Hemm-hux - Hemm - Tumblr Blog

Sometimes you read a fic where the author is clearly and intentionally writing dead dove content like:

These garbage boys are going to torture and gaslight each other until they’re inextricably intertwined 😈 they are going to make each other the most fucked-up and worst versions of themselves 🔪 they will be so codependent and broken they will never be able to be with anyone else after ☠️

And, like, this is probably written by a pretty normal, well-adjusted person. Genuinely. The dove is dead but the author knows that the dove is dead because they killed the dove. On purpose. Gleefully. They were like “wouldn’t it be fucked up if…” and then wrote the if.

But then sometimes you read a fic where the author is like:

uwu these soft boys are soooo cute and in love 🥰 they’re so sweet and pure and good 💕 I just want them to be cutesy-wutesy and in lurveeee forever 😍 this is my new fic about soft boys being soft 💋 this is the height of romance 😘

And then the fic is. Not. The relationship is THE must fucked up, manipulative, passive-aggressive shit show where both characters are being awful to each other, but in the most socially-acceptable heteronormative way where you could 100% picture a friend of a friend telling you this bizarre story at a party while you’re sitting there like wow 😬 straight people are wild who acts like that?

I don’t read fics like that often, but whenever I do I’m always like................... 👀 you good? You doing okay? You seem to think this kind of behavior is, uh. Normal. And, uh, romantic? But these characters certainly seem to hate each other. Not in the narrative, in the narrative they’re super in love somehow but uhhh. Um. You good?

There is such a chasm between people writing something fucked up on purpose vs someone writing something fucked up on accident. And the latter is where things are not tagged properly, and they’re infinitely more disturbing imo.

So like a critical component of understanding team green and Alicent’s motivation for pushing their claim is completely lost on this fandom because of the fact that it’s so irrelevant nowadays that we wouldn’t even consider it.

But like…for most of human history marriages, especially aristocratic marriages, were binding social contracts that were meant to provide benefits and incentives to both parties. The woman would perform her wifely duties of bearing heirs (sons), child rearing, emotional (and physical - sometimes against her will unfortunately) support, and generally running the household in domestic affairs. And in exchange for these labors and quite frankly difficult and at times harmful tasks the woman was provided with safety from the outside world, all her needs being taken care of, and her children being the heirs. And a woman’s son being the heir means consistent protection into her old age when her often much older husband eventually died.

There was a purpose to marriage outside of love and ambition. But because we are privileged enough to live in a more modern society where marriage is a personal contract for which the technicalities can be selected by both individuals to ensure security and happiness, we cannot really even consider that once upon a time in the not so distant past there was a clear purpose. The man got sons/heirs and the woman got sons/protectors to care for her in her old age.

So when Alicent pushes for her son she has a plethora of reasons: believing in tradition, protecting the lives of her children who have competing claims, consolidation of suffering, etc. But she has one very clear and very reasonable reason that nobody acknowledges. She delivered on her part of the bargain and contract and she wants to collect what she is owed. She produced the sons, she gave the emotional and physical support (against her genuine will), she reared the children, she ran the household domestically and the entire kingdom. She did “everything expected of her forever upholding the kingdom, the family, and the law”. And now it’s time for her to collect her dues now that her much, much older husband is dead. To have her son be king and to be taken care of into her old age.

That is the contract she agreed to. That is the contract almost every woman in history agreed to. I give you a son and I get comfort and security when you (the husband) die and my son becomes the heir.

So I can go on and on about the personal, psychological reasoning that Alicent has that are all perfectly valid. But I don’t have to because at the end of the day she did her part of this marital obligation and contract and she deserves to receive her rewards.

What if you wanted to be KING but your niece and nephews were BASTARDS and your brother was GAY and STUPID and everyone HATED you and you couldn’t find a DENTIST for your teeth you ground down and a PRIESTESS told you to kill your DAUGHTER and a CLOWN was there

Princess Jaehaera Targaryen with Morghul and Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen with Shrykos.

