#helaena is underdeveloped yes but she is in fact a character

[navree]

The show failed to make care about Helaena or her children and i doubt if the general audience know her name. B&C will hit hard just because how gruesome it will be (if the writers didn't changed it) but i am afraid there will be no emotional impact.

I agree that the show's somewhat failed to develop Helaena, especially when compared to her brothers, and there's a lot of reasons for that (a desire to get diversity points by making her neurodivergent without actually wanting to put in too much effort in how to sensitively write a character they've coded as autistic in a world where people barely understand autism is a thing, the tendency that exists where male characters are prioritized for development and characterization over female characters, the disordered writers' room that season one clearly had). But I don't think that precludes any kind of investment in Blood and Cheese. There's likely going to be an emotional impact just because:

a) it's a child being murdered, and two other children being terrorized, that's going to hit people's emotions no matter what because it's just sad

b) people do know Helaena and she's been in, at least, enough shots for people to at least understand who she is and how she fits into the family and one of those scenes at least was p cute (the toast scene) and watching her suffer will be hard especially if Phia plays it right

c) like you said, B&C is gruesome, and that'll likely leave people with some emotions given not just the murder but the psychological torture and

d) there's going to be an emotional impact not just for Helaena, but also for other characters.

For one, Blood and Cheese also involves Alicent, and specifically Alicent being brutalized (not only is she used to lure and has to subsequently watch what happens to her daughter and grandchildren, but she is also physically attacked, since they apprehended, bound, and gagged her and that's not happening without a fight), and Alicent is a very popular character in spite of what Twitter says and we've been following her since the pilot.

For two, a lot of the Blood and Cheese aftermath in the show is going to focus on Aemond. It is very specifically Aemond's actions at Storm's End that lead to Blood and Cheese, and the show has made it so that it was a complete accident, an unintended consequence Aemond not only failed to foresee but also actively tried to prevent. The second to last shot of the show thus far is a focus on Aemond's face and his dawning horror and regret at what he's done. And then, because of Aemond's mistake, his sister and his mother and his brother and his niece and his nephews are all going to suffer in one of the worst actions GRRM has ever written about. Aemond, who the writers now know is a fan favorite thanks to Ewan's portrayal, is going to be getting a lot of focus, and his own periphery grief and his immense guilt and his feelings of responsibility over what happened (and if the writers are smart and follow this blog to read my theories, the way this affects his relationship with Aegon and his subsequent actions in the war) are likely going to be an immense part of his character arc for that scene. I mean, there's a reason why when I wrote my own Blood and Cheese fic, half of it was from Aemond's perspective, a huge part of the emotional impact is going to come from Aemond's reaction and his subsequent coming to terms with the fact that he made a mistake and is directly responsible for irreparable harm coming to the people he loves most as a result.

They do need to develop Helaena a lot more than they have, and I fervently hope there's at least a single episode of the calm before the storm (I'd hope they make 2x01 all about the immediate aftermath and Blood and Cheese is a 2x02 focused thing). But she is recognizable and liked enough on her own for it to have some impact, and even then, it's also going to impact characters that a lot more people are heavily more emotionally invested in, enough that it'll still pack a punch (also given that he's a bit more of a nichely enjoyed character I didn't mention Aegon, but he's got his lil fanbase and watching him grieve over what's happened to his family is also going to be emotional for people who like him even if they don't much care for Helaena).

#personal #answered #anonymous #helaena is underdeveloped yes but she is in fact a character #and a lot of people do like her enough for b&c to have an impact on the audience #and honestly for me one of the biggest gut punches is in fact going to be how it impacts helaena #cuz phia's played her in a way where it's going to break my heart to watch her go through this #she needs to be developed more but she's there and she exists and people enjoy her #and even the ones who don't probably at least like olivia or ewan as actors enough to care about how this affects THEIR characters