just got an influx of straight up wild asks in my inbox and like... they're giving me a run for my money, not cause they hold any substance but cause they're just so out there I don't even know what I'm supposed to say.

send help.

“there is no way in hell Alicent is going to abandon her children” why not?

Aegon’s a rapist and Aemond’s a sociopathic kinslayer, why should Alicent be forced to stay loyal to them?

I understand Rhaenyra why loves Jace, Luke and Joffrey because what’s not to love, they’re perfect. But I cannot see Alicent genuinely loving Aegon and Aemond after everything they’ve done.

It would be 100x more radical and feminist for Alicent to choose Rhaenyra, to put herself first, to stop letting men control her.

Goodness me, I hardly know where to start with this.

I don’t know how you think parental love works, nonny dearest, but it sure as hell isn’t "I won't love my children if they're not perfect people". That’s generally not how parenthood works. And Alicent loves her children. She was sold as a child bride and endured years of rape for the sake of producing those children. Raising and protecting them has been the main purpose of Alicent’s life for twenty years. How could she not love them?

In case you need proof, Alicent physically attacked Rhaenyra, arguably the big love of her life, because she was that angry (and rightfully so) about her son being maimed. Alicent went along with usurping Rhaenyra's throne, despite knowing it would lead to war and ruin what little chance she had left of mending things with Rhaenyra, because she loves her children and is desperate to keep them safe, and she believes that Rhaenyra would kill them to secure her claim to the throne. (Whether that is true is a different discussion - what matters here is that Alicent believes it.) Alicent stepped in front of a dragon to protect Aegon, for crying out loud. Aegon being a rapist clearly tarnished him in her eyes, and yet she still stepped in front of that dragon to protect him. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about Alicent's love for her children, I don't know what will. So I don't know that this is a case of Alicent being "forced" to stay loyal to her children, as much as it is Alicent choosing to stay loyal to the people she loves most in the world.

I would also like to point out that Rhaenyra's children are very much not perfect. Jace and Luke both participated in bullying Aemond. In case you forgot, it was Luke who literally mutilated and permanently disabled Aemond. It doesn't matter if Aemond was in the wrong for claiming Vhagar or calling the Strong boys bastards. He wasn't, but even if he was, cutting out someone's eye is not a thing that good people do. So I don't know where you got the idea that Jace and Luke are "perfect", nonny dearest, but it sure as hell wasn't from HotD.

I'm not going to argue over whether Luke maiming Aemond is more or less bad than Aegon raping Dyana or Aemond killing Luke (which is his fault, even if in this version of the story he didn't intend for it to happen). That's not the point. And please note, I am not making a single excuse for Aegon raping Dyana or Aemond killing Luke. I'm simply pointing out that it is extremely hypocritical to claim that Aemond and Aegon are unloveable because of the terrible things they do, but Jace and Luke are loveable when they both do terrible things as well.

And here's the thing. Rhaenyra clearly loves Jace and Luke anyway. Why wouldn't she? They're her kids and she loves them flaws and all. So why is it any less believable that Alicent would love Aegon and Aemond? Why are Jace and Luke loveable despite their terrible deeds, but Aegon and Aemond aren't? And if Alicent choosing Rhaenyra, whom she loves, would be a feminist storytelling choice, why would it be any less feminist for her to choose to stay with her family whom she loves just as much? Why are Alicent's choices only Feminist and Radical when they benefit Rhaenyra?

Even if it were true that Alicent abandoning her family and becoming lifetime president of the Rhaenyra Fan Club would make for a more feminist story - which, to be clear, it isn't - my first priority is not for the story to be The Most Radical And Feminist™. I want the story to be good. And I do not think that making Alicent abandon her family for Rhaenyra would make for a good story. It goes completely against Alicent's characterisation to have her abandon the family we're shown time and time again that she loves more than anything else. Not only would that be a betrayal of her character, it would undermine the narrative as a whole.

For better or worse, these two women and their relationship have been made central to this story. They are foils and they've each been made into the figurehead of their respective teams in every way, down to the marketing of the show. It would simply be bad storytelling to throw off that narrative balance by having them team up. It would completely upend the story being told. The point of making Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship so central to the show is that despite their love for each other they were still driven apart and forced to become enemies. Having them reconcile would undermine the point that this story is a tragedy.

I'm gonna say it: it's aemond's own fault he lost his eye in both the show and the book. Both times, he snuck out to claim vhagar. In the show, he wasn't stopped. In the book, three year old Joffrey Velaryon was with his dragon because he was an early riser and told Aemond to stay away from Vhagar, so Aemond - who was much older - pushed little three year old Joffrey over and, in his fear of being caught because he knew he was doing something his parents would like, claimed Vhagar and flew her for the first time.

Baby Joffrey, all of three years old, then of course runs to get his big brothers, likely crying and terrified. Because he's, y'know, A BABY.

In the show, Aemond claims Vhagar and with arrogance and smugness returns to the castle, high on the fact that he'd just claimed Vhagar, uncaring of how rude/insulting it may have been to claim Vhagar on the night of her previous riders funeral, like A NORMAL PERSON.