[REPOSTED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY CRAZYTOM]

Commission for @alicent-apologist, from her fanfic The Targaryen Doe on AO3 ✧˚₊‧

𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧 & 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐡𝐮𝐥 & 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐤𝐨𝐬.

𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 : ( 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲𝐭𝐨𝐦𝟎𝟕𝟏𝟐 ) 𝐨𝐧 𝐗

I understand that because GRRM deleted his post, people will wildly misconstrue and exaggerate what was written, so here it is in full so you can read the actual words firsthand:

I want to isolate the part about Maelor. Here are the things GRRM says about him:

Condal assured him that Maelor would be included but walked it back.

Said that he still loved the B&C sequence on the show despite the lack of Maelor and it not being as strong as in the books.

Rickard Thorne in Bitterbridge wouldn't happen without Maelor.

Helaena commiting suicide wouldn't have happened if she didn't receive news of Maelor being so brutally murdered in Bitterbridge.

The Butterfly effect he is talking about is Maelor's birth -> B&C Helaena chooses Maelor -> Jaehaerys is killed instead of Maelor which leads to Helaena's guilt and trauma -> Maelor is brutally murdered in Bitterbridge -> Shatters Helaena's already fragile psyche -> Helaena kills herself -> KL smallfolk riot because Helaena was a popular queen -> Rhaenyra is driven out of KL by the smallfolk.

Things GRRM DIDN'T say:

He hates how the show handled B&C.

That Rickard Thorne or even Maelor is an essential character.

That the events have to happen as written in the book.

That he hates Rhaenyra.

Ryan Condal has committed treason most foul and now must be fed to his dragon.

the fact that this fandom can't even agree on the targs conquering westeros by force & killing thousands was bad :\ [and that loving them as characters doesn't contradict that statement]

I’ve been thinking about this comment in response to what Ryan Condal said in his interview for the HBO podcast and I decided to post it here because it’s so well-articulated and thought-out it needs to be shared with as many people in this fandom as possible.

rhaenyra being so concerned about aegon, but helaena was ultimately her downfall. the smallfolk loved her. they mourned her. they rebelled for her. she was so deeply beloved by all who knew her, highborn and low, she was the one who indirectly caused her half-sister’s death with her own. she is remembered as queen, not rhaenyra. she is remembered fondly, not rhaenyra.

A new one from today. Targtower siblings dynamic pre rooks rest.

rhaenyra being so concerned about aegon, but helaena was ultimately her downfall. the smallfolk loved her. they mourned her. they rebelled for her. she was so deeply beloved by all who knew her, highborn and low, she was the one who indirectly caused her half-sister’s death with her own. she is remembered as queen, not rhaenyra. she is remembered fondly, not rhaenyra.

rhaenyra being so concerned about aegon, but helaena was ultimately her downfall. the smallfolk loved her. they mourned her. they rebelled for her. she was so deeply beloved by all who knew her, highborn and low, she was the one who indirectly caused her half-sister’s death with her own. she is remembered as queen, not rhaenyra. she is remembered fondly, not rhaenyra.

oh fuck this is a really good hill i gotta die on this

“The [line] I felt he was the most at his final thread and exposed was the scene around the table with Alicent. ‘What would you have me do?’ Just tell me and I’ll do it.” — Tom Glynn-Carney

A key word here. I'm sure you guys saw how they want to tell us that Rhaenyra is a queen. Like referring to her as Rhaenyra I Targaryen or the last episode name, the queen who ever was. And we have GRRM himself, the author of the book don't even referring to her as queen. He only refers to Helaena and Alicent as queen and Aegon as king. And he himself point out that Helaena is gentle and loved while Rhaenyra is not.

Aegon II literally issued an edict that Rhaenyra was a usurper and only a princess, only Helaena and Alicent are queens. Aegon III took over as Aegon II's heir, not Rhaenyra's heir. Neither he nor Viserys II purged that edict of their uncle. Nor did any other King. In fact, they adopted strictly agnatic succession laws. What more do they need to accept that even Rhaenyra's own sons, grandsons, great grandsons do not see her as the Queen.

