u/Beacon2001

I think it's amazing world-building. Whiterun is described as the greatest city of the Nords, the economic and cultural heart of the province, and the "Imperial City of Skyrim".

Yet it's completely dwarfed by the Throat of the World, the greatest mountain in Skyrim, said to be where Kynareth breathed human life into existence.

I just really like the world-building of the greatest city in Skyrim existing in the shadow of the greatest mountain and being dwarfed by it. Really makes you realize how big, vast, and enigmatic Skyrim really is.

Plus, I love the idea that the Nords of Whiterun have no idea there's a dragon living up on that mountain they see everyday when doing their shopping.

Rhaenyra Targaryen was born in 97 AC. She was 4 years old when Otto Hightower and his daughter, Alicent Hightower, came to King's Landing in 101 AC, when Otto was appointed Hand of the King by King Jaehaerys I.

For most of Rhaenyra's childhood and youth, Otto served as her father's closest advisor and best friend. She practically grew up with Otto, and with Otto's daughter as her best friend. From an early age she was a cupbearer at small council meetings, was she not? So everyday she saw Otto, listened to him, maybe talked with him too.

This doesn't mean that Rhaenyra should forgive Otto for his actions. Of course not. And she didn't forgive him. She DID take his head.

However, it also makes perfect sense that she hesitated. For all his faults, Otto was still a part of Rhaenyra's childhood, and perhaps she feels like another part of the "good old days" died with Otto. That's my theory at least. That when she was faced with Otto's fate, suddenly she recalled all the memories of the good ol days, when her father was healthy and strong, her friendship with Alicent was full of bliss and love, and the realm was at peace. Otto was a part of all that.

It should also be noted that it was Otto who persuaded Viserys to name Rhaenyra his heir. Originally Daemon was closer in line to inherit, but Otto didn't want that and manipulated Viserys to instead make Rhaenyra his heir.

Before Alicent married Viserys, Otto actually became a tutor for Rhaenyra, trying to mentor her in the art of statesmanship. The most notable scene from this brief time period is when Otto counseled Rhaenyra on the next Kingsguard (she chose Criston Cole, a choice Otto disagreed with because he was from a lesser house of no repute, and he believed the title should've gone to higher houses).

And sure, you can argue that Rhaenyra should absolutely hate Otto for what he's done, and for planning to have her family wiped out by the Kingsguard. But isn't the whole point of the narrrative that Rhaenyra (at least in the show) is supposed to have a kind and gentle mother's heart?

>Oldtown was as flowery as a perfumed dowager. King's Landing reeked like some unwashed whore.
- Davos Seaworth

Images are Skingrad (left) and Bravil (right) from Oblivion Remastered.

Kirkwall in Dragon Age 2 has a lazy and cheap layout (only a couple of interiors and they're all so small and copy-pasted), also there's very little side content besides the main questline (and that little side content is just boring fetch quests). Val Royeaux in Dragon Age Inquisition is just a small market with no reason to return there after like the first quest. The cities in the purple game might as well be Fortnite/Overwatch maps with the way they're designed.

Dragon Age City design peaked in Origins with Denerim and Orzammar. These cities actually feel lived-in, with many interiors, notable NPCs, and interesting side quests that flesh out the world-building. And Denerim especially feels so huge, with all those back alley encounters that make traveling through the city feel so memorable and dangerous.

Bretons are NOT lame!

Bretons are awesome!

High Rock forever!! 😁😁

The Triarchy did not sail into the Gullet to kidnap Aegon and Viserys, in fact they had no idea about the Gay Abandon (the princes' ship sailing to Pentos through the Gullet):

>Yet the plans of men are but playthings to the gods. For even as Jace laid his plans, a new threat was closing from the east. The schemes of Otto Hightower had borne fruit; meeting in Tyrosh, the High Council of the Triarchy had accepted his offer of alliance. Ninety warships swept from the Stepstones under the banners of the Three Daughters, bending their oars for the Gullet…and as chance and the gods would have it, the Pentoshi cog Gay Abandon, carrying two Targaryen princes, sailed straight into their teeth.

