fictional or not, dragon lore is always so interesting.

MTG fan lore question, what was Old Capenna like? Do you have any ideas™️?

Hey Faust, my dear friend! I had to think on this one for a while, to be completely honest with ya.

Well, as we know, before the Phyrexians showed up and fucked everything, there was a Kingdom Era in the plane, where the five crime families started in different jobs than we see them in now. The Obscura were mystics, wizards, and advisors of the plane's angels; the Maestros were nobles and art aficionados; the Riveteers were artisans, blacksmiths, edificers, and architects; the Cabaretti were a popular druidic faith; the Brokers were paladins. It's even directly compared to the Bant shard of Alara.

We know that Old Capenna also had very few sphinxes, as they were very territorial and vain - they also had temples that they would draw the masses to, vying for worship through their visions and effectively only say the good stuff to keep the masses coming back. But we know Raffine didn't do this song and dance, instead crafting dark prophecies that were far more true and honest than the other sphinxes she knew - her mother, her rival, and her former lover, though she didn't care much for the first two and can't even remember the third at this point.

Xander is mentioned in canon to have been an ailing artist of an all-but-dead aristocratic house, showing that Capenna during the Kingdom Era was probably very, very similar to the romanticized idea of medieval Europe.

Ziatora is mentioned to be the last of the dragons who was able to survive through the power of her contract with an archdemon, so clearly Old Capenna had enough of them to go around and have a pretty sustainable "knight versus dragon" ecological dynamic. We also know that the rest of the dragons are now extinct, as seen in the lines "But where are the other dragons now? For all their righteousness, their gloating and purity, the great dragons of Old Capenna are dust."

The leonin druids that were the Cabaretti were founded by Jetmir, and they enjoyed the cycle of life, death, rebirth, and life eternal and were greatly connected to nature. They also served as entertainment to keep spirits up among settlers, who in turn would keep the druids fed and warm. This dynamic didn't change much when the druids moved into New Capenna and became a crime family.

But surprisingly, we don't actually know much about Falco Spara's past before becoming head of the Brokers, or even if he founded the order that would become them later. All we really know is that he has some of the clearest memories of the founding of New Capenna.

So that's all canon with a bit of speculation at the end of Xander's section. So let's address the elephant in the room: the angels and archdemons.

Given that the only demons with that creature type are the crime lords (and Ob Nixilis as an interloper), that means there were no minor demons left around the time of the Streets of New Capenna block. So either minor demons were wiped out by the Phyrexian invasion that led to New Capenna's construction, or they never existed and only the archdemons did. Personally, I'm leaning towards "normal demons never existed in the first place", because it's hard to believe they would have all been wiped out without a trace. Perhaps the Capennan devils used to serve in that function instead, given that other planes such as Innistrad have them as the "lesser evil" to a demon's "greater evil". There were archangels above the regular angels during the Phyrexian invasion, so it doesn't make sense that archdemons wouldn't have some kind of servant.

I'm particularly interested in what drove the Obscura broadly to join the archdemons, given their closeness to the angels, but I believe it just comes down to survival. The archdemons had the best deals for New Capenna and could even repurpose the angels into Halo, so it makes sense that even the Obscura would turn against their angelic masters.

Hopefully this gave ya something to think about, Faust!

~Jasper

5e Zac, the Secret Weapon build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Christian Fell. Made for Riot Games.)

No one:

Literally no one:

@tigerkirby215​: “HEY FUCKERS WHO WANTS A ZAC BUILD?!”

Full disclosure: I watched Dorans and Dragon’s video for Zac and while it’s really well done (like really well done. I honestly suggest you watch it) I felt like it took a bit of an interesting direction. Ds&D and I have always had different ideas for our builds and I think with the release of Tasha’s there’s actually a lot of interesting new directions to take Zac in.

Also spoiler alert but this build is the most jank-ass fucking shit I have ever made but it strangely works really well? Like I literally sat on this build for two months debating if I should even post it. Also Zac’s a grappler, because of course he is.

GOALS

There's plenty of me to go around - Zac stretches and bounces and changes his shape more-or-less at will.

Why thanks; I do work out - Zac is one of those “hold you down for 10 seconds total in a teamfight” types of junglers.