In the excellent words of Stannis the Mannis,

“traitors have always paid with their lives . . . even Rhaenyra Targaryen. She was daughter to one king and mother to two more, yet she died a traitor’s death for trying to usurp her brother’s crown. It is law. Law, Davos. Not cruelty.”

Rhaenyra was never remembered as queen. Also not a single Targ kid was named after her because she was a traitor, pretender and usurper.

I'm not surprise the post is not there anymore. Because it's literally change the plot of this stupid show.

A lovely commission by Yendts

i think hes still a virgin actually

I seriously need someone else to talk about Our Fathers Clad in Red (by @aifsaath and @gwenllian-in-the-abbey).

THIS IS POSSIBLY THE BEST TARGARYEN FIC I HAVE EVER READ AND DID NOT EXPECT TO LIKE THE AEGON AND BAELA PAIRING AS MUCH AS I HAVE.

Honey, wake up, a great article just dropped

goodreason.substack.com

The House of the Dragon is at War With Its Own Premise

A sad day in Westeros

Meeting in Urithiru. Your older sister’s bestie who hates you and you’re bestie’s foolish little sister who destroyed your people.

Instead of trying so hard to make fans think of Daenerys when they see Rhaenyra, they should have tried to insert a bit of Daenerys into every Targaryen character.

Right now it's obvious the show is trying to make Rhaenyra a Dany 2.0 and doing everything they can to link this one character to Daenerys. The amount of scenes she gets with her dragon, the idea that Syrax's eggs are somehow Daenerys' dragons and it's thanks to Rhaenyra that dragons live on... likely all due to the writers seeing "dragonriding ruling queen" for both characters and then really overly forcing the connection at all costs even if it doesn't always quite fit.

What I would have preferred is to see all of Daenerys' ancestors within her and her in them. Show all of their connections to their dragons and their joy in flying. Show all of them as quick to anger and slow to forgive. Show all of them believing in the power and superiority of their dragon blood and the inherent right of their family to rule. Show all of them willing to use fire and blood to avenge what they see as injustices and being ruthless in their pursuit of that justice. Show me how each of these characters are as Targaryen as the next and how absolutely tragic it is that within this so similar family they only saw their own differences and their own ambitions, leading to them destroying themselves and the dragons that they loved so much and that gave them so much power.

All of this means not leaning so hard on showing Rhaenyra as just like Daenerys, but showing Dany's traits in the others. Show Helaena finding freedom, power, and independence on dragonback and savoring her strong bond with Dreamfyre, which comes more easily to her as an autistic woman surrounded by people playing the unspoken game of thrones around her. Show Aegon on Sunfyre after the coronation as he wears the conqueror's crown and reminds the people of his ancestral Targaryen power and right to rule. Show their children and their hatchlings. Let Baela have her own opinions apart from her betrothed and his mother and let her be bold in expressing them. Let Rhaena learn the importance of politicking and soft power in ruling and gaining allies and the balance between hard and soft power, and let the moment she hatches Morning at the end of the war be a melancholic moment, as she finally has a dragon but now is alone in this fact as one of the last living Targaryens.

We should be able to see traces of Daenerys in all of these Targaryens, and choosing just one to try to emulate Daenerys over all the others is a misstep and minimizes the impact of this story as a dynastic civil war of a family destroying itself.

So you're telling me the woman who crowned her only daughter with her own crown, who kissed her cheeks, knelt before her, and called her "my Queen" in front of all the smallfolk of Kings Landing, would go groveling back to the woman who traumatized her precious daughter and granddaughter and murdered her grandson, to beg for mercy and to promise to force Helaena to offer up her crown and position as queen? Because no other woman in this show is allowed to want to be queen, or be viewed as worthy of the position besides Rhaenyra. No "Queen Alicent, beloved of the smallfolk", no "Helaena had been loved, Rhaenyra was hated" no no no. Helaena being loved by the smallfolk and Aegon listening to her council for the war effort was biAsEd MaEsteR pRoPAgAnDa. According to HotD, Rhaenyra was the only woman who ever wanted to be queen/had a right to be queen/was worthy of being queen/was good at being queen.