The Triarchy's motive for entering the Gullet was absolutely NOT the princes. It was House Velaryon, namely their blockade of the Gullet and the riches of Driftmark. It was pure coincidence that the Gay Abandon ran into them, and by no means was the princes' presence required for the battle to happen.

In other words, it's perfectly fine for the Show to omit Aegon and Viserys, because their presence was ultimately irrelevant to the battle itself.

Secondly I would like to talk about Jacaerys' "motivations" for rushing to the battle.

In the book it's mentioned that Dragonstone learned about the Triarchy's attack on the Gay Abandon from Prince Aegon, who had narrowly escaped at the cost of his little dragon Stormcloud:

>The escorts sent to protect the cog were sunk or taken; the Gay Abandon captured. The tale reached Dragonstone only when Prince Aegon arrived desperately clinging to the neck of his dragon, Stormcloud. The boy was white with terror, Mushroom tells us, shaking like a leaf and stinking of piss.

The next time Jace is mentioned is when battle is already underway, and there's no reference at all to his intentions:

>When Prince Jacaerys swept down upon a line of Lysene galleys on Vermax, a rain of spears and arrows rose up to meet him. The sailors of the Triarchy had faced dragons before whilst warring against Prince Daemon in the Stepstones. No man could fault their courage; they were prepared to meet dragonflame with such weapons as they had. “Kill the rider and the dragon will depart,” their captains and commanders had told them. One ship took fire, and then another. Still the men of the Free Cities fought on…until a shout rang out, and they looked up to see more winged shapes coming around the Dragonmont and turning toward them.

The next paragraphs describe Jace and Vermax's fall, and that's it.

So NOWHERE in the book is it stated that Jace "rushed to the Gullet to save his brother Viserys".

Funnily enough, the ONLY source claiming that Jacaerys wanted to save his brother is the Dance section of the Lore series made by David and Dan for Season 5 of Game of Thrones. There, Viserys (Daenerys' older brother) claims that Jacaerys defied his mother's command to save his brother:

>Defying his mother's command, Rhaenyra's eldest son and heir, Jacaerys mounted his dragon Vermax and flew to rescue his other brother and punish the enemy fleet.

In conclusion, there is no evidence in F&B that Jacaerys' motive for rushing to the Gullet was to save his other brother. That's an assumption. I could just as easily assume that his only motive was to protect the Velaryon fleet from the Triarchy's assault. The only source claiming that Jacaerys was focused on his brother Viserys is a lore series made by David and Dan. So it's quite funny to see people here talking about "book lore", when in reality their "book lore" is just some lore made by D&D for THEIR adaptation.

The show version of the Gullet is perfectly in line with the book. Aegon and Viserys are by no means integral components of the battle, and Jacaerys' motivations are entirely absent from the book, so it is incorrect to claim that the show changed his non-existent book motivations for going to the Gullet.

So-called "book fans" should stop claiming that the Show completely changed the battle and Jace's motivations. The show didn't change anything except the presence of Hugh, Ulf, and Addam vs. Baela.

Disclaimer: I'm not a Thalmor agent

While I do have my opinions on the Civil War, lately I've begun to simply skip the questline. I've decided to do this for various reasons.

1. I think it's the sloppiest questline in the game. The quests are repetitive and boring, don't offer any meaningful reward, and the aftermath of the war is underwhelming. In addition, the Creation Engine doesn't lend itself to large-scale battles (I like the set pieces of the capital cities when they're under enemy fire, but it just looks goofy when it's 10 NPCs fighting each other). It's just not a particularly engaging or fun questline to replay.
2. I dislike that the original jarls and guards are replaced. Maybe it's just me but I prefer the original hold guards rather than Imperial/Stormcloak occupiers. Replacement jarls don't feel like they fit the throne (for example, the new jarls of Morthal and Winterhold still use peasant clothes, the new jarl of Windhelm looks like a bandit), and you can actually miss out on interesting dialogues and quests if you dethrone a jarl without meeting him before.
3. From a lore/world-building perspective, I actually prefer Skyrim to be divided, I think it enriches the lore of the Nords and makes the world look a lot more realistic and gritty. There's dragons burning villages, vampires stalking the night, but the jarls of Skyrim are too busy fighting each other to deal with these real threats. It makes the setting look a lot more hopeless and corrupt. IMHO, the Civil War is some of the best lore Bethesda's ever done and I don't feel like ending it.

