darling rhaenyra

Criston was an eyewitness to Rhaenyra once again being humiliated and abused by Alicent, abuse that lasted for years, but as he walked down the same corridor, the same path where Rhaenyra was bleeding out, he could still spew nothing but venom.

And you know what makes me happy?

Criston's death will not be heroic, it will not be suitable for song, it will not be chivalrous. Team Green laments that it is an undignified death and he should die in a duel like a warrior and a knight.

No, he shouldn't.

His death is exactly as it should be. Unworthy. He was ignored, his claims and pleas ignored, his men would die, and he was shot with a crossbow like a wild game animal because no one even got dirt on their sword.

Criston did not deserve to die worthy of a knight because he was not a true knight. A real knight does not oppress children, does not kill innocents, does not act shamefully. Even Jamie bloody Lannister understood that.

Criston will die as he lived - undignified for a knight.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen mourning King Viserys I Targaryen.

They also made sure to back up their data. They made four copies of it, then when three copies were lost in the Imrim Wars they decided to make five more copies just in case. One copy was destroyed in a rebellion, another was partially damaged in an invasion, and Japan stole one copy during their occupation and moved it to Tokyo University, where it was mostly destroyed in the Kanto Earthquake (47 books remained and were returned to South Korea in 2006). Now the whole thing is digitized, free on the internet, and translated into modern Korean for all to see.

Daenerys shows herself to be generous to her handmaidens/slaves. Take into account that up to that point, the only relationship she ever had was with her abusive brother Viserys. Constantly moving around or behind closed doors, she never was able to form any relationships outside Viserys with the only exception being Ser Willem Darry, the only father figure she had ever known who had always been kind to her. Nor do I think Viserys would have encouraged it given like any abuser he wanted to keep her isolated, and he saw other people, especially the common folk, as beneath the "blood of the dragon."

When Daenerys finally does have other people in her life, she is kind and generous towards them, because she is enjoying something she never had before. It's a pattern we see throughout the series. She promises Missandei that she'll return her to Naath, and Jorah that she'll return him to Bear Isle. She bends over backwards to help her children, the freedmen of Slaver's Bay, tending to them in person during the bloody flux and supporting them against their former masters. She tries to be the friend she wishes she had when she was young.

Whilst Princess Rhaenyra misliked her stepmother, Queen Alicent...

I do too. But it lives its whole life. So you have to take it seriously eventually, right? And be respectful and shit.