I Always End Up Liking Your Aemond Stories! I Love Your Writing Style

Bestie can I be so for real I am so upset about the way Aemond is written. Season 1 Aemond is basically book Daeron but angsty, but Season 2 Aemond is like book Daemon (disloyal, wants power). Not that book Aemond was someone to applaud for loving his family, that dude was a psycho but he was such a LOYAL psycho. Smh.

Bestie you are absolutely right. Season 1 Aemond and season 2 Aemond are so disconnected and there's no through line or explanation for why. Seemingly they just decided to go with a different characterization suddenly, maybe because they realized Aemond was fairly sympathetic in the first season.

His true characterization is loyalty to his family and willingness to do anything for them, and Aegon and Aemond are loyal to each other. Go to Storm's End and betroth yourself to secure an ally for the Greens? Aemond will do it for Aegon. Kill your nephew and probably guarantee war? Aegon will throw a feast to celebrate and support Aemond's actions. Need to take out one of the Black's dragons? Aegon and Aemond will attack together. Aegon is injured and unable to rule? Aemond will rule as regent and refuse to take the throne from him. Aegon and all his surviving children are missing, his mother and sister imprisoned, and Rhaenyra and Daemon have taken king's landing with help from houses in the Riverlands? Aemond will burn everything to get vengeance for his family and draw Daemon out to battle against him. Aemond takes down Daemon but dies in the process? Aegon orders a massive statue to commemorate his brother and honor his loyalty and legacy.

But because the Greens are supposed to be caricature disorganized incompetent and selfish villains, they hate each other and put each other down even in the midst of war. Aemond has to be an outright evil and self-interested, power hungry anime baddie who hates his lazy, hedonistic, sadistic brother Aegon apparently 🙄 and Helaena is just there in the background as a non character at this point and everything that defined her character in the book is removed.

It really is out of character and makes no sense for Aemond to take out his own brother and his dragon when they're at war with a faction of the family that has several dragons and that faction poses a much more significant threat to Aemond than Aegon does... It's really just lazy writing. Instead of actually exploring the character motivations of the two, like how Lucerys' murder led to Blood and Cheese and how the brothers feel about that, it's turned into "Aemond wants to kill Aegon over petty childish bullying and because he wants the throne." Like be for real 🙄

having one faction being written as only heroic and awesome and the other being written as only villainous and awful negates the original message of grrm’s original work, btw. it’s kind of interesting to see how these characters are written (the greens being a dysfunctional family who don’t seem to like each other vs the blacks being given positive traits that belong to the greens in the books, or simply not writing things if the source material that could make the blacks seem not heroic) and how fans take this very seriously. it’s partly a result of the marketing strategy for season two, the whole “everyone much choose a side thing” because that’s… not the point of this war, at all. but it’s also the writing and it’s very deliberately very obviously pro targaryen, especially with the whole “aegon conquered westeros for the good of the world” thing they have going on. which is an incredibly strange take. i think it’s really telling when you compare how the tragedies are written. rhaenyra’s loss of her children is obviously and rightfully tragic. her journey in episode one of season two was so tragic and so beautiful because you don’t hear her speak until the end of the episode, when she finally realizes her son is gone. but you also have her riding a dragon immediately after giving birth to her stillborn daughter, who is never mentioned again, if i recall correctly, and that doesn’t seem… possible. but with the greens, you have a very horrific and traumatic event via the brutal murder of jaehaerys being reduced to two silly men committing a crime, when that crime was the beheading of, like, a five year old. you then have his grandmother having sex while this is happening, in an attempt to blame her for it, which is genuinely so infuriating. idk why i made this post, i saw that season two wasn’t even nominated for best television drama and i was just like. yeah i know that’s right. you cannot expect an show adaptation of a very well-known series from a very well-known author to do well when you completely ignore the original source material and then claim your interpretation is better or the truth. it’s simply insisting on itself and it’s simply pissing on the tragedy of the dance of the dragons and it’s simply exhausting.

“All the men in the show don’t have to worry about where they put their hands because they’re constantly holding the pommel of their sword. That obviously sounds like innuendo and you can do with that what you will but that is true. And all the rest of us are going, “Where do we put our f—king hands?”

Anyway, next year one hand is going to be taken care of. That’s what I want. I want a sword and I’ve been really clear about that with Ryan and I think that’s happening.”

