Alicent loves her children the most please stop

I know this discourse is old and tired but I just scrolled past a very bad take and I can’t help myself. 

Alicent Hightower does not hate her children! She does not love her children less than Rhaenyra! It is not “misogynistic” (I need people to stop using this word, for the love of god) to recognize that Alicent loves her children!!

Alicent wasn’t upset with Rhaenyra because of what she did with Daemon at a brothel. She was upset because: 

Rhaenyra betrayed her trust and played her. 

Rhaenyra lied over her mother’s grave. We know Alicent misses her mother. Her tie to religion isn’t to “repent” (for you know, being manipulated into attacking the woman who blamed her 10 year old son after he was mutilated, who called for him to be tortured, who stood there and goaded Viserys into yelling at Aegon, to snap at Alicent, to publicly humiliate and threaten them? Sure, okay, writers 😒.) She prays at the Sept because she feels closer to her mother there, because she’s from Oldtown, home to the Citadel. Because she needs a higher power to lean on and gain strength from. Because she’s a lady, product of her society and no, religion isn’t always a chain for women.

We’ve seen Alicent defend Rhaenyra’s claim - in front of the ladies during the hunt, in front of Viserys when he doubted her, and to Otto. Only for Rhaenyra to throw caution to the wind and put her reputation as a princess and heir in question. Alicent now looks stupid, especially if you consider that Alicent had confessed to Rhaenyra that she feels lonely before she lied to her. 

If Rhaenyra can lie over her mother’s grave, lie to her face repeatedly, disregard her feelings, her loneliness, what else is she capable of? 

That’s why Alicent “turns” on Rhaenyra. No shade to the shippers, but sometimes y’all go to far. Not that it’s entirely on the audience, the writers and yes, even the actors feed into this. What’s actually “misogynistic” is how the narrative punishes the child bride for her own abuse.

Alicent isn’t just a character made up of her relationships. She can have a rich interior that doesn’t revolve around Rhaenyra.

HABIT

“I just wanted flowers.”

It really pained you, that you asked for the simplest thing and didn’t receive it.

After months of asking, and buying your own flowers, you decided to not let this battle slide away from you anymore.

HABIT was always good to you, with constant praise, and date nights, and promises to get you things.

And yet, you always have to drag him out of his work just to remind him that you exist that day.

And deep down, it hurts. Because flowers are so simple, and at the right time of year you can find them in the side of the road.

They’re not expensive, not that money is of any proper value to him.

Your hope was fading, and you’ve realized you have pushed too far, because u like the other times you didn’t want to take, “I’m working on it, my sweet. I have plans for you. Big ones ” for an answer, when he has said that over a year ago.

You cried yourself to sleep that night, knowing he won’t come to bed until the late hours of the morning after hovering over his work for the whole day.

He won’t notice the dried tear stains on your pillow because he was too busy admiring how soft your skin looked in the moonlight.

A hopeless romantic, they call them. Maybe even a little narcissistic.

Too obliviously in love to value what you asked for, and has already decided what you really want.

HABIT didn’t think that you wanted silly old dying flowers. Nooo, you wanted a full garden. A bountiful garden that will last through the cold winters and stormy summers.

But you didn’t want a garden.

You only wished to dust off your vase, even just for a week out of the year.

Just flowers. Just for one week.

What if Oliver’s lies are true but like his mom knows how to act sober well enough so Felix thinks Oliver is a liar and makes him leave after the party. Oliver decides that it isn’t worth it, he tried so hard for Felix, but in the end, it still and will never be enough. So Oliver goes back to Oxford and starts befriending people who are more like him, and they actually listen to what he says and invite him everywhere (He’s the best dressed there now because of his time with Felix). Maybe he figures out that if Felix didn’t have such a savior complex his past wouldn’t be hurting him still. So Oliver kinda like blocks him in everything? Also tried to change any classes they would have together. He didn’t need to see his mother after he moved out so in his mind Felix was the one who brought him back to such an unsafe place.

