More Validation For This Analysis From Sansas First Chapter In A Clash Of Kings:

More validation for this analysis from Sansa’s first chapter in A Clash of Kings:

Sansa felt that she ought to say something. What was it that Septa Mordane used to tell her? A lady’s armor is courtesy, that was it.

I doubt we’ll get a rosy ending, but in my dreams, Sansa will apologize to Arya and Arya will push her into the mud and they will laugh about it and have fun and Arya will teach Sansa and Dany the names of all the flowers in the north

After finishing reading AGoT, I have a brand new hope for a way the books may differ from the show. I want to see Sansa snap. I want Sansa to be violent. I want her to get her hands dirty!!

In the show, yes, she’s responsible for the deaths of Ramsey and Littlefinger, but they’re detached kills carried out by someone else. I’d much less likely she’ll kill Ramsey in the books since I know that her marriage to him was a show exclusive, but I wouldn’t mind a bit if she did it on behalf of Jeyne. And I can only hope she kills Littlefinger with her own two hands.

To me, Sansa seems like a character who has believed her whole life that that beauty, politeness, and grace are the keys to her safety. If she can be ladylike, she will be safe. I interpret her desires for Arya to be more of a lady as, at the heart, a desire for her sister to be safe. The songs tell of lovely, happy things, so if she can keep things the way they are in the songs, it will bring safety and happiness and the heroes will win. This is a reasonable conclusion a kid might draw. Kids often fail to recognize what they actually want and misidentify the true sources of their anxiety because they simply lack the self awareness. It wouldn’t be a stretch for a child’s internal, subconsciously narrative to take “the gentle and graceful ladies of the stories are happy and safe” and conclude that “beauty and manners will make a girl happy and safe.” Combine that with a desire for her family to be safe, and it all gets expressed as a desire for Arya to be ladylike. I could imagine that at her core, it’s not politeness that Sansa truly values. She has no reason to care if Arya likes dresses. It’s safety she wants, but she’s a child who doesn’t know how to voice that.

But it seems to me like the books are setting her up to learn that these things, these “feminine” qualities, will not save anyone. To be a lady means nothing. Lady was murdered. And I want her to be ANGRY about it. Angry that she wasted so much time and energy trying to be the perfect image of a noblewoman. And I want her to lash out. I think she definitely has it in her, based on her last chapter in AGoT. She thinks multiple times about wanting to hurt others. She is FURIOUS.

He did not hate her, Sansa realized; neither did he love her. He felt nothing for her at all. She was only a … a thing to him. “No,” she said, rising. She wanted to rage, to hurt him as he’d hurt her,

Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him,

A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, “Maybe my brother will give me your head.”

And my favorite:

All it would take was a shove, she told herself. He was standing right there, right there, smirking at her with those fat wormlips. You could do it, she told herself. You could. Do it right now. It wouldn’t even matter if she went over with him. It wouldn’t matter at all.

I can only hope that’s foreshadowing. I hope that, in an impulsive act of violence and rage, she pushes Littlefinger off the Eyrie. Nothing proper or calculated. A simple moment where that madness overtakes her and all the rage she’s had comes out in final shove.

I thought they (Emma) knocked it out of the park in episode 10 with the birth scene and when Rhaenyra prepares the body of her child. I seriously applaud Emma’s talent because the birth scene was hard to watch and probably unimaginably hard to film.

I think the writers just don’t like older Rhaenyra that much as a character and it shows. I so totally agree that I wanted to see Rhaenyra being ruthless. I wanted her to rip that page out of Otto’s hands and throw it to sea. That stupid scene with Daemon choking her was such a disservice to both characters. And honestly the final scene when she finds out about Luc’s death just fell flat for me. I think about the scenes where Cersei lost her children and this just seemed lackluster in comparison.

She’s given much more by the writers than all other team black characters aside from Daemon, at least. It’s so obvious that the writers just do not care much about Jace, Luc, Baela, and Rhaena. And the writers have even taken away character-revealing scenes from Daemon!! They’ve made team green unambiguously the villains (at least in my opinion… I literally cannot imagine ideologically siding with the greens. Preferring the characters, sure, but actually believing Rhaenyra should be disinherited?? I don’t see how anyone could think that. Maybe the writers genuinely expect the audience to believe that Rhaenyra did something wrong by taking lovers and having Harwin’s kids but if so, they failed to convey that. Rhaenyra did nothing wrong and I actually think that’s a flaw in the writing itself) but they’ve given them way more character. This is like my third or fourth post talking about this but the more I think about it, the more it bothers me!

All my frinds prefer younger Rhaenyra, and I feel torn. I love older, mature Rhaenyra, I love the actor, Emma is fantastic for this role, their performance is top. Still, younger version made me So nostalgic when I watched the first episode. Those Dany-like features (deliberate by the writers, I'm sure) hit hard and I'm not ashamed to say I liked them.

I think I miss a "happier" version of Rhaenyra, too, with fire not diminished by Greens' scheming and insults. She seems slightly broken and alone, even in ep8 she begged her father to protect her, in ep 10 she got tons of pain and betrayals.