Art is from the Legends card game.

Her PR skills were incredible. In just 4 episodes, she got the crowd to love Joffrey. Reminder that in Season 2 that same crowd threw dung at Joffrey and tried to kill him. Now, 4 episodes into Season 3, they are cheering for Joffrey and applauding him. They weren't only shouting "Queen Margaery!", they were also shouting "King Joffrey!".

Love this scene. It's in episode 4 of Season 3, and it constantly makes me wonder how their reign together would've looked like. Margaery got Joffrey to behave like an actual human being (he's smiling for the first time, and not for sadistic reasons, but because he's finally shown love by the people) and got the people of King's Landing to like the king. She did wonders for Joffrey's reputation and honestly she was the best queen one could ask for.

- Crime of regicide: Leaving his king to die

- Crime of usurpation: Declaring himself king without the support of the Landsmeet and while his daughter has a better claim than him (Loghain NPC at Orzammar gates)

- Crime of incompetence: Letting Darkspawn burrow into the Tower of Ishal which was the centrepiece of the plan he designed

- Crime of blasphemy: Attacking a Templar patrol to release a blood mage, this is forbidden, the Chantry exists above the laws of men, kings and lords are not allowed to interfere in official Chantry business || Also helping Uldred and blood mages revolt against the Circle

- Crime of slavery: Selling elves of the Alienage into slavery to Tevinter magister

- Crime of helping Arl Howe: he helps Arl Howe by making him lord of Highever instead of punishing him for slaughtering the Couslands

- Crime of racism: He doesn't care that Arl Howe slaughtered so many elves in the Alienage he got the nickname "Butcher of Denerim"

- Crime of treason: Poisoning Arl Eamon

- Crime of civil war: He starts a civil war against the rest of Ferelden because he wants the throne

I love the lore of the Fourth Age and Skyrim. I love that Bethesda constructed a realistic, morally-nuanced conflict, where both sides are mired in corruption, contradiction, and capable of committing atrocities. I think Bethesda did an amazing job creating a grounded, realistic conflict between two deeply-flawed sides who sincerely believe they are in the right, yet are blind to the suffering of the common folk, whether that is the Empire turning a blind eye to the Thalmor Justiciars or the Stormcloaks turning a blind eye to the Grey Quarter.

In my latest playthroughs, I have decided to skip the Civil War entirely. Not just because it's the lamest questline in the game, but also because I just really like the lore of the Civil War, I think it enriches the story of the Nords, and I hope the Civil War never gets a Canon resolution. And I also think my Dragonborn wouldn't waste time with the petty politicking of the jarls.

Love this statement. I don't know why some people are confused. In the lore, House Hightower is stated to be the wealthiest and most dangerous Great House that supported Aegon II - even richer and more dangerous than the Lannisters. Yeah, the Lannisters are a powerhouse under Tywin, but in the Dance they are led by Jason Lannister, who is a dork like Tytos (Tywin's father who made of House Lannister the laughing stock of the realm).

People also shouldn't mention Corlys because his "wealth" consists of the relics/artefacts he found during his travels, not actual money. So Ormund Hightower is indeed the man with the most money in the Dance era.

It also makes sense that he's got the largest standing army because Oldtown is the greatest city in Westeros and he also rules the surrounding region of the Honeywine, which is the most populated part of Westeros and the breadbasket of the continent. So it makes sense that House Hightower has the single largest army on the continent, bannermen notwithstanding.

Super hyped for the Reach storyline of S3.

The Adamantine Tower. All the mainline games in the series so far have been centred on one of the Towers, both from a story perspective and a map-building perspective. Morrowind is centred on the Red Tower, Oblivion on the White-Gold Tower, and Skyrim on the Snow Tower.