When, in the show, Rhaena and Baela confront Aemond with Luke and Jace, they're clearly upset. Their mother has just died, its her funeral, and their last tether to her - Vhagar - has been claimed by Aemond. They say he stole her, and while dragons can't be stolen, he did use underhanded tactics to obtain her and bond with her. And his haughtiness afterwards, towards the daughters of the woman whose dragon he just claimed, is what makes the altercation his fault.

Baela, upset: Vhagar is my mother's dragon!

Aemond, uncaring: Your mother is dead, and Vhagar has a new rider now.

Rhaena: she was mine to claim!

Aemond: then you should have claimed her. Maybe your cousins can find you a pig to ride. It would suit you.

Rhaena then hits Aemond, provoked into this by his cruel words and actions. Was it right? No. But it's literally the night of her mums funeral, Vhagar has been claimed by someone who clearly doesn't care about her mother, and he just insulted her. Aemond pushes Rhaena to the ground, so Baela slaps him in defense of her sister, and he punches her in the face.

Aemond: come at me again and I'll feed you to my dragon!

Now aemond is threatening to murder his cousins, which is par for the course for hid character. He always had kinslaying in him.

The fight devolves even more, and Jace and Luke get involved, defending their cousins. Luke, a little kid, is whacked and shoved to the ground, so Jace jumps in. Then Baela decides to help, and she and Luke - both of them younger and smaller - start wailing on Aemond (u go kids).

Aemond kicks Luke off of him, throws Baela off, and stands only to grab Luke - only five - by the throat and hold a rock over his head and threaten him.

Aemond: you will die screaming in flames just as your father did, bastard.

Luke, terrified and upset: my father is still alive!

Aemond, amused: he doesn't know, does he? Lord Strong.

This is when Jace pulls his knife, literally the size of my thumb, and attacks. Jace us quickly unarmed by Aemond, who is still holding the rock, and Luke sees the blade. Aemond holds the rock over them, smirks at Rhaena and Baela, then gets sand thrown in his face and Luke slashes at him wildly, not even aiming for his eye, just aiming to stop Aemond from hurting Jace and himself and his cousins, because at this point Luke has heard death threats, and seen Aemond take on him and the other three easily and win, so of bloody course this terrified little boy used a weapon to defend himself when it became necessary.

After, Alicent makes the situation about her because she's a poor uwu baby (gag me with a chainsaw, I loathe her) and attacks Rhaenyra as though Rhaenyra and her kids were in the wrong? Gurl.

Aemond will then go on to use him losing his eye as an excuse to use his war dragon to chase fourteen year old Luke on tiny baby Arrax and have the FUCKING AUDACITY to look shocked when it went wrong? Aemond is still at fault for Luke's death even if "he didn't mean it" or "he lost control" (he's not a true dragon lmfao)

In the book, Joffrey - who is three - returns with Jace and Luke, who grabbed wooden swords - they won't help against Vhagar bbys - in defense of their brother.

Despite it being three on one, Aemond was winning the fight until Luke slashed him, and good thing he did otherwise Aemond wouldn't have stopped in my opinion. He'd have kept going, beating the boys to bloody pulps. It was stable-boys who had to end the fight, where were the guards? Cole was probably simping over alicunt tbh.

Also, Alicent was the first to demand Luke's eye in recompense for Aemond losing his soz not soz ya uwu Queen is a cunt heh

Aemond will then, years later, attack Luke because of this and kill him and start the Dance of Dragons in full because not only did he cause the events that took his eye, but also the worst war in history, all because he's a little bitch baby sociopath with genocidal tendencies lmfao

Also, Aemond got off lightly, merely losing his eye - do u know what the punishment is for people who attack a princes' daughters and the heir to the throne sons? Calling them bastards, which is treason!!!! Death. Bitch shit should be exuberant that he merely lost an eye. Unfortunately viserys is a bitch and didn't send Aemond to the Wall like Jaehaerys would have for fucking real lol

Something that really bugs me about team black is that they call the greens evil, including Alicent, yet they defend Daemon to the ends of the earth.

Like if the guy who had a toddler killed in revenge isn't evil neither is the woman who never killed anyone and was instead just kind of catty. It doesn't matter if it's bookAlicent or showAlicent. Even at her worst she was just kind of a bitch (her insulting Rhaenyra's dead sons for example). Last time I checked being judgey and rude wasn't on par with having a toddler killed.

It doesn't matter if she bad mouthed Rhaenyra to her kids everyday and talked about how much she wished the woman dead--if Daemon is good at heart even after Blood & Cheese, so is Alicent. I'm sorry but idk how anyone can seriously call Alicent evil in the same breath as praising daemon as a good guy.

It really comes across as misogynistic that a male character can murder an innocent little kid and still be considered good deep down, while all a woman has to do to be labeled evil is *checks notes* be a bit mean.

Apart from just misogyny creating a huge double standard, I think in regards to Alicent (speaking just to the show for now) this stems from the genuine belief that the war was avoidable, so all the subsequent deaths are on her hands or something. But it wasn't avoidable. It might have been if the generation before Alicent and Rhaenyra had made different decisons, but by the time they're adults it would have taken a lot to escape the path that had been set out for them. That's a big reason why I like that they added in Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship - it helps demonstrate that even them loving each other and wanting to reconcile at multiple points wasn't enough.

