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atopcat · 4 months

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I really liked your post about Rhaenicent. What do you think of Olivia’s recent interviews in regards to Alicent’s character, she seems to be really pushing for Rhaenicent despite everything.

Just to start I want to make it clear that this isn’t an attack against Olivia Cooke, she’s a brilliant actress who is entitled to her opinions. As a fan however I don’t like her interpretation of Alicent simply because she’s made it abundantly clear she’s more invested in Rhaenicent than Alicent herself.

Olivia could’ve done a Lena Headey and unapologetically supported her character despite not being popular with the general audience, who cares if people think she’s a bitch, she’s your bitch and that’s all that matters. Instead she sought out the one part of the fanbase who supposedly like Alicent but also has a large universal following: Rhaenicent.

Here’s where it gets tricky, when it comes to ships such as Rhaewin, Jacegan, Laenyra, Daemyra, Jace/Baela, Alicole, Aemond/Alys, Helaemond etc. it’s pretty straightforward: you’re a fan of both characters, maybe one more than the other but you do genuinely like both. Rhaenicent doesn’t have this, it’s a lot more complicated mainly because it’s the only one that doesn’t exist in book canon.

The Rhaenicent fan base is split into three unequally distributed categories:

>1% who are genuine fans of both Rhaenyra and Alicent, emphasis on the genuine because although some claim to be they end up in either of the latter two. The problem with these fans is that they’ve succumbed to the trap of “benevolent misogyny”, reducing both women to being nothing more than 24/7 victims of evil men. They rob Alicent of her ambition, Rhaenyra of her agency, they think these women will abandon everything and run off on dragon back because they’re still silly teenage girls who only care about cake and clothes.

14% are Alicent stans, the majority of them don’t actually like Rhaenyra she’s simply a self insert because there is no one else you can ship her with other than Criston but Alicole is nowhere near as popular because it doesn’t include a fan favourite. In Rhaenicent’s case the fan favourite is Rhaenyra not Alicent.

85% are all Team Rhaenyra, the only version of Alicent they’re interested in is one who is nothing more than a personal cheerleader for the Black Queen. They don’t want to hear about how Rhaenyra’s actions negatively affected Alicent, only how Alicent still cares about her and will do anything for her despite everything.

Both Olivia and Emily Carey faced a lot of harassment on social media, someone even came up to Olivia in real life and called Alicent a c*nt to her face. I know when you’re in a fandom bubble it’s easy to think Alicent and Team Green are just as popular as Rhaenyra and Team Black but that’s far from the truth. So although the vast majority of Rhaenicents are first and foremost Rhaenyra stans, they’re also the ones most welcoming to the actresses who are having a hard time because of stupid trolls who can’t differentiate between a character and the actor playing them.

Then it makes sense why Olivia will jump on board the Rhaenicent train, but it comes at the expense of her character. I’ve read some of her recent interviews, she’s throwing not just Alicent under the bus but also the entirety of Team Green just to maintain the illusion that Alicent’s no.1 priority will always be Rhaenyra Targaryen.

“Alicent is scared of Criston”, he’s her right hand man, the only one who has her back, he’s loyal to a fault and President of the Alicent Fan Club. But he’s also disliked by Team Black for this very reason, he’s openly antagonistic to Rhaenyra calling her a “spoiled c*nt” so Olivia wants to distance herself from Alicent’s most ardent supporter.

“she’s watching him [Aemond] grow up into an absolute killer, which is terrifying for her”, if Criston is President of the Team Alicent club then Aemond is Vice President. You see throughout Season 1 how close she is to her second son, how she relies on him for support, how he truly loves and respects her. He said he wants Luke’s eye as a gift for his mother, from Alicent’s four children she is definitely closest to Aemond but he’s also the one who killed Nyra’s precious baby so fans don’t like him. Again, Olivia is detaching Alicent from her own children so she can appeal to Rhaenicents who mourned their sweet boy Luke.

“That’s what the whole series has been about: trying to get back to each other” this coupled with her saying she pushed for a Rhaenicent reunion at the end of S2 really emphasises just how willing she is to destroy everything about Alicent’s character in order to warp her into the sanitised version of a Rhaenicent wet dream.

Alicent doesn’t care her grandson was slaughtered right in front of her.

Alicent doesn’t care her 6 year old granddaughter was threatened with r*pe.

Alicent doesn’t care her daughter went insane.

Alicent doesn’t care Team Black almost killed her sons in battle.

Olivia’s version of Alicent doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t revolve around worshiping the ground Rhaenyra walks on. So as far as she’s concerned there is “still hope” because her ideal ending is one where Alicent abandons her family, agency and ambition just so she can be Rhaenyra’s personal cheerleader for the rest of her life. The Alicent she’s envisioning is one who will set her own children on fire just to keep Nyra warm.