I'm not as squishy as I look - Of course to be a big bundle of green goo we’ll need to be big. Like, really big.

RACE

END ME I’M MAKING A BUGBEAR! :D

Okay to be fair Bugbear hate is kinda overblown, especially by yours truly. You get +2 to Strength and a +1 to Dexterity as well as Darkvision and several other useful traits: you have a Powerful Build to carry more stuff, for one. You are also Sneaky and get proficiency with Stealth, which is nice because if you launch a Surprise Attack you can do an extra 2d6 damage.

But of course the main trait of a Bugbear is their Long-Limbed bodies. All your melee attacks have a 5 foot longer range, which is obviously important to make Stretching Strikes!

Custom Lineage: If you’re insistent on making a custom “goo creature” race with Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything rules here are my suggestions: make yourself Medium (yeah duh) and give yourself proficiency with the Athletics skill. Increase your Strength by 2 and take the Skilled Expert feat for Expertise in Athletics along with a +1 in Wisdom. You will have an uneven DEX score but I dunno just go for Athlete or something later in this build.

ABILITY SCORES

15; WISDOM - Braum isn’t the only champion who believes the heart is the strongest muscle, as if you’d read Zac’s lore he is actually quite a compassionate soul. Also we need Wisdom for our main ability.

14; CONSTITUTION - Zac is a tanky boy, so up the tankiness!

13; DEXTERITY - When you can stretch and squeeze like silly putty dexterity comes naturally. We need that dexterity to jump over walls, among other things.

12; STRENGTH - A lot of it is elastic strength, but if you’re going to throw Cho’gath into Shyvana you do also need upper body strength.

10; CHARISMA - He’s a nice guy when you get to know him, but Zac’s also a bunch of Zaun sewer goo.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Living in the sewers and then later being raised as a weapon means you don’t know any math, science, or history.

BACKGROUND

Zac did grow up in the streets, but the skills from the Urchin background don’t fit him well so we’ll be modifying it heavily. Take proficiency in Acrobatics to squash and stretch as well as Perception to keep those wards up. You can pick your choice of languages or tools because Zac kinda... doesn’t do much other than fight? I mean he’s literally called “the Secret Weapon” what do you want from me?

But your background feature of City Secrets is very useful for traveling the streets of Zaun, letting you find your way around alleys and jungle gank paths to travel through the city twice as fast as the average person! "Put some spring in your step."

(Artist unknown. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - MONK 1

Been awhile since we’ve visited the good ol’ Monk class eh? Well you can grab Athletics finally, as well as Insight to know if someone’s worth clobbering. You also get proficiency with an artisan’s tool or musical instrument, and I mean... Zac still doesn’t have much lore.

But how about some class features? Monks get Unarmored Defense equal to their Wisdom plus their Dexterity, for 14 AC total. Would medium armor be better? Yes, but you can’t wear armor if you want to use Martial Arts! Martial Arts gives you a variety of benefits: you can punch with DEX or STR, your punches are now a d4 (and will scale as you get levels), and if you punch with your Action you can punch with a Bonus Action after the fact!

LEVEL 2 - MONK 2

Second level Monks get Ki points to use for a variety of features: Flurry of Blows lets you attack twice with your Bonus Action instead of once, Patient Defense lets you dodge as a Bonus Action, and Step of the Wind lets you Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action. An important thing to mention about Step of the Wind is that it doubles your jump distance, for those big Elastic Slingshot jumps!

You can also put on some boots and get some Unarmored Movement. 10 more feet to be exact!

I guess I’m also obliged to mention Dedicated Weapon from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything which lets you turn any weapon you’re proficient in into a Monk weapon as long as it’s not Heavy or Special. This will be important later but it’s not exactly in-character for Zac.

LEVEL 3 - MONK 3

Third level Monks get to choose their Monastic Tradition and Way of the Astral Self will give you some long stretchy limbs! As a bonus action you can spend 1 Ki to summon Arms of the Astral Self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die due to your Unstable Matter.

Your arms will stay up for 10 minutes and give the following benefits:

You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes, which has the following benefits:

The reach of the arms is 5 feet greater than normal, which stacks with your Bugbear arms. 15 foot reach with extra stretchy arms!

The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is force.

