ASOS - Tumblr Posts
ASOIAF!Daenerys scenes that should’ve been included in the show (3/?) + Queen Daenerys wanting to conquer Meereen to feed her people and having to be reminded that she could profit from this endeavor
thinking about the parallels between Jaime’s ASOS arc and Cersei’s AFFC/ADWD one
epic bald moment (Jaime shedding his Lann identity, Cers having hers ripped away from her)
Jaime imprisoned by the worst of humanity, Cersei imprisoned by ‘the most virtuous’
Both losing the most ‘vital’ part of themselves - Jaime his sword hand, Cers her beauty. each learn what total humiliation feels like to them
Desperate clinging to the thought of the other to pull each of them through: jaime thinking he must live to defend Cersei, Cersei that Jaime can surely be depended upon to come rescue her
Both forced to confront the greatest fears about themselves - Jaime that he was only his hand, and corrupted almost beyond repair; Cersei that she has aged beyond worth and has no true power of her own
Jaime emerging wanting to pursue a better self; Cersei emerging looking to pursue her worst self in vengeance
and uh. is Qyburn a foil to Brienne lmao??? Brienne setting a shining example for Jaime, Qyburn setting an appalling one for Cers, Brienne supporting Jaime through his suffering, Qyburn supporting Cersei through hers, Brienne giving Jaime hope to continue his path to change, Qyburn giving Cersei vengeance in the form of Robert Strong
this
Jaime IV ASOS
Cersei I ADWD
PARALLELS: ASOS, Daenerys I and ADWD, Jon VII
God, Jaime Lannister cared so fucking much what Brienne of Tarth thought of him. 15 years. Fifteen god damn years of being called the Kingslayer. His unofficial title, the way he’ll definitely be described in the White Book posthumously, states that he’s an oath breaker, that he killed his liege that he swore to protect. Never did he, not fucking once, defend himself from that title. Not once did he reveal that he was protecting Kings Landing from a cruel king. Not once did he justify his actions that paint him as, whether or not you give a fuck about the targs, a bad guy. A turncloak. An oath breaker. A man who was pardoned because of who he was to the new King. He didn’t give a fuck if people thought he was honorable or not.
And then Brienne of Tarth calls him Kingslayer to his face. He can’t stand that, and it’s not long before he’s revealing his motivations to her. He dreams about her. He gifts her a priceless sword called Oathkeeper. He cares so so much about her opinion of him. He fixates on his honor after they part ways and he probably hopes that word of his honorable actions, his refusal to spill Tully blood, reaches the ears of the Maid of Tarth.
Sometimes I remember the impressive stuff Jon Snow has done and I'm in an awe of him
Like when he removed the arrow that had injured his leg and then proceeded to ride for days without stopping or eating until he arrived at Castle Black.
At later on, he fought bravely during the battle of Castle Black, despite still being injured.
And he's so young! It's easy to forget he's only a teenager will the impressive stuff he has done.
"You are he who must stand against the Other. The one whose coming was prophesied five thousand years ago. The red comet was your herald. You are the prince that was promised, and if you fail the world fails with you."
—Melisandre, to Stannis Baratheon. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 63, Davos VI.
Even though Daario is primarily drawn to Dany for her power, which of course means his affection for her is superficial, I actually find the fact that he's attracted by how powerful she is, not frightened or threatened by it, to be pretty nice in the context of the ASOIAF world. Am I the only one? I mostly only see criticisms of Daario and his relationship with Dany, and while their being together definitely has questionable aspects, what I mentioned is something I like about it.
I’m glad you sent me this, because it’s giving me the perfect excuse to write a defense post about Dany x Daario. I mean, I’m not saying Daario is the ideal guy, I’m not even saying he’s a good guy, but I honestly think people in the fandom don’t appreciate certain aspects of Dany and Daario’s relationship, and that the hate against Daario is kind of undeserved.
One of the unappreciated positive aspects of their relationship is the one you mentioned. He likes Dany’s power, he doesn’t feel threatened by it. But it goes beyond that: Daario actively encourages Dany to keep her power, and warns her when she’s in danger of losing it:
Daario shrugged. “Most queens have no purpose but to warm some king’s bed and pop out sons for him. If that’s the sort of queen you mean to be, best marry Hizdahr.” - Daenerys IV ADWD
In a society in which women are seen as broodmares, in which queens are never rulers in their own right but mere consorts, Daario warns Dany against the dangers of losing her power and agency in her marriage to Hizdahr (and he’s right about it, Dany steadily starts losing her agency). He wants her to be queen in her own right, not a queen in the shadow of a man, just popping out sons for him (though, of course, some of his dislike of Dany’s marriage is jealousy). I think it’s pretty awesome that a guy in their society actually values Dany’s power, instead of being threatened by it like other men. Men in this story call Dany arrogant, mad, and they underestimate her. Daario is not like that.
