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Henry VIII kissing the forehead of his daughter, Princess Mary.

THE TUDORS (2007-2010) | 3X01 — 4X07

#the tudors #there's a lot going on here that i could rant about for days #but their relationship as portrayed in the tudors is so Much

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Just checking.... We all pronounce Miette like My-TAY in our heads, right?

#there's no n what are you talking about #it's mee-yett because it's an actual word in a real language

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Princesses don't marry kitchen boys.

ANASTASIA (1997) dir. Don Bluth, Gary Goldman

#anastasia

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happy thursday everyone

#this is not untrue

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What’s your favourite line from good omens?

The invisible and unbreakable one that joins Crowley and Aziraphale.

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i did think it was weird that once they saw aemond in the training yard, the Strong boys look at each other in surprise and then the camera cuts back to them again and jace has the most irritated look ever. like, my dude did you honestly expect that aemond wasn't gonna grow up and maybe get better at all? and then to be dismayed at him proving (once again) that he's a good fighter?? what is your problem??? what a couple of spoiled brats.

Rhaenyra really did everyone in her family a huge disservice by fucking off to Dragonstone. For one, she most crucially really screwed over herself. In the aftermath of the very public murder of her husband, as well as a scandal in full view of the court (Aemond's maiming by her son), she essentially withdraws from public life at a time when she really needs to be visible in order to preserve an element of innocence. Instead, it looks like she murdered her husband and then fled to escape scrutiny. Not to mention, it allows other rumors about her and her family to propagate in her absence. It allows rumors about the Strongs to grow, and rumors about her own personality and temperament, seeing as she's not in Westeros to refute any of the claims herself. It prevents her from doing what an heir absolutely should do, which is be involved in governance and be known to the realm. The years Rhaenyra spent on Dragonstone are the most crucial, they were the last year of her predecessor's reign, a time when she should have been spending more time showing her aptitude for ruling, making allies, letting the realm know her through progresses or visits to allies in different regions. Instead they don't know her, they just view her as an adulteress with no experience who has sequestered herself on an island, which is especially bad considering that significant time has passed since the loyalty oath and most people in charge of Westeros now haven't sworn any allegiance to her or her claim, nor is she giving them reason to. And what's worse, being at Dragonstone also leaves the realm in the hands of her opponents. Otto is the Hand, Alicent is doing most of the governance once Viserys becomes infirm and is literally on the Small Council leading it, her children are regularly seen in public and at court with other important politicians from all throughout the realm. It creates a situation where it's much easier to support the Greens than the Blacks, because the Greens are a known quantity with good reputations, and the Blacks are practically strangers who are not well regarded due to accusations of murder, bastardy, and bad behavior.

For two, she also does a disservice to her kids. Again, all the issues Rhaenyra caused for herself also apply to Jace as her own heir. He also needs to be visible and prove himself capable of governing. And given the question of his parentage, since he can't really dispute biology, he needs to visibly lean into his Targaryen side, to remind people that he's inheriting due to being Rhaenyra's son, not Laenor's. And like you said anon, it causes another problem in that the image Jace and Luke have in their heads of people like Aegon and Helaena and Aemond are outdated and inaccurate, because they all grew up and developed. So they have to very swiftly reconcile old images with new people, people who are bigger and taller and better fighters than you last remembered them as, great fighters even, and who also have very good reason to be pissed at you. And given that they're about to opponents in out-and-out conflict, that's a problem. Because the Strongs don't know their opponents. They don't know how good a fighter Aemond is, just that he's very good from what they saw in the training yard, they don't know if Aegon has a similar prowess, they don't know how powerful Sunfyre and Dreamfyre are (they might have a good idea about Vhagar based on how old she is). We know that this is a problem because we've seen it already, Luke underestimates Aemond's rage against him for what was done at Driftmark and is taken off guard by Aemond's desire for revenge, which leads to his own death. The kids suffer from the isolation at Dragonstone too.

And yeah, Jace being irritated is just dumb, if you're angsty about Aemond being a better fighter than you, go train harder and get better instead of shutting yourself up indoors and failing to learn a language your mom and uncles were already entirely fluent in by your age.