You can also absorb some blows with Deflect Missiles. When you are hit by a ranged weapon attack you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by 1d10 + your DEX mod + your monk level. If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile. You can then spend 1 ki point to throw it back as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a monk weapon for the attack, which has a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everyone also gave Monks the Ki-Fueled Attack ability which pretty much doesn’t impact you in the slightest.

LEVEL 4 - MONK 4

4th level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement but we’re instead going to grab the Skilled Expert feat. You can increase your Wisdom by 1 and grab proficiency in Survival for optimal jungle clear. But what we’re mainly here for is to make our hands extra sticky with expertise in Athletics! Is the build starting to make sense now?

You can also land safely after an Elastic Slingshot jump thanks to Slow Fall, reducing fall damage by 5 times your Monk level. If you want to keep yourself in the fight then Quickened Healing (also from TCoE, because that book really likes giving new Monk features) will let you take advantage of Cell Division for 2 Ki points, healing you for a number rolled on your Martial Arts die plus your Proficiency bonus. It’s not much but in a pinch it might save you!

LEVEL 5 - MONK 5

5th level Monks get an Extra Attack, so you can punch twice with your action, and then punch some more with your Bonus Action! You can also bring some heavy CC into the party with Stunning Strike; if you hit an enemy in melee you can force a Constitution save or stun them! Yes actual honest-to-god League of Legends stun!

Oh and because Tasha’s Cauldron really wanted to buff the Monk you get Focused Aim, letting you use up to 3 Ki points to increase your roll to hit, at a 2:1 ratio. (1 Ki point = +2 to hit)

(Artwork by SemLimit on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 6 - BARBARIAN 1

Jumping over to Barbarian, land of the true tanks. Barbarians get Unarmored Defense based on Constitution that we won’t be using but I’m obliged to mention anyways. Of course what we’re here for is Rage which will augment you in a number of ways: you’ll resist Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage and will do more damage with Strength-based attacks (which you probably won’t be making.) But the most important feature is this line right here:

You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

You know what’s a Strength check? Athletics! So even if you use Wisdom for it you’ll still have Advantage on top of Expertise! And Athletics is used for grappling! At least that’s how I’d rule it, but talk to your DM just to make sure they’ll let this dopey shit into their game.

LEVEL 7 - BARBARIAN 2

Second level Barbarians can let themselves go with Reckless Attack. Your Unstable Matter will give you advantage on your attack at the cost of giving enemies advantage to hit you.

You also get Danger Sense for advantage on Dexterity saves against effects you can see coming. Is a Jinx rocket heading your way? Slingshot out of there!

LEVEL 8 - BARBARIAN 3

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything gave Barbarians Primal Knowledge for a free skill proficiency from the Barbarian list, so take Intimidation I guess because you are a huge freaky slime guy.

Third level Barbarians get to choose their Primal Path and guess what? It’s Totem Warrior time! As a Spirit Seeker you can cast Speak With Animals and Beast Sense as a Ritual but we all know that’s not what we’re here for. What we’re really here for is the Totem Spirit of the Bear. You can now resist all damage while Raging, with the exception of Psychic damage. Hey there has to be %health damage to deal with tanks after all. (Now if only they’d nerf Grievous Wounds.)

LEVEL 9 - MONK 6

This will be our last Monk level; sad I know. But it’s worth it for the Visage of the Astral Self. You can use a Bonus Action and a Ki point to summon the visage. (And can do it while summoning your arms.) While the spectral visage is present, you gain several benefits:

Astral Sight lets you see through magical (and nonmagical) darkness up to 120 feet.

Wisdom of the Spirit gives you advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Intimidation) checks.

And Word of the Spirit lets you either whisper in team chat to a creature of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you, or shout in all chat so that everyone within 600 feet can hear you.

Your regular fists are also considered magical thanks to Ki-Empowered Strikes, and you get 5 more feet of Unarmored Movement! "Woohoo!"

(Artwork by Dragonflamebg on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 1

Teamfight time? Team Fighter time! First level Fighters get a Fighting Style and since you’re punching people your only real option is Superior Technique, giving you a d6 Combat Superiority die to use on a Battle Master Manuever. That Manuever shall be Grappling Strike, letting you grapple as a Bonus Action after punching someone for some Stretching Strikes!