Not only he warns Dany about losing her power and agency, he also reminds Dany of her responsibilities as queen:
Dany threw a pillow at him. “You will leave Hizdahr be!”
“As my queen commands. Will you hold court today?”
“No. On the morrow I will be a woman wed, and Hizdahr will be king. Let him hold court. These are his people.”
“Some are his, some are yours. The ones you freed.”
“Are you chiding me?”
“The ones you call your children. They want their mother.”
“You are. You are chiding me.”
“Only a little, bright heart. Will you come hold court?”
“After my wedding, perhaps. After the peace.”
“This after that you speak of never comes. You should hold court. My new men do not believe that you are real. The ones who came over from the Windblown. Bred and born in Westeros, most of them, full of tales about Targaryens. They want to see one with their own eyes. The Frog has a gift for you.” - Daenerys VII ADWD
Dany is usually very mindful of her duty and holds court (Dany would gladly have sent the rest of the petitioners away … but she was still their queen, so she heard them out and did her best to give them justice. - Daenerys III ADWD), but at this point in ADWD, she feels disillusioned, and more and more, she makes compromises with slavers in the name of peace. She is feeling defeated, and no longer even wants to hold court. So when Dany tries to push aside her responsibilities by letting Hizdahr take over and hold court, Daario reminds her that she has her own people, all the people that she freed, all the people that rely on her. I think that’s pretty great, and this is why I can’t really see Daario as this completely selfish sellsword that doesn’t have any morals, or that doesn’t care about Dany or her ideals. At least here, he seems to care about her and her ideals, he seems to believe in her fight against slavery. He’s reminding her of her responsibilities to her people, and he’s once again warning Dany about the dangers of giving Hizdahr too much power. After all, not only Hizdahr is a man and threatens her because she’s a woman, he also doesn’t hold the best interests of the freedmen at heart, and could be a danger to Dany’s people.
Daario also gives Dany advice. Which is not to say that his advice is always the best. He advises Dany to use unnecessary violence, and Dany herself thinks he’s a monster. But it’s not like he never has a point:
“You are fighting shadows when you should be fighting the men who cast them,” Daario went on. “Kill them all and take their treasures, I say. Whisper the command, and your Daario will make you a pile of their heads taller than this pyramid.” - Daenerys IV ADWD
While Dany doesn’t need to kill everyone like Daario suggests, his advice about taking the masters’ wealth is a good one. Dany had already taken the wealth of some slave masters (the Zhaks and Merreqs) when they decided to leave the city, but since Dany is trying to be moderate, she doesn’t do it enough. Daario here is advising her to be less moderate, to follow through on her revolution, which is a good advice.
There are also some other positive aspects in their relationship. Daario cares about her, tries to spare Dany from having to see the crucified children, gives her flowers, and makes her laugh:
The Great Masters of Meereen had withdrawn before Dany’s advance, harvesting all they could and burning what they could not harvest. Scorched fields and poisoned wells had greeted her at every hand. Worst of all, they had nailed a slave child up on every milepost along the coast road from Yunkai, nailed them up still living with their entrails hanging out and one arm always outstretched to point the way to Meereen. Leading her van, Daario had given orders for the children to be taken down before Dany had to see them, but she had countermanded him as soon as she was told. “I will see them,” she said. “I will see every one, and count them, and look upon their faces. And I will remember.” - Daenerys V ASOS
On the road from Yunkai, Daario had brought her a flower or a sprig of some plant every evening when he made his report … to help her learn the land, he said. Waspwillow, dusky roses, wild mint, lady’s lace, daggerleaf, broom, prickly ben, harpy’s gold … He tried to spare me the sight of the dead children too. He should not have done that, but he meant it kindly. And Daario Naharis made her laugh, which Ser Jorah never did. - Daenerys V ASOS
Daario makes her feel free, feel more like herself:
The carcass was too heavy for him to bear back to his lair, so Drogon consumed his kill there, tearing at the charred flesh as the grasses burned around them, the air thick with drifting smoke and the smell of burnt horsehair. Dany, starved, slid off his back and ate with him, ripping chunks of smoking meat from the dead horse with bare, burned hands. In Meereen I was a queen in silk, nibbling on stuffed dates and honeyed lamb, she remembered. What would my noble husband think if he could see me now? Hizdahr would be horrified, no doubt. But Daario …
Daario would laugh, carve off a hunk of horsemeat with his arakh, and squat down to eat beside her. - Daenerys X ADWD
Daario is Dany’s first consensual relationship. For the first time, she has agency, and they only kiss and have sex after Dany asks him to. And Dany seems to be more sexually satisfied with him than she has ever been:
