a burnt child loves the fire.

#I feel like the tragedy of viserys and dany is they really might have been close and loved each other normally of they'd been allowed to #barristan says viserys always seemed aerys's son but when has westeros had any sort of developed understanding of mental illness #dany knew him best and she said the last kindness left him when he sold their mother's crown #it begs the question how much kindness there would have been if they hadn't been children forced out on the streets #a brother dany says never forgave her for their mother's death giving her birth. #but who told her stories and brought her up while his own mental faculties were wearing thin #it doesn't feel like tywin keeping tyrion based on lannister name and blood alone #she loved him once. #that viserys had some inherent lecherous evil in him doesn't feel in line with that to me #it doesn't feel in line with dany please #if ned is the good guardian to tywin's bad one viserys was just a boy who found himself in that role under the worst possible circumstances #and who under duress of those awful circumstances and his own undiagnosed mental illness #(for which he never got any help or support) #failed his sister very very badly #leaving daenerys to feel the hole of his absence even when he was still alive #because she loved him. once (via @hylialeia)

in an asoiaf musical none of the kings have solo songs this is the equivalence to none of the kings having a pov chapter many (me) are saying this

people categorizing the lann twins only as being incestuous cannot even begin to understand. yes they fuck each other but they're also friendless and their biggest enemies are preteens and also have the biggest daddy issues known to mankind plus non existent emotional intelligence and also they're just terrible people and straight up unlikable by everyone around them and yeah they're probably going to die in the most painful way possible and

#also for cersei its not incest its selfcest because jaime is not supposed to be a different person than her #and for jaime it's incest but even he doesn't love cersei herself he loves the idea he's imposed upon her for his own coping and seething #and they hate each other when they figure out who the other person really is but they also love each other #but love and hate are two heads of the same body when you're a lannister #also their relationship was a complete myth and none of it was real! jaime was not holding her foot! #but also he was because they are jacob and esau #but also @eddtollett​

#something so wrong with them #and it's not even what you think is wrong with them! Godbles (via @hylialeia)

i wish we truly moved on from the whole “this is what a character deserves or is entitled to” thing when it comes to this series. first of all, this is fiction. and sure, it is relevant in terms of the clear antagonists getting what is coming, and certain choices having consequences, the narrative is obviously not about to endorse some characters and their ideologies, methods, and roles from a thematic perspective, but when it comes to rewarding the heroes i doubt it is at all meant to be clear cut in the way some of you argue it is. the whole point is that trying to be a good person, fighting the horrors no matter the cost, is inherently meaningful. it does not have to be rewarded in a direct way with characters being entitled to happy endings by virtue of being heroic and making the right choices. according to george even the attempt, despite the results, holds meaning. that is what makes it truly profound. not getting clear personal rewards from heroism makes it a more profound triumph. the text already explores this a lot. the rewards of that are deeper and more existential, and is a big theme of defining true heroism. i especially do not think death is meant to be an indictment of certain characters, and i dont get why a lot of people seem to still argue on the pretense that it is lol. all men will die, but first they will live etc. you can absolutely prefer survival (or other specific things) for certain characters, and think it would be more moving and would work with their respective arcs better, but i do not really care for arguments that treat this text as something entirely karmic. george has said he does not believe in karma. he is also obsessed with covering the cost of triumph.

stannis smiles a grand total of 3 times and laughs once in a song of ice and fire. one smile is when he makes jon snow explain why everyone hates him and thinks hes a warg, one smile is saying he would not have come (to the wall) if not for davos, one smile is at the memory of cutting off davos' fingers, and his singular laugh is when telling melisandre that HIS onion knight would ALWAYS tell him the truth after they had clearly been arguing about it. all outwardly expressed pleasure from stannis consists of 3/4ths davos 1/4th schadenfreude