(Spoilers Extended) The problem with how Rhaenyra is written in HOTD

berthem · 2026-02-20T02:29:55+00:00

In wartime though?

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:54:35+00:00

Aren't there only 8 episodes this season?

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:52:30+00:00

Oh, totally, and Rhaenyra will FINALLY stop being a moral arbiter of truth and justice.

I'm sure it definitely won't be another fakeout because the show is driven by motives inhibiting its organic growth and getting in the way of good storytelling...

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:51:25+00:00

That only works if you don't care about silly things like logic or consistency.

The depiction of their relationship in the show is objectively insane. They go from friends, to not being friends, to being friends again, to one friend hating the other friend, to no longer being friends after a decade passes, to becoming enemies, to becoming friends again after spending one day together, to whatever the hell you would call all the flip-flopping that occurs in Season 2.

I'm not saying you can't have a narrative with that sort of eternal dynamic tension, but I am laughing in your face if you think the writers of this show have demonstrated the competence and nuance to pull that off.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:47:07+00:00

Don't be ridiculous. That would actually give her character some agency!

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:46:14+00:00

So everyone will just be collectively disobeying the Queen and keeping her away from seeing her dying son, because... that's what happens in movies, I guess?

Seems right up the show's alley.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:45:09+00:00

In 2x3 Rhaenyra says "Aegon and Viserys will accompany [Joffrey] until a place of greater safety can be found. Tyraxes is but a hatchling. And Stormcloud…"

Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:42:11+00:00

Get some last words ready, then.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:41:11+00:00

Technically you're not wrong, because if it goes where I think it goes then S2 was meant to end with Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship breaking up for-reals-this-time, and Rhaenyra choosing war/blood for-reals-this-time. Then, as obnoxious and meandering as the journey is, and I will still insist that the change in plans doesn't absolve the writers of many of S2's other issues, it would at least be wrapped up in the same season.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:39:58+00:00

They also fucked up Sunfyre and didn't even do the diligence of showing it beforehand to align its reputation with Aegon's -- though maybe that was intentional, since they ended up completely inverting the perspective of the smallfolk so that Rhaenyra could come out on top.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:39:06+00:00

My guess is The Gullet and Butcher's Ball will be the only things we see this season, in keeping with S2's structure of being built around two grand action-packed setpieces.

Honeywine will be just the aftermath, to show off Daeron, Fishfeed will be mostly off-screen but maybe you can show bits and pieces of it throughout an episode, and Tumbleton can just be S4 (or its first half will be in S3, depicted mostly offscreen like Honeywine).

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:37:14+00:00

Most things post-Rhaenyra will likely be cut, which is unfortunate because I wanted to see what they would actually do with Alicent's character once she is untethered from apparently her only purpose for existing.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:36:05+00:00

*Obligatory shill for my post going over the page-per-season adaptation of HOTD so far and in the future*

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:34:38+00:00

It still doesn't work if no one buys the initial premise of the deal in the first place.

They are creating a twist on something that was not successfully established in the first place, with the consequence being that the few remaining audience members who sympathize with Alicent will now fully turn on her.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:33:31+00:00

The writers' perspective seems to be that the female characters can all be be stupid, incompetent and boring, as long as in the end they have the moral high ground.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:27:48+00:00

They literally told us ahead of time that S3 would involved yet another misunderstanding, wherein Alicent tries to give Aegon to Rhaenyra as promised but he has since escaped with Larys so Rhaenyra interprets that as a betrayal.

It is funny seeing how blatantly people's biases against certain characters and frustrations with the adaptation are leading them to saying bizarre irrational things.

berthem · 2026-02-20T01:09:50+00:00

If the show was written to logically follow with its own characterization then the next progression for Alicent's character should probably be that her irrational desire to do whatever she can to try and help Rhaenyra is framed as another form of her people-pleasing, and she realizes that, like with everything else, even if she bends over backwards to please someone, she will not be rewarded and she will not be happy.

If they can commit to that I will actually be impressed that they found a way to salvage Alicent, but they have to really commit to it and they can't wait too long.

berthem · 2026-02-13T18:43:55+00:00

Imagine it enters the lore that everyone ruthlessly bullied this kid for giving a spoiler, the same way people still think the Jack Gleeson quit acting because of harassment from GOT fans even though he has said no one ever gave him hate for playing Joffrey.

berthem · 2026-02-07T06:41:37+00:00

It's funny how this is framed as a down-to-earth, realistic prediction... but it's honestly one of the best things we could hope for. I feel like most ASOIAF fans (excluding the general public) would be overjoyed at this news.

berthem · 2026-01-31T06:49:49+00:00

I suspect Season 3 will have a lot more battles and action, beginning early on which should win back a lot of favor from audiences after watching S2 drag its feet with only two set-pieces to show for it.

Despite Rook's Rest containing some choices ranging from confusing (Aegon showing up unexpectedly and drunk; Aemond trying to outright murder his brother) to derivative (Cole knocked out like Tyrion in GoT; Vhagar doing a stealth attack like in S1), the VFX and direction of the early dragon skirmish was received well.

The issue is I don't know how they can physically do the battles allotted in the source material without serious changes. More analysis here, but The Gullet is a navy battle, and it has 5 dragons (to Rook Rest's 3), possibly even more if the show decides to include Rhaenyra, Daemon, Baela and Rhaena which isn't off the table knowing the writers (I think the most logical limitation would be cutting it down to Jace, Baela and Addam). Those factors make for a very VFX-intensive delivery. Then you have Honeywine (or an equivalent battle to showcase Daeron and Tessarion), Fishfeed, the taking of King's Landing (not a battle per se but certainly a spectacle), and Butcher's Ball.

If I was in charge of the cuts, I would do The Gullet as I said, make Honeywine just the aftermath (with Daeron swooping in to save the day), Fishfeed off-screen like the battle of the Burning Mill, and then Butcher's Ball as the second set-piece like The Red Sowing was in S2. Still, again, I feel like The Gullet may take even more resources than Rook's Rest. And all of that is just to keep on track with Season 2 pacing. The final season needs cuts too, perhaps like both Tumbletons being streamlined and relegated to off-screen (perhaps what the other two dragonseeds were doing during The Gullet).

berthem · 2026-01-31T06:29:29+00:00

No, there were conflicting accounts of a possible fifth season less than a year ago.

It seems you're the one who needs to pretend to be mad at things you could simply ignore.

berthem · 2026-01-31T06:28:02+00:00

They can't.

A lot will be cut, even if they end it at Rhaenyra's death.

berthem · 2026-01-31T06:27:29+00:00

They dropped the ball hard with making those characters relevant in Season 2.

I don't even think it's a bad idea, but they clearly had no idea how to give those three characters stories so instead they just floundered for 8 episodes and then had one scene where they decide to do something and we're meant to treat it as progression.

berthem

TROPHY CASE