I have no idea why I am blogging!

Dunk, her incredibly tall foster sister, feels like she owes Rafe everything. So she goes to the Elders and is like, hey, sacrifices are better as volunteers right? I'll volunteer. And of course doesn't tell Rafe, because Dunk is self sacrificing in any universe. The elders are on board, because a convert volunteering as a sacrifice looks GREAT as PR material.

Off Dunk goes to the main Temple of Meraxes in Westeros. There are other sacrifices as well, and they have to do an initiation into the mystery cult (which is probably just a pilgrimage of some kind and maybe staying up all night until you hallucinate and face your fears). Dunk does very well in her initiation and it's hard not to like Dunk.

At some point, though, the high priestess is like, hey, so have you had the talk (figuring that Dunk may have not since she was originally raised in the Light of the Seven). And Dunk admits that no, she actually knows very little of what is going on. But there is misinterpretation and the priestess just thinks Dunk needs a sex talk, and Dunk is like, "oookay??" but doesn't ask what this has to do with her being ritually sacrificed.

So the Festival arrives and with it the night of great sacrifice. Dunk is painted with henna and wode, decorated with gold ornaments and dressed in a fine, soft muslin. She is led to an altar that seems more like a feather bed than stone, covered with a soft fur and pillows and she's thinking, "Weird that they're gonna get blood all over this nice fur."

But then a man, also decorated and adorned, shirtless and wearing the mask of a dragon approaches the altar. They exchange a few Valyrian phrases that Dunk understands, but doesn't understand, because the man starts kissing her and making love to her, and Dunk's like, well, I did always wonder how this would feel, I suppose it would be nice to know before they ritually sacrifice me. She's heard they do this sort of thing in the North too.

GoT was the first show to hit the mainstream audience, and Dany did not have a traditional Targaryen upbringing, they were nothing but ashes and dirt now. We see a young girl being sold from one person to another, being violently raped and then learning how to survive the brutality of men. Then she acquires dragons, and it is a story of a phoenix who rose from the ashes. BUT she was a Targaryen, and she had heard of the glory, of their empire, of her 'birthright' never mind she did not know anything about the land she wanted to rule, but it never stopped her ancestors. Dany was flawed, her ambition at her core were wrong, she did not have any birthright except for the dragonstone BUT she was a character. GoT embraced the good and bad of Daenerys.

In case of Rhaenyra, she is a complicated character, she is not a goodie two shoes, she is vengeful, cruel, hypocritical, power hungry, and that is what makes her Rhaenerya. But she is removed from everything, and whitewashed so much that now she is nothing but a bland shell of herself. And if that was not enough then they have made the opposition cartoon villains. So it is not a surprise that HOTD is the worst show, and Martin genuinely hates it.

Beloved mutual @kienie said something about House Blackfyre so I’m going to expand on it.

Dunk , (maybe born as Duncaera or Daeria), was taken when she was 5, Valarr was 7, and Matarys was in Jena’s womb. The Princess had her mother’s red hair but lighter in color and deep blue eyes. The Blackfyre Sympathizers didn’t like the outcome of Red Grass so they waited until things calmed down and took Dunk.

I honestly enjoy it, I have always loved the "Girl disguises herself as a man trope" for reasons I did not find out until I realized I was trans later down the line. While I am someone who does believe it is important to the messaging of the story that Dunk is a cis male, as it is a tale proving that there are good men and what it means to be one in the face of adversity (aka, it's unintentional anti-manosphere media), this au is for fun!!! Never let things get in the way of fun! Fandom is a buffet, try and enjoy shit, even if it isn't always to your taste but even then, you may find you enjoy it nonetheless!

In this AU, the messaging just changes to a girl desperate to see good men and knowing that her only protection is to be said good man. Some people take height as a challenge, and just as male Dunk is handsome in a plain way, I think Dunk/Daph or Duncan/Daphne, is beautiful in a plain way as well. I think the biggest difference will be that Daph knows she is both beautiful and desirable but it gives her just as much anxiety as Dunk believing himself to be undesirable and unwanted.

NOW ONTO PLOT THINGS (I will be referring to Dunk as Daph. Dunk is what she goes by as a knight, but Daph is her actual name)

- I think Daphs backstory would happen when she is a bit younger, pre period age (so like 8). My reasoning being girls suffer earlier than boys, a comment on how "nowhere is safe for little girls", messaging on how quick girls must mature, and so Daph is can hide her gender from Arlan until she starts her period when she's 10. Arlan keeps her anyway because if she was smart enough to hide her gender from him for 2 years as a child, she'll make it. He's has also canonically been to Dorne, hes probably fine with women fighting.