#house of the dragon #hotd critical #hotd #alicent hightower #team green #pro team green #anti rhaenicent #Olivia Cooke #hotd cast #hotd meta #asoiaf meta #valyrianscrolls #anonymous

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ride-thedragon · 10 days

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I would've preferred if Alicent was like 5 years older than Rhaenyra. I think the replacement theme would still work, Rhaenyra having a crush, Alicent having this over arching expectation for Rhaenyra to confide and find comfort in her. Makes Alicent more of a player and gives us Laenyra in a sense. Alicent, being this unmarried older girl that Rhaneyra wants to be like, she could've both known Jaehaerys and be Rhaenyra's friend, it would've made sense for the world and ladies of court and make the Viserys thing icky but not unfounded. Rhaenyra feeling as though Aegon is replacing her in every aspect of her life>>>>

(Them while Aegon has yet to be born)

#I'll stay here #hotd #hotd au #house of the dragon #house targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #solves a lot of conflict #and leaves room for new conflict

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lagosbratzdoll · 1 month

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Would you argue Rhaenicents aren’t racist for shipping Rhaenyra/Alicent but the writers are for creating this fanon ship for the sole reason of not having Rhaenyra be with a black woman?

I think it is a bit more complicated than that.

Rhaenicent exists because Ryan Condal wanted a more “feminist tale”. To create the “feminist tale”, Alicent had to be aged down so they could be friends, and that decision caused a ripple effect. Laena is reduced in age and claims Vhagar at fifteen instead of twelve. She pursues Daemon as a child instead of Daemon pursuing a twenty-two-year-old Laena.

To have this “feminist tale” because we all know that women can only have one friend and to sell the Daemon has only ever loved one person in his life fallacy, Laena is shunted off to Pentos, away from Rhaenyra, her parents and her brother.

This creates another ripple effect, instead of the Velaryon boys and Targaryen twins being betrothed at four, three, and two, they meet as children and sort of exist around each other until Rhaenyra needs to bring Rhaenys to her side. This waters down the relationships because why on earth would Baela agree to put herself in active danger for a man she's spent like 5 minutes with?

I cannot say that the writers created Rhaenicent for the sole purpose of erasing Laenyra, I think it was just a nice side benefit. It is not a coincidence that every single change negatively affects the black characters.

#hotd thoughts #asks to me #house of the dragon #rhaenicent #laenyra #daemyra

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sukibenders · 4 months

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Ah, but could Laenyra and Daemyra have existed together? I don't think it was Alicent x Rhaenyra that caused the downgrade of Laena's position within the story, I think it was the framing of Daemon x Rhaenyra. What do you think?

I'm screaming because you don't how giddy I am to answer this anon. I've literally been trying to frame a way to state this exact question you asked, but was struggling so thank you! Okay so, in my opinion, Laenyra and Daemyra definitely could have worked side by side and even together in the show. In the books, I believe, it's alluded that they may have been a throuple and many fans already ship them all together (though some do just use this ship as a shoehorn to rush Daemyra without giving Laena her time to shine as well, which is so stupid but this doesn't go for everyone). There are many ways that this could have been a possibility in the show, had the writers and creators cared about Laena and their other black characters. Rhaenicent could have been over, heck even with some old flames between them here and there, but ultimately Laena and Rhaenyra would be together. And there were ways in the show that this could have been possible, but this brings me to your second point.

Rhaenicent is definitely not the reason for, or at least the sole reason (I'll be generous there) for Laenyra not happening, or for Laena's character downgrade and I feel that by, personally, only blaming the second main queer ship present feels like a cop out, especially since Rhaenyra is able to have other relationships within the show (eg. Harwin and even, briefly, Criston). From episode one, the show frames Daemyra as something that is going to happen one way or another (with Rhaenicent still existing in some way so there goes the point of the former making it impossible for another ship to happen), and when they do get together it's this big thing. If there was ever a ship that the show creators run for the most, my first choice would be Daemyra (especially because they give them more time to shine). However, problems arise with the introduction of Laena, and by problems I mean the creators of the show. They frame Daemyra as the ultimate ship so much that it overshines and overshadows Laena in every aspect---from her as a character to her relationship with both Daemon and Rhaenyra to even her children. Rhaenyra and Alicent have been for a decent amount of time, so at the point of the Driftmark episode and Laena's funeral, it makes no sense to blame Rhaenicent for Laena's lack of character when that should fall on Daemyra (at least in show canon). We see her framed as the second choice to Rhaenyra in Daemon's love life, we hardly see him tell her or show her that he actually loves her, we hardly see him spending time with the kids that they have together. Same with Rhaenyra, as we hardly see them talk to one another again, or even about one another except in passing (with Laena it's mainly about mentioning how Rhaenyra had given birth to another son and for Rhaenyra it was just asking Daemon if he loved her [Laena]). And this is so different from the books where, I believe, Rhaenyra flew over to be with Laena during the birth of her children something of which is a big thing for the crowned heir to do. The creators of HOTD failed at Laenyra and even Laena's relationship with Daemon when they framed Daemyra as being the ship that was destined to be and failed to give Laena character development that she deserved.