#personal #answered #anonymous #yeah rhaenyra shunting herself off to dragonstone is an almost comically bad move #i'm sorry but girlie has NO political skills #(guess she really is viserys's heir after all cuz he doesn't either) #also this has just led me to the very funny idea that if jace is still struggling with valyrian #than luke is still struggling with valyrian #so maybe when aemond was yelling at him in valyrian at storm's end he just had no idea what the fuck he was saying

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Can I just say how much I adore your protectiveness of Aemond? It's quite amazing to behold and I think this grumpy young man might feel a little better knowing that there's someone else out there willing to fight on his behalf.

Ah thank you! Yeah, as soon as Aemond had his first flight with Vhagar and was shouting "woohoo" as he flew that became my pookie, and he's never done anything wrong except for all the things he's done wrong which don't matter anyway ('oh he's gonna carpetbomb the Riverlands' one of my favorite ASOIAF/GOT characters is Tywin "famed for his profoundly shitty treatment of the Riverlands and also everywhere else his army went" Lannister, I don't care about the morality of characters unless there's other issues souring me to them as well).

Anyway, me 🤝 Alicent, being ready willing and able to cut all the bitches for Aemond.

#personal #answered #anonymous #he's a good character i really enjoy him #and the driftmark thing is just.........god rhaenyra's side was so in the wrong it's not even funny #and you know who agrees with me on that? emma d'arcy! #so i'm just speaking gospel truth

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Have you read or watched Dune?

I've watched Dunde (2021) and am looking for time to watch Part Two, and I am reading Dune. It's a very long book and it can feel a bit dense at times, so it's taken me time, but I like what I have thus far and I definitely have enjoyed 2021 Dune enough to rewatch it more than once.

#personal #answered #anonymous

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i don’t have a Twitter for fandom stuff but this thread is great and a perfect explanation for the issues at the heart of the dance and why there never would have been peace

#personal #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd season 2

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Do you have any favorite rock bands?

The Beatles, I guess? Sorry, I don't listen to a lot of rock music and I'm really bad at picking music faves.

#personal #answered #anonymous

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What's the funniest thing you've heard a friend or relative say or do?

My sister, when she was younger, had the tendency to both mix stuff up and say the oddest shit. Family favorites include "the cosmetology of women", "metamorphology," and "there's no gravity inside your mouth" (that last one was because she was eating mashed potatoes and they stuck to the roof of her mouth). She also at one point wanted me to slide her Adidas sneakers under the crack in the bathroom door and got upset at me when I told her that was imposisble (this is part of a much longer story that, if I did standup comedy routines, I would absolutely use as the closer, I can tell y'all at another time).

#personal #answered #anonymous #i love her very much but she's a goddamn laugh riot #get my parents and i drunk enough we'll tell stories about my sister as a little kid and just fall over into helpless giggles

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cats or dogs?

Honestly, both. I grew up with both, our longtime family pets have been a black cat and a Border Collie, and I love them equally.

#personal #answered #anonymous

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"Who was really behind blood and cheese?"

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLuRCbUQ/

In this video on TikTok, the creator claims that Daemon couldn't possibly be behind blood and cheese because he's not a "schemer." 🙄

Oh yeah I saw people talking about that on Twitter and it's dumb as Hell. Like, for one, no Otto's not going to do it because killing one of only two heirs to the throne and driving his granddaughter to madness to the point where she can't create any more is much more of a problem than any good PR would be a solution. Just because Otto decided to capitalize on a grotesque situation as best he could doesn't mean he orchestrated it. Not to mention, Otto's canon characterization, as expressed not only in the show but also behind the scenes by the writers and Rhys himself, is as someone who loves his family. His problem is that he's not good at verbalizing it (Rhys said something to the effect of Otto not having the language available to tell Alicent "I love you and I'm scared for you" even if that's how he feels) which doesn't allow it to be verbally expressed, and he also values power and advancement too much. So he places it over the love he has for his family, chiefly Alicent, who he clearly adores as his child, and it causes him to grievously hurt his family in spite of his love for them, like setting up Alicent to be groomed and sold off into marriage to Viserys despite the damage it will cause.

