u/BlkCat_444

If the leaks are correct Ormund will definitely get worse, but as it stands now Ormund in the show just gives off book Alicent if turned into a man and was able to unleash the full extent of her political ambition without all the gender restraints.

I’ve always gotten the sense that book Alicent’s motivations was not simply rooted in Otto’s strategy but her own desire to see her blood on the throne and the ardent belief that her blood belonged on the throne along with her genuine religious and cultural beliefs. Ormund in HotD being pompous, religious, and determined to see the child he personally molded on the throne above all else reads more as book Alicent than the actual Alicent we see in the show.

It disappoints me a little because it seems like the writers gave all book Alicent’s traits and gave it to a man because they didn’t want Alicent in the show to come off as “evil” (god forbid a woman not have traits that aren’t just crying and yearned constantly), and if that’s the case, it feels ironically misogynistic to give traits from female book characters to show male characters just so you can affirm the ridiculous belief that women = good, men = bad.

I know the title is crazy but I’m tired of pretending like the moral implications of the characters matter when the audience and the writers themselves don’t even seem to care and are entirely bias.

People will steamroll you for enjoying Aemond (for example) as a thematic character but will glaze Daemon who molests kids and beat his wife’s head with rock. Those same people will constantly bludgeon you over the head with which characters are the most morally upstanding and therefore, the only characters people are allowed to like without realizing that the best characters are the most fucking boring.

There’s a reason why everyone likes Rhaenyra and Helaena…because they’re both boring, indecisive, almost useless characters who move with where the writers need them to go rather than what is most interesting for the story. Unlike some people, I’m not a baby who needs to be told which characters are “good” or “bad”, so long as the character is compelling that is enough to warrant a good *character*.

I don’t care that Aemond kissed his mom or that it’s bad. I don’t care that Aemond killed that kid. I won’t care when he kills the Strongs and has a child by Alys because I’m tired of HotD fandom and discourse being boiled down to tribalistic fan wars and morality policing. It somehow escapes many people in this fandom that you can like a character while disagreeing with their actions but that’s just a part of compelling characterization. I don’t give a fuck about boring ass “what would you have me do?” Rhaenyra or her wack ass claim, nor do I care but Alicent’s lobotomized nonsensical actions because I don’t need to the writers to tell me who I should or should not like or support.

I miss the days of GoT where you could enjoy shitty characters like Cersei Lannister without people beating you over the head about how you must be bad person or “wrong” for not liking the good guys. There’s more to like and dissect about characters than that. Like if the leaks are true, and Ormund has Daeron murder that innocent civilian as practice I still wont care…ok they’re villains? They’re still more interesting than Rhaenyra and her fraction so now what?

Anyway, this post is getting long but yeah the writers can demonize Aemond or whoever else as much as they want but I don’t think it should matter anymore.

I know there’s reliable leakers on this sub, so I just want to know what will happen in in episode 2 because I don’t really care about spoilers. I’m not too emotionally invested in this show anymore for obvious reasons and it really doesn’t bother me to know what will happen before actually going and watching the episode. I just would like to get the disappointment out of the way before, I watch on Sunday.