This faction of the fandom that hates Alicent so violently, from what I've seen, see Alicent as being just as bad because in their minds she caused the war, she got her children killed, she made them hate Rhaenyra and her sons. But really Rhaenyra and Alicent are both at fault, and equally not at fault, because they didn't cause the war, they just shaped the way it happened. And if they both made the situation worse? Because of their flaws and desperation to protect their children? Well... that still doesn't make them terrible people. At least they both show remorse for their actions.

But Daemon... Hes a bad person. He just is. He's murdered at least 2 innocent people at this point, and not out of desperation but just because it was convenient. And that's not me saying he isn't interesting or complex, he is, but he is also pretty much totally morally bankrupt. We have never seen him do anything but what he wanted to do. His only redeeming quality is the affection he shows his family, which might be more to do with his own pride than anything else since he repeatedly fails to extend his love for them beyond that and actually do what is right for them at any point.

And what's crazy about this is, Daemon being Daemon is a much bigger reason for the war than anything either Alicent or Rhaenyra do. If he wasn't so awful, Viserys would likely not have disregarded him as his heir. He never would have named Rhaenyra. He most likely would have waited and Aegon would have ended up the de facto heir. (And yes this is on Viserys too but that doesn't totally absolve Daemon). I also think its pretty obvious Rhaenyra wouldn't have been forced to marry before she was ready without Daemon's involvement/grooming, which might have avoided the bastardry issue as well.

1/2: Reading about Mathilda and the Anarchy, it drives to the point how dirty Martin did to Rhaenyra and the other Dance Queens, but particularly Rhaenyra. Like he made Daemon and suddenly turned it into a redo of Cersei/Jaime/Brienne (the novel dynamics) but with Dragons and more inbreeding: incompetent vicious used-to-be beautiful tyrannical queen who is portrayed as gaining weight and being a political inept, the 'badass' rogue relative lover who finds redemption with ambiguous bond with a

2/2: not classically beautiful warrior/tomboy teenage girl (Brienne IS 17, isn't she?) he wouldn't have considered beautiful by his standards. It's like copy/paste with less layered characterization and only circumstantial background change because dragons and Anarchy setting instead of War of the Roses. Show Rhaenyra is a little bland but I hope she won't get this sexist interpretation. Say what you want of HBO, but they gave Cersei justice more than Martin did, IMO.

He can't help himself, even when he is commenting on misogyny he has to undermine his own commentary. Rhaenyra is treated like Lysa in the books - reduced to negative traits and they're both unreasonably obsessed with male characters who are more interested in teenagers. They have the same 'gaining weight while a rival remains thin and beautiful' nonsense given to them. We don't see much about how Rhaenyra (the crown princess) rules Dragonstone which would explain how Aegon was able to take it because this is the nonsense we're given instead.

What's worse is that Rhaenyra v Aegon II is clearly meant to foreshadow Aegon VI v Daenerys. I believe Rhaenyra is Aegon VI's historical mirror (older, doesn't use dragons during the war, marries an older spouse, Rhaenyra's oath ceremony before Aegon II is born = Aegon VI's coronation before Daenerys arrives, greater support among the lords, nominal heir before their rival was born, etc.) though she's not an exact copy (Aegon VI will have greater support amongst the smallfolk than Rhaenyra) so imagine how it will look when Aegon is able to have diplomatic and military success while Rhaenyra is shown to be less capable than her sheltered teen son.

The thing is the show fails Rhaenyra in a different way. She's now politically inept and very passive, relying on her father, uncle and sons to act for her. I don't think Rhaenyra will go to battle like some Green stans. I think she'll remain in Dragonstone being very passive because war and politics are for men only. It will look equally bad as the show continues to offload her actions onto Daemon, leaving Rhaenyra playing an even smaller role in the success and failure of Team Black. Meaning people will have less sympathy for her when it all falls apart because Rhaenyra would not be allowed to do anything to try and prevent or cause it (because Alicent won't do anything either).

She won't order the executions of her enemies and they'll emphasise how taking the treasury will leave Rhaenyra with little choice which isn't bad on its own but this will be yet another instance where Rhaenyra doesn't get to act. The problem wasn't just raising taxes on the city, it was hosting lavish feasts. Rhaenyra consistently has a PR management problem and this causes people to hate her. But in the show, they'll hate her despite the fact that she will not do anything to gain their hatred (or at least it will be someone else's fault) and after many eps of Rhaenyra being passive, I just don't see people caring.

There will come a point where Rhaenyra will frustrate even the people who like her. Say what you will about how GoT handled the Starks but they played a part in their tragedy, which added to their likeability.

Imagine people's reactions when Rhaenyra does nothing while the dragons and her son are killed; meanwhile, a disabled Aegon II ends the war singlehandedly despite gaining new injuries.

