Ouh. I really like how out of all the antagonists in the series, Prism's motivations (and her turning to Zoraxis) are directly influenced by Phoenix's track record. She has the most personal beef with the agent, though it's a little ironic that her TK implant helped the agent's success. If it weren't for Prism, Phoenix wouldn't be the legend that they are known for.
...Except...That's minimizing Phoenix's own ingenuity and skill with the implant, isn't it? It's a useful tool, yes! But in the end, it's just a tool. Phoenix was able to use it in unique ways, and that's not counting whatever else Phoenix has to do in the moment without TK. If it weren't for Phoenix's own efforts (and their strange ability to not Die), Prism wouldn't be forced to take revenge.
They're their own self-made people, but inevitably they left such a huge impact on each other before the third game...and if Prism wasn't the one who personally added the implant in Phoenix's head, then they haven't even interacted in person!
It could be seen as a little tragic, and it sorta is--Prism's desire for revenge is a little misplaced (and, yes, it is bolstered by Zor when she switches to their side). For all we know, Phoenix never intended to be the villain in Prism's story. But Prism's frustrated and angry and devastated about being reduced to the One Project she made. She just wanted to make something bigger than herself.
And it's really nice to see Phoenix help her once she recognizes that Zor's been using her all this time...even if it takes some time for Prism to really let them help her.
It takes the combination of their unique skills, brainpower, and their eventual trust in one another to destroy Zor's volcano kinesium base. Prism gets saved by the person she thought made her dreams impossible, and in return, Phoenix gets saved in the one IEYTD ending where they're not declared legally dead. I feel like that's something interesting? Because this is also the one finale where Phoenix has an active ally working with them close to their side (...as close as Prism and Phoenix could get, anyway).
Well. Anyway. What was I talking about? Enemies who are closely intertwined with one another's journeys end up becoming each other's most important allies? Okay, yeah. Let's go with that.
39 notes
·
View notes
me watching roy and jamie fight stupidly over keeley right after finally being friendly, increasingly creating more tension between them during their drink at a bar alone, thinking they were about to realize they care more about the competition with each other than her and make out
195 notes
·
View notes
What would have happened if Alicent agreed to marry Helaena to Jace?
...It wouldn't have really changed anything on the Greens' end. Maybe it would have gained the Blacks a few more allies?
The issue with marrying Helaena to Jace is that Helaena was never the problem and was only ever in danger because her brothers were. Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron were in danger by virtue of their existence, as challenges to Rhaenyra's claim. Any lord who didn't want Rhaenyra to rule wouldn't care if Helaena married into Rhaenyra's bloodline, because Aegon would still be there as an alternative to Rhaenyra in their minds.
This is the whole point of Alicent's "you are the challenge Aegon, as you live and breathe" line in the show. It's not Helaena who's the challenge; it's Aegon. A marriage between Helaena and Jace might make Aegon less willing to stand against Rhaenyra, but unfortunately his willingness was never the problem, either. Aegon's not the challenge because he wants to be; what he wants, or even what he's suited to, has no bearing on this. He's the challenge in spite of these things, not because of them, and he's the challenge just because he's Viserys's eldest son.
And, as I've talked about before here, there's real-world precedent from the rough time and place Fire and Blood is based off of about what happens with these challengers. Lady Jeyne Gray was a sixteen year old girl who was still seen as a challenge to Queen Mary's reign even after Jeyne renounced her claim and swore fealty to Mary, because men were still going to war for her. So Mary killed her, not because she wanted to, but because nothing was going to dissuade these men from inciting war save for Jeyne's death. Because the men had never cared about what Jeyne wanted, only how they could use Jeyne for their own political ends.
The lords supporting Aegon's claim are supporting him to fulfill their own misogynistic goals; they don't care what he, or Helaena, or any of the other Greens want. They don't need to. They only need him to exist. To live. To breathe. As Alicent said, that is all the challenge they need.
73 notes
·
View notes