#joners

I’m queuing this post because I will not be on social media today. There have been spoilers and leaks for the first three episodes, and I’d like to avoid those and just enjoy the episode without it being spoiled.

Now my comments on the leaks:

Yesterday we had a very interesting exchange on Twitter discussing the leaks the claim that Missandei will be killed and that the Unsullied will go crazy and kill the women and children of King’s Landing. Most of you are white and you might not have been able to see the inherent racism in such a theory but I’m here to tell you it’s there, loud and clear.

After mulling it over a bit more after the discussion I got myself worked up because the more I thought about it, the angrier it made me. In the past, the show has been tone-death to its portrayal of people of color (POC), more specifically the Mhysa moment in season 4. I will leave the Dothraki out of this particular discussion because that’s a problem inherent in the books as well. However, after some backlash from the Mhysa moment I believe the show has been much more conscious about how POC are portrayed.

In fact, in the first two episodes of this season, the show went out of its way to show how the North reacted to the foreign army, mostly composed of POC, of Daenerys, and it was with fear and disdain also known as xenophobia and racism. We had two such scenes where the only two characters who are POC got to experience that fear and disdain first hand. To the point where they had a discussion that after the war was over, they would return to Missandei’s homeland of Naath.

Now, we have these leaks that claim that the Unsullied, a group of a highly trained, highly disciplined soldier, who are mostly POC and are the unsung heroes of the Battle of Winterfell are going to suddenly lose their minds and attacked innocent white women and white children. So, after showing the unsullied being treated poorly by white people, the show is going to turn around and have the white fear justify, by having this army of POC attack, innocent white people. Do you see what the problem is?

I can already feel that someone you want to reflectively justify this by saying that color doesn’t matter, and this is just war and people lose it sometimes. But I’m here to tell you that it does matter because it was shown to matter by the show itself at the beginning of the season and because in our real world these visuals do matter. Game of Thrones is a very white show, it has exactly two speaking roles filled by POC, and is going to kill these two roles off by having one be the sacrificial lamb for the other one to go crazy. Thus, by the end killing off all the crazy brown people.

If you cannot see how racist as fuck that is, I don’t know what to tell you.

P.S. While I’m at it, I want to address the misogynist portion of this leak. Because apparently, this leak wanted to hit all the sweet spots.

A lot of the criticism surrounding Daenerys has been misogynistic in nature. She’s judged by a different metric as male characters and her actions are viewed through the lens of, is she a crazy power-hungry female because in our patriarchal society, women who are ambitious, women who want power, women who are not deferential to men, have to be crazy. The worst part is that this is intrinsic to our society so women like this get criticized by both men and women.

So, Daenerys is going to go crazy at the end, because this is a theory that has existed since the character first appeared. There is zero new about this. However, in this scenario Jon Snow has to put Dany out by, can anyone guess? Stabbing her with his sword. I guess we are still not done with Nissa Nissa.

As misogynistic as this already is, let me point out the grandeur misogyny here:

By the end of this series, we will have two powerful queens, who will both go crazy, both have to be put down by men so that a man can rule peaceful now that the power-hungry woman is gone. Though, there’s an alternate leak where Sansa takes the throne, because reasons. By the way, having Sansa take the throne doesn’t make this any less misogynist.

I think HBO is well aware of how this could come across but more importantly, I know GRRM is well aware of the double standards in which his female and male characters are judged. He did not just have Jon and Daenerys go through parallel journeys for fun. There’s more going on there if you care to look into it.

That feeling when you have to move on with your work but all you think about is Jon and Dany. Like literally thinking about everything like --->

Their first meeting. How first time looking at each other will be? 

What will be the first thing these two will notice about each other. 

Will it include smiles from Dany? Let’s be honest - Jon is too shy and moody to make a first move in any way. Dany is more dominant person. 

How palpable will be the tension between them, so every other person in the room with them or fans watching it can notice it. 

What will be their first love scene? Will it be gentle or wild, do they look to each other eyes before making sweet love?

Fighting against deadly army of Night King and White Walkers side by side. Watching each other fight and thinking “why do we have to meet in such a times?” 

Dany introducing Jon to dragons and Jon’s mind literally being blown away by these creatures. He often wished he had few of them while serving at the Wall. How helpful it would have been.

Dany and Jon talking about Targaryens Viserys and Aemon. Also about their lives experiences as young leaders. How lonely job that really is.

If you are looking to get into another series while you wait for Game of Thrones to return for their final season we at the House with the Red Door have just what you need. 

We’ve begun a Book Club and our first fantasy series in N. K. Jemisin’s The Inheritance Trilogy. The discussion will begin on Saturday, September 23 for the first book in the series,  The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

So if you are interested, all you have to do is sign up for the forum and that’s it. All are welcome, the more the merrier. 

mutual pining is my number one (1) favorite trop of all time. FIRST OFF! it’s 100% canon, okay? even if we don’t get too much of it on-screen, season 7 is rife with mutual pining and i ate that shit up like the sap i am. 

SECOND, have you ever read like… ANYTHING i’ve ever written? seriously, i can’t think of like one thing i’ve written that doesn’t have at least SOME pining in it. it’s just too good to resist. and these two lonely, self-sacrifical idiots are prime contenders for the Ultimate Mutual Pining Couple. 

BUT, are you talking about in canon, anon? are you speaking of post-reveal where Jonno is in Full Existential Crisis Mode and is all “conflicted”. where he, perhaps, tries to distance himself from Dany? and, Dany, being characteristically less concerned by it, being just fucking wrecked? and Jonno watching her from afar just being a sad, sick puppy? and they just continue to stare longingly at each other and be idiots. and there’s so much PAINand ANGST because they LOVE each other but WHAT ABOUT THE IDENTITY CRISIS? the dumb INHERITANCE? some dumb misplaced concern about being RELATIVES???

and then something bad happens and, fuck it, what the fuck is the POINT anymore?