#hotd oc

Foils | Mythology | Behind the Scenes | Alias

Aemond Targaryen was said to revere M’rone Vilendrys more than any woman. Yet the Realm would remember her as The Greyscale Widow, on account of the scars on her jaw, and the solemn look in her dark eyes—as if perpetually mourning the loss of her late husband, Mirtane Forel.

‘[Tyanna of Pentos] She was a courtesan and a witch. That is why she was so beautiful and could seduce the Abomination—’ He clears his throat. ‘She became his, what is it? Third wife. Yes, I suppose so. She was black-hearted, power hungry and jealous. That was no good when she had to share her husband with so many.’ M’rone snorts. Even if it is not funny. But it is a bit funny, but only now, when the poppy taste still lingers on her tongue. ‘She tortured and killed one of her sister-wives on basis of false accusations of treason. Then she poisoned the children her husband sired on his other wives. Jealousy, you see, madness. She was barren herself.’ And that is where the humor ends. Was it jealousy? Or something else. After all, this Realm must be happy that the line of Maegor the Cruel was not to be continued. ‘Will this be the stories they tell of me too? That I am a witch courtesan, come from Braavos to seduce a king away from his wife, to seduce a king to commit depraved deeds and destroy his rule, destroy his kingdom?’ What a heavy question, and yet now, it feels light. ‘Will they blame me for what he is?’

From chapter 15 of Dreadful as the Dawn

When I began writing Dreadful as the Dawn, which was also when I began to flesh out M'rone, my main aim was (and still is) to write back at the stories of prizes of war, bedmates, and concubines with a focus on questions of bodily autonomy and agency under the shadow of absolute power. In hindsight, I was onto something when I decided to open the first chapter with a reference to Maegor and the construction of the Holdfast:

When the Holdfast was completed, Maegor the Cruel gathered all who had labored on its construction and had them killed. That is how the smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms are repaid for their dutiful work on behalf of those who rule them: in blood. It is not a lesson any Braavosi has to be taught however. The Valyrians of old once enslaved their forefathers, so they do not need to be warned about the otherworldly cruelty dragonlords bestow on those who serve them. They remember.

Looking back on it, I am happy that of all options I had I decided to make M'rone a Braavosi artisan. It is this subjectivity that allows her a lens to see through the very structure of power at the Red Keep. She is never going to be an insider. As I imagine Tyanna of the Tower never was. I will remain ever intrigued by Tyanna, with whom M'rone shares some commonalities: both are foreigners in the Seven Kingdom, both have some relation to magic, both are barren. While M'rone is not likely to follow in Tyanna's footsteps, if only because her relationship with Aemond is entirely different and she does not have the stomach for cruelty, I do think that she risks being remembered in a similar way. As a bad foreign influence on an otherwise horrid Targaryen king.

BRILLIANT ACHILLES SHEN,

SHINING ACHILLES SHEN,

GODLIKE ACHILLES SHEN

… HOW THE EPITHETS PILE UP.

WE NEVER CALLED HIM ANY OF THOSE THINGS;

WE CALLED HIM ‘THE BUTCHER’.

ASOIAF OC WEEK: DAY 2— PARALLELS!

foils | mythology| behind the scenes creation | alias

GREAT SHEN. BRILLIANT SHEN. SHINING SHEN. GODLIKE SHEN …

Cassandra was one of my inspirations for Aurelia. Her myth is truly one of tragedy, and Apollo was particularly cruel to her — her gift of prophecy turned into a punishment the moment she refused him, and the truth she spoke became the thing that isolated her. Aurelia's sight was never a punishment, but the isolation it brings is much the same: to see clearly is still to stand apart from everyone who cannot.

Both women carry knowledge the people around them are not prepared to hear. Both are, more often than not, alone in what they know.

When Laelya Maedrys married King Viserys, her wardrobe changed with her position — the soft, unremarkable colors she'd arrived in gave way, over three and twenty years, to black and red worn as plainly as a claim staked in cloth. By the end of her reign the comparison the court reached for was not Queen Aemma, nor even her own mother, but Alysanne herself — the last queen, they said, to hold a court together by sheer force of being present in it. She continued her grandmother's project and earned the moniker Laelya the Gentle, beloved of the smallfolk.

ASOIAF OC WEEK 2026 ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

day one: greetings // carra’a personal sigil & color