and reflecting them as the righteous (and their violence and wars as necessary) makes me want to laugh.
Not a cute way to put it.
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