And we got too few of scenes with content older Rhaenyra in 6-10 eps. I wanted to see her triumphant, smiling, enjoing her life. It is mostly angst or fear and I'm dreading the future season. It is like watching season 8 Daenerys but dragged out in 2-3 seasons. "I've seen this film before...And I didn't like the ending..."

Ohhh that is a delicate question anon. So Milly's version was spectacular. Partly because of talent and partly because of the writing.

Milly's Rhaenyra was young, carefree, entitled, vibrant, sassy, arrogant, radical. She revelled in her position, didn't hesitate to defy older men, had fun, did her own thing, enjoyed sex, was sarcastic and annoying AF to everyone around her, butchered wild animals with a knife, she was SAVAGE. I am absolutely obsessed with her. She is everything that Dany would have been if she was raised in a castle with her family on the Iron Throne. She encapsulates every single Targaryen trait, she is the perfect Targaryen princess : ethereal and ominous, a delight and a menace. Just look at her face and expressions.

Milly is extremely talented but as I said, it's partly her talent and partly the writing that made her so so cool.

Now Emma's Rhaenyra. Not so obsessed, and it's not because of Emma's skills being inferior to Milly's. Emma has the perfect face, the perfect voice (obsessed with her voice), the perfect presence, they too encapsulate everything about Targaryens. I personally like to think that during the casting process, the writers looked for a specific Targaryen look that kind of resembles a dragon. Like, if a dragon was transformed to a human, that's how they would look like. I believe Emma and Matt have this distinctive dragon look in their face. They are both stunning of course and not at all monstrous, I'm talking about a particular dragon-like fierce vibe that their facial traits give off. The hooded, light, piercing eyes, the strong profile, the sharp facial angles, the pronounced forehead. Examples :

Also, Emma's kind of androgynous/not very feminine persona is so flawless for Rhaenyra in the book. It's also something different that we have never seen, we've only been used to young and conventionally feminine Targaryen princesses like Dany and young Rhaenyra, but here we have a mature, kind of androgynous woman with a beautiful yet menacing, fierce, otherwordly look. We have never seen such a female character in all Game of Thrones. Cersei had some hints of the menacing part and was very majestic, but she too was very conventionally feminine and also she didn't have this eerie, magical aura around her, because she was not a Targaryen. So, yes, Emma's Rhaenyra is something completely original and the casting department did amazing on that.

The problem is that this very heavy front needs to be backed up by the script. In Emma's case, this didn't happen. They had the perfect actor and they didn't put their skills into good use. The only strong moments Emma's Rhaenyra had were the first scene with Laenor when she went up the stairs (fuck, move, MOVE), and her scenes in episode 7. Ok, also the scene when she's crying at Viserys' bed that was tragic and the one look she gives when she learns Luke was murdered. That's it. Emma is spectacular as an actor in every scene, but their character does not shine through as she was supposed to. Apart from the scenes I mentioned, Rhaenyra is too grey, too dampened, too passive. Especially the last episode and her scenes with Daemon and Otto, oh my God what an absolute disaster for her character. Sure they could show her being ruthless next season, but in this season they should have showed her more triumphant. Girlie had a super hot paramour then chased her oncle like he was prey, fucked him, plotted a fake murder and a real one, married her oncle, did her thing and she was very very depressive while doing all of that. That is purely the script's fault and the director's fault. They could totally show a triumphant, vibrant Rhaenyra that is also angry and traumatised by what is going on around her. Real people are like that, their mood changes all the time.

So yes that is my criticism. You say that all your friends prefer Milly. Maybe they think the same way as me, but let's not fool ourselves : for most people, locals especially, Milly' version is more popular mainly because she's a young cis female. So ageism and transphobia are big factors in the comparison.

Hi! You may have noticed tag games on my tumblr. I enjoy it, it’s fun and it reminds me of when everyone used to do it years ago. But while I had no problem knowing who I could tag 10 years ago, it’s a bit more complicated know because I don’t know most people here well enough anymore. So if it doesn’t bother you to be tagged, like this post to let me know for future tag games :)

Tagged by @theblackqveen tysm!!

Three ships: I’m not really much of a shipper anymore honestly but I’m highly invested in Jonerys. I just watched Wednesday, which was a mixed bag of a show, but I like the idea of Wednesday and Enid. I’ll forever have a special place in my heart for Black//Sun and Bumb//leby from RW//BY, even though the show really is not good anymore. (Slashes added so that doesn’t show up in the tags… some fans get REALLY mad when anyone criticizes this show)

First ever ship: Gosh, it’s hard to remember… the first one I can really really caring about was Applejack and Rainbow Dash from MLP when I was like 13 years old and Friendship is Magic was first coming out.

Last song: Summer is a Curse by The Faim

Last movie: I think it was Barbarian, which was excellent

Currently reading: A Clash of Kings!