And yeah, Daemon isn't a schemer, but you know what he is? Violent. Violent and cruel and uncaring towards the suffering of others. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he is someone who bashed his wife's head in because he wanted to murder her for the crime of him not liking her. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he did fabricate an entire plot that could have resulted in Mysaria being killed without even taking her wants and needs into consideration. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he is the kind of man who takes teenage girls to brothels to ruin them and then leaves them there with their clothes off at the mercy of rapists and murderers and no way to get back home. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he is a father who neglects his older children and shows no care or concern for their wellbeing or emotional needs. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he is someone who giggles at his wife's funeral in front of her family and responds to his brother's attempt at conciliation with personal insults. Show Daemon isn't a schemer, but he is a husband who put hands on his wife and throttled her when she hit on a sore nerve and he wanted to lash out. Daemon's involvement in Blood and Cheese doesn't require scheming. It requires him having contacts in King's Landing, which is likely given his time living there, and it involves his propensity for significant violence against anyone he wants it done to and his disregard towards early anyone who isn't himself. So him hiring people to kill a child and telling them to be as merciless as possible about it? Yeah, that tracks with Daemon as he's portrayed on this show. That tracks really well.

Anyway funny how Team Black stans were all about 'and we'll support them in their war crimes era!' about Daemyra but now that the war crimes are approaching and we're about to watch baby murder and threatening to rape a child and mentally torturing Helaena and Alicent on an HD screen, now there's theories that make no sense. Blood and Cheese is, at minimum, Daemon's fault, not anyone on Team Black, and it's high time his fans at least follow his own lead and own it.

#personal #answered #anonymous #house of the dragon #hotd #that doesn't even touch on the fact that if the leaked sides from the alys audition are part of the final script #then daemon was definitely involved in blood and cheese #since alys talks about daemon being 'at odds' with his queen or something #which i think is rhaenyra being horrified at what he did with blood and cheese and sending him away #(even tho she didn't denounce him or lock him up which makes her just as complicit honestly) #(and of course in the book she had no problem with it but show rhaenyra is softer) #and yeah at least daemon owns that he did blood and cheese #follow his example daemon stans

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me @ you calling Lucerys boring! 😆 come on, he's just a kid! cutting out aemond's eye was bad, i agree, but i don't think he was as bland as everyone says. his imposter syndrome in 8 and 10 was interesting to watch at least. he was a brave little boy.

I mean I don't really see anything brave about bringing a knife to a fight he not only had fuck all to do with but where he was clearly at fault (Aemond did nothing wrong, he tamed a free dragon, Baela and Rhaena get a pass because they're grieving but Jace and Luke had no business being involved and certainly no business escalating into 4 v 1 violence against the clear cut victim), trying to literally murder someone because I don't know what the fuck you're trying to do when you stab a knife at someone's face but it's certainly not a warning shot, showing zero remorse for it at all, and at worse acting like a little snot when in the same room with your victim. The fact that Luke got away with this scot free (didn't he literally say "I didn't do anything" you boring little asshole you stabbed out someone's eye that is the opposite of not doing anything!) is an absolute travesty of justice that stains everyone involved (mostly Viserys and Luke but I'm not letting Rhaenyra "pls torture the ten year old stabbing victim until he tells me how he figured out that these white dark haired children aren't the sons of my black platinum blond husband" Targaryen off the hook either). Aemond could have died, not only from the initial wound, but from the myriad of infections or other issues that could have plagued him during the healing process. For God's sake, Viserys nicks himself on the Iron Throne and they have to lop off his arm, his infected injuries and their treatment have already made him pretty firmly decrepit by Driftmark, the fact that Aemond healed without any serious and lifelong and further damaging complication is a goddamn miracle. And even kids know that murder is bad, I'm pretty sure that if I were Lucerys's age and I tried to commit homicide I'd have to deal with some consequences.

And I'm sorry, but I call him boring because he is! They wrote a boring character! That's not on me for picking up on it, that's on the writers and the myriad choices they made that led to them severely underdeveloping several characters, most prominently Lucerys (Jace and Baela and Rhaena at least get another season of life to develop further, Luke gets four episodes and they knew that going in). This is a song I've been singing literally since the show was airing and it's not gonna change, cuz he's dead and therefore stuck with his boring character and complete lack of characterization.