(He looks so good in this gif (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))♡)

Anyways, I just want Oliver to be happy and know that life doesn’t end because a boy doesn’t like you. Either way, he’s been through worse so a broken heart shouldn’t feel as bad, right? :(

Oh and like Felix could be having a crisis because he misses Oliver and figured out that if he just let him explain he would have realized that Oliver was saying the truth (lmao)

Whenever people who hate cats say “oh don’t you know your cat doesn’t even love you? When you die they’re gonna eat your corpse.” im just like ??? Yeah?? Why is that a problem???

When I’m dead I’m still going to be loving and providing for them, you can go ahead and hope whatever you raise mourns over your rotting corpse just to die starving and alone.

Also dogs are just as likely to eat their owners corpses, so…

Roier saying actually he’s my son and Jaiden’s, you’re his step father, after Cellbit said Bobby was his son in his heart, like yeah. Yeah. I can’t speak for if it’s a cultural thing or personal, or any sort of intricacies like that I’m woefully unaware to be clear, but like. They married after Bobby died. He was there in his life sure but not quite as a father. He didn’t raise Bobby like Roier did, like Jaiden did. He cared, and he could have been if given more time, but Bobby died. Bobby was loved by his parents and died before Cellbit became anything of the sort. Doesn’t mean Bobby doesn’t love Cellbit, doesn’t mean he can’t be a father like figure, he’s just. Step father. They married after Bobby died. Jaiden was present and was loving and raised Bobby alongside Roier. They were his parents. Cellbit is loved and is part of the family and is happily married to Roier but like. That title can’t be given, not without Bobby able to agree. Not without Bobby being alive.

I think it’s so funny when I’m arguing with someone about the changes with pjo and they say “It would’ve been better if not for Disney!”

Like yes. It would have been. I do not like Disney. I am not even watching it on Disney +. The show could’ve had more episodes and longer episodes if not for Disney’s weird way of limiting TV show seasons, but that’s also the same for every single streaming service at the moment. Do not blame the writers for the problem the studio execs made. Maybe instead of hating on the show for weird reasons, we band together to show Disney how serious we are about a season two and convince them to allow the writers to have more room to tell the story? Change can only happen if you want it to.

because i love to see correlations: put in the tags the year you first started listening and if it’s your Favorite album, or just special.

“He is not to them what he is to me,” I thought: “he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine;—I am sure he is—I feel akin to him—I understand the language of his countenance and movements: though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him.” Jane Eyre, XVII.

18 / 139 / 91 / 78 / 2 / 12 / 75 / 80 / 75

oh god the last 24 hours have been a LOT

do i post my long explanation of empathy vs sympathy re: roman tonight or is that just excessive

it makes so much sense that quackity couldn’t talk to SOPHIA about love without also talking about grief btw. the two are so intertwined in the smp as a whole but especially in qquackity’s story. his love and grief are inextricable from each other, they’re symbiotic

Reading Toilet-bound Hanako-kun and fucking christ, how many times can you bring a character back to life But Wrong? The count’s already at three!

First the kid dies and comes back as a half formed ghost.

Then he dies as a ghost but a piece of him is artificially reborn again as a Ghost That Never Lived.

And NOW he’s been brought back to life again except he is a drawing, a creation, an illusion!

The original Mitsuba Sousuke has died long before the story even began, but his ghosts keeps coming back again and again. Talk about haunting the narrative.

It’s important that Will comes out to his family (and friends) because his arc is about stop hiding.

I actually do have very complex thoughts about many different things, it’s just a bit challenging to connect the inner voice to the outer voice sometimes </3

Realizing my plug knows my mom is Bi but idk if he realizes I’m also queer at all djfnfjfjf

He came out as gay to my mom and was SUPER excited when he learned she was queer it was so cute

but idk if it’s ever come up that I’m also queer LMAO

Jason Todd is a guillotine and the Joker is Mary Antoinette

also I will die on the hill that Batman’s morals kinda suck. He wants himself up on this pedestal of doing no wrong per say, when if he did one wrong he would prevent hundreds of others. Instead he sits by in his proverbial throne above everyone else like an old man playing chess

…ah okay so. let's talk about why his morals are where they are. as we all know his parents were killed at gunpoint, he couldn’t do anything. this cements a deep, personal distaste towards guns/lethal force/killing. when he becomes batman, when he puts on the cowl and goes out to protect people from that helplessness, to save as many as he can from that pain, he does it without needless, irreparable violence. killing is not an option for him, not after that.