I've noticed that most of the really rabid team black stans are less team black and more team targaryen. Like it feels less like they truly care about complex stories and more that they want a story that makes the Targs look good.

Which I think is why, unless they are trying to dunk on team green stans they conveniently forget/ omit alicents kids being Targaryen.

They just want the Dance to be about how the greedy hightowers ruined everything with misogyny instead of it being a group effort on both parties part. The ingredients for the Dance were always put in place by the Targs themselves, who also had a misogyny problem (but according to them, they only had it because the targs adopted it from their westros subjects). The hightowers couldn't have caused a war if no one supported them, and no one would have supported them if the Targs had put in place less misogynistic rules.

Ontop of that, they seem to think anyone who likes team green hates Targs and dragons, but I love the dragons, and despite their faults, I like a lot of the Targs. The main reason I watched hotd was because of the dragons and seeing more of the targ house. But that doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that they do shitty things or make mistakes. Or that Grrm negatively frames the dragons most of the time.

I wouldn't consider myself either team because it seems more a cautionary tale, but the rabid team black fans have really made me lean more green because I've seen more balanced takes from people who like Alicent. I do like the Targs and dragons, but I don't just want stories/ fics/ metas that only prop up the Targs as perfect.

Also, it makes me feel bad for Rheyaena because it seems like most rabid team black stans care less about her and more support her because she's related to Dany. Or just super ship Rheyaena/Daemon. I've seen Alicent fans who seem to genuinely like Rheyaena more than some team black stans.

yeah i also think the team black take on the dance is a little disingineous and dimisses any internal problems and puts it all on the hightowers.

i guess i'm in the middle of this because i've seen so many greens who genuinely hate targaryens despite saying they like the green or genuinely hating dragons. and to these specific people i say... maybe it's time to consume something else.

i also like targaryens and their dragons. and do believe that they're one of the most interesting part of the cinematic world that came out of the asoiaf books, but yeah, i think people who think they were legit the perfect people also miss the point.

for me team black stans ruined a lot of the vibes because they're so many and so loud. like f.e. if you like team green characters and you talk / share dany stuff they're like "don't even speak on dany bc she would hate y'all" and it's like.... chill.

Hey, hello!

I was wondering what you thought but something regarding the relationship between Viserys and his non-Rhae children: How much do you think of V's neglect of A's children might be caused by A dressing them in greens?

(I'm in no way suggesting this rw the children or A's fault. He was a grown man who decided that, instead of trying to avoid the need of green by dotting on his children, he would made the abyss between them bigger which caused a bigger divide between blacks and greens and didn't allow for A and her children to feel así if they were safe)

Hey, thanks so much for the ask!!! Always down to talk about the Greens and slam Viserys for being a shit, lol.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think the color green necessarily had too much to do with it. It likely contributed to the gulf growing between Alicent's children and Rhaenyra's children, considering that it became public knowledge that "the greens" was the shorthand for people partial to Alicent's side (and the claims of her children and their families over Rhaenyra's children), and likely could have signaled to Rhaenyra and her people that they shouldn't see these children necessarily as members of the family but as an entire separate faction (which is still stupid). But I don't think it contributed to how Viserys saw the children all that much.

Viserys's issue when Alicent showed up in The Green Dress at the wedding feast was that Alicent, by arriving not only late but also while he was talking, and in such stunning fashion, was upstaging him, taking the attention away from him and focusing it squarely on her. Harwin says that "the king will not like this, right in the middle of his speech" because Alicent, as a wife and a queen, isn't supposed to have attention shone down on her, she's supposed to be a support and a prop for her husband. That's why that scene was also so pivotal to Alicent's character, because after being a tool used by Otto (for his dynastic ambitions) and Viserys (for his sexual pleasures and his desire for male heirs) and even Rhaenyra (for her plans to get people to believe her lie re: that night in King's Landing over what others might say), she finally decided to be her own person and make this public moment her own, along with the subtle messaging through using not necessarily House Hightower colors, but the colors House Hightower specifically uses to show that they're at war. If Alicent had worn any other color, Viserys still would have been annoyed, because she still would be arriving as an independent and attention drawing woman, rather than just someone on his arm.

It's also that Viserys never shows a problem with Alicent wearing green after that. It's strange, he doesn't care about her as a person all that much, and has no concern with her physical or mental wellbeing, but he does like her. He liked her as a companion during their "courtship", he somewhat enjoyed her company in the moments we saw in episodes 3 and 4, and he certainly likes having her as a nursemaid after the first timejump. So I don't think he would have minded that Alicent was wearing green, or dressing their kids in green either; Rhaenyra wore a lot of yellow in the first four episodes of the show but that doesn't mean that he was starting to think she was declaring her allegiance to the Lannisters or Baratheons.

Viserys's neglect of his children by Alicent, and their own reticence towards him, is ultimately due to a lot of factors: his love for Aemma and guilt over her death caused him to blatantly favor Rhaenyra over any of them to an extraordinary degree, the rift between their mother also influenced any lack of closeness they had towards Rhaenyra specifically, even beyond the age gap, which didn't endear them to him either (because that's what kids need to do Viserys, they need to show you that they're worthy of your time and attention, I hate him!!), and the children themselves most likely started distancing themselves from him and stopped trying to get close (especially after Driftmark where Aemond had to learn that his dad doesn't care about him even if he's grievously injured and Aegon is screamed and treated so dismissively with Viserys calling him "boy" as if that ain't his fucking kid, and Helaena was also a witness of that whole exchange as well), which meant that not only was there no instigation on his part, there was nothing to respond to.

