Happy Birthday to my most beautiful and talented birthday twin! I am so so so incredibly blessed to know you!! I hope you had the most marvelous day!!
@flordeamatista love you so so much!!
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Frankly I think Alistair being mildly shitty to that mage in Ostagar seems pretty in-character for the guy he is before the massive, life-altering trauma that is the Ostagar massacre wherein he sees all of his Grey Warden comrades, his beloved mentor/father figure, and his beloathed half-brother/convenient-target-of-projection absolutely torn to shreds by literal Thedas boogeymen. IIRC Morrigan and Flemeth both comment on his wack behavior after Ostagar and then by the time we get to Lothering Alistair just fully surrenders any and all responsibility (and, frankly, agency) to the player's Warden for the foreseeable future. It can then take anywhere from a couple IRL hours to the entire second act of the game for him to retake almost any amount of it back. And depending on the player's choices in dialogue, and especially whether or not they choose to romance him, we may only see flashes of that guy we met at Ostagar before he potentially morphs into almost someone else entirely (hardened!King!Alistair). All that to say, I don't actually think it's a useful criticism of "characterization" to bring up Alistair's glibness as compared to his behavior in the majority of the game because from where I'm standing (looking directly at his snottiness about Cailan, his complaints about being assigned to the Tower of Ishal, his Templar-esque focusing on Morrigan and Flemeth being apostates, his generally pretty brusque manner with the Warden recruits) it seems fairly in-line with the rest of his behavior at Ostagar.
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EIHF Anon here and listennnnn my head has been spinning about this.
As Rhaenyra's pregnancy progresses, the king gives her more and more authority and power. Initially, Rhaenyra is thrilled, but the bitterness starts to kick in when she begins to wonder if her father denied all of this power and autonomy to her mom because she had not given him a son. Her mother had the smarts and the temperment for all of this--why did he deny it to Aemma?
Otto is Not Having It. He enlists Alicent to find out what the hell is actually going on. And she's not received warmly. Rhaenyra is extremely uncomfortable with the "miracle" pregnancy but also just as defensive of her newfound worth in her father's eyes. Otto figures His Grace just needs his eyes opened--to see that there are other women in the world, live ones. And so after months of watching Rhaenyra swan about the Red Keep in her mother's gowns, Otto tells Alicent to put on one of *her* dead mother's gowns and go to the king. Maybe she walks in on some boundary-crossing weirdness, and Rhaenyra realizes what's going on and doubles down HARD.
And idk where the rest of this goes. But Alicent loses her damn mind because her dad's making her have a Dead Mother Off with her bestie. And it ends up with Alicent luring Rhaenyra to the Sept to make her repent, and the resulting screaming match sends her into labor.
in my mind rhaenyra has to really compartmentalize her feelings about her mother and father, especially how viserys treated aemma. but that becomes harder and harder to do when shes literally stepping into her mothers shoes and has to experience firsthand the similarities and the differences in how viserys treats them.
viserys is uh. absolutely one of those men who dont realize women are people until they have daughters.
theres a bitterness there cause if rhaenyra is so much like aemma then why couldnt aemma have been allowed this power too? and theres a fear as well like, since viserys only gave her this extra authority after getting pregnant, that he only believes in her because rhaenyra is ‘giving him a son’ and if she ‘fails’ him (loses thr baby like her mother lost all hers. doesnt have a boy) hell take it all away from her. and even if she does give her father what he wants. whats to stop him from naming her son his heir instead?
rhaenyra is dealing with this pregnancy she maybe doesnt want, that she cant tell anyone the truth about, feeling very uncertain and insecure AND THEN her bestie alicent walks in on a very intimate and uncomfortable and very un-father-daughter moment between her and viserys. (im picturing viserys maybe like fawning over her baby bump. singing valyrian lullabies. or something) (and for alicent its maybe. somehow. strangely. reminds her of herself and otto? but that cant be right. they arent like this) all dressed up and pretty and now she has to worry about her father.. cheating on her?? with her best friend?? does she have no one she can trust?
so rhaenyra sends alicent away that night and every night she shows up and that only solidifies her decision. rhaenyra has to double down. cozy up even closer to viserys. make him depend on her as much as she depends on him.
alicent is horrified. shes been watching silently as her friend slowly becomes unrecognizable to her. rhaenyra isnt even speaking to her anymore. and otto is now trying to do the same thing to her. after what alicent walked in on and rhaenyras harsh reaction shes become convinced that rhaenyra is fucking viserys. that hes the father of her baby. thats more than rhaenyra losing her virginity and lying about it, more than run-of-the-mill targaryen ‘queer customs’. parent/child incest is a sin even for them. so alicent tries the only thing she knows and tricks rhaenyra into going to the sept with her. to make her repent. to convince rhaenyra to end this relationship with her father.
screaming match happens cause rhaenyra cant tell alicent the truth. its not like alicent would think the truth was much better, even if she would, rhaenyra is so fucked up by now she cant trust alicent. what if that truth somehow got back to viserys?
we have a few choices for what happens next….
if rhaenyra loses the baby, viserys tries to kill himself (convinced the gods have cursed him to never have a living son) if rhaenyra has a girl, viserys tries to kill himself (realizes he was wrong about rhaenyras virgin pregnancy and baelons rebirth. that his daughter CHEATED on him) his attempts arent successful though, cause viserys cant do ANYTHING right, but he does become basically catatonic for a good while afterwards.
now rhaenyra has to deal with the trauma of losing her baby/being a teen mother, essentially/nearly losing her father, AND having the entire weight of the realm fall to her. cause its not like viserys can rule in this state. and its not like she can pass off the rule to the hand or name a regent, cause then the realm will think shes weak.
OR… rhaenyra does have a boy.
and she has to deal with the horror and trauma of having her child taken away from her. being raised by her father as HIS own son. having to always refer to her son as ‘brother’ never being able to hold him as a mother. the terror that shes going to wake up one day and viserys is going to decide to name her son his heir over her. having to vie against Her Own Son for her fathers affection…
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it is true that completing tasks, taking care of your body's needs, and having things to look forward to, can make you feel better, but mental illness doesnt care about that stuff, i did everything "right" today and now im sitting here, staring blankly at a youtube video, trying to relax, and instead im just feeling sad and empty, how's that fair?
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