#laena velaryon #rhaenrya targaryen #daemon targaryen #rhaenicent #laenyra #daemon x laena #daemyra #anti daemyra #(or at least show wise)#house of the dragon #hotd #hotd fandom #anonymous #ask #anon

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atopvisenyashill · 2 months

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All of the adult female characters are supremely isolated from other women... friends or family. It's equally doled out. Alicent is in King's Landing. Rhaenyra is in King's Landing and then Dragonstone. Laena is in Pentos. Rhaenys is isolated on Driftmark (she essentially doesn't leave due to Corlys's wars and/or various strifes between her family in all those years).

The only female company any of them have are daughters, step-daughters or granddaughters and that is a relationship of responsibility, even if it brings happiness at times.

they establish that feeling of isolation in the show you’re speaking of too early & in a weird way by wholesale excising laena’s impact on the plot and also making rhaenyra look a bit nonsensical. the thing about this time period in the book is that everyone is building the families that are going to get destroyed by the dance. there’s an entire arc here wherein rhaenyra & alicent get their first true taste at what losing might mean with the driftmark fight and the harrenhal fire, and it makes both of them double down on their worst impulses in fear for their families and make the conflict more volatile & more irreparable. for rhaenyra, this involves first losing harwin and then laena, two people she is incredibly intimate with, and laena to childbirth to boot. it’s why she panic marries daemon so quickly, she’s afraid for the lives of her children and has convinced herself only daemon is capable of helping her do that. in the show, they gloss over rhaewin and cut out laenyra completely by isolating her in pentos and then telling that arc exclusively from daemon’s PoV instead of laena’s or split between them. laena’s death is what drives rhaenyra’s isolation to dragonstone. instead, in the show, it’s what drives daemon back home (because he wants to lay laena to rest at driftmark) and then to dragonstone with rhaenyra. this is exactly what they did in got btw - they told the war from robb’s pov not cat’s, then changed jeyne into talisa bc she was less complicated. they cut sansa’s entire vale arc bc they thought it was boring then put her in winterfell and focused more on ramsay gleefully torturing her than sansa’s actual story. they just shuffle laena around into what’s easiest.

the thing is that laena is a tricky part of the family because she is a daughter, but also has her own family, and her husband does not have his own seat, so he’s naturally an extension of yet another family. this nuance in her character doesn’t work so they just have her never interact with her own parents or brother & then die so daemon will go home. the reality is that laena loved her family and considered rhaenyra her family, and would have fought for her on vhagar but she dies before she can and vhagar is used to kill rhaenyra’s son. that’s the tragedy of laena. like alyssa t, like aemma, forced out of the story too soon. but idk, they just weren’t interested in talking about the tragedy of a woman who died too soon, so even if she died loved, she dies woefully unfinished in her life. reminds me of what brienne says - no one sings songs for the women who die in the birthing bed. not only that, but her entire family is sloppily racebent & they refused to think through the implications of a) what laena’s death in childbirth looks like now and b) what completely erasing her entire character’s impact and changing her personality looks like now. i think that’s wonky writing and i don’t understand people’s devotion to defending that weird choice!

#honestly i DO think this is a similar situation as talisa/jeyne and once again. kinda resent the pushback to people saying #hey i wish this adaptation of a book stopped making massive changes from that book that affect the core story.#hotd critical #laena velaryon

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bohemian-nights · 4 months

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Fuck Rhaenyra, fuck the writers with this sapphic plotline they invented, it's simply pathetic, and fuck Emma D'Arcy who is the cause of that. Im sorry but why trans/LGBTQ agenda should be included, but then they don't care about racism? Cause Laena has bee treated awfully, next is Nettles, reduced to Daemon's new distraction/whim to cheat on Nyra and shows how bad husband he is, or even cut out to redeem him (?) This Show sucks. Fuck white privilegies. Fuck HBO and all the people who's supporting this trash. To all the people who kiss Emma D'Arcy's ugly ass, am i transphobic cause i hate what they did to Rhaenyra and to the story? Ok, and you're racist for using Laena as an excuse of made up ship (Laenyra) to shit on Daemon X Laena in order to praise your incest ship and for not wanting Nettles in the series cause could ruin it. Whatever happens it seems is always the black characters who gets sacrificed for the sake of white characters. I said what i said.

Um, this has the energy of this:

Oh God you really let it all out there. Minus calling Emma ugly(again guys can we please not call the actors/actresses ugly), I don’t think you are wrong and I get your frustrations.

It’s pretty clear this show has an agenda, is biased towards one character in particular at the expense of basically everyone else, and has a misogynoir problem.

Now to be clear, even though Emma is going along with what is being pushed, I think it’s inaccurate to blame any of the actors or actresses on this show for what is happening. Because at the end of the day it’s the show runners and the execs at HBO who are calling the shots. Emma is just a mascot for their agenda(take that as you will).

They more than likely purposely picked Emma because they wanted to make Rhaenyra into some feminist warrior queen who has a rainbow coalition of supporters against the conservative greens.

It’s corny, but with another character like say Rhaena the Black Bride(who’s already a lesbian) or even Visenya(who’s a warrior queen) it could work.

However the problem with choosing to make Rhaenyra into a revolutionary type figure/girl boss/feminist is that she’s the complete opposite of that.

