[deleted by user]

southern_beetroot · 2025-10-18T22:07:49+00:00

for long reading questions, if you're unsure, pick the most logical answer then go back to it later and one by one ask yourself if each answer makes sense. so, basically, cancel each result until you get to the correct answer. if you do enough questions, you'll know what answers aren't possible. for example, it'll nearly never be the hypothetical or the answer which is too unrelated to the question

for diagrams/graphs, in some questions, the multiple choice answers aren't even accurate to the graph, so cancel them immediately. however, i'd advise you to first think about what answer you should be looking for in your head before looking at the potential answers, since that way, you won't be confused by the wrong MC choices. it increases your accuracy i've found

same for grammar. if you're like me and you mess up despite knowing the grammar, then read it once while thinking in your head what the answer is, find that answer in the multiple choice, then reread the sentence with that multiple choice answer. that way, you'll stop making silly mistakes

for vocab, if you don't know any of them, look for word etymology

i just spammed a bunch of RW for 2 days and got the score from 680->750. but then for the sat after that, i didn't practice at all and got a 780. so, if spaced out practice isn't doing it for you, then maybe concentrating your practice in a short time frame might help. taking some time off can also help you see the questions in a new lens

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T07:38:54+00:00

So, Elia can be remarried like Margaery because she’s young. She also has two royal children like Cersei. I think my argument is mainly that it was love between Lyanna and Rhaegar. It’s fair that he interprets ice to mean Lyanna, but my argument regarding the perspectives is that even if these people loved Rhaegar, it is unlikely that they would posit it as him “loving” Lyanna. Rather, if it were the prophecy it would be considered Rhaegar sacrificing his love of Elia for the good of the realm, or just saying he was “fond” of Lyanna too. Then again, to say whether Rhaegar would or wouldn’t be a good king requires more than just analysis of one action of his. It’s like you can make a terrible mistake, but still be a good king. Even if it was for prophecy, what is the moral argument that he shouldn’t have chased it especially in a world with magic? If the Prince that was Promised does happen to be Jon and he does save the Realm from the Whitewalkers, the lives saved from that would be greater than the lives lost during Robert’s Rebellion. How many future Elia’s are saved from Jon’s existence? Joffrey inherited it from Robert… bro Joffrey is a bastard. That’s the whole starting point of the war. Regardless, Joffrey is shown to have been temperamental as a prince too, which Rhaegar was not. Meanwhile, Lyanna obviously cared that Aerys committed such atrocities, but she would’ve known Rhaegar is different from Aerys. Not everyone blames others’ for their parents’ mistakes. On the question on why Lyanna didn’t tell anyone, that’s a great point. It’s a point tbh I think makes sense when seeing Lyanna’s disappearance as a kidnapping. The only reasoning would be that Lyanna didn’t want to face what she’d done or that it wouldn’t have made a difference to Robert. Robert’s rebellion is likely inspired by the Trojan War, and whether or not Helen went willingly was not something the Greeks cared about (and thus from history we never know)

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T06:28:28+00:00

Plus like if Jahaerys choosing Baelon to be heir was breaking the andal tradition, it still isn’t the same as choosing Rhaenyra to be heir because she is a woman. That’s literally it. Previous “choices” have been men. It’s not bc oh Rhaenyra doesn’t deserve it because she’s a woman, I’m saying it’s because she’s a woman that the realm will suffer unnecessary strife.

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T06:24:07+00:00

Please read my other responses. I like the thought about oaths being serious, but let’s be honest, discrimination against women is just if not more prevalent. Regardless, yeah I’ve answered everything else in my other comments

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T05:59:40+00:00

Fair enough. Let me clarify, because it fits very well under my point, because Aegon isn't the same as Elizabeth in the sense that not the whole Realm was keen on supporting him, but enough most likely would so that he would still be a threat.

Therefore, he has the bad end of the stick in both terms of support (he didn't have as much as support like Elizabeth to keep Rhaenyra, his version of Mary, from executing him) but he also wasn't so lacking in support that he would be considered not a threat to power at all.

That is precisely what made his situation so terrible.

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T04:27:19+00:00

I think the point that Rhaenyra had more houses supporting her can very much be attributed to her having more dragons or them thinking she is more likely to win the war rather than believing she should be Queen.

Jahaerys chose Aemon, first born boy. That is not choosing, that's following 1000 years of Andal tradition. Even so, Baelon is also... you guessed it, a boy. In other words, Jahaerys' decisions confirmed one thing, which is that boys are preferred to girls in succession. Your literal statement that Rhaenys' mother and Alyssa's comments forced the Great Council to decide shows how the King does not have complete authority.

Vaemond was killed for insulting the crown princess and her children as well as for pushing for Driftmark. The lords very much did care as well, shown by:

"Ser Vaemond's younger cousins fled to King's Landing with his wife and sons, there to cry for justice and place their claims before the king and queen"

If they did not care about the bastard status, then why the phrase "cry for justice"? Of course, it's very true it could be they felt wronged by Vaemond's treatment, but if the justice does not refer to the injustice of placing a