Emma forgot they were playing Rhaenyra the Regal and not Aegon the Dragonbane.
Baelor's not bad, but Maekar's got that rugged handsomeness, and the jawline, haircare routine, slick black robes. As a straight guy, I'm jealous and I'd low-key hit that shit (with respect)
Is she serious? She's showing more shock and devastation here than when Rhaenyra the Snot-nosed cut her father's head off. I was so bewildered when I first saw this.
Fellas, if your mother is horrified that you managed to survive an assassination attempt, get the fuck out of there. 🚩🚩🚩
Do they seriously think they cooked? Are they so blinded by their own ego that they don't recognise her as the worst mother out of any mother in the entire HBO roster of TV shows? Or do they somehow think that she's a powerful woman/the embodiment of a powerful woman for giving up her power and her sons lives?
I mean, if I do a double take then actually Rhaenyra is what their idea of a powerful woman is- and she's bent this helpless woman to her will like a puppet. Even Cersei couldn't be manipulated that easily, and EVERYONE had dirt on Cersei.
Honestly my only conclusion is that at some point between "Driftmark" (S1 E7) and The Black Queen (S1 E10) Alicent was hypnotized or possessed by a Witch who hijacked her soul- like what happened to Nikki from Obsession (iykyk)
I'll admit this one is more sort of directed at the ones who have read the books but I still thought I would ask in case others have just read what happens in the books online.
I didn't include Aegon because honestly I think the writers have actually done a good job with him this season. That and his actor was, for me, the highlight again for this show with his performance.
Plus I'd be lying if I said he probably wouldn't sweep this pole by a landslide if I did include him.
But yeah, if the character was written as their book counterpart this season, who would you have enjoyed the most?
When he uploaded that rightfully disparaging rant/critique on his blog about the show- mentioning the toxic butterflies, hypocrisy/backwards arcs and how it wasn't his story anymore- do you think they had shown him the entirety of their plans? Or just season 3? Or was it just about how terrible season 2 was? I can't fully remember
Cause I'm not gonna lie, season 3 itself, wasn't *bad*, but it wasn't as decent as season 1 and *certainly* wasn't as awful as season 2. That's where I get a bit confused and can't remember whether his "beware the toxic butterflies" blog post was about the entire rest of the show to come, or if that was his summary of season 2/3.
I would those who agree that S3 was better agree because of the watering down of the Rhaenicent dynamic/narrative. I hate C&H as writers as much as anyone on this sub but it felt like they realised they shoved the romance plot in there way too early and way too enthusiastically so they dialled back. That's the one redeeming quality about the season, and it's a significant one (from my POV).
But yeah, do you think/remember if he (GRRM) read the ending? Or was the script for S3 enough for him after S3 to be like "nah fuck it" and call it a night on this show?
Given that she was the one who goaded him into going to Rook's Rest, and given that she tried to assassinate/kill Aemond multiple times, then technically Aegon has every right to have her outright executed- but he won't, he's too magnanimous.
However, I think we know for certain he will be the one to throw her in prison, either on Dragonstone or in the Red Keep next season. And I would love for a scene where he screams at her for all her betrayals- because whilst Viserys may have been the guy who started the war/succession crisis, Alicent did absolutely nothing to help it and just ended up making it worse for both the Greens and the Blacks.
Hypothetically speaking, if we do get a scene like this, it'll be the only time I'll be ok with her *actually* crying, because unlike 97% of all her other scenes where she's on the verge of tears even though theres nothing to cry about, this would totally be worth it.
I'm not including Aegon because his aura from this season was way too overpowering, but, in regards to respect, charisma, energy and likeability, who has the most aura out of the Greens? And why?
It goes without saying there is no Alicent here for obvious reasons.
Maekar's armour looks gives off proper "royal commando in the on the battlefield" vibe whereas Aemond looks like he's doing cosplay- at the time of the Dance of Dragons, the Targaryens are at the height of their power and Aemond is supposed to have sleek black and gold armour but they really couldn't be bothered with him and I don't know why.
It's a shame because I know they had the capacity to do well- Ormund's armour for example looked awesome- but when it came to the rest of the Targaryens, besides Daemon, we only see Aemond in armour for like 1 episode and it falls short of both Ormund's and Maekar's and pretty much every Targaryen that we've seen on screen.
I genuinely wonder if most of the budget for the wardrobe department went towards Ormund tbh, because Daeron was only wearing plain green robes- not even adorned or embroidered with gold like you'd expect a royal prince in the field to wear.
L wardrobe department. What are your thoughts?