And as they grew older, continuing to dress so firmly on their mother's side of things, while Viserys became increasingly infirm, that might have widened the gulf somewhat. But I think whatever part it played in adding to his treatment of Aegon and Helaena and Aemond (and Daeron, wherever you are bby) was likely negligible.

if the show had ended with dany in the iron throne or destroying it herself (as she does with the harpy throne in meereen in the books) and in a position of power at the end to change for the better the future of women, that line in the trailer would fit better because Dany would have avenged her ancestors after they were stolen their rights. Now is just like, 'you admit the misogyny of the story but when you can you do nothing to change it...'

Yes, that's exactly the point I was making when creating my post. We know what will happen to Rhaenyra, we know hers and Alicent's relationship will be an important part of the storyline, some people may even argue that these women are the ones who provoked the civil war and caused so many deaths and destruction. Constantly through Westerosi history, women are being villanized and shamed, Rhaenyra became one of these historical figures upon whom all of Westeros put all the faults. And then you have a trailer with quotes like "No Queen has ever sat the Iron Throne", then men argue about finding a MALE heir, "A woman would not inherit the Iron Throne. Because that is the order of things" -- and yet, WE KNOW Rhaenyra's story will not be the "fight against this injustice and win" kind of storyline. The only one who could have brought justice to this story (to Rhaenyra, and make sense of this spin-off) would have been Daenerys. You could argue that the Targaryens deserved destruction seeing how they tear each other apart and all, but what can't change is how Rhaenyra didn't deserve her claim to the Throne to be challenged because she was a woman (aaand even more but spoiler territory). To lose everything because she clung to the Throne, which was her birthright. And no matter what GRRM wants to do with Daenerys in the books, no matter how the spin-offs will "fix GOT" or try to fix it, they'll NEVER be able to change how GOT the show has ended. How they treated Daenerys in the end. How D&D turned her into a villain and stampled her as "crazy" last minute to justify her murder. It's almost like you can't make Rhaenyra's story powerful when you see how The Targaryens end, and how QUEENS even, end in Westeros- let's all remember how both Tyrion and Varys turned on Dany as soon as they realized there was a male heir who could take the Throne. I'll enjoy HOTD for what it is as a separate storyline, a part of Westeros' history. But it'll never make GOT better, it'll never make the story of Westeros better, it'll never "avenge" anything. It'll still leave a bitter taste in my mouth no matter what: and all these stories will always be about how women get screwed over, betrayed and murdered for wanting the same things as men have been fighting over for centuries and have been called legitimate in doing so. I guess that's what they're aiming for, idk? Since GOT doomed all justice in Westeros, they'll create a cynical "dark universe" of spin-offs ending on constant injustices lmao, idk. We know GRRM won't retcon what happens in the Dance of Dragons war, we know how it ends, and it's meant to be a tragedy in itself. But it could have been SO MUCH MORE if GOT had a better ending and had been written better. This spin-off will only show how Westerosi men have not evolved at all, how they keep controlling everything and how they keep murdering women to get what they want *shrugs*. It’ll mirror GOT’s ending in the saddest way possible. Oh, and all in all, Daenerys deserved better. Maybe it’ll bring that back front and forward, rather than making excuses for GOT’s stupid ending. A girl can hope.

This was going very well new secured several shatteredome in the process there were three small ones in the midwest we couldn't get to and we have grab them we needed to grab them very badly everyone was complaining Non-Stop including me. Is a huge number of people bothering our son some were bothering him in a dream state and he wasn't violent at all there's a little but not much and then pestering really. It went off and I'm doing the wrong thing getting in trouble I have a huge words for them and they're going to hear them shortly.

There's a huge number of people going at the castles. Huge the fortifications are big but these numbers are gigantic and for numbers of people outstanding who are moloch that's fascinating how many it's kind of depressing and it's a very large number and we have castles in the Midwest as soon as we secure an area he said move the castles we are and we have and they're noticing this more the more I can panicking the calling up the reserves and to go after those castles it's a huge battle all over Earth but mostly in the United States. The foreigners are hitting ships offshore and soon there won't be any ships in the blockade but there is there are spaceships above that limit the activities of the ships and soon people will find they do a lot worse than that and the rebels are gearing up for it. The floor is a nervous about it and have very large fleets in space and her son doesn't know if any huge system that's up they would know better or will and Bill this is a few large lasers 10 mi beam or 20 mi beam they don't know if any bigger and he says Hoth and Titan are probably the best bet to check other than that he doesn't think they have anything up and they agree.