- I have read a few of these and none of them have had Dunk bind, and I am sorry to say, but Daph would have A RACK! Arlan would be the one to show her because the moment he found out she was a girl, he realized he needed to look up things. Eventually during a travel to Dorne, Daph basically gets some trans tape. Also, the aurouchs line will be "As strong and as slow as an aurouchs... with the tits to match" Last part goes unsaid when meeting Baelor, for obvious reasons.

- Daph is a bit smarter and more well traveled than Dunk. At least smarter in a social sense, as everyone who has been born female knows, you HAVE to be more aware. As for well traveled, I do think Arlan would take Daph to Dorne and the North more often as sometimes Daphne simply needs to be a girl. I like to think that if there were any Northern houses (specifically Mormont) or Dornish houses at the tourney, Daph would have been vouched for quickly. As to the North and Dorne, she is known as "The broad beauty".

- Daph would be actually knighted in this as a delirious dying Ser Arlan would look upon his girl squire and decide that the best thing to protect her would be to knight her. Also, it would be a bit of a fuck you to the gods. It's the same reason why Daph would have armor, as Arlan did get her some armor in the North shortly before they headed to Ashford as he needed her to be protected. Again, more commentary on how girls need more protection regardless of how big and strong they are because their sex is used as a weapon against them. Dunk is a man so he'll always be okay, Daph is a woman so she'll have to settle for an anxious fine. Where Arlan neglected Dunk's education because he's a man, I feel like he went HARD regarding Daphs because she's a woman.

- As for when she gets to Ashford, I am taking your idea of her being a mystery knight to heart. She is not taking off her helmet in any situation, not even when it's the polite thing to do. It will change a few things but not by much. Lyonel's dinner scene goes much the same but instead of saying "Supper" it's "Music" which brings Lyonel an equivalent amount of delight. The meeting with Baelor to get herself knighted is changed, as in addition to Daph keeping her helmet on, she comments on how she hoped some northern lords would be here to vouch for her but since none are she has to go off her Ser's name. That intrigues Baelor enough to allow her to enter the lists.

- Egg finds out Daph is a woman the first night so in addition to name Dunk Duncan, he names Daph Daphne, and she likes the name. He doesn't judge her for the fact she's a woman and goes into the history of female warrior Targaryens and Dornish fighters and in trade Daph will give him tales of Dornish and Northern women fighters she met on her travels, ones who took her in whenever Arlan allowed. The big difference with this relationship is instead of parentified older brother and adhd younger brother energy, this will be strictly Mom and child energy. Egg will consider Daph his mom as he doesn't have one nor remember her, while with Dunk, he still very much has his father.

- Daph and Tanselle will be interesting as instead of love it is "OH SHIT ANOTHER BIG WOMAN" still an equal amount of stammering and awkwardness but not out of lust. Daph will accidentally reveal she's a woman to Tanselle and the puppeteer finds it so endearing and rather inspiring so she is more than willing to paint the shield.

- When defending Tanselle, I do think Daph would be more aware in her rage and will be smart enough to only *shove* Aerion, not hit nor kick him. For if she did that, she'd know she'd be in deep shit. It doesn't change the outcome, there is still a trial by seven as a shove insulted Aerions honor BUT it is the only reason why Daph isn't stripped of her armor and found out. Shoving a prince is unwise but not as genuinely stupid as hitting one.

- Baelor lives, as again, a female Dunk will be a better trained and more aware Dunk. Also I like him living. It does not change Daph not accepting Lyonel's offer in favor of traveling with Egg it only softens the Storms anger, but the reasoning is different to Daph. She's still not willing to be found out and while she does believe she could trust Lyonel, it's not a risk she's willing to take.