You can also heal with Cell Division assuming the enemy team doesn’t stack Grievous Wounds thanks to Second Wind; it’s a d10 plus your Fighter level. "Keep it together."

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge for even more punching! This will be more important in like, two levels.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype and for some crowd control in a teamfight Battle Master is a great choice. You are a Student of War which means more tool proficiencies which make no sense because Zac has no lore woo! But of course what we’re mainly here for is Combat Superiority: you have four d8 Superiority Die (plus a d6 one from your Fighting Style) which you can use on a variety of Maneuvers:

Trip Attack is good if you want to bounce, forcing the target you hit to make a Strength save or fall over!

Distracting Strike is like stunning the target in the sense that it gives your allies an opening, but unlike Trip Attack you don’t have to force a saving throw. (Instead Distracting Strike just works after you hit them!)

And if you think your arms aren’t stretchy enough already? Boom; Lunging Attack for 20 foot reach!

LEVEL 13 - FIGHTER 4

4th level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: hey it’s everyone’s favorite feat Grappler! You have advantage on attacks against enemies you grappled, and if you’re grappling someone you can then pin them to hold them in place!

Now pinning someone you’ve grappled does take an action but here’s where Action Surge comes in: turn 1? Grab them. Turn 2? Pin them! Easy!

LEVEL 14 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack... which you already have. "I hate it when this happens."

LEVEL 15 - FIGHTER 6

Hey more Ability Score Improvements! Want all the fun of a high Constitution score without the Constitution? Look no further than the Tough feat: it gives you +2 HP per level for some big gains!

(Artwork by GisAlmeida on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 16 - FIGHTER 7

7th level Fighters get to Know Your Enemy: by spending a minute studying someone (IE looking at the scoreboard) you can learn if an enemy is superior, inferior, or equal to you in a number of areas described by the ability.

You also get one more Combat Superiority die and learn two more Maneuvers: Goading Attack will make it harder for enemies to hit your friends (and it works against Tier 4 enemies who likely resist fears), and Disarming Attack will let you stick your hand to your opponent’s weapon to make them drop it!

LEVEL 17 - FIGHTER 8

8th level means more ASIs and I’m starting to think ignoring all your stats was a bad idea. More Wisdom means better punches, better grabs, and better AC.

LEVEL 18 - FIGHTER 9

9th level Fighters get Indomitable, letting them reroll a failed saving throw once per Long Rest. Regardless of what you roll on the new die however you have to use the new result. This can be used on Death saves to try to keep alive a little longer thanks to Cell Division.

LEVEL 19 - FIGHTER 10

10th level Battle Masters get Improved Combat Superiority. Your superiority die are d10s now; even the one from your Fighting Style! You do also learn more Maneuvers but honestly? We got just about everything that we need already. If you’ve hit level 19 playing Zac League of Legends then you deserve to make some choices of your own.

LEVEL 20 - FIGHTER 11

Our final level is the 11th level of Fighter for an Extra Attack that does stack! That means you have 3 attacks total and one extra from Martial Arts!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Beat up, or beat down? I'm flexible - No matter how you look at it 4 attacks per round is great, especially since you can give yourself Advantage and boost your damage output with Battle Master Maneuvers.

Pick on someone your own size - If everything goes well you should have a solid 200 health by level 20! Definitely nothing to sneeze at, especially with Rage giving you resistance to almost everything and Second Wind letting you heal yourself!

This is gonna get messy - You’ve got a +16 to Athletics checks for Grappling when using your Astral Arms, and can give yourself Advantage or add Superiority die to your Grapple checks. Do I need to explain that that’s really good?

CONS

Don't push your luck, champ - None of your stats are maxed out, and that’s bad. Your hit modifier isn’t great, your Battle Master saving throw is low, but most importantly your AC is really bad. Big health is nice but not being hit is also very helpful. Just saying if you have the chance to go for Point Buy I’d take it.

I never skip breakfast - A small pool of Ki combined with limited Maneuver die means that you’re running on some very potent fumes. Frequent short rests will be needed to make the most out of this build.