That night Daario had her every way a man can have a woman, and she gave herself to him willingly. The last time, as the sun was coming up, she used her mouth to make him hard again, as Doreah had taught her long ago, then rode him so wildly that his wound began to bleed again, and for one sweet heartbeat she could not tell whether he was inside of her, or her inside of him. - Daenerys VII ADWD
Will Hizdahr ever make me scream? “It was the wind that you heard screaming.” She took a bite, but the fruit had lost its savor now that Daario was gone. - Daenerys VII ADWD
She says he brought her back to life, and dreams of a simple life with him:
In her dream they had been man and wife, simple folk who lived a simple life in a tall stone house with a red door. In her dream he had been kissing her all over—her mouth, her neck, her breasts. - Daenerys II ADWD
If I could, I would. Khal Drogo had been her sun-and-stars, but he had been dead so long that Daenerys had almost forgotten how it felt to love and be loved. Daario had helped her to remember. I was dead and he brought me back to life. - Daenerys VII ADWD
Finally, it’s not even a fact that Daario only cares about Dany because of her power. This is only what Dany thinks:
I would give up my crown if he asked it of me, Dany thought … but he had not asked it, and never would. Daario might whisper words of love when the two of them were as one, but she knew it was the dragon queen he loved. If I gave up my crown, he would not want me. - Daenerys VII ADWD
Dany is not naive, and keeps reminding herself about how sellswords are treacherous and dangerous. So here, she thinks that Daario wouldn’t want her if she wasn’t the dragon queen. But is this really true? Sure, Daario is impressed by Dany’s power, but so far, he hasn’t betrayed her. When Dany sends him away after they have a fight, he remains loyal to her and obeys her commands. When she was in a weakened position, under siege by Yunkai, and Brown Ben Plumm betrays her and goes to the side of the Yunkai'i, Daario doesn’t betray her. He remains by her side when she decides to marry Hizdahr, and he even agrees to be a hostage when Dany is negotiating peace with Yunkai. So even after Dany starts losing power and being defeated, Daario remains loyal to her. So I do think he cares about her. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe he’ll betray Dany in the next books, but so far, I really see no reason to believe that.
I can see why some people would not like Daario’s attitude. He brags about sleeping with a thousand women, and he also brags about sleeping with Dany. But honestly? Dany doesn’t care:
“A hundred?” Daario chuckled through his purple beard. “I lied, sweet queen. It was a thousand. But never once a dragon.”
She raised her lips to his. “What are you waiting for?” - Daenerys VI ADWD
Dany hears Daario boasting about this, and she still doesn’t care, still wants to be with him. And at least Daario is honest with her (I’m sure he is exaggerating the numbers, but he’s not lying about the kind of man he is). And he compliments her, tells her how she is great, how she’s a dragon.
She wondered if her captain’s blades still hung upon the wall beside her bed, waiting for Daario to return and claim them. “I will leave my girls with you,” he had said. “Keep them safe for me, beloved.” And she wondered how much the Yunkai'i knew about what her captain meant to her. She had asked Ser Barristan that question the afternoon the hostages went forth. “They will have heard the talk,” he had replied. “Naharis may even have boasted of Your Grace’s … of your great … regard … for him. If you will forgive my saying so, modesty is not one of the captain’s virtues. He takes great pride in his … his swordsmanship.”
He boasts of bedding me, you mean. But Daario would not have been so foolish as to make such a boast amongst her enemies. It makes no matter. By now the Yunkai'i will be marching home. That was why she had done all that she had done. For peace. - Daenerys X ADWD
When Daario brags about sleeping with her, Dany’s reaction isn’t outrage that he is sullying her honor or anything like that. In fact, Dany is a person that doesn’t care too much about propriety. When one of her Unsullied is killed, she gets up in the middle of the night dressed in almost nothing because she thinks it’s her duty to see him, because he died for her. She has little problem with nudity. And here, she doesn’t seem to have a problem with Daario boasting either. She’s more concerned about the political problems that this might cause than she is about her personal honor. I get that some readers might think it’s disrespectful, that he thinks of Dany as a conquest, and that if they were in Dany’s place, they would be offended by Daario’s actions. But Dany herself doesn’t give two shits.
So in the end, what I’m saying isn’t that Daario is a perfect guy. He boasts about sleeping with Dany, he acts jealous when Quentyn arrives, he acts jealous about Hizdahr, and sometimes gives her some really violent advice. But he also seems to care about her, tries to spare her from seeing the dead children, gives her flowers, makes her feel happy and free, compliments her, remains loyal to her even after others betray her, reminds her of her duties to her people, seems to care about Dany’s ideals and her fight against slavery, and respects her consent, power and agency. So even if Daario isn’t what many would consider to be the ideal guy, I still think the relationship between Dany and Daario is very underappreciated and that some of the hate against Daario is undeserved.
