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Because Dany is a woman, Rhaegar gets hated too.

Was he selfish and stupid? Yes, at least some fans that dislike him can recognize he wasn't a Tywin and that he was doomed. But I believe it's more compelling that he wasn't a bad person, just..human.

I thought I was crazy when I started to like him, or get interested in his story, his connection to Dany, his family! Him! He's a lovestruck prince, he was valiant and foolish, he didn't hate his family, he wrote a song for his daughter, he was fond of his wife, everyone loved him, he abandoned everything for Lya, he died with Lya's name on her lips, he tasked Jaime to protect his family, he haunts the narrative, he was melancolic and emo, he tried to find joy in life, he's a tragedy, he was born to die.

like guys, you need PEOPLE to colonise. there were like 5 targs when aegon and his sisters CONQUERED (not colonised) westeros. and even though there were times when the targaryen family was quite large (pre-Dance, pre-Summerhall), they were still pretty self-contained because of the whole incest thing.

the valyrian empire was a colonising empire. we can see that through dany’s journey in essos when she sees a lot of smallfolk with pale hair like her, and people speak dialects of Valyrian. that’s what happens when you get colonised. none of that happens in westeros, because westeros wasn’t colonised by the targs.

Call me whatever names you wish, but I think this is a much better (and healthier) attitude than “anyone under 18 should never be allowed to see any sexual imagery ever”

(For reference: this was at the Tom of Finland exhibition, containing actual, queer, kinky af pornography. There were definitely some young people there, perhaps in their late teens. There was even a parent with their baby who was probably too young to understand anything at all. And guess what, all those people are probably going to be fine.)

Reading 15-year-old Lord of the Rings fic is absolutely wild because the prose style for fanfic has changed so much during the intervening years. There was a huge focus back then (~2002) on mimicking Tolkien’s style with elevated language, a lack of phobia over using the passive voice, and otherwise formal “epic” dialogue patterns. 

At times it’s a bit hard for me to read, because my inner editor voice wants to rearrange sentences and remove “on the nose” description and dialogue (explicitly saying what the character is or is not thinking/saying like “He spoke nothing of his fears, which were great.”)*

It got me thinking about fashions in prose. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this style, just as there’s nothing inherently “wrong” about 19th c. romantic purple prose vs 20th c. spare, Hemingway-esque thriller prose. Yet writers and teachers of writing delight in creating long lists of what should and should not be done as if they’re ironclad laws of physics rather than extremely subjective matters of taste and changing times.

DANY FAMILY PORTRAIT bloodriders left to right: aggo, rakharo, jhogo. irri in yellow & jhiqui in blue. missandei, barristan and grey worm to the right!! (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

1. human beings are basically poles for clawing and climbing:

The cream-colored dragon sunk sharp black claws into the lion’s mane and coiled its tail around her arm

Rhaegal hissed and dug sharp black claws into her bare shoulder as Dany stretched out a hand for the wine. Wincing, she shifted him to her other shoulder, where he could claw her gown instead of her skin

2.  clawing is a favourite way to pass time:

“Viserion clawed splinters from the door, do you see?”

3.   hissing is a habit:

On her shoulder, Viserion hissed.

When she gave a yank, the black dragon raised his head, hissing, and unfolded wings of night and scarlet.

As Dany lifted her goblet to drink, Rhaegal sniffed at the wine and drew his head back, hissing.

4.  “what do you mean I won’t fit on your shoulder?”

Viserion flapped at her and tried to perch on her shoulder, as he had when he was smaller. “No,” Dany said, trying to shrug him off gently. “You’re too big for that now, sweetling.” […] Helpless, she sank into Groleo’s great leather chair, giggling.

5.  biting your hand while you pet them:

She stroked Rhaegal. The green dragon closed his teeth around the meat of her hand and nipped hard.

“When I grabbed his tail to hold him back, he turned and bit me.“ She showed Dany the marks of his teeth on her hand.

6.  likes heights and sleeping on trees:

Dragons always preferred to attack from above, Dany had learned.

Drogon flapped and clawed up to the lintel over the archway.

The white dragon lay coiled around a pear tree, his head resting on his tail. […] His wings unfolded, and he half flew, half hopped onto the parapet.

7.  basking lazily in the sun:

She found Rhaegal asleep beside the pool, a green and bronze coil basking in the sun.

8.  catches rats and fishes:

There had been one small fire, easily extinguished; against that, Balerion suddenly seemed to have far fewer rats than she’d had before

The flying fish no sooner broke the surface of the water than they were enveloped in a lance of flame, snatched up, and swallowed.

9.  the sweet spot of scratching:

“You’re lazy,” she told him, scratching under his jaw.

[…] as she scratched the dragon’s scaly head behind the horns

[…]  Viserion perched on the edge of her empty bath. 

11. we fight with each other when we are awake, but sleep curled around each other:

Drogon and Rhaegal were asleep atop some cushions, curled about each other […]

12. is there a nook in the wall? that’s my bed:

But Viserion had dug himself a hole in them [walls of pyamid] with flame and claw, a hole big enough to sleep in.

13. the most damning piece of evidence: the following is a literal description of how you play with a cat

Drogon looped his neck around to nip at her hand. His teeth were very sharp, but he never broke her skin when they played like this. Dany laughed, and rolled him back and forth until he roared, his tail lashing like a whip. 

“Snow,” the moon insisted.