As per the Prophecy of the Last Dragonborn, all these Towers have also been "deactivated" (Red Tower when the Tribunal Temple was overthrown, White-Gold Tower when the Amulet of Kings was shattered, Snow Tower when Ulfric Stormcloak murdered High King Torygg), leaving the Adamantine Tower as the last great anchor of reality.

Therefore, the most reasonable assumption is that TES:VI will include both High Rock and Hammerfell, so that the Adamantine Tower will be the centre of the map and the central landmark of our world.

Meanwhile, if it was just Hammerfell then the Adamantine Tower would be tucked away in a remote, faraway corner of the map. That's NOT how TES games are made. The Towers are always the centre of the map.

Can you imagine the Adamantine Tower, literally the most important place in all of Mundus, getting turned into the "Fort Dawnguard" or "Castle Volkihar" of TES:VI? I don't think so. 🤣

I also think that some of the towns in TES:VI will get the Morthal/Winterhold/Dawnstar/Falkreath treatment, being portrayed as small-scale towns in the open world, rather than impressive cities in their own instanced map. The towns getting this treatment could be the southern towns of Hammerfell, which are stated to be in ruins after the Great War (the Redguards won their freedom at a very hard price). Some towns in north High Rock like Farrun and Jehanna could also get this treatment, if for example Alduin raised some dragons in the Druadach Mountains and these dragons attacked High Rock. I think having some of these towns in a crippled, diminished state would be a good way to show the horrors of war like the Thalmor invasion, and it's in line with Tamriel progressively getting worse and poorer each game (look at Skyrim in the Fourth Age, a far cry from the power and gold of the Septim Empire).

You might dislike that Winterhold and Morthal were small villages rather than cities, but that's the kind of world-building and lore Bethesda wanted to tell. The world of Tamriel is going through a steady decline since the end of the Dragonborn Emperors and it makes sense for some cities to collapse and be reduced to small towns.

You can see detailed depictions of the Mother and the Warrior on his armor. The left figure is the Mother, she's holding a baby in her arms. She is the aspect of motherhood and protection, invoked for mercy, compassion, and safety. When her sons are endangered, the Mother is said to be even fiercer than the Warrior.

Speaking of which, the right figure is the Warrior. He's armored and he seems to be readying his sword for battle (you can see the sheath and the tip of the hilt). The Warrior is the aspect of knights and soldiers, invoked for courage, strength, and victory in battle.

House Hightower is not only immensely rich (its vast wealth is said to rival even the Lannisters), but they were also the first Westerosi men who converted to the Faith, and turned Oldtown into the capital of the Faith (the High Septon also rules from Oldtown still at the time of the Dance). I really like that they remembered this world-building bit when designing Lord Hightower's armor, with rich engravings of the Seven to represent both his vast wealth and the Hightower's deep connection with the Faith.

They did an amazing job and I think this is my new favorite armor.

With Origins, I can download the game, install a few mods with a simple click and drop into the data folder (unlike modding the monstrosity that is the Frostbite engine), and jump right into the story.

With Inquisition, you have to run around the map like a chicken to do menial fetch quests for random, generic NPCs because the main story is locked behind a MMO-style grind. (but worse than an average MMO)

Origins is quite clearly the best game in the Dragon Age Trilogy.

I can't imagine her superiors in Alinor will be happy to know that not only she fell for a cheap disguise and let the Dragonborn slip through her fingers, but that her shortcoming also caused the death of many justiciars and the loss of vital dossiers.

It is stated by the Widow's Law that, in order for the eldest child to inherit, they must "maintain surviving widows in the same conditions they enjoyed before their husband's death."

You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. If you claim you deserve the throne cuz you're the eldest, then you must also treat the second, third, any widowed wife fairly. That is what the law states.

Rhaenyra did not do this. When she took King's Landing, she imprisoned the Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, widow of King Viserys I. Bound her in golden fetters and arrested her. This was a clear violation of the Widow's Law, Rhaenyra should have let Alicent continue her life at court as she did before, she had NO RIGHT to arrest a widow.

And she might do something even more horrific in the show.

