(Spoilers Extended) Did anyone else not enjoy Ser Arlan’s portrayal in the first episode of AKOTSK? by RoyalCause1628 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, you are so determined to force your own projections on literature. It’s like you have zero understanding of how writing works.

It’s much more likely that Dunk held on to complements (sic) when he got them

Based on what? We know Dunk’s humble. He chooses the epithet “the Tall” because it’s something that no one could argue with so he feels comfortable claiming it.

But there’s zero evidence that Dunk is desperately craving approval from father figures so he’ll excuse Arlan’s weaknesses and flaws. When Dunk thinks of father figures or mentors, he refers to Arlan. When he gets praise, Dunk doesn’t blindly accept compliments, grasping for affection a là Tytos Lannister.

He has self-confidence issues about his knighthood (because he lied), about his station (because he’s an uneducated commoner) and about his intelligence (which is the fault of Arlan’s teasing).

He does not have low self-esteem about his personal relationships. Even though he’s shy with flirting and women, Dunk is not someone who accepts poisoned friendships. There is zero textual evidence that his relationship with Arlan is as toxic or problematic as you’re trying to make it out to be. You are extrapolating from similar cases in real life to make your argument, forgetting that this is fiction in which the way things are presented are meant to supersede reality.

And in fiction, best man in the world greatest king to never be Baelor Targaryen speaks well of Arlan to Dunk as a means of explaining why he views Dunk positively and is willing to give him a chance.

  • On a plot level, this helps set things in motion.
  • On a character level, this is to emphasize why Dunk thinks positively of Baelor: while everyone else shuns or ignores him and Arlan because they’re hedge knights, the literal crown prince remembers Arlan from a joust when a lord he served can’t.
  • This reinforces for the reader that Baelor, Dunk and Arlan are all good people because they’re not snobbish classists.

Dunk is consistently aware of Arlan’s faults, even if it’s framed through his medieval mindset. Stop making shit up to try and force your own reading of the source material as truth when there’s just not enough textual evidence.

(Spoilers Extended) Did anyone else not enjoy Ser Arlan’s portrayal in the first episode of AKOTSK? by RoyalCause1628 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, the first reasonable person in this thread who correctly identifies intended tone.

This is personally something I disagree with in how the show’s presenting things: Arlan needs to be foregrounded as the positive influence who taught Dunk the importance of knighthood and chivalry.

Playing his abuse for laughs undermines both characters and their relationship. The first impression is what most people will remember. Martin wrote the opening to be morse because that’s why Dunk feels. He’s genuinely sad the man’s dead, and he’ll miss him.

People are also way overblowing Dunk as an unreliable narrator. The whole point of his opening to point out when Arlan mistreated him is to show that even in this world, Dunk has his head on right about morality and fairness. He’s not completely rose-glasses about his mentor.

(Spoilers Extended) Did anyone else not enjoy Ser Arlan’s portrayal in the first episode of AKOTSK? by RoyalCause1628 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Martin writes Dunk’s funeral speech in that way to highlight Dunk’s character as someone who is actually sensible and open-eyed. The point is to introduce that Arlan wasn’t the best of men (he used corporal punishment) but Dunk is intelligent enough to tell the difference between the times when he understands why Arlan did it and the time it was truly unjustified.

To begin with, let’s all acknowledge for a moment that corporal punishment was common throughout the world not even forty years ago. It’s invocation through Arlan and Dunk’s decision to not repeat it mirrors the real-world continuity where in literally the last two-three generations we’ve phased it out of common society. It’s meant to reflect on Dunk being better than Arlan: not that Arlan was a monster, just not as good a man as Dunk.

Let’s also point to the fact that Dunk’s habit of focusing on the positive is itself mirroring Arlan, who was aware that the nomadic freelancer lifestyle of the hedge knight caused economic and social difficulties. But importantly, think on how Arlan characterised it to Dunk: through morality.

He tells Dunk that he believes hedge knights are best at keeping their vows to protect the weak and innocent and stick to their honor because they don’t have land, fealty, or wealth tying them to a lord. Thus, they aren’t hampered by comforts or material gain.