but that doesn’t mean he’s ignorant. that doesn’t mean he wants to be praised or idolized or placed on a pedestal, that doesn’t mean he does no wrong.

bruce has made a ton of mistakes! he’s messed up a lot! big time! he’s flawed and complicated and messy and KNOWS THAT! he knows it when he falls out with dick, he knows it when jason is murdered, he knows it when the Red Hood shows up. he knows with tim and damian too. he’s highly aware of his failures. ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ are this mans mortal enemy.

bruce cares so deeply and he shows it as best he can. he’s a protector, his work humbles him, he’s his own worst critic. he doesn’t want to be placed on a pedestal and honestly i’m willing to bet he thinks the city would be better off without him! gotham’s villains see the batman as a challenge and that’s why they keep coming. sure yeah, killing the joker or any other criminal would prevent hundreds of crimes, it would save tons of innocent people from hurting, it’s an easy, full proof fix. but that’s not what the story is about.

to bruce, at the end of the day you’d have to live with the knowledge that you can never take it back a lethal strike, and that scares him. no killing is a limit he set for himself, a restraint to keep him from going too far, because if he starts he won’t be able to stop and he knows that.

he tries to instill that belief into his kids, because he knows that they can be better than he is, that they are better than he is, despite all the shit each of them have gone through. he doesn’t want them to loose that light y’know? that hope that they carried with them and brought into his life. because that’s what batman is, right? hope. hope for gotham, hope for people. hope for the future.

but of course, pushing his mortals onto them does a bit more harm than good. it’s what eventually drove dick and jason away. it’s what eventually led to a massive falling out and a heartbreaking murder a very dark time for gotham. because when jason died, that breaks bruce. he is furious and violent and hurt and he takes all of that pain and throws it mercilessly into batman. this is probably the closest he’s ever been to the brink and there’s no one to pull him back, which is when tim drake shows up with his camera and his photos and his wit and his stubborn attitude and his hope.

when jason did come back to life, he wanted vengeance, he wanted to kill the joker, he wanted to get rid of criminals permanently, to make sure no one would be hurt like him ever again. he wanted to kill the joker and bruce wouldn’t let him. he doesn’t agree with jason’s methods, but that doesn’t mean he cares any less. that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t burn down the world for his kids. all members of the batfam want to protect their city and they’re doing it as best they can. each of them have their own method, each of them are their own hero, and yes it clashes with bruce but it doesn’t change the fact that in the end, it boils down to the genuine need to help people, to make life better.

now, about the last bit, just. when has bruce ever been able to sit by and watch? all these kids running around with makeshift capes and iron wills, when has he sat back and just watched it happen? if all bruce did was observe from above, then we wouldn’t have batman. no, bruce sees the violence and stands and does something about it, tries to break the cycle.

he sees dick, angry and hurt and grieving, with a burning need for justice and the drive to go out and find it himself, and sees himself in this ten year old kid. so he does something about it, because it’s too late for him but maybe he can make it better for the kid. he takes dick in and teaches him, watches him make a name for himself. Robin and then Nightwing.

he sees jason, who is literally is trying to steal the batmobils tires. who’s standoffish and weary and seen the worst that gotham has to offer but is still kind. and batman picks him up by the scruff and takes him home and absorbs him into the family, teaching him to be robin and mourning when he’s gone.

he sees tim—or better, tim is the one sees him—with his unshakable faith and terrible self esteem and hopeful, calculating eyes.

he sees stephanie and cass and duke and damian, he sees them all and he teaches each them everything he knows, trains them to the absolute best of his ability and tells them over and over that bats don’t kill, but in the end that’s all he can do. it’s a choice that they have to make when it comes down to it. a bar they have to set for themselves.

bruce is not a cold, unfeeling asshole with a superiority complex. despite the act, he isn’t. he’s just some guy dressed like a bat trying to make this house a home. if he was an unfeeling asshole with a superiority complex, then he wouldn’t go around adopting kids left and right. he could’ve just let them run off on the streets, trying to fight crime and solve mysteries all on their own. but he didn’t. he wouldn’t. and that says something.