Rhaenyra in canon is a racist to the point where she’s willing to use it to explain away murder, she mocks Laenor for being gay(says her half-brothers who are children are his type), looks down on and underestimates the small folk, and doesn’t even bother to help advance other women(Stokeworth and Rosby) in her class much less women like Nettles.

Her and Alicent have a completely different relationship dynamic in the books than in the show.

She’s selfish and self-focused. She’s malicious bordering on sadistic. She even puts her own children in danger for her own wants.

And before her followers go moaning she’s done too many things to claim that she’s been wrongly framed by the narrative. No sane person is chopping off heads and feeding it to dragons or trying to murder innocent women in their sleep. That’s not maester propaganda. She’s objectively awful.

She may be a woman, but she’s no better than her brother. Women can be just as awful as men(for Christ’s sakes look at real life not everyone is wrongly accused because of sexism). Rhaenyra shows that. Even at the last moments of her life she pretty much has zero remorse IMO.

For those reasons, I absolutely hate that the show is trying to redeem her. I hate how they cast Black actors to use them as human shields to make her look progressive, to lessen her atrocities, and even to make her something like her death look less atrocious.

Fans see Black people(the characters) supporting her vs. the mostly white greens they go that’s the progressive team(that ideology is so f*cked up). They even have Black fans supporting Rhaenyra because of all the Black secondary characters.

Never mind that these characters(who are race-bent) are being screwed over by the narrative, haven’t been presented in the best light, and have had their stories be rewritten to better serve Rhaenyra and make her look sympathetic/noble/just. The best who are treated way worse than their white book counterparts.

They added Ser Vaemond calling Rhaenyra a whore to justify Daemon killing him when in the books he rightfully calls her out and gets unjustly beheaded and feed to a dragon as a result on Rhaenyra’s orders. Then his sons and cousins get reprimanded by with some getting their tongues cut out, but that’s all been cut out.

Instead of showing that was loved or at least cared for by Daemon like in the books show Laena has been regulated to sorta second best(third best if you factor in the Viserys situation). She’s unloved and unwanted. Her suicide is made into a girlboss/empowering moment instead of being criticized for what it is away to make Rhaenyra’s death look better. Laena’s character is a walking stereotype(disposable Black girlfriend, look it up).

The audience eats it up of course and instead of calling out making her into a stereotype they are upset that the show did not make the non-canon throuple situation happen so they could get more brownie points for their I love Black people, I'm not a racist, I just don't want that Black person who isn't a plot device on the show act.

(I’m calling it non-canon cause you can’t only use the word fond to support a relationship, especially when you claim that word means nothing when it comes to Dettles which has more evidence than a single word).

Even Laenor has been made into a deadbeat dad. Corlys looks stupid. The girls have been given nothing to do. Addam’s whole purpose is to scarifice himself for Rhaenyra which is why they are highlighting him so much.

It’s absolutely disgusting.

I have no idea what they are going to do with Nettles, a character who doesn’t need to be race-bent cause she’s already Black, but based on their track record it could be terrible(I’m holding out hope though). She shouldn’t be treated like she’s just some whore or Daemon's mistress. She has her own plot, she’s loved by, and she’s one of the few survivors of the dance(and one of two dragonriders).

If the show was decent at all they’d do the right thing and show her as the multifaceted character she is and not regulate her into another stereotype(I guess they’d go the Jezebel route).

I totally get where you are coming from on the racism aspect. This is obviously lost by most though. Hell, most in the fandom are racist themselves, but skirt by because they like this show using the Black characters as human shields. It's a circus.

And no one is going to take this rant seriously since you went a little too far. All they are going to focus on is you calling Emma ugly, which again was uncalled for, but I get the essence of it.

#bnasks #bnask #anti hotd #venting dragon show addition

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horizon-verizon · 24 days

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https://www.tumblr.com/horizon-verizon/746755685313888256/i-wish-yall-would-be-real-as-to-why-rhaenys?source=share

"Also Laena wasn’t sidelined cause of Alicent or Rhaenicent, she was sidelined for Daemyra"

Seriously, people still haven't realized and deny that Laena was marginalized by both ships? Both Rhaenicent and Daemyra are the reason why Laena was reduced the way she was.

The funny thing about people saying that Rhaenicent isn't part of the reason why Laena's character was marginalized and reduced is that both Rhaenicent and Laenyra could have coexisted, but that same logic can be used for Daemon x Laena and Daemyra; both ships could have coexisted, and the writers chose not to.

Both ships harmed Laena's character because the writers wanted to give more importance to Rhaenicent and Daemyra. Had they included Laena, it wouldn't have worked with the writers' vision. You just have to read what the writers say about Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship to realize that the inclusion of Laenyra would have gone against their vision.

Laena was Rhaenyra's best friend and someone she deeply loved, while she despised Alicent. The writers wanted to make Alicent one of the most important people in Rhaenyra's life (according to some of these writers, her first love), and Laenyra would have undermined this. They also marginalized Rhaenyra from other positive relationships with other women to emphasize her friendship with Alicent.

Talked about Daemon & Laena HERE.

