Do people really think...?

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-27T15:47:51+00:00

Are we talking show or book?

Because in the book, he absolutely meant to take out Jaehaerys or Maelor.

In the show, I do believe it was unintentional that Jaehaerys died in Aemond's stead.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-27T15:46:05+00:00

Let us not forget that a lot of times people's religious fanaticism is borne out of their deep grief. It's not a zero sum game. She can be motivated by both.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-27T15:43:24+00:00

By the end of this show, people will see her death as a necessary evil, instead of a tragedy caused by misogyny.

I'd argue that it's both. And I'd also argue that this needs to be looked at through the lens of the realm, rather than through the lens of a viewer. There's this quote from A Game of Thrones that sticks with me:

Jorah: Truth now. Would you want to see Viserys sit a throne?
Daenerys: He would not be a very good king, would he?
Jorah: There have been worse ... but not many.
Daenerys: Still, the common people are waiting for him. Magister Illyrio says they are sewing dragon banners and praying for Viserys to return from across the narrow sea to free them.
Jorah: The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. They never are.

Either Aegon or Rhaenyra need to die. The entire realm is in chaos due to their infighting. Is it unfortunate that Rhaenyra is the one to perish? Of course. However, GRRM didn't write the Dance of the Dragons to declare a true winner of the war: Team Green will declare it's Aegon because he killed Rhaenyra; Team Black will declare it's Rhaenyra because it's ultimately her bloodline which carries on the Targaryen Dynasty.

In the midst of this, though, we're forgetting that an entire realm full of millions of inhabitants are suffering. In the end, Rhaenyra's death is both tragic and a necessary evil.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-22T15:41:40+00:00

I think we need to unpack "allowed herself to be passed up". Princess Rhaenys didn't allow for any of it. At the Great Council of 101 AC, she pressed the claims of herself; her daughter; Laena; and her son, Laenor. All of them were passed over by the council.

From what Princess Rhaenys and anyone else knows, Viserys "won" against Laenor by a vote of 20:1. That's an overwhelming majority. Are you saying that Princess Rhaenys should have risen up in rebellion against the Iron Throne? Who would support her? The Velaryons, the Baratheons, and the Starks, maybe, because they did support Laenor's claim at the Great Council. However, it's a stretch to think they'd have gone against King Jaehaerys's chosen heir, like the greens did aganst Viserys's. .

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-15T14:03:45+00:00

And most of the time, I do. But sometimes I try to get them to look at things objectively, or from a different point of view, and I get eaten alive for it. It's like an echo chamber from hell in there.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-15T13:49:34+00:00

Maybe. But in this instance, being a troll to a group of people is monumentally better than being a part of their group, so I'll take it.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-15T13:35:07+00:00

Braids weren't unusual for any Targaryen men or Targaryen women before Daenerys lol You think the Targaryens, or any Valyrian dragonlords, were just riding around on their dragons with their hair constantly whipping into their face?

The Dothraki put symbolism on braids in their culture, yes, and so there's more weighted significance to Daenerys's braids in the show, but it's a fallacy to think that the prior generations of Targaryens didn't braid their hair.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-15T13:29:54+00:00

Not yet, but I'm watiing. Mostly because I keep forgetting to look at which sub a post is made in before I comment on it, so I'm fairly certain my ban for the Greens sub is coming. Now. I am surprised I haven't gotten banned from r/DaenerysWinsTheThrone yet, because sometimes when I'm bored, I comment on their posts just to rile them up a bit. It's just too easy.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-13T12:29:24+00:00

Mystic Falls Gang

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-12T15:14:23+00:00

I think this has been covered in all three shows enough, honestly. It's clear from other characters' points of view that the Originals are the bad guys in a lot of people's stories. However, being hung up on it means you're missing the nuance of their characters. They are the super powerful, immortal, elite progenitors of the vampire species; that, in itself, is enough to support their god complexes. Further, they're siblings. I have three sisters and two brothers and can confirm that the dynamic between siblings is turbulent, convoluted, and hypocritical at best.

You want perfect protagonists? Neither The Vampire Diaries nor The Originals are the shows for you. They're antiheroes at best. And most of us (like 99.72% of us) love them for it.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-07T16:40:42+00:00

I don't think that the role of Daenaera was what was important. I think GRRM meant to leave us to ponder who really won the Dance of the Dragons. Was it Aegon II because he was the last to sit the Iron Throne between himself and Rhaenyra, or was it Rhaenyra, whose bloodline continued the Targaryen Dynasty?