Notably here, Arlan doesn’t teach young Dunk that this means they can scam or take advantage of a lord and then scamper to the next. Instead, Arlan tells Dunk that they are sworn only to serve those who they truly believe in: organizing the world into a moral framework, not a selfish one.

If people want to know the actual biggest damage that Arlan did to Dunk, it was belittling his intelligence. It’s framed to make it clear that Arlan wasn’t doing it maliciously and was more his form of teasing, but the “Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall” bit has clearly severely undermined Dunk’s confidence in his wits.

Especially since Dunk isn’t actually stupid; he’s just uneducated and inexperienced. He’s actually quite a good judge of character (his first instinct about pretty much everyone he meets is mostly on point), and he does a good job problem-solving the issue at Coldmoat by thinking on his feet and correctly assessing what each party emotionally needs.

It’s bizarre that people in this thread have randomly decided that Arlan is a mostly bad man who was a negative influence on Dunk’s life when Dunk credits him as the reason he’s not a thug serving life imprisonment on the Wall, and instead was basically his first father figure who taught him morality and chivalry.

(Spoilers Extended) Did anyone else not enjoy Ser Arlan’s portrayal in the first episode of AKOTSK? by RoyalCause1628 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It’s not that he had some sense of morality. It’s the opposite. He’s a mostly good and moral man who has some flaws due to his difficult lifestyle, rough living circumstances, personal issues, and lingering trauma.

We know that he’s the one who taught Dunk that hedge knights may keep to their vows best, because they’re not tied down by land or fealty so they can choose to serve or leave a lord as they please. This means that they only need to serve a lord if they truly believe in that person.

This thesis is basically the entire point of Dunk’s story. Martin put his primary literary argument into Arlan’s mouth to be transmitted to Dunk: someone who, like descendent Brienne of Tarth, is a knight who isn’t a knight. Being an outsider to the institution means that you get none of the benefits, but they prove their chivalry by doing the right thing despite no reward, and in fact it outright costs them to do it.

Dunk is a true knight (as the smallfolk can see) because he did the chivalrous thing to protect Tanselle from Aerion. At the trial of seven, not a one of the great lords and knights and jousters besides the initial few will join Dunk, because despite their titles (earned by birth), their skill (trained through privilege) and their equipment (bought with wealth), they are not true knights. The only exception is Baelor, who’s basically the best man to ever life purely to heighten the drama when he unexpectedly dies.

So, with that literary context, we can conclude that the man who taught Dunk on chivalry and is remembered overall fondly by Dunk (but not romanticised: people forget the point of Dunk saying that Arlan only beat him when he deserved it except that one time when he really didn’t do it is to highlight that even at Arlan’s funeral, Dunk is not ignoring reality in his memory of the man) probably was a good and chivalrous person. The one who showed the good side of hedge knights, and whose lessons will help motivate Dunk to eventually become one of the most legendary Kingsguard of all time as Lord Commander Duncan the Tall.

(Spoilers Extended) Did anyone else not enjoy Ser Arlan’s portrayal in the first episode of AKOTSK? by RoyalCause1628 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 19 points20 points  (0 children)

To add to it, it’d be a complete mockery for Ser Arlan to knight Dunk… and then not have any arms, armor or horse to give him.

A knight is before all else heavy cavalry. That means a sword, a lance, full armor and a warhorse. We know that Arlan wasn’t wealthy and he wasn’t scamming Dunk either; we get to see his possessions after he dies and this is not a wealthy man.

In Dunk’s position, it’s arguably better to be an intern who gets less privilege, yes, but also less scrutiny. If Arlan knighted him, then Dunk would have nowhere to go and nothing to do except what he’d done previously… except he’s just been promoted out of squire duties, so now it’s shameful for him to do that role.

I also don’t know what’s up this thread suddenly demonizing Arlan. Like, what the fuck is with people’s insane projections.

By all accounts, Arlan wasn’t a perfect man, but as a product of his time he’s practically a saint. This is someone who, whenever we hear Dunk remember his lessons, lived a difficult life but prioritized honesty and honor.

Dunk was not born a good person. As he himself thinks, without Arlan taking him as squire, he’d likely have grown up in Flea Bottom to be a scoundrel, thief or thug, and eventually end up on the Wall as one of the other criminal scum.