I wouldn't say that the very existence of the ships made Laena a sidelined character in HotD, b/c then we'd have to argue that Laenor was "sidelined", Mysaria was "sidelined", Harwin was "sidelined", etc. Laena, like these past lovers, all served a purpose before HotD ever existed and were there of their own reasons surrounding the main couple GRRM wrote to end up together for his narrative. Laena and these people are pretty much the minor characters surrounding the main--Rhaenyra & Daemon and Aegon & Alicent. These are important side characters, but they are side characters. And Daemon was created for Rhaenyra as much as they both and the entire Targ dyansty's stories and personalities were created for Daenerys Stormborn. And a women can have more than one close friend, as long as they match/commiserate well.

I do think the writers' use of Rhaenicent & interpretation of DaemonxLaena diminished Laena's importance in their story. And for their version of Rhaenyra's persona as being Daemon's only love. Because, yes, it makes total sense that Rhaenyra's only female friend or companion for the total of her life was this one girl/woman who doesn't even match well for her or seem to really understand who Rhaenyra really is and rejected it as soon as she could. And Rhaenrya looks that much more impressive to more people in the audience being the "true" center of a person as self-driven as Daemon.

Me, who read F&B before HotD premiered, always felt that Daemon and Rhaenyra would have preferred to get together even though I also think they absolutely loved their respective prior partners. HotD however made this look more like Daemon had nothing good with Laena and never felt for her or loved her as he actually did in canon.

Like I said in the post I linked in that post you linked, Daemon loved Laena in the original telling and I don't say that necessarily bc he fought a duel for her but Daemon is simply not the type to "settle" with someone he doesn't respect or isn't closely blood related to (Rhea Royce) and both had a trait of adventurousness and sense of safety to build a family on.

The issue with Laena's character in HotD was that Daemon was made not to love her, care for her, and seemed to really tire of her presence for the sake of being more focused on being sour over his "disappointments" back at the Red Keep as if he didn't develop a happy life with Laena

AND

with the Velaryons becoming black in HotD/the writers making all sorts of negative changes for them that weren't there in canon and even contradicted some events/traits from canon (I talk about Laena HERE.)

PLUS

[this had to be pointed out to me] Laena's killing herself through dragonfire similar to how fire is historically and fictionally used to "cleanse" specifically "useless", man-less, or "dangerous" poor/PoCwomen (wife burning in some South East cultures but also we can refer to Black women in the American colonies burned for being killing their "masters" or endangering their lives & women in Europe being burned for wirchcraft...Targ women are often looked at as "witches"...Visenya...Vhagar..Laena was Vhagar's rider...)

when in the book she died surrounded by her family and NOT traumatizing her daughters (has soem merit since HotD could have mitigated its sensationalizing of violence against women with Aemma if Laena had died the other way).

Some have argued that to die, willfully, by dragonfire was Laena taking back the agency she lost in the book by dying as she did, unable to get to Vhagar in her last moments. That she at least got to "escapee" from the pain of dying from childbirth.

Aside from the parallels of how fire is used against women in history and fiction, death by fire is not painless or "less" so than most deaths. It's cited as one of the worst. You don't die right away or vaporize, you die slowly. We see in the show that dragonfire can quickly disable and leave horrendous scarring, but it doesn't kill you straight away. It eats at muscles, skin, ligaments until it hits nerves and only then will you stop feeling it, if you aren't already unconscious from the pain. Your eyeballs are literally melting. So she would have actually doubled her pain.

Also, dragonriders don't usually die by fire, nor dragonfire, as we see with the Targs and I think we can reasonably expect from the Old Valyrians, who won their wars against dragonless people more often than not. Rhaenys I/Rhaenys the Conqueror died by falling and probably fire when a scorpion bolt pierced Meraxes' eye by sheer luck. You'd think that by the langauge that HotD makes Laena uses to describe death by dragonfire/fire is a cultural practice meant to honor dragon warriors, but Rhaenys' siblings did not give her death the tone of heroism that implied such a death was culturally coveted & sought after amongst Valyrians as if the but leans more tragedy, so it's likely not something cultural.

Now you might bring up Princess Rhaenys' death, how it was described & implied as a "warrior's" death bc it says she died "amidst blood and fire" to counterargue ("The Red Dragon and the Gold"):

Even if we try to say it was a warrior's death, Laena didn't die during battle. it doesn't count as a true "warrior's" death. Two Rhaenys' did, and even their deaths were received as more tragedies by those around them. there was never an additional element of Valyrian-unique death-by-fire heroism. If anything, it's more an Andal-touched view of things.

I remember how Robert Baratheon also was someone who looked for a death on the battlefield, or at least for a fight. Andal society is a feudal society where war and violence are accepted tools of sociopolitical order or advancement (conquest for materials or defense against outsiders). The Valyrians were not special for war waging in of itself.