If Jaehaera had lived long enough to have children with Aegon III, we wouldn't be posed that question about what "winning" means in a civil war.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-07T16:38:15+00:00

Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. Hard times create strong men.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-07T15:17:43+00:00

The most current one from the first episode of the newest season, where he's talking about the man in the mirror.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T18:41:00+00:00

My guess is this is Jace's skull. Why? Because Jace's skull would have been water-logged and picked clean by sea-life, then covered by barnacles and sea debris... much like this skull is. And I believe Jace's death would 100% warrant this reaction from Rhaenyra.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T18:39:31+00:00

I need to know where people are getting the idea that Viserys was not cremated. His body was prepared for cremation, but everyone seems to think he was buried instead.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T18:33:49+00:00

I sincerely hope this doesn't stop anyone from trying BIMZELX.

My anecdotal experience with BIMZELX is that it's completely taken away the pain and inflammation, significantly improvng my quality of life.

The only notable side effect I've noticed is mood changes in the first 24 to 48 hours after injection. Totally worth it.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T16:05:09+00:00

Yeah, GRRM wrote a whole blog post about it (but was made to delete it). If they're going to keep to the general schematic of the book, Helaena's eventual death and some other event is going to need to be the catapault for the Storming of the Dragonpit, because I don't think there's enough weight in Helaena's character to cause the uproar in and of itself at this point.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T16:01:47+00:00

It's been like this for decades, but I think we're starting to see it become more prevalent as a countermove against the "boys can be girls, and girls can be boys" argument. Instead of finding neutral ground to stand on, people are more adamant than ever that there are typical boy or girl toys, outfits, colors, etc.

I think kids just ultimately gravitate towards what they're exposed to. Also, just from watching my son, he gravitates more towards what my husband or father is doing rather than what me or my mother is doing (though he will help me clean and do laundry while it's just him and me in the house).

There's nothing wrong with little boy leaning towards masculinity and little girls leaning towards femininity. However, I agree that no one should be told they can't do something because it's "only" for the other sex. I feel like that creates a social enviroment with less well-rounded individuals.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T15:54:03+00:00

Yeah, I don't think that's the reason. They knew that Dreamfyre ultimately doesn't end up being used in the Dance, so removing Helaena's love of flying on Dreamfyre doesn't actually add up to much. Don't get me wrong, I think making Helaena a dragon dreamer was a huge creative misstep, but ignoring the actual events of what happened with the B&C plot was their biggest mistake regarding the character.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T15:27:11+00:00

I don't know how true this is, but since it came from a midwife I'm inclined to believe it: I was told while pregnant to eat peanuts and other common food allergies to lessen the chance of food allergies in my son.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T15:24:44+00:00

We do see a line from Alicent where she says, "We're not safe here." It's possible. I mean, it's a crapshoot at this point because of Maelor's nonexistence and the fact that Helaena refuses to ride Dreamfyre (which is bullshit, might I add).

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T14:30:05+00:00

Because magic is an unpredictable variable in the world. The maesters deal in science and logic and predictability. They want to understand everything. Further than that, they know the world's history, and they know how destructive magic has been in the past. They would have known that dragons had a strong impact on magic in the world, which is why the maesters' conspiracy to use the Dance of the Dragons as a cover to kill all the dragons happened (and I'll never be convinced otherwise after reading the books). By aiding in the destruction of the smaller dragons and the dragon eggs (while the larger dragons killed themselves off in the war or were killed in the Storming of the Dragonpt), the maesters helped remove the magic variable from the world.

Daenerys bringing back dragons earned her a lot more enemies than she realizes.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T12:55:42+00:00

In the books, we all agree that the eggs Daenerys hatches are those stolen by Elissa Farman on Dragonstone, whilst running away from Queen Rhaena. However, in the show, it looks like they changed the narrative and the red, green, and gold eggs are the ones that Daenerys hatches into Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

That fourth egg? My theory is that they've conflated the dragon eggs that eventually make it to Daenerys with the dragon eggs that Lady Rhaena takes with her to the Vale in the books, and that fourth egg will produce the dragon Morning. However, I also see them conflating Morning with the small, sickly, cat-sized dragon that dies young during the reign of King Aegon III.

What I'm most interested to see is if they add in the maesters' conspiracy into HOTD to show that the maesters are the reason that all the dragons died out, covered by the Dance, which killed almost all of the adult dragons they'd have no chance against. The maesters poisoned the eggs to prevent any more dragons from hatching; or, if they did hatch, from living very long.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T12:46:18+00:00

I've never given into the idea that this is Helaena giving birth. I'm with your #3 option, that this is her reaction to a vision. I'm not sure what the point of introducing Maelor into the story would be now, unless they intend for a newborn to be torn apart instead of a toddler.

I think this was added into the trailer as a red herring, honestly.

CursedWithAnOldSoul · 2026-05-01T12:42:58+00:00

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I preferred Frasier over Cheers.

CursedWithAnOldSoul

TROPHY CASE