The poor guy just wanted to joust and feast and instead his father died and his grandfather is on his way out. All because your cousin wanted to make headlines by being in a trial by seven.
Maekar was waay too soft on Aerion by just sending him away also. I don't understand how he wasn't punished harsher. Everyone seems to overlook poor Valarr.
Early impressions were I really liked this guy, he definitely gave off that impression that he was the Greens' answer to Daemon and the Blacks- the way he carried himself was interesting too, like you could tell he was kind of already a broken guy or teetering on the edge of mentally broken but he hid it underneath the guise of trying to be/wanting to be the best at everything and he still did it with swagger.
When he made the "cheers to Rhaenyra's bastards" toast all the way til when he accidentally killed Luke I was thinking how cool it was that we were gonna see this guy's story unfold and I was excited to see him serve as a great commander in the field for Aegon.
....but ooh boy. Good characters make you wonder so much about them including how you're gonna react to their deaths or victories/defeats and now I don't really feel anything for the guy. When I first learned how he was gonna go out back when we were first introduced to him I couldn't wait cause it sounded epic.
But I don't really feel anything for him tbh, like I don't think his death will be as impactful as certain other characters, I don't like how him and Aegon are friends again after he tried to kill him, cause it never should've happened in the first place, I don't like how the writers went into way too much graphic detail with his invented "mummy issues" dynamic with Alicent and yeah, I think they introduced him really well but really fucked his character up, second worse only to Alicent.
And because of his butchering I just feel like his last stand isn't gonna hit that hard- as much as I would want it to. I'm not gonna be happy about it like I (and I sure we all) will be when Alicent dies, but I don't think it's gonna hit that hard in the end when it absolutely should considering he's only 20 years old.
But yeah. Just wanted to speak my mind on this character and how initially well introduced and well written he was (both the child and adult version)
I was going to include Mysaria rolling with Rhaenyra despite her (Rhaenyra) not giving a shit about her or "DE SMOLFOWK" even though she (Mysaria) is supposedly a champion of the smallfolk, but I figured not to given that Hess' self insert character has had her sex scene and is now done- as opposed to these on-going everlasting and actual impactful/significant changes.
For me personally, it was a tie between Daeron basically being a Timid Tommen 2.0 and the show completely forgetting about the literal future King Aegon who takes over immediately after the Dance.
But yeah, which one of these subplots annoyed you the most? If you have any other ones- please list them/explain them in the comments!
I'm writing this after I saw a post on Instagram saying that Rhaenyra loved Helaena the most out of all her siblings and supposedly sent generous terms to her in the book in regards to surrender. Which even if it was true, was purely just an obvious manipulation tactic to get her on side and use her against her brothers.
In the show, the one hung Helaena was spot-on about was that everything about Rhaenyra was ugly. And she never gave her any information about Aegon or Aemond even though she could have.
Roxton and Helaena are the Green MVPs this season for sure.
What is this even supposed to insinuate? That just because Arya is a badass, she has to have gotten her badassery from some other "badass" young girl that we see on screen?
Some of these people really be talking out of their ass I swear.
Bro would rather be back in bed sleeping some more 🤣🤣😭
She has no skill with a blade and her dragon is injured. How the fuck is she gonna "light the way"? With what? She's the only Dragonrider who's currently unable/unfit to ride and fight.
You have to admire the audacity though I suppose.
Is this just ceremonial? She's never been trained with the sword and she ran away when she saw a dragon attacking her dragon. What the fuck is she gonna do? Her bond with her dragon isn't even that strong compared to Daeron or Daemon's and it's not like she'd have a chance against Silverwig or Vermithor who were around since Maegor the Cruel.
Realistically the only dragon she can go toe to toe with at this point is Tessarion and MAYBE a wounded Sunfyre- but that's it. Plus if I recall, Syrax just got pummeled by Sheepstealer so she's barely in any condition to fight. And personally if I was Syrax I'd be pissed that my rider didn't bother checking on me after I got the crap kicked out of me.
Lord have mercy they're out her trying to emulate Visenya. She would be spinning in her grave like a particle accelerator.
Look at how enthusiastic this woman is when she talks about a "love triangle" with a twisted incestuous relationship of the highest level.
I know none of us here at TG take the show seriously and all but the way this woman overzealously insists it with all the excitement in her eyes is crazy.
Also, I notice so many writers and directors don't even know what "love triangle" means. It means when two people are in love with the same person. Alicent is not in love with Aemond, and Aemond and Alys are kind of just FWB's.
This is just a way to say "we wanted more sex and nudity" without also sounding like they need their computers checked by the cops or something.