These jerks don't know when to quit! - Grappling builds have the ever-constant problem of falling off in the late game when most foes simply can’t be grabbed. This build honestly peaks around level 13 and just falls off from there. This is definitely one of my builds that I think works better in a low level campaign.

But if you want something unique that works well early here’s your build! Big reach to hold everyone in place so your party can beat them up. Playing the CC tank might not be that glorious but it’s a job someone’s gotta do. And remember: "It's not how much you can lift. It's how good you look!"

(Artist unknown. Made for Riot Games.)

How do you think Daenerys is going to react when she finds out Jon is a Targaryen and technically has a better claim ? Sorry you defend her well so I always come to you when I'm worried lol so many people on tumblr are saying she won't react well

I’m glad to know that I’m known as a fierce Dany defender because… that’s what I thrive to be, lol. So- about the whole Targ thing, the incest and all… really what I can say is I don’t know? Because really, I hate how “intertwined” Jon and Daenerys have become despite the obvious incest thing. Hence why I don’t ship them: with their chemistry and the whole lore behind them, were they not related, I’d ship that shit like 100%. I think it’ll be so difficult for them to “deal” with all this that I try not to think about it too much because I think they’re going to HURT a lot. I’m still able to recognize that the scripts, the scenes themselves and the actors, all state that Daenerys and Jon are in love at that point. Like, it’s not a lie, we know Jon isn’t the type of dude who sleeps with a woman for fun - or to fake an alliance *rolls eyes*. It “yiiiikes” me but it’s canon. It’s a very delicate situation.I think we have to look at the characters to kinda guess what is gonna happen. Jon has had a story about accepting who he was, a bastard, and someone who had a greater purpose than “the wars south”. Jon’s post-s5 journey has been about him claiming his place among his own family - the Starks, and still, his “greater cause” that no one else believes in. Hence why him allowing himself to fall in love with Daenerys is such a strong thing, because… well, he was supposed to have other priorities: he even states that in canon, to Davos. Davos says “I’ve seen you staring at her good heart” and Jon’s only response is “we don’t have time for that”. I really, 100% don’t see Jon learning that he’s Rhaegar Targaryen’s son and be like “well I guess the Throne is mine, then!” I don’t see him throwing that info at Daenerys to be like “I’m a better Targaryen than you!”. I think it’ll mostly affect Jon because he loves Daenerys, and he just found out that 1) they’re related (Kit himself said that Jon isn’t the type of man who would KNOWINGLY sleep with someone he’s related to) and 2) probably, that his heritage might threaten Daenerys’ claim to the Throne- and kinda shake her alliances (potentially) or her “security” as an Heir. Hence why I think Jon will NEVER come out officially as anything but “Ned Stark’s bastard”. Kinda like Ned, who kept the secret all his life, out of “duty” and love for someone else (Jon and Lyanna mostly). Jon is Jon Snow. You can see it among the fandom itself, NO ONE takes him as “Aegon Targaryen”. So I think he’ll remain Jon Snow and never claim anything more than that. And he already achieved A LOT for a bastard, he’s King in the North right now, ffs. Now of course I think he’ll tell Daenerys, but for different reasons than his claim.As for Daenerys, it’s hard to say what she thinks about incest. On the show, she has a very twisted relationship with Viserys, so that might not jolt good memories to her. But in the books, Daenerys is basically raised by her brother telling her that had she been born earlier, she would have married Rhaegar and Robert’s rebellion would have never happened (and that then, it’s her fault all their family died because she wasn’t born at the right time *rolls eyes* typical abusive bullshit ya kno). Hence, Daenerys was raised in a “well you would have married your own brother!” mentality, in the books. On the show, we’ve had Daenerys’ whole journey being about shaping her as a leader, a Queen, and a woman of her own. I don’t see Daenerys bending the knee to Jon and I don’t see Jon asking her to do that: they’re way beyond that. Daenerys swore to help Jon before he bent the knee, she was over this idea of “petty wars” for the throne and who has allegiance to who. She wanted Jon to accept Cersei’s deal at the Dragon Pit if it meant them having Cersei’s army to help them against the WW. Hence, Daenerys was ready to accept that Jon “came back” on his allegiance to her, for the greater good. I’m