The highest valued people are male noble warriors (or just male warriors) bc they are those who are in direct "business" with these activities and are granted them. though we modern Westerners do still retain that element of men being aggressors="manly" men in how we view masculinity, it is also less conceived of as a necessity to obtain resources or as a way towards family glory and honors or reputation. War is more a tool, or more often a tool and self/social order affirming as well as a way to expand one's reach and lands. It comes from the ancient Greek and Roman tradition and perspectives of war that you may see in several Greek and Latin epic poems (Aeneid, Illaid, etc.).

Yes, many men like Rogar Baratheon, Robert Baratheon, Daemon Targaryen, Orys Baratheon, etc., will try to use war or battle to advance themselves, prove a point of power or agency, or feel more like they are in control. Orys, when the family was falling apart, lost his hands to Wyl of Wyl, and he wanted to be more useful to the dynasty so goes to Dorne. Robert, surrounded by the Lannisters who enabled him to have his throne despite his disgust with Cersei. Daemon, isolated from his brother through Viserys's suspicion, to avoid his "duty" to Rhea Royce, but also to prove how much he could contribute to his house without having to do comply with Viserys' way of ruling and trusting Otto. Rogar, to avoid the aftermath of Alyssa Velaryon's death that he was fully responsible for. And for at least 3 on this list alone, there is always a tone of depression, futulity, or desperation to gain or to run away from a loss of masculinity rather than hope and satisfaction and love.

Therefore, when you see Rhaenys dying in "fire and blood" during battle, it's not written (by an Andal maester, remember) just or mainly in lieu of either her Valyrian heritage. It's the Andal talking.

So once again, HotD, puts a character through unnecessary pain and suffering or just "more" than what was told to happen in the book for spectacle and it turned out sexist-dumb and lore-inconsistent. No, this was not unreliably told, as Daemon would have at least had this recorded and the Velaryons certainly would as well. What reason would they have to lie, too? Finally, Rhaenyra was there, holding vigil with Daemon. Princess Rhaenys' death being credibly told, I hope I don't have to explain. Same for Queen Rhaenys'.

#asoiaf asks to me #laena and daemon #laena velaryon #daemon targaryen #laena velaryon's death #book vs tv comparison #hotd critical #asoiaf war #dragonriders #laena x daemon (F&B ship)#laena velaryon's characterization #fandom racism #hotd racism #fire and blood #hotd #asoiaf

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scratchtovoid · 6 months

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📓 MY SERIES & COLLECTIONS

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

🎞️ Only Lost Souls in LA

🎞️ He’s looking for redemption but what he finds is a muse. She’s looking for a fresh start but what she finds is a new passion.

Bright lights and lonely nights have brought these two lost souls together, but will their personal demons get in the way of their opportunity for something great?

🎞️ Daemon/Rhaenyra

🎞️ 9/9 Complete || E || 97K || READ IT

🎞️ Only Lost Souls on Valentine’s Day (Bonus Story)

Coming Soon:

🎞️ Only Lost Souls in NYC (Bonus Story)

♟️May My Weary Heart Find You Well

♟️Succession for Sapphics: In a world of money and power is there room for love? Laena Velaryon doesn’t think so. Being the daughter of a multi-billionaire CEO means hiding her sexuality from the world. But that’s always been fine with Laena since she’s already lost the one woman she can’t get out of her head… or her heart!

Rhaenyra Targaryen left her bloodthirsty family an angsty teenager. But after the death of her father, she decides it’s time to come home. Now a single mom to three who knows how to survive on her own, Rhaenyra returns to NYC for her father’s funeral with revenge on her mind!

♟️ Rhaenyra/Laena

♟️ 1/4 Ongoing || T || 7K || READ IT

👻 A Targaryen Girl’s Guide to Summoning Spirits and Making Past Life Connections

👻 What do you do when you summon the ghost of an ancestor who has been dead for hundreds of years?

Ghosts, past lives, reincarnation. Rhaenyra Targaryen is a skeptic through and through. She chooses to put her faith in the things she can see, and not in the dreams that have plagued her since her father gifted her an ancient family heirloom. And certainly not in her cousin Laena's plan to summon their dead ancestor. But something… or someone is calling Rhaenyra from the other side, and skepticism might not be enough to save Rhaenyra from the clutches of the past.

👻 Romantic Daemyra & Platonic Laenyra

👻 4/4 Complete || 25K || READ IT

👑 The Misplaced Tales of a Queen and Her Consort

👑 A collection of oneshots that can be read on their own exploring “missing” or “expanding” moments of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship as well as their family life. All positive/fluffy/romantic.

👑 Daemon/Rhaenyra + Family

👑 3/10 Ongoing || 5K || READ IT

💔 Let Us Feast on Our Fury and Poison our Passion

💔 A collection of painful and sorrowful moments from Rhaenyra and Daemon’s lives.

💔 2/5 Ongoing || 2K || READ IT

• danse à trois: In this alternative ending to HOTD episode five, Daemon accepts Rhaenyra's challenge and takes her to Dragonstone to make her his wife... and the lovers take Laena with them! One part spicy, one part sweet!