Him being a kid is not a character trait, and it certainly doesn't make him more interesting anymore than, say, his eye color would. The impostor syndrome thing they kinda tried didn't really work because 1) it's not impostor syndrome if it's true, he's not a Velaryon and Vaemond was 99% in the right in that entire thing (I don't like him throwing out misogynistic slurs, you can point out that these aren't Velaryons but Strong bastards without stooping to calling Rhaenyra a whore, I hate men sometimes) 2) in episode 8 it exists for one single line and is not a driving force for him at all for the remainder of the episode to the point that it could be cut out and mean nothing, especially since that scene was only there to introduce adult Aemond and 3) it doesn't even make sense because the person who was set up as having issues with his lack of Velaryon heritage and Harwin being his father was Jace. Jace is the one who hears the rumors and clocks it early on in childhood, Jace is the one who is deeply affected by it to the point of bitterness towards his own mother, Jace is the one who grieves Harwin but also feels angry that he can't express it. All of that was set up as part of Jace's arc, not at all Luke's, who is literally set dressing up until he decides to commit criminal offenses in the middle of the night. And then time skip, and suddenly Jace is A-OK and Luke, who has shown no issue before now (or any personality at all) is slightly concerned about it for one line in episode 8 before going back to being a piece of cardboard until episode 10.

And I'll be honest, the second that scene came out in episode 10, I immediately saw it for what it was, which was a very obvious patch job. The writers were clearly aware that they had not given the viewers any reason at all to care about Luke one way or another, so we weren't going to feel a lot when Vhagar (deservedly, imo) munches on him. So they hastily added in this really heavy-handed scene of poor uwu soft boy Lukey who is so concerned with doing right and needs to blink up tearfully at Mommy and be her sweet boy and get little kisses to assuage his worries, so that we'd feel some emotion and then be said when he becomes the Jonah to Vhagar's whale. It just doesn't work because there was nothing for him before then and therefore I don't care, I just feel bad Rhaenyra.

Luke is a bland and boring character. That's not an attack, that's just what the writers did. They tried to cram too much into a ten episode season, literally twenty years of history, and it caused a lot of characterization problems for a lot of characters, particularly for the Team Black ones. And a consequence of that is that the character with the least amount of time for development got not development and no personality. He's a plank of wood, he's a platonic version of the sexy lamp trope; there's nothing there and he exists only for us to feel bad when the lamp is smashed. Seriously, name me five individual character traits that Lucerys has. He's a momma's boy, even though I'm not really sure that's a character trait but I'll give it to him, and I guess he's devoid of empathy, considering that he doesn't appear to feel literally any remorse for mutilating Aemond (seriously, is it like the Dothraki and "thank you"? does the word "sorry" not exist in Valyrian languages? you can't even send an apology gift basket or a note?). But he's not brave, as there is no scene that shows any bravery or courage, and he's not noble or kind or thoughtful because there's nothing that shows any of that, or anything that shows him being the opposite, cruel or cowardly or weak, because he's a basically a character who could be played by sticking a wig on a mop and waving it around. And any characterization of insecurity exists as something hamfistedly crowbarred in at the last minute in his final episode to try to manipulate the audience's emotions with less sensitivity than D&D trying to tug at our heartstrings by having Drogon try to nudge Dany awake after she's killed.

But there is a character that I do consider to be a brave little boy, though I regret to inform y'all that it is Not a fourteen year old with no depth or personality or written characterization whose main claim to fame is maiming a person without apology and then dying. Nah, the brave little boy title goes to post-Driftmark Aemond. Aemond, at ten, is delivered a life altering injury whose recovery was likely very slow and very painful, involved a lot of worry about whether he'd have to deal with infection or further risk of death, and had to relearn how to do literally everything now that he was half blind, and he did all of it. He survived, and he thrived. He relearned how to walk, how to balance, his spatial awareness. He learned how to fought and even became incredibly good at it, and maintained his bond with Vhagar, as well as trying to keep himself mentally sharp as well. He did all of that, despite the huge setback he was dealt with at age ten. That's brave, go Aemond.