tired of people presenting Daenerys as a crazy despote who is STILL thinking about the Iron Throne. It’s at the bottom of her priorities right now: she’s LITERALLY riding north with all of her army, abandoning her stronghold of Dragonstone, to get to Winterfell and help people who owe her nothing. People whom she knows, won’t accept her right away. Daenerys had nothing to gain in trusting Jon at the beginning of s7: for all she knew (and tbh Tyrion vouching for Jon was a stupid move, because they hadn’t seen each others for 7 fucking years and stop pretending that there aren’t tons of GoT characters who literally switched alliances in that time), Jon could have been an ally to Cersei trying to have Daenerys shift her focus for Cersei to hit her. I mean? Yes we know these characters, but they didn’t know each others at the time. In the meantime, when she learnt more about Jon, Daenerys literally trusted Jon with everything: she sacrificed one of her dragons for him ffs. She rode North, risking her own life to save him, on nothing - at this point - but his words that Ice Zombies were a real thing. Daenerys’ trust in Jon is absolute, otherwise, again, why would she fall in love with him if it weren’t? I mean I could add another argument to that using the leaks that I’ve read but I’m not going to spoil it. All in all, people who pretend that Daenerys could turn on Jon like the second she learns that he’s Rhaegar’s son are… delusionals. And just blindly hate Daenerys or like to pretend that she’s “the Mad Queen” or whatever. It’s not Dany who made a vow to help him and ends up not sending any troops. *shrugs* She’s coming to Winterfell with her FULL FORCE: the army she spent YEARS to build, through horrible trials and difficulties and all that struggle. She could lose it all to help Jon and to fight for a cause that is way greater than the Iron Throne. Tbh I think the Iron Throne is as relevant as Cersei seems to be in the trailer: not at all. Anyway now I know Spring will eventually follow and if King’s Landing is still a thing, if Jon and Daenerys both survive, the question of the Iron Throne will still be a thing. Now I’m wondering if Daenerys’ vision in the House of the Undying didn’t represent what we already saw on s7: winter coming, Daenerys walking to claim her throne, but being “called” by another purpose. She steps away from the Throne and then walks North of the Wall. It’s basically what she did by the end of s7. The Snow in KL could be a symbol for Jon and not even the fact that the King’s Landing is gonna be destroyed by the Night King, who knows. I still think Daenerys has a stronger chance to end up on the Iron Throne than Jon. Personally I’m still on the side of believing that Daenerys will even be pregnant, which would mean that Jon and her wouldn’t even have some kind of “power struggle” over whose claim is stronger than whose. They’d do what is best for their child. And yeah I know the most memorable “incest child” was Joffrey, but let’s all remember, as Tyrion himself said, that Myrcella and Tommen were very good, nice and gentle children, even tho they were born of incest. I don’t know if I believe the marriage theory because as I said, I don’t know how Jon and Dany will react about the incest thing. Will Jon still marry Dany and still be with her even tho Kit said that it’s not Jon’s type? Idk. Maybe it’ll be an “impossible love” kind of thing. Maybe it’ll be a call-back to what Maester Aemon said: what do you choose between duty and the love of a woman? The feeling of a newborn in your arms? At the time, Jon believed Ned would choose duty, that it would be the honorable thing to do, soooo? Again, seeing from some leaks I’ve read that I won’t put into details, I think it’s a strong possibility to have Jon not being anywhere near power at the end of the show, but rather roaming North, leading what could be the “after Night’s Watch”, like with Tormund and people going North of the Wall, like perpetuating this idea of “Shield that Guards the Realms of Men”. It’s also a thing that could separate Jon and Daenerys, their very different ambitions: Jon stated several times that he could just live in a cave with Ygritte, with nothing but love and food and good company ya know. While Daenerys has rejected “good company” (Daario) for the Throne, already. I mean, yeah she wasn’t in love with Daario, but Daario did offer her a “simple relationship” and she refused it. Also to come back to her vision at the House of the Undying, we do see Daenerys refusing to live in a hut with a man she loves (Drogo… it’s presented as love in the show, so *shrugs*) and their son, because something else called out to her- her dragons, reality, her claim to the Throne. I’m rambling a lot, right? Anyway to be clear, I don’t