Daemon/Rhaenyra/Laena || E || 7.3K

• Reckoning in the Light of the Newborn Prince: After Rhaenyra gives birth to her fourth son, Alicent tries her usual games, demanding the newborn prince be brought to her chambers only moments after Rhaenyra has delivered. But the boy’s father is not so willing to do the Queen’s bidding. Or what happens if Rhaenyra and Daemon were living in King’s Landing when Aegon was born?

Daemon/Rhaenyra || T || 5.7K

• Body Count: Laena Velaryon and Rhaenyra Targaryen have spent the last 500 years in a stiff competition. Once every century they meet up to compare their “body count” aka the number of men they have lured to their deaths so they can stay young, hot, and immortal feeding on the souls of their victims. But is the competition the only reason they have stayed in each other’s lives so long?

Laena/Rhaenyra || E || 5.9K

• Blood Sweeter Than Honey Wine: Prince Daemon Targaryen's journey home from his quest for glory in the Stepstones brings him to Dragonstone. Where deep in the quiet castle lives a woman who claims to be a queen. A woman who doesn't eat. A woman who disappears with the sunrise. A woman Daemon can't help but feel drawn to. But the closer Daemon gets, the more he begins to suspect this exiled queen is much more than just a woman.

Daemon/Rhaenyra || E || 11.8K

• The Anniversary Gift: Across the room Rhaenyra spots something she wants or rather someone she wants. Or Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Daemon are polyamorous vampires.

Alicent/Rhaenyra/Daemon || T || 1.2K

• When Lady Misery Comes To Call: When Lady Misery comes to call you should think very carefully before answering. On a cold lonely night, Mysaria brings Rhaenyra news of betrayal. Rhaenyra wonders if there is anyone left still loyal to her. Thankfully, Mysaria has an answer.

Rhaenyra/Mysaria || M || 1.3K

#my fic

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wulfhalls · 2 years

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daemon killing his wife in the vale and then going straight to king's landing (the place he's literally exiled from) to attend the wedding of the love of his life (that he wasn't invited to) and flirt with her in front of everyone so true of him!

not only wasnt he invited they only fast tracked this bitch because of him 😭✋️ also laenyras first meeting is gonna be wild like: so u fucked ur uncle and rhaenyra is just 🤷‍♀️ so u fucking guys and laenor is just like 🤷 ........well I guess we can make this marriage work somehow!

#harwin in the wings like 😏#asks #hotd

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dreamymoonpearl · 2 months

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I can't stop thinking about laenyra with young alpha Rhaenyra and old omega Laena, one afraid of what could happen and the other trying to reassure her that everything will be fine…

– What happens if you can't…give birth when time comes?

– I will pray to our gods to give me a safe birth, even if it’s painful, so that our pup is born well.

– What if the gods don’t listen? What should I do?

– The most appropriate for your claim, wife-

– I prefer my wife, my omega, what is the throne when you lose the love of your life?, I see my father… I do not wish that for myself, Laena.

Long nights and complicated talks in the marriage of the future queen and her consort.

#laena velaryon #omega laena #rhaenyra targaryen #alpha rhaenyra #omegaverse #young rhaenyra #older laena

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unohanabbygirl · 8 months

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I think Cregan probably won't appear in FMN, but if he does appear I am gonna become FERAL

I am highly delulu and I strongly believe that Jace and Cregan had a romance at winterfell and that pact was a marriage.And he was doing Laenyra style of " if I can marry this fellow of the same gender I gonna do the best bext thing that is marrying our kids so our bloodlines become one".

So imagine Jace in this life having the Stark name???My god shhsbdhdjdndnixbendkdhbejx

luke being like yeah you're a bi in the closet,and Jace being like?????What do you mean you've never heard of my relationship with Cregan? Until he remembers that Lucerys has no memories.

Look babe, never say never. Who knows, maybe one chapter Luke just may stumble into a buff hottie who just so happens to be named Cregan Stark. Ironic, he knows.

Would Luke try to proposition said hottie? Depends on if Lucemond are offical at the time or not. But what I do know for certain is that this Cregan politely declines due to still mourning his long departed spouse whom he married under the Weirwood tree in the godswood of his ancestral home. Completed by cutting their palms and drinking one another’s fallen blood. You know, the usual.

I can just see Luke telling Jace about the guy who turned him down. I’m talking wildly vivid descriptions because he was just that fine.

Jace reacts like any normal person would by shaking Luke by the shoulders until he spills on exactly where this meeting took place before running out the door. Luke can only stand there confused as hell as the sound of Jace’s car tires screech across the pavement.

The image of Baela, Aegon, Jace and Cregan taking after Daemon, Nyra, Laena and Harwin and forming a polycule brings me joy, LMAOOO

#asks

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ao3feed-rhaenicent · 2 months

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#ao3feed #fanfic #rhaenicent #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd

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tea-with-evan-and-me · 5 months

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https://x.com/laenyras/status/1729177510074802288?s=46&t=vw4WI8Brl3poq10fUcDT9w

https://x.com/laenyras/status/1729178150142386215?s=46&t=vw4WI8Brl3poq10fUcDT9w

People that say stuff like this are so unbelievably chronically online and stupid. They’re really acting like he’s some raging racist or something.

really, truly is chronically online behavior. imagine saying this weird, hugely reaching shit in real life with absolutely no legitimate reasoning. just so dumb.