#personal #answered #anonymous #anti lucerys velaryon #the only thing about luke that even gets me remotely passionate is what he did to aemond #but that's because i like aemond and i feel things about aemond #who is a fully realized character #lucery is Not that #and yeah it's a writing issue and a massive writing issue #do baela and rhaena even have ANY character traits at all? #do their adult versions even have more then a dozen lines? #like at least they live through the dance so we can see more characterization develop in upcoming seasons #but honestly the only character more atrociously handled in terms of being made boring than luke are baela and rhaena #who could honestly be completely cut from the story of season 1 entirely and not have it make a lick of difference #like me calling luke boring isn't an attack on the character of luke (because it basically doesn't exist) #it's me taking the WRITERS to task #since it's impossible to set luke's lack of characterization apart from the out of universe creative decisions that led to it #and i've always thought he's boring and that's really not gonna change #there's four episodes of the boy and i've seen all four of them and they're the only four we're ever gonna get #they knew that they knew luke was gonna be set in unchanging stone once he died and they elected to do nothing with him anyway #so he's boring and bland #sucks but it's true

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Have you read or heard of The Locked Tomb series?

Nah, sorry, it's just never come across my radar.

#personal #answered #anonymous #i've heard good things tho!

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What do you think the relationship between Aegon and Aemond will be like next season? Some people think they'll be working together and getting closer, and some think Aemond will harm Aegon intentionally at Rooks rest and they'll be enemies

I don't know how close they'll be personally, but I do think they'll be working together. I can't see how Aemond would harm Aegon intentionally, since that causes a lot of problems for their faction, and as people pointed out when Aemond was talking about being king in ep 9, Aegon has (or is at least supposed to have) one son still alive even after Blood and Cheese, so Aemond wouldn't stand to inherent, at most he'd get what he gets anyway, the regency. Plus, having Aegon and Aemond at intense odds to the point of outright enmity would be a severe deviation from the source material, which I don't think the show is going to do because this is a prequel that does have reaching implications into the original series.

What I do expect is that their relationship is going to be turbulent. In the book, Aegon is the only one not upset at Aemond for what happened to Lucerys's boring ass, and given that in the show it's an accident that Aemond tried to prevent and is immediately remorseful about (and whose circumstances were nowhere near as calculated), I'd like to see Aegon put on his big brother hat. Try to find the bright side, and be a bit of a support for Aemond after Otto and Alicent get upset due to what Lucerys's boring death means. But then, as we all know, we've got Blood and Cheese, a really horrible event that happens as a direct result of Aemond's actions at Storm's End. It's possible that Aegon might blame Aemond, might lash out in his grief, and depending on how much Aemond might blame himself, it could cause some strife for them, though I do think there will be some level of rapprochement by the time of Rook's Rest, given that they fight together. And then after that, I don't think they're gonna get much time together, since Aegon's gonna be convalescing and Aemond's gonna be in the field.

I personally have long said I'd love them to get at high highs and low lows this season. I want Aegon to be Aemond's support after Rook's Rest, I want Aemond to try to be a comfort to Aegon in the aftermath of Blood and Cheese (wrote a whole fic about that actually), and I do want a moment at least where Aegon blames Aemond because he's grieving the loss of his child (and I want Aegon to at least punch Aemond without Aemond fighting back cuz he thinks he's earned it). I've also been very open about how I want Aegon's involvement in Rook's Rest to be a surprise to Aemond. Given how it's the first major conflict after Blood and Cheese, and how the book takes pains to point out that Meleys might have been able to win against Vhagar before Sunfyre got involved, I want Aemond to treat this as almost a kamikaze mission before big brother comes in to help save him (that quote where Tyrion talks about how he had to fight without his big brother in ASOS? yeah.....).

#personal #answered #anonymous #aegond #the return of my rants about the sillies has arrived

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How many books have you read this year?

Not a whole lot, I'm afraid, and most of them have been for school. UW operates on a quarter system, which means that I'm already on my second academic term of 2024, which means I have to get through a really solid chunk of content in short spans of time (plus, I'm a polisci major with a history minor so the classes I take require a lot of reading). I think I've read a little over a dozen books so far in 2024, but a fair majority of them have been out of obligation and not books that I'd have picked up of my own volition.

#personal #answered #anonymous #i like jeff shesol because i really enjoyed mutual contempt #but i don't think i would have read his book about fdr and the supreme court #if i wasn't taking a class about the supreme court during winter quarter