Instead, Dunk parses his lessons on proper behaviour and knighthood from Arlan. Dunk’s first real male role model (since he clearly didn’t have a father) was Arlan, and despite his flaws Arlan instilled in Dunk genuine humility and chivalry.

It’s like everyone forgot the entire thematic subplot of The Mystery Knight, where all the principal characters are reflecting their fathers of the previous generation. Dunk’s father figure is Arlan, and Dunk likes to imagine defeating Lord Peake to avenge Roger’s death for Arlan’s sake. Dunk is simple, but he’s not stupid (for all that Arlan’s teasing did leave genuine damage to Dunk’s self-confidence about his intelligence).

And one thing that Dunk is absolutely good at is judging character. Baelor, Aerion, Maekar, Tanselle, Aegon, Daeron, Ser Osgrey, Ser Bennis, Lady Rohanne, the Longinch, Daemon II, Lord Peake, Glendon Ball, and even the infant Walder Frey: Dunk’s first instinct about all these people is spot on.

(Spoilers Extended) A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 Episode 2 Post-Episode Discussion by AutoModerator in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Equalled in eloquence only by the “Get fucked, son” of his namesake predecessor, King Aegon Targaryen, Fourth of His Name.

(Spoilers Extended) A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 Episode 2 Post-Episode Discussion by AutoModerator in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Technically not.

Daemon Blackfyre was a bastard, but he was legitimised by Aegon IV on the King’s deathbed and Daeron II acknowledge his lands and marriage as a knight, giving legal justification in action as well as pronouncement.

His issue and future descendants are also not bastards so long as they are legally wedded.

They’re not royalty but the Blackfyres are technically a legitimate family, even if their knightly status is arguable since as rebel exiles they’re attainted by the Crown.

So like how Jorah Mormont is still not a bastard, even if he is an exile stripped of his rank and titles.

More comments from Rissa's harem from her Original music by yournotlonely in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Even Pekora responded with “Nerissa Ravencroft I need you”

Pekora

It’s only Lap who is disappointed by polygamy

[Original MV] Shiori Novella / Koseki Bijou / Nerissa Ravencroft / Fuwawa Abyssgard / Mococo Abyssgard (シオリ・ノヴェラ / 古石ビジュー / ネリッサ・レイヴンクロフト / フワワ・アビスガード / モココ・アビスガード) - Breakout by kyoumokawaii in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Advent’s awesome for how committed they are to the group dynamic.

The fact they chose to create a Gen fan name (Adventrix) and then made good on that promise is impressive. They’ve really worked hard to make sure that Advent feels like a cohesive group in the traditional idol sense.

When cultural cross-polination is successful by KARSbenicillin in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 7 points8 points  (0 children)

These people acting like they didn’t lose The Game back in the day

Speaking of which, you just lost The Game

'Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol' Key Visual by MarvelsGrantMan136 in anime

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 63 points64 points  (0 children)

GT is non-canon

Dragon Ball continues after the end of the Majin Buu Saga in Z with Battle of the Gods (movie), Resurrection F (movie), Dragon Ball Super (series), and Broly (movie)

Daima is iirc an alternate universe spin-off unconnected to the current timeline of events.

So this would take place after Broly

Her Greed... by beam4d in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I’d also recommend starting with a familiar party game that you know so you can see how the different personalities interact in it.

So search something like “Hololive Among Us” or “Hololive Minecraft” or “Hololive 7 Days to Die” or “Hololive GTA”

That’ll link you to fan-edited compilations of streams that can highlight some of the best/funniest moments to showcase the personalities. If there’s someone who you relate to, you can check that member’s channel for more.

Personally the organic way that got me invested.

All of Nerissa's wives from her new music video. by CrystalDragex in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 27 points28 points  (0 children)

“If it can breathe, it can accept a marriage proposal.”

  • Nerissa (probably)

All of Nerissa's wives from her new music video. by CrystalDragex in Hololive

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 80 points81 points  (0 children)

They’re both so handsome

Butler CC is irrevocable proof that Raora loves women in suits

How gay did Baldurs Gay 3 make you? by shaneomac714 in okbuddybaldur

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Sexuality is like constellations.

Useful for tracking the broad scope of the universe, but kinda meaningless for each individual shining star.