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Self-recognition via your black-armored male relative (positive) vs. (negative)
How many asoiaf leaders we see being self reflecting?
Meanwhile Dany, the night before she offers freedom to all Unsullied, she reflects about Eroeh's fate and even feels guilty about her tragic end.
This girl was raped when Dany rescued her and added her to her personal slaves in order to offer her protection ( remember, back when Dany was married to Drogo, she didn't have the authority to free a slave herself).
Unfortunately for Eroeh, her sad fate didn't stop there. Because after Khal Drogo was dead and Dany was no longer considered a Khaleesi by most of his khalasar, Eroeh's rapist return to abuse and kill the girl.
Dany was by no means responsible to what happened to Eroeh because she was unconscious ( after giving a difficult birth) when the girl met her cruel end by Khal Mago.
However, that doesn't stop Dany from feeling she failed the girl. Because Dany believes that a ruler's duty is to protect their subjects.
Dany was once also a helpless child in need of protection from her brother - king. But instead all she got was his cruelty and abuse.
Dany knows first hand how someone can suffer under a merciless King. Combine on that the guilt she feels for the fate of a girl she couldn't possible change and it's no wonder that she comes to the conclusion that " justice...is what kings are for".
Those aren't pretty words coming out of a mouth of a pampered and naive girl playing the Messiah. Those are the words of a girl who has sold by her Brother - King as a bride-slave, a girl who has suffered things other Ruler candidates couldn't possibly imagine, a girl who is going to live by those words she said. The same teenage girl offers freedom and justice to all the Unsullied slaves the next morning.
Ser Jorah urged her to go, but Dany remembered a dream she had dreamed in the House of the Undying. “They will not hurt me,” she told him. “They are my children, Jorah.” She laughed, put her heels into her horse, and rode to them, the bells in her hair ringing sweet victory. She trotted, then cantered, then broke into a gallop, her braid streaming behind. The freed slaves parted before her. “Mother,” they called from a hundred throats, a thousand, ten thousand. “Mother,” they sang, their fingers brushing her legs as she flew by. “Mother, Mother, Mother!” – Daenerys II, A Storm of Swords
Daenerys Targaryen by Gary Gianni in A Storm of Swords: The Illustrated Edition
Off in the distance, a wolf howled. The sound made her feel sad and lonely.
Kira Yukimura Inspired Outfit by koyphan featuring leather jewelry
Floral dress / Uniqlo graphic tee, $20 / ASOS black stocking, $7.67 / Rock & Candy combat boots / Marc by Marc Jacobs stud earrings / Layered necklace / Leather jewelry
Piercings & Such by koyphan featuring kate spade jewelry
Black cocktail dress / Graphic t shirt / ASOS black tight / Volcom military boots / Vince Camuto gold jewelry / Kate spade jewelry / Wrap bracelet / Gold bracelet / Sterling silver jewelry / Stud earrings
Romantic Yet Sexy by koyphan featuring pendants & necklaces
V neck sweater / Wrap skirt, $18 / ASOS black boots / Kendra Scott pendants necklace / Forever 21 knuckle ring
Castiel Inspired Outfit #5 by koyphan featuring a sterling silver cubic zirconia necklace
ASOS side cut out dress / DAY Birger et Mikkelsen beaded vest, $58 / Lipsy waterfall waistcoat, $29 / High heel stiletto / Henri Lou braid jewelry / Sterling silver cubic zirconia necklace
(Kind of) Jessie Prescott Inspired Outfit #2 by koyphan featuring a fit and flare dress
Mighty Fine fit and flare dress / MICHAEL Michael Kors high heel shoes / Betsey Johnson dangle earrings / ASOS ring, $6.36
Prince Soma Inspired Outfit by koyphan featuring a red vest
Alice Olivia red vest, $465 / Chicnova Fashion red vest / Charlotte Russe lightweight pants / Steve Madden steve-madden shoes / BaubleBar jade bangle / Lucky Brand teardrop earrings / Lonna Lilly leaf jewelry / ALDO necklace, $24 / ASOS choker necklace
Strengthening Style by koyphan featuring a lace inset top
Hot Delicious bohemian top / BKE core lace inset top / American eagle outfitters shorts / Vegan leather boots / Sterling silver dog tag necklace / Saks Fifth Avenue diamond post earrings / Asos jewelry, $9.37 / Hinged bangle
Inspired by the Many Things I Watch by koyphan featuring heeled sandals
Sexy top / Faith Connexion short skirt / ALDO heeled sandals / Versus bangle bracelet, $105 / Kill Star stainless steel earrings / ASOS chain necklace, $15