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dulcewrites · 1 year

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omg you're so right about people blindly putting up book!laenyra's relationship on the pedestal and falsely claiming it as a better wlw representation, this has been driving me nuts for Ages!! they looooove to bring up rhaenyra's and alicent's book ages and their stepmother/stepdaughter status any time they're asked to explain their reasoning, completely disregarding that in the show canon they've never had that sort of dynamic and that she obviously had been rhaenyra's friend first before being forced to marry viserys. which was of course tragic for both of the girls (more for alicent for obvious reasons) but then they talk about it as if it was a conscious choice she had made to specifically ruin nyra's life hfjjdjf as if she could have gone against the KING and refused??? like baby, that's a whole victim you're talking about.

they're so blinded by their hatred for anyone in the five meter distance of team green they're jumping through hoops to make something out of nothing, even going as far as calling alicent abusive 💀 i can stomach them calling rhaenicent a bad ship and a rulebook queerbait because they're allowed to their own opinions (and i know most of them are just coping) but when they try to pull stuff out of their asses in favour of their 'lesbian' rep consisting of a guy preying on his two younger blood relatives oh my blood just starts boiling. anyway sorry for ranting about this in your ask box but i just have a lot to say about this, especially as you've said most of them could care less about laena in any other setting 😭

They use the dig of “oh it will never happen on screen” as if we aren’t talking about two medieval women, one of which being the queen regent and the other being the princess and supposed heir. The last canonically gay character we had on screen was miserable to the point of literally leaving his family… DUH we know it probably won’t happen. The fact that the writers and multiple actors see rhaenicent is enough.

The “oh I can’t ship rhaenicent bc Alicent ruined Rhaenyra’s life” argument is hilarious bc it’s not like Rhaenyra was a perfect angel towards Alicent. We have to fill in the blanks bc there is no scenes showing this but it’s assumed that Rhaenyra begins to pull away after Alicent is forced into that position. I don’t blame Rhaenyra for that, she’s young but it truly spirals from there. Its the same logic of them being like “they are step daughter and mother” while shipping the people who are actually related. Just pulling shit out of thin air bc they hate Alicent, and can’t stand they still care about each other. I know they are gonna be sick to their stomach when she pardons Alicent 💀

It really pisses me off when people only talk about laena and her kids to uplift daemon and or Rhaenyra. Either come correct or let my girl rest easy

#asks and requests #it’s extra hilarious how they bring up the book but completely miss the part where it’s implied nyra and Alicent had a good relationship #till Aegon was born #the crown in both instances drove them apart regardless of whether the relationship was romantic or platonic

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imaginarianisms · 1 month

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house velaryon prides itself in its swan ships and long history on the seas, and every member is expected to know how to swim. there was a time where as a little girl laena was swimming in the narrow sea and her barge with her guards, servants and household from driftmark nearby. swift as a fish in the water, she would swim in the deep blue... only to be intercepted by a great humpback whale. at first, she was astonished and confused and in awe for this had never once happened to her before, especially with humpback whales being so far away from the shivering sea. the whale was a massive creature, and after her initial confusion, she realized that the whale was attempting to hide her under its great fin, only to change its tactics by pushing her to the surface with its face and singing a whale song all the while, much to the awe of the velaryons. the whale had looked at her with one great eye, before having her on its head, rolling over so that she was on its chin, making it clear that it had no intention of hurting her. it was only when laenyra looked back that she saw it: a shark just behind the whale and attempting to swim directly towards her. frightened and beginning to truly panic, she called to her ship for help. luckily, the whale had been protecting her the whole time and was nudging her to the surface so she could get to her ship on time. when she'd finally reached the ship, she was laughing almost hysterically, relieved and in awe in what she had just witnessed. years later, not long before house velaryon left for king's landing in the beginning of a game of thrones, when she would return to the narrow sea once more to swim... she saw the same whale again. lady laenyra began to cry for she hadn't expected to see it here again. the whale had remembered and it came back to see her. it ignored everyone else on the ship and stared directly at her, beginning to flip onto its side so laena could swim next to it and hug its great fin as it nuzzled her tummy and they both just... stayed there for a long time. lady laenyra had known so many years of political intrigue, deceit and lies in court, so to see such a majestic creature risk its own life to protect hers, another species entirely, made her change her perspective on humanity.

lady laenyra thanked the whale and told it she loved it in high valyrian and declared it the defender of driftmark. the lady had always been fascinated by animals, the oceans and beyond, but ever since, she had taken a particular interest in marine life. unfortunately, however, on the basis of her gender and sex, for only men could gain a formal education, she could not study at the citadel of oldtown to learn more about animals. luckily for her, however, she became promised to willas tyrell the heir of highgarden, a scholarly man and one of the most eligible bachelors of westeros. laenyra does hope to have his favor enough so she can look into his library.

#laena iii velaryon. || headcanons.#faction; house velaryon.#listen she may not be a dragonrider like her ancestor laena i velaryon was but whales have a thing for her !!

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