(posted by the westerosies account on twitter)

Apparently that's was Emma's request which tells me exactly how much bullshit the entire cast has been fed by these writers lol. And it's not even a valid reason?!? Like, you're changing the character even more than you already have just because an actor doesn't know where to...put their...hands??? I can hear the circus music playing🤡

God forbid you lean on a chair or twist your rings! I mean it's not that bad but a sword isn't something to just give a character out of no where. Like I could think of several things she could carry or play with instead, rings, necklaces, dagger, but not a sword when she isn't trained!

For all TB fans saying "Rhaenyra wouldn't kill children." Your legit wrong.

She didn't care that Jaehaerys died in the books only that it made her look bad, and she felt bad for Helaena nothing else. She put a price on Jaehaera and Maelors heads, yes a 6 and 2 year old were sentenced to die cause she didn't want any chance of her losing the throne. When people did find Maelor they cut him in pieces and handed him piece by piece to Rhaenyra and she paid them for their "work".

Also she's not the feminist you think she is, she legit would tell woman asking if they could inherit there families seats "a son comes before a daughter." So why the hell should Rhaenyra be any different? Why does she get the throne if a son comes before a daughter?

You all really hold her on this pedestal that isn't even hers, she's not a Child loving kind queen, she's not a feminist girl boss queen. She's a cruel queen, so much so she was called "Rhaenyra the Cruel." And "Maegor with teats." You know how much bad and cruel shit you got to do to be called those things? Too much for you TBs to be comfortable with.

I’m about to get called a “big old mean internalized misogynist” for dragging Sara Hess’s public statements again but the contrast between saying “a character being fat is just negative biased propaganda against them” …VS… GRRM’s recent statement where he said being “fat is not offensive” publicly… couldn’t be more chef’s kiss for me.

I know it's been months and we're all done complaining about House of the Dragon, but it was just such a wasted opportunity to not follow the book canon of the Greens being beloved of the people.

Even if they still wanted to frame the show with Rhaenyra as our star and character to root for, framing Aegon as a full blown antagonist just doesn't have the same dynamic storytelling that GRRM creates. Aegon being an inept king is absolutely not the same thing as him being disliked. Inept political leaders become populists and demagogues all the time. Framing Aegon as someone without real leadership or intelligence BUT with magnanimity and charisma makes him a much more real threat. Rhaenyra would be the better monarch, but as a woman and as less charming, she fails to get the support of the people. It's topical.

If they followed through on the scene of Aegon holding court, clearly reveling in the fact that the people love him, it creates a more interesting character motivation. Aegon didn't even want to be King, so the war to keep him on the throne feels wildly futile, but Aegon fighting to keep the love he's always been desperate for, that's compelling.

Plus, Helaena as a beloved queen would have furthered the themes around gender that season one created. She's meek and pleasant and pretty, so people love her. Rhaenyra as fiery and lusty and powerful, so people hate her. It's topical, it's dynamic, and it actually says something about the perception of gender as a performance in which you are punished for not participating.

And this isn't me saying "wow the show needed more misogyny; they needed to be nicer to the pretty princess" I'm saying it's a show about misogyny, so like, do something with that.

Book!Helaena that was so lost into the madness of grief because of her child's death to the point she unalived herself.

VS

Show!Helaena helping the very person who orchestrated the death of her child.

All of my kinks are rooted in wanting to feel wanted so intensely that someone cant stand it. Regardless of which side of the dynamic I'm on it's all about aggressive desire

"In Ryan's outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself... for no particular reason" FUCKING HELL, George is really letting it rip lmaooooooo 💀

I'm so glad that he's addressing the "helaena conundrum" here because it perfectly aligns with my previous hotd-critical post. The fandom has rightfully torn into Alicent for days now, but conveniently overlooks the fact that Helaena's story is beyond redemption atp - she's nothing more than a meaningless pawn in the story. These writers have completely butchered one of the most tragic figures from the Dance era and reduced her to a pathetic meme in the TV show.

Helaena's death was the tipping point for Rhaenyra's downfall (and ultimately, the conclusion of this civil war). But that infuriating scene in episode 8 completely undermines its importance - her death is now rendered utterly meaningless in the show!

"alicent holds love for our enemy" | hotd s2 final trailer.