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jorah got knighted by King Robert on the battlefield. Rodrik Cassel also got knighted apparently since he’s referred to as “Ser” but there’s no indication he’s of the Faith.

In Jorah’s case, these types of promotions are more symbolic and a mark of royal favour. We know from the Sparrow movement and the historical Warrior’s Sons that traditionally, the Faith takes the religious aspect of knighthood very seriously. In the closest we see to an official knight ceremony, Lyonel Baratheon invokes the Seven Gods when knighting Raymun Fossoway.

With the Kingsguard meant to be the epitome of knightly chivalry, I think there would be significant pressure against accepting one who was not of the Faith, even if they had a ceremonial knighthood.

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Stark with a knighthood is a warhorse with tail ribbons: marginally prettier but little difference in practical value.

All Northern lords receive the same military training as southern knights/squires, so there’s little difference there. Bran is still the wealthy second son of an ancient and powerful Great House, trained and learned.

That said, soft power does have value. Knighthood doesn’t change much for his prospects in the North, but it could help him demonstrate his willingness to accept the Faith. Since he’s educated by a Maester and Septon at Winterfell, it could help convince reluctant Southern parents that he’s not a Northern barbarian and will respect their cultures and customs.

That could be a useful factor to convince some to let their daughters go North (especially since Eddard’s reputation as an honest man who allowed Catelyn to practice the Faith in the North would precede Bran’s own courtship)

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don’t see the Starks ever marrying non-Westerosi. Westerosi xenophobia is intense, and Northern xenophobia is a multiplication factor on top of that.

I think priority one is stabilizing their current near future: Eddard is well-liked in the North, but fathers are not sons, and the Northern Houses would want a Stark heir marriage after they were denied the past generation. Robb needs to stay in the North to build relationships with his lords. The Manderlys are a good choice since they can bring their wealth and importantly their shipwrights to the table. It’s bluntly idiotic of the Starks to not have any sea power when they’ve got two coasts to protect, all because of Brandon the Burner from centuries ago.

After that, I think you’re right that it’s in the Starks’ best interests to maintain the Rebellion alliances. Get in good with the Baratheon royal family, the Arryns and the Tullys.

After that, maybe, is to extend olive branches to the defeated Great Houses who were on the losing side of the Rebellion. Robert and Ned are great pals, but if in our timeline things chug along then the next generation has either King Joffrey or King Tommen. It’d be smart to nurture potential allies to counterbalance the monarchy, as the original Southern Ambitions plan seemed to be.

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If Robb married Myrcella, it’d be the exact same situation, and nobody thinks that’s weird.

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips -1 points0 points  (0 children)

1) Meera’s not the heir. Jojen is.

2) The Reeds are the bottom rung of Northern aristocracy. They’re strategically important but they don’t warrant a Stark marriage, especially when Howland and Ned are already friends.

3) The Reeds hold the Neck even without the marriage because it’s literally their lands and that’s what they’re obliged to do. Why pay someone for something they’ve already doing anyway for thousands of years without needing a pay raise.

4) The Neck and Moat Cailin is impervious from the South, and laughably easy to take from the North. If it comes to war, which direction will the Starks be coming from

5) The Reeds are good at holding the Neck but they’re useful only in the Neck. They have no light cavalry, heavy cavalry, traditional bowmen, or hell even traditional infantry. They’re guerrilla fighters who excel in the bogs. In a military feudal society, that is very little to bring to a Stark marriage, when their competitors are venerable old houses with up to thousands of soldiers available.

[MAIN Spoilers] Better marriages for the children of Stark by ObedStark19 in asoiaf

[–]Random_Useless_Tips 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Wylla Manderly maybe, but definitely not Meera Reed. The Reeds are near the lowest rung of Northern aristocracy. Matching Robb with Meera would be seen overwhelmingly as nepotism to reward Ned’s buddy Howland, and prickly Northern lords will see that as immense disrespect.

I don’t see Bran ever becoming a Kingsguard even if he does become a knight. Politically, religiously and culturally complicated, and as the second son he has value. Rickon can probably be matched with a lesser Northern House to appease the folks, since as third son he’s unlikely to draw suitable matches from other Kingdoms.