- Besides Tanselle and Egg, the only people who find out Daphs a lady, would be Raymun, Rowan, and the other Dondarrion whores. Raymun basically kidnaps Daph to his tent after the fight to have him patched up only for Rowan to finish removing the top of the armor and bandages and coming face to face with the biggest pair either of them have ever seen. Rowan shoos her husband out and gets the other ladies to help (Dondarrion believing it's just his women wanting to see a giant’s cock) and when Daph wakes she is so EMBARRASSED! They promise to keep her secret, Raymun even saying that should he and his wife have daughters he hopes they'll be as good fighters as her too. Aka, Daphs rack cures sexism.

because @takiki16's tags were an absolute inspiration (and because I'm a bit burnt out on writing the behemoth dunk/baelor fic), I present to you a snippet of something where hopefully it doesn't take Baelor 150K to get his pants off:

"No, truly, Your Grace," Dunk repeated, for what he guessed might be the seventeenth time but he'd lost count around the dozenth, "I could take no ransom from you. It was an honor to have faced Your Grace at all, and in truth I ought not have presumed—"

Prince Valarr Targaryen, second in line to the Iron Throne, Prince of Dragonstone and scion of the most powerful family in the Seven Kingdoms, blew a deep breath out through his nose. "Ser Duncan," he said, gearing up for the eighteenth (or possibly nineteenth) attempt, "you didn't presume anything. I challenged you, or did your first tilt against Lord Tully addle your wits?"

Because Baelor objectively is a good man, better than his brother. But he still sat by and allowed toxicity to fester within his family. Baelor standing against Aerion and his own brother to fight for Dunk wasn't just him doing the right thing, it was also him coming to terms with the fact that a legacy he had probably held on to so strongly before all of this, was crumbling. The right thing to do, would have been side with Dunk to begin with and bring his concerns to Maekar, regarding Aerion being a loose canon. The right thing to do, would have been to reprimand Aerion far before it got as far as it did, whilst punishing Maekar for allowing his son's awful actions to fester and go unchecked.

While Baelor was kind to and empathized with Dunk, even to the point of being extremely cold and sharp toward Egg (which I like--because it shows us that he is capable of being cruel and cut throat), he still did not overly praise what Dunk did in the moment. He did not commend Dunk for striking Aerion, nor did he excuse he. He simply said, 'I might have done what you did, but I'm a prince'. There are so many ways to interpret that, but none of them overly excused or ignored what Egg did, nor did they put any accountability on Aerion. Infact, Baelor validated Aerion; he validated his anger, he validated the fact that what Tanselle did could be seen as treason against House Targaryen.

Even when Aerion requested a trial of the 7 (and both Maekar and Dunk were equally confused and both actively crashing out in unison), instead of denying him that or even trying to argue with him, he allowed him to trial without any consequence, knowing that it would be a disadvantage to Dunk. And by that I mean, he hardly stood up for him, outside of giving Dunk and his brother a history lesson, he gave Aerion what he wanted. And of course, that is the law, but Baelor never put up very hard opposition against his nephews desires.

This is not at all to say that, he didn't stick his neck out for Dunk because he did, immensely. This was seen by the fact that he did not blame Dunk at all, for any of this. He blamed Egg for it. This also isn't excusing the fact that he gave his life for Dunk, because he did. But joining the fight against his family, IMO, is the result of Baelor realizing that there needs to be a change. That he has been enabling his brother and his brother's son for too long that it has come to this; the Targs have not only lost their way but are falling back into the travesty that was Aegon the Unworthy. Baelor doesn't want a repeat of that, but he sees that by his lack luster actions, that is going to happen. He knows that as much as his brother grumps about his children, he is an inactive/bad father. He will threaten and hit Aerion, but he will stand by him. He too is an enabler; if none of them stood up to Aerion, then their legacy would repeat itself.

Similar to how I mentioned that Egg and Dunk are Maekar's redemption, Dunk is also Baelor's redemption. Dunk is a reflection of everything that a knight and a good man is to Baelor, and being lost in castles, in Summerhall, in Dragonstone, around elites, nobles, royals, etc., Baelor had forgotten that simply because he didn't have to confront that until he saw Dunk vs Aerion. And it was no longer something he could ignore; there was a terror brewing within the household of his brother, whcih inevitably would impact his legacy and threaten his life.

So Baelor is a very good man imo. He is not your typical Targ man, and it's foolish to act like he is a man with ulterior motives. But I actually like this idea that he deals with internal struggles more than the thought of him being a very basic, black and white person. While he was not actively torturing people like Aerion, he allowed it to fester by not condoning his brother's lack of parenting. And of course people are probably wondering 'why is it his problem', not only is he going to be king, but what one unruly prince does, impacts everyone. And it would be absolute hell for Baelor to be king while his nephew who thinks he is a dragon and a true targ is living and breathing. They would've eventually had to kill Aerion I kid you not.