Trump's ships are down, most of them across the planet are gone meaning there's none buried and they aren't any around Earth and they're in hiding in the solar system somewhere it won't last long they need supplies they'll try and send ships and they'll get hit. We're here it's going on now 3,000 ships are approaching the Empire is hitting and wiping them out now and John Reema Lord is probably not going to make it out today of anywhere. He lost all his businesses and all his Banks and all the money he had for my sons is in our possession with one exception the money in Boston Massachusetts and his investments which are still with the investment friends and have not been dispursed to him. Between the two he'd be a billionaire with a hefty number a very hefty number. And we don't foresee you Max giving him a thing you're still a huge assholes and you're doing very fast within hours of pretty much won't be any of you left anywhere even Florida and you're still arrogance as hell it's because of your Empire fleet we think and up there there's a bunch of troops about 200 million septillion and you take enough to take over the whole world is hardware you have aboard. All her son said was you should wear those world War II uniforms you lost him and they went nuts with it Mac is upset and he says it's your fault and it says I admit it that clothing not the cloning is what did it is laughing. The computer had it right mincing the way that's dumb luck Hal says about Alice. They're huge things wrong with you people you're gross your pain you're disgusting animals and your pain there's one thing we don't put up with and she'll lude behavior you want that a****** in jail he belongs in jail I'm going to make it happen too you want to be threatened you just keep doing what you're doing if you can't get it I'll turn it up for you any halfwit to tell you what's going on.

You turn it up a few notches yesterday and use that you guys exploded couldn't stand it at all you're more like exploded on the military but still there and on castles will be out shortly why do we hate them we're a group of jerks will be gone I think this is Tuesday afternoon

Thor Freya

We think Fargo is coming to an end shortly and it's due to losing territory up there and access is becoming restricted and nobody knows how to fly the thing or they turn it on or anything so they're going to get Obama and some sigourney out and they've been discussing it for a week and they're playing it now. They have a strategy they're going to try it probably feel they'll try the movie thing and for some reason it works don't look much like them don't seem to active on the plane but they're not the only ones who get away. They're prepping now. And yes and if I had the Empire would win in space it wouldn't be that narrow they have death stars and ground bases

Thor Freya

OK so strange journey thoughts I'm confused about the womb of grief and empyrean ascent.

Like it's established the womb of grief is where mem aleph imprisons the people who are against her (so Law gods mainly, but also Amon* who IG is a chaos demon who's just not in her specific camp)

(*Amon is interesting bc he's the only boss you don't fight, he's the one Alex fights. And like oof do I have words abt Alex as a character but it's like entirely not her fault she's so badly written, like she basically exists to be "every future you chooses sucks" but with noooo nuance. But anyway love that Amon's wikia states "He procures love and reconciles controversies between friends and foes" I think it is a fun tidbit Alex just attracts guys who she tried to kill who like her despite this fact.)

OK so I get why the player had to fight all the Boss demons each level to get the cosmic fruit fragments bc both video game logic IG and also IG that they needed to be in the hands of someone safely in their law camp/a human who is easy to manipulate but that demons can't get to easy, but if they're the demons who controlled who can pass through each level then like why such a big deal truly.

the concept being that the wise men's power was sealed away and split apart and "put under protection" (words of Lucifer in Chaos redux route), but the people who were guarding them were all the Boss Law prisoners and Demeter was like explicitly on good terms with them even as they were like. killed by the protag

Also if the 3 wise men were theoretically imprisoned how did they get to their weird blank board room in Sector Eridanus, like they escaped prison but were weakened? Or?? But then why is their empyrean descent, basically their Law Domain(TM) at the heart of the womb of grief. either it's been a while since I played and I just didn't pick up on all the lore and I'm missing something or it for realsies doesn't make sense.

The wardens of the womb that you fight are all #girl chaos demons, so very explicitly in Mem Aleph's camp and fits with the mom feminine divine thing. Maria being the last boss i'm still kinda confused on but like at least thematically IG it works or something. Also the 3 wise men merging into Shekhinah is very #gender, same like how Mem's empty form is a fetus with like a classical greek old guy head. Like most things in smt i don't get it but I am looking and it compels me somehow.

And TBH on just a larger level trying to understand the themes of each of the sectors...like sections A-D are representing human vices i guess, while E is sort of the utopian illusory ideal of what earth could be without human pollution (following the wikia), so kind of an alice in wonderland mirror parallel world.

It also being where the Vanishing Point, Oroborus, Yggdrasil, and 3 wise men have their base all serving to embellish this area as like the central plot where we go from extended exposition to Shit Picks Up difficulty jump representing both that you're no longer ignorance of the stakes but also a turning point is coming in where you're going to fall on this cosmic war. Also personal comment but the wormhole they can escape back to earth to being called the Vanishing Point is just something so fun I think. Something something perception perspective parallel lines working to create the illusion of depth in a 2 dimensional space.

Sector F is rly interesting in that it's so. Meta, both on a gamer level but also with the whole Great Will thing, and the idea that (according to the wikia) it "Represents the Schwarzwelt in its original state. It resembles a massive computer, collecting massive amounts of data." So the idea of like. technology mimicing biological processes (following the theme of humans as a virus in that specifically eco-fascist way strange journey has going for it) which in term loop back to technology. I think it's interesting! It being where i think tiamat refers to it as like, a garden or something? where seeds are planted and reborn and it being where the old bosses come back and are shown in what is like closer to their "true" more pure form.

