The writers deliberately setting up Rhaenyra as a religious, cult-like figure willing to sacrifice all the dragonseeds was disgusting, not just for the way they are paralleling her to S8 Daenerys, but also because they are deliberately justifying the violence and betrayal Rhaenyra faces before she dies.
In Fire & Blood, the dragonseeds are completely willing participants. The dragons had their own caves, and every dragonseed would have to find the dragon on their own, decide if they wanted to actually try anything, and could easily have left if they lost their courage. Every moment was willing.
So when the book introduces the families of the dragonseeds when Aegon takes Dragonstone - those who had lost someone to the dragons - it’s introduced with the expectation for the reader to understand that the families were unjustly taking out their anger and misogyny on Rhaenyra. She was not at fault for anyone’s actions, yet they turned against her all the same the moment Aegon showed up. They kept him hidden, they helped him take the castle, they took Rhaenyra straight to her death, all because they were bitter. Slights “real or imagined.”
“Even in Dragonstone, long Queen Rhaenyra’s seat and stronghold, they found many who misliked the queen for both reasons good and ill. Some grieved for brothers, sons, and fathers slain during the Sowing or during the Battle of the Gullet, some hoped for plunder or advancement, whilst others believed a son must come before a daughter, giving Aegon a better claim.” - F&B 542
Rhaenyra did nothing. She was betrayed anyway.
Now in House of the Dragon, when that scene will be set up, the anger and misogyny WILL be justified. The whole section is supposed to be about unjustified violence towards women (and their supporters), and it will all now be erased. Rhaenyra will not even die simply because she made a mistake of going to Dragonstone. No, she will bring her own death upon herself for her actions. She will deserve her fate.
Here, Rhaenyra did something. The betrayal is justified. The story is ruined, and HotD will get away with the idea that they gave an amazing feminist retelling, when in truth they erased every bit of it.
begging for more wintery sansa art
and what if i said thats my baby girl. my cinnamon apple <3
YOU can write whatever you want whenever however forevrr. i have to write something perfect and earth shattering and i have to do it perfectly the first time or else
i think wylan matthias friendship should be appreciated more.. they had a great time drawing together
I really dislike when I see people say that King Viserys had no right to change the laws and traditions of Westeros by making Rhaenyra his heir. They really have no idea what they're talking about when they say that. Rulers - kings and queens - create and change laws and traditions. If King Jaehaerys could officially set the precedent of sons coming before daughters then King Viserys had the right to undo it.
It's not even like it was the first time a Targaryen had changed any traditions in Westeros. The Conquerors came along, took over the land, and made multiple changes, such as outlawing certain Westerosi traditions such as making it so men could strike their wives only a certain number of times instead of beating them to death. King Jaehaerys created an entire doctrine allowing Targaryens to continue practicing incest even though that was against the tradition in Westeros. Queen Alysanne abolished The First Night, an ancient tradition in Westeros. I truly have no idea where this notion comes from that Viserys had no right to change anything. He was the most powerful man in Westeros, what do you mean he had no right? If he wanted to shake up tradition then that was his right to do so as king.
Just take a look at real life historical kings and queens, emperors, etc. Many of them changed things that previous rulers had implemented, they changed laws and traditions that existed for a long time. I mean King Henry VIII established a whole new church just so he could get a divorce and did many things to diminish the Catholic Church's influence because he was king, he could do that. Then his daughter Queen Mary came along and tried to undo what her father did and then Queen Elizabeth I came after her and reversed her reforms because kings and queens could change whatever they wanted and undo whatever they wanted.
So yeah King Viserys was well within his right to decide to make his daughter heir over his son. He was well within his right as king to change a precedent a previous king had set.
I don't know if people who say he had no right to do what he did are just used to most monarchies today being only symbolic in nature with not much power or what but most monarchies in history could do and change what they wanted because they had absolute power. House Targaryen had absolute power, meaning King Viserys could do what he wanted and if what he wanted was to make Rhaenyra his heir then he could do that. I've seen people argue that his word isn't law but yes it is.
The two young lions of the Rock
"The heart is an arrow, it demands to land true"
do you ever start writing a comment on the internet and then think “oh what the fuck am i going on about” and delete it
RACHEL ZEGLER at the ‘Snow White’ press event in Tokyo, Japan, dressed in a custom Paolo Sebastian gown inspired by the daggered heart box motif from the original 1937 Disney film (5th March 2025)
Probably off somewhere misusing free willFree palestine 🇵🇸🇵🇸
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