think Daenerys is a “Targaryen demon” who will unleash her wrath upon Jon and try to kill him or destroy him when learning he’s HER BROTHER’S son. Like? Okay I know Dany never met Rhaegar, but she still tried to learn a lot about him - in the show’s canon. She’s named her dragon after Rhaegar. She loves him, and she’s in love with Jon. These things don’t just go away, and the characters won’t become sudden enemies circling around the Throne and making war to each other. I just roll my eyes at all this “targ bowl” / “dark!dany” bs. It won’t happen. Daenerys is better than that and I can’t wait for all these people to shut the freak up for good- when the show ends. Daenerys is painted as a hero on the show, and anyone not seeing it, is just trying to bend the story. Yes she’s had to make hard decisions, just like a lot of other characters have. She struggled with these decisions and had remorses about these decisions, like A GOOD PERSON would. I think Jon and Daenerys in their relationship are beyond the Throne. I don’t think Jon fell in love with Daenerys with the idea of “well I’ll become King if she wins!” and I don’t think Daenerys fell in love with Jon with the idea of “wow I’ll unite the North and the South by doing that!”. As the scripts and the characters point it out: it’s not the right time for it to happen, it’s not even right for it to happen because in fact they’re related (hence Bran’s voice over the sex scene), but it happened because… sometimes heart is stronger than duty. Hence, it mirroring Rhaegar and Lyanna’s marriage on the show: Rhaegar and Lyanna chose love over duty (even tho no comment about book!Rhaegar). They ended up being a tragic story. That’s a very strong theme in both Daenerys’ and Jon’s storylines. Duty vs Heart. I do think there’s a decent chance for them to choose love, even tho it would probably be “too good” of an ending for GoT- like “they lived happily ever after”: so maybe they’d turn tragic like Lyanna and Rhaegar, idk. So I’d say maybe they’ll choose duty and that will split them up? And if that’s the case, well we know from their storylines, that Dany’s duties will be as a Queen, while Jon’s always lied elsewhere, dealing with things Kings and Queens didn’t bother to take seriously. I’m sorry to all their fans, but I think Bran’s voice being over their most intimate “love confirmation” scene, just kinda foreshadows the fact that they won’t just be a fairytale story that will end all good. I think they have more chances to be tragic, but I don’t think they’ll be separated by their claims over the Throne. They won’t fight over the Throne. But tbh as much as I don’t see that happening, I also don’t see Jon and Dany just shrug the incest reveal away and keep on being lovebirds in denial. I think it’ll hit them in their intimacy as people and not as Heirs, is what I mean. *shrugs* A very long answer, sorry. I probably rambled a lot. I think people are jumping to conclusion: even tho he’s Rhaegar’s son, Jon has no relationship to him and no ambition to claim it as any “legitimacy” at ending up on the Throne. To me, Jon has never been a character wanting power like this- several characters said, “Jon Snow is no King” or “Jon Snow doesn’t want to be King” and these are important traits of his character that won’t disappear just because he has a new daddy who would have sat on the Iron Throne in another reality (also let’s remember that Rhaegar REFUSED his place as Heir to the Throne, and that he left Westeros with Lyanna *shrugs*). To me, Rhaegar, Jaime and Jon are very similar characters, in that they’re mostly Knights and don’t thrive for power. Rhaegar already refused power. Jaime also did as an Heir to Casterly Rock. Daenerys, Sansa and Cersei are the ones who are similar to each others, on the other hand. All three were raised to be Queens. All three imagined themselves as Queens. Anyway, that’s my take on that, I think the fact that only the “legacy characters” (Sam and Bran: Sam wanting to be a Maester, and Bran being the Three-Eyed Raven) know about Jon’s real heritage, is also a big clue: that it’s not about the story, but more about the legacy of what will survive after the Winter, and what will become “History”, kinda. I mean, if you think about it, after Robert died, Ned could have come out with his bastard son and say “well he’s Rhaegar Targaryen’s son!”, I mean? He would have had Howland Reed to back him up. But he didn’t, because I don’t think it’s meant to make Jon into a “player” for the Throne. And I think Sam and Bran are the most loyal, selfless characters, who will accept Jon’s decision if he decides not to “come out” officially as Rhaegar Targaryen’s son and Heir to the Iron Throne. Did I end up answering the question? Idk, man. Sorry about all of this, lol…