That it's the Schwarzwelt in it's original state but it's sector H that's like true origin of Earth, I think the implication of the Schwarzwelt as not as natural a phenomena as claimed by the supernatural parties but something manufactured as part of this ongoing cosmic war is also again pretty fun I think. Or i could just be completely reaching and pulling this out of my ass, never know!

Sector G I genuinely don't get like...we never see the true face of it it's just kind of uh previous sectors remixed! The illusions thing I guess being metaphor for this where you make your alignment choice and secure what ending your on, so all about perception and there being no true "reality" because all judgements are based on the limited information available in a given moment. Or alternatively with sayyy, the Law and Chaos factions making their bases literally on alternate subdimensions right on top of one another, that very confrontation of self and the other identity formation lacanian boundary transgression kind of thing. But who knows!! Not me!!!!

I had more to say on shekhinah and mem aleph but this post is long lol I'm making a new one

right. various trains of thought.

1. vivaldi (childishly, again) , really really likes to parade alice and how close she is with her around in front of other people- ace, peter, blood- to show off. EXCEPT, nightmare, who she shows off a bit to but then seems to really want to leave her alone. might you be having some embarassing crushing lovey dovey thoughts, hmmmmmmmmmmm? ;) she has a reputation to uphold. its a power move to show off your arm candy, but not a power move to be caught loving.

1c- yes this is correct i added it later- thats kind of like what blood does too, huh? hes all a big flirt guy till he gets called on it being serious, at which point how DARE you accuse him of LOVING SOMEONE. but with blood i think the dichotomy is more like "im very sexual"/"how dare you think i LOVE", whereas with vivaldi its "people belong to me"/"how dare you think i belong to people". idk idk idk thats just my initial thoughts

1a. haha nightmare's big ol crush on alice.

1b. Haha alice's immediate I NEED TO SHIP NIGHTMARE AND VIVALDI RIGHT NOW projecting but also "it kind of irks me that im not the only one to see this side of vivaldi" , but well i guess he is a mind reader so he knows EVERYBODYS squishy brain side.

2. Peter event! I saw peter's second event, and some VERY interesting things happened- first off, alice is blaming herself for spending time with him despite The, You Know, The Prologue, and he immediately says to put the blame on him, to accuse him, it's his fault she keeps showing up. which really really pinged for me as a reason that you find sometimes find ppl, especially women, writing romanticized assault/rape/dubious consent in romance novels- people, this school of thought says, especially women, are made to feel bad for wanting and desiring, and this allows the woman target audience to experience what they want without the guilt of wanting it. honk continues to be a really really good fiction-as-escapism allegory, and while i do not necessarily agree with how they handle consent (LOLOLOLOL UNDERSTATEMENT), im very intrigued by the paralell drawn here, that honestly i am willing to hand to them as being on purpose. (shriekcast voice The Auteur's Respect)

2a. alice realizes that something feels off about his love confessions, almost like they're empty, almost like...almost....almost........

2b. Here's my guess: parasocial.

2c. You all know i cant stand peter but i am fully prepared to be Boo Boo The Fool and love him after his routes lololol. the clown makeup is ready

3. I love the sibling relationship between blood and vivaldi, the way they snark at each other (you invite me in DAYTIME?? my LEAST FAVORITE TIME??? i am going to drink you out of house and home), but also the way that at the end of the day they are very much enemy territory leaders, that the rules come first, that vivaldi in her stay route doesnt even name him when she tells alice she used to have a brother because the Queen Role has no parents or siblings, it no longer matters. its very sad. in another world they could rely on each other, maybe. here they can trust to not poison each other when rules dont allow it, but if it came down to it, if they found themselves on the other side of a scheduled war or duel ... who knows?

3a. lololol alice like I DONT KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE NAKED CAUSE I DONT LOOK AT YOU WHEN WE HAVE HOT TUB TIME. ....alice. girl. u are sooooooo repressed.

The Mountain of Ghosts

Another week, another episode. This one dealt with a topic that I know has been on the fandom's mind since the end of season four, so let's just dive into this.

Alice and Eliot - obviously the big part of the episode. This has been on everyone's mind since season one and the possibility of Queliot was a thing. It's been a constant back and forth, one or the other, situation since, and sadly, we all know where most of the fandom landed on that issue. This was a good episode that got to the crux of the issue here, that being Quentin. Not Alice's or Eliot's feelings toward Quentin but rather his feelings toward them.

For years I've stood here and watched the constant screeching of "Quentin loved Eliot more!" or more rarely, (seriously, very rarely), "Quentin loved Alice more!" It got to the point where I firmly believed, and still believe, that it wasn't a matter of actually caring about Quentin at all. I'm not saying that no one actually liked Q, but that was secondary to the main issue of which ship would win in the end. Shipping is a big thing in fandom, but what no one really ever wants to admit is that it's also a big problem in fandom, in that ship wars happen and all some people seem to care about is the validation that comes with watching their ship set sail or another ship sink. That's all I'm going to say about that right now, because honestly the problem with shipping in fandom is a whole other topic waiting to be made, but its relevant to this issue, so let's move on.