Currently watching: Nothing, actually. I’m pretty picky about TV shows. As I said, I just watched Wednesday, which is an odd pick for me because normally I’d rather squeeze lemon juice in my eyes than watch a teen drama, but two different people told me that Wednesday in that show reminded them of me (but I’m a much warmer person) and it made me curious. It was charming. Flawed, but charming. What I really like about it is that there is zero sexualization of the teen characters and their outfits are very age appropriate. When so many teen dramas are like Riverdale or Euphoria, it’s so refreshing to see that this show is devoid of the male gaze. Teenage girls are often heavily influenced by media and like to emulate their favorite characters. Wednesday has been massively popular and I’m already seeing depop listings of items similar to those that the characters wear and posts in search of exact items from the show. I hope other shows follow suit and realize that they can create very successful shows about teenagers without sexualizing high school students.

Currently consuming: My daily sugar free redbull to wake me up in the morning

Currently craving: A good long thunderstorm. It’s actually been quite rainy in San Francisco these past few days, which is highly unusual. No thunder yet, but I can dream.

I don’t know anyone from this blog well enough to tag yet… I only have two followers! But I’m absolutely welcome to anyone who wants to interact with my posts or send asks to have discussions

Great assessment. I’d say that using your trauma as a sword and shield IS a way of dealing with it, as is denying it, romanticizing it, whatever else… they’re just not GOOD or healthy ways to deal with it. Maybe a better word than “deal” would be “respond.” Her actions are often fueled by her response to her own trauma that she doesn’t know how to heal from, because healing is hard and she as a character seems to prefer the path of least resistance. She has things she wants, but she will only pursue them on the path with the fewest obstacles, even if it’s not the best path or most likely to succeed in the long term.

I think this is because Alicent grapples with power and the lack of it. She fears being disempowered and needs to be able to convince herself that she does have power, but subconsciously believes that she can never have the kind of power Viserys had or her father has. She is afraid to truly grasp at power because she might be confronted with relative powerlessness. For example, I think she can see that Aegon is utterly unfit to rule, but deep down she knows that if she tried to defy her father and keep Aegon off the throne, she would fail. So her strategy is “fine, I’ll do what my father wants but I’ll do it on MY terms” because that’s an achievable goal with a low chance of failure. It doesn’t force her to grapple with power. She’s spent her whole life resigning herself to her fate and doesn’t know how to truly do things any other way. It’s the same paradoxical dance around power she’s been doing since her father forced her to get close to Viserys. Becoming his wife grants her title of queen, which, in theory, comes with power. But this was not a decision she made for herself, so how much power can she really have?

Of course, this all applies to show!Alicent. As I understand it, book!Alicent is basically a different character entirely.

On Alicent Hightower and the concept of the “perfect victim”:

Note that I will only be talking about show!Alicent as I have yet to read Fire and Blood. I know that book!Alicent is a very different character.

I have a lot of feelings about Alicent. I think there are a lot of flaws in the way she’s been written and I wish the writers had made her embrace her spite and resentment more, but I also have a lot of sympathy for her. I read a lot of complexity into her. I don’t know if that complexity was intended to be there or if I’m seeing things between the lines that aren’t actually there. But anyway, I agree with a lot of what many Alicent critics say about her, but disagree with the notion that she represents the perfect victim.

Mostly because I disagree that the perfect victim exists. People will always, always, ALWAYS criticize female abuse victims for the way they respond to abuse. Doe-eyed helplessness is not favored over fighting back. If she doesn’t fight back, she’s criticized for doing nothing to help herself. She’s victim-blamed. If she does fight back, then whether or not the abuse even took place is called into question, often with some DARVO added in. There is no winning.

People dismiss the trauma of Alicent’s marriage to Viserys by pointing to the way she cried when he died. Did Daenerys not cry for Drogo? Did she not name one of her dragons after Viserys? I personally don’t believe she was necessarily crying out of grief. I think she cried because she knew what his death meant—a great power struggle, the day of reckoning, was coming. But even if she had cried in sorrow, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t miserable in their marriage. Some have minimized this suffering because of the great power the marriage gave her as queen. But could this not also be said of Daenerys? Her marriage to Drogo gave her a position of great power as Khaleesi. Alicent is criticizing for allowing herself to be taken advantage of by Larys (and yes that scene sucked for many reasons), because she is queen and should have the power to avoid that. Again, could the same not be said of Daenerys and Viserys? Dany protects him at every turn. She did not command his death. The most she did was to have him walk behind the khalasar as punishment so he wouldn’t be physically harmed. Daenerys is my very favorite character. I am not criticizing her here in the slightest.

My point is only that I think criticism of Alicent’s character as the role of the perfect victim don’t really hold up because other victims in the series who have engaged in similar behaviors haven’t been met with the same dismissive attitude, and more importantly, because the perfect victim does not exist. Alicent is still being criticized for the way she responded to abuse. Perhaps not by the same people who would criticize her if she fought back, or by the people who would criticize Rhaenyra’s response to suffering, but she is still being criticized.

This post is not anti anyone or anything or any character. Please do not use it to attack any other female characters for the way THEY responded to trauma and abuse, although critical analysis and discussion is encouraged.

I have never stopped believing that there’s a better ending for these two.