🐺Arya Stark appreciation 49/-

OH POOR KIT I CAN’T WITH THIS 💔💔💔

The Game of Thrones cast at the last script reading

Amidst all the salt directed at the disappointing ending to what started out as a great show, I do wanna take a second to shout out the actors for their amazing work, the cinematographers for serving some truly gorgeous views, Ramin Djawadi for the perfect music, and all the rest of the crew for all their hard work.

It’s not their fault they were given subpar material to work with, but they’ve definitely done their best with it!

“Daenerys’ defining scene, her perpetually relevant starting point, is “rape victim.” We understand, from her first moments, that this is a story about a woman who is powerless, and that her powerlessness stems largely from being female. The obstacle, then, is misogyny, and her arc, her radical change, will presumably be a journey from powerlessness to power. Women who expected Daenerys to become a benevolent feminist ruler, to break the wheel and end the cycle of oppression, were not stupid; they were following basic story logic. Their expectations didn’t spring from delusion or narcissism, they sprang from Star Wars.

And if some of those women got a little too invested, if they bought some cheesy merch, if they named their kids Khaleesi, well: Are we really unclear on why that happened? Still? “Rape victim who wants to end rape,” as an identity, is not “man who reclaims masculinity by dealing meth.” It’s certainly not “whiny teen who becomes psychic space ninja.” It’s an identity lots of women in the audience actually share. It’s just that, while the rest of us were still trying to find our power, Daenerys actually did.

Women turned this show, this deeply problematic and rape-filled show, into a place where they could bring their trauma. Daenerys is raped, Cersei is raped, Sansa is raped, Brienne survives numerous attempted rapes and can’t walk two feet in any direction without being harassed (though it does feel reliably great to watch her reasoned and proportionate responses) but instead of concluding that Game of Thrones hated women, women concluded that the show loved survivors. They believed it was telling them a story about what it takes to survive, to find your power, even when the whole world wants you powerless, voiceless, raped and dead.

I believe that Daenerys was always intended to become the Mad Queen. Her ultimate villainy is completely in line with the kind of story George R. R. Martin intended to tell, and is probably one of the plot elements he handed the showrunners, back when he outlined how he intended to end the series. But I don’t think George R. R. Martin, or the showrunners, fully understood the kind of story they were telling.

Because in that moment, when Daenerys goes nuts, and becomes a wicked genocidal dictator who must be deposed, I am remembering her rape scene. Basic story logic: That was the beginning of her arc, this is the end, and we are being asked to see what has changed. It was a journey from powerlessness to power, but now we know this makes it a journey from good to evil, too. What you are telling me, when you make Daenerys a power-mad despot, is that it was better for her to be powerless. It was better for her to be on her knees, with a stranger’s dick forced inside her, than it was for her to be a queen. Power turns Dany bad, and her badness hurts everyone, so it was better for the whole world for that little girl to get raped, over and over and over, than it was for her to find her power.

Yeah, I get it. And hey: Fuck you, too.”

—“Who Wins, Who Dies”, Sady Doyle

I am Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home. And you can’t frighten me.

What you missed on 8x05 of Game of Thrones

In memory of Jaime Lannister but most important, Jaime’s arc

the reason why grrm’s shocking and brutal plot twists (thinking specifically of the death of ned and the red wedding)  actually work isn’t because he pulled the most gruesome scenario out of his ass every time the story was slow, it’s because they are excellently written and properly foreshadowed. the purpose of a plot twist of this sort shouldn’t be to say “HEY, GOTCHA, BET YOU NEVER THOUGHT WE WOULD BE *THIS* STUPID TO TAKE THE PLOT IN THIS DIRECTION” to the audience. Watching a plot twist unfold shouldn’t make you think “what the hell, where did this come from?”, but rather “how could I not have seen this coming?” It’s just so painfully obvious that the show is no longer worthy of or able to tell this kind of epic tale. “plot twists”  in got now are unsatisfying, void of purpose and impact on the story and rely on shock value to maintain the reputation as “the show where everyone dies”. the reason why “no character is safe” is such an interesting concept in asoiaf is because it means no one can escape the consequences of their actions, not that at any time anything can happen to anyone.

Their faces say everything you need to know about Game of Thrones 8.05

On a more earnest note, can I just say how deeply, deeply sorry I feel for Emilia Clarke right now? Daenerys was the character that made her career, she started playing her at 22 and has spent a DECADE of her life bringing her to life. She worked through TWO aneurysms, put her entire body and soul into this role, for a third of her life, only to have the character destroyed in less than a season. She’s poured so much love into playing Dany, and you can tell she’s giving it her all this season even through the bad writing that she apparently broke down in tears when she first read. I’m just so, so, SO sorry, Emilia

“I know some of you feel it was always meant to be but I think if you feel the Mad Queen was always meant to be then you just never liked Dany as a character and that’s just your excuse for it which is fine but I think if you were kind of looking at it from an impartial perspective just as far as the quality of writing, you have to admit this is a mess.” - Grace Randolph

DAENERYS TARGARYEN APPRECIATION 2018  TRAITS - COMPASSION:  The Shavepate had urged her to put the man to death. “At least rip out his tongue. This man’s lie could destroy us all, Magnificence.” Instead Dany chose to pay the blood price. No one could tell her the worth of a daughter, so she set it at one hundred times the worth of a lamb. “I would give Hazzea back to you if I could,” she told the father, “but some things are beyond the power of even a queen. Her bones shall be laid to rest in the Temple of the Graces, and a hundred candles shall burn day and night in her memory. Come back to me each year upon her nameday, and your other children shall not want.

— Laura Hudson, “Game of Thrones” Recap: So Much for Breaking the Wheel

Emilia… who suffered 2 brain aneurysms while filming Daenerys…. who said that Daenerys gave her strength and helped saved her life… spent a decade of her life being a hero to everyone and being strong wonderful iconic female character… had to actually sit there and act her character losing her mind… over bells…

At least Varys got to die doing what he loved most…being right

Keeping Up With The Starks ep 4 : “hell’s kitchen”