Alice and Eliot both loved Quentin, and whether anyone wants to admit it or not, he loved both of them back. It isn't a matter of saying he loved either one of them more, or which one was more valid because no one loves two different people in the same way. Some of the things that Quentin loved about Alice aren't the same things he would have loved about Eliot. And this episode really highlighted that. Eliot and Alice are about as different as you can get, especially when it comes to romance. They both had different approaches to their relationship with Q, and I'm so glad we got to see them resolve their differences. We finally got to see Eliot say to someone else that he and Q loved each other, and have Alice not only acknowledge it but embrace it. She said it best, "what was I going to do? Demand he be less complicated? That he only love one person?" Too often Alice is reduced to this one-dimensional girl who is only defined by her relationship with Quentin, especially by fandom, and this really broke that mold. This was a nice episode for the two of them, to work through their anger and to work together to let go of Quentin... to acknowledge that they couldn't save him. I hope this bond between the two of them keeps building through the rest of the season.

PS: please let Alice wear jeans and pants more often. She looked so much more comfortable than she does in those fetish school girl dresses.

Moving on...

Margo - I'm not sure how I feel about this whole "reclaiming the throne" thing she's got going on. I loved Margo winning the throne by her own merit back in season three, because it worked in that moment. And then last year we had her abandon the throne to save Eliot. When push came to shove, she valued one person over the duty she had as a king to her people. I'm not faulting her for that, because I understand where she was coming from, but she still gave up the throne and it paved the way for Fen to assume the throne.

I can only speak for me, but I thought that was beautiful. Having a Fillorian finally sit on the throne of Fillory felt like a major milestone, and now we're just supposed to believe that Margo gets to be the king because she said so? I didn't like that. That's one of Margo's negative character traits, her entitlement, which brings us to...

Fen - I do not like what they're doing with her so far this season. Who is the sycophantic woman? She admired Margo, of course, but not to the extent of idol worship. This is a woman who was part of the F.U. Fighters, fighting for Fillorian rights in a kingdom always ruled by outsiders. But then the moment Margo's not there, she turns into this incompetent moron, so much so that she and Josh were overthrown because they were waiting for someone else to save them, and I don't like that. That is a complete disservice to the character and the journey she's been on for the previous three seasons.

Also, this whole Josh thing that's going to come between these two women, who have had such respect for each other, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I was one of those (probably the only) who was rooting for Josh and Margo. Were there things I would have changed about it? Of course, but I thought they worked well together and off of one another, and now we have this bullshit. I liked Josh, not just because we shared the same name, but because he was an interesting character that people, especially women, seemed to like, not because of his appearance but because of his personality. And now they've turned him into a quintessential Nice Guy™ who sleeps with his girlfriend's friend instead of figuring out a way to save themselves and Fillory.

I will say that it'll be interesting to see how Fen and Margo repair their friendship after that revelation that Margo legitimately tried to kill her, if they repair it at all.

As for everyone else...

Julia - I know we're working up to something with her and the big catastrophe, so I'm gonna let her lack of a role these past two episodes aside from support slide.

Penny - I really would like to see more of Professor Adoyodi, aside from just him doing research for class. Also, it's sad that they had him mention that "best case scenario for Travelers" is that they just become an Uber for their friends, only to have Julia ask him for a lift...

Like, y'all wrote it, maybe you should pay more attention to it!

And then there's Kady and Fogg. The Magicians is so different then other ensemble shows in that they actually use the ensemble! That being said, characters like Fogg and Kady often end up on the side because, while they're deemed primary characters, they feel more like secondary or tertiary ones. I know I'm not the only one interested in what's going on with the Hedge Witches, but we don't see Kady and what's going on with them unless one of the other "mains" needs something, usually some secret Hedge spell or Kady's fist. Same with Fogg. Brakebills was such a cornerstone for this show, and while the mains left the school (didn't graduate, just left) the institution plays a major role still, as a location if nothing else. Add to that the fact that Penny is a professor there now, and I'd espect to see more of it.

Lastly... the Dark King.

Not to toot my horn or anything, but I'm pretty damn good at predicting turns and plot twists. I can usually spot a villain or antagonist the moment I see them, but that wasn't the case here. Granted, in hindsight I should have seen in with how he was introduced, but I was so stuck on the idea that I "knew" who the Dark King was that I couldn't entertain the possibility that I would be wrong. Though, to be fair, he did have a line about illusion magic, so there's a chance I might still be right. All of that being said, it did feel a little like a cop out. All of our other villains and antagonists have been hinted long before their big reveal, and just having a completely new character shown up and go "Surprise, bitch! I'm the dark king" feels a little off to me. We'll just have to wait and see.

All in all, I'd give this episode a rating of 7.5 out of 10. I know I complained a lot, and that's because, aside from Eliot and Alice's arc, the rest of the episode felt kind of lackluster to me. Here's hoping we pick up the pace the rest of the season.