In conclusion, Rhaenyra violated the Widow's Law and so TB doesn't get to use that in support of her ""claim"".

1. Oldtown wast left untouched by the war, the city remains the richest, largest, and fairest in all of Westeros by the time the Main Saga begins, and the Hightowers remain the richest house in the realm, rivaled only by the Lannisters;
2. In fact the Hightowers became richer than everyone else by founding the Bank of Oldtown, the only Westeros-based Bank in the world. The Bank of Oldtown made the Hightowers even richer and widened the already wide gap between Oldtown and the rest of Westeros. (basically, the Hightowers are like the Medici of Firenze, who became one of the wealthiest and most influential houses in Europe by founding and developing their own bank);
3. The reputation of the Hightowers remains impeccable, they are stated to be one of the proudest and most respected houses in Westeros, and Daenerys considers them among the Targaryens' most loyal supporters. Jon Hightower was made Hand of the King to King Aegon IV, Alerie Hightower was wed to Lord Mace Tyrell, Warden of the South, and their daughter, Margaery, a half-Hightower, is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Alicent is remembered by history as a beloved and popular queen, same as her daughter Helaena, and her son Aegon II is remembered as the rightful king, while the pretender Rhaenyra is remembered as King Maegor with Tits;
4. They literally asked Aegon III to marry Bethany Hightower, the daughter of Lord Ormund Hightower. You know, the guy who was deemed to be the greatest threat to Aegon III's mother.
5. The military power of House Hightower was equally left unscathed. They suffered only one defeat in the Dance, Second Tumbleton, but their army was preserved by Lord Peake who retreated to Oldtown, their vast fleet was left untouched, as was the manpower of Oldtown itself. All sources agree that Lord Hightower alone had the military power to continue the war against Houses Stark, Tully, and Arryn.

Meanwhile

- The Velaryons lost everything and nobody takes them seriously anymore

- The Starks lost everything with the Red Wedding and they are on the brink of extinction

- The Tullys also lost everything and are on the brink of extinction

- The Arryns are down to a grown-up boy who still sucks on his mother's tiddy

- The Targaryens... OOF... they're down to one girl shitting in the middle of nowhere.

While House Hightower remains one of the richest and most powerful Great Houses in all of Westeros!! 😄💚💚

EDIT - No one could deny my points so I take it as an automatic concession that the Hightowers rule and are the best! :-)

Friendly reminder that there's a Daedric Prince called Ithelia.

Have a good day. :-)

Think about everything Alicent accomplished, all the statements she silently made with this simple walk.

She shows up late to her step-daughter's wedding, after everyone's already taken their seat, she doesn't even bother to warn the king that she'll be late. This is humiliating enough for Viserys, to be seen without his queen, it means she's keeping him obscure to her plans. Jason Lannister makes fun of her, saying "this is why men go to war, because women would never be ready in time for the battle."

She interrupts the king mid-speech, literally cuts him off while he is giving a monumental speech to honor Houses Targaryen and Velaryon.

She waits until they are ALL seated before making her entry, so that they will have to get back up. All this movement and noise further undersells Viserys' authority and boosts Alicent's image: she makes all the lords rise for her, so that she takes the spotlight away from Rhaenyra and Laenor and unto herself.

She eschews the traditional red-and-black colors of House Targaryen to don her own colors, the green of House Hightower ("Do you know what color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war? Green"). This is practically a declaration of war, she is making a very powerful statement: "I may be wed to a Targaryen, but my heart will always be Hightower."

She doesn't even apologize to the king for humiliating him and for the delay, she just gives him a faint kiss on the cheek and moves on like nothing happened, leaving him completely speechless.

To top it all off, she did this in a time when the Targaryens were in their golden age, the peak of their power, possessing as many dragons as they did in Old Valyria.

Honestly, you kind of have to respect Alicent for her balls of steel.

Selfish, petty, spiteful, and envious, to be sure; but also quite bold, gutsy, and brave to do this.

Anyway, I think this is easily one of the best-written scenes in the whole of HOTD. What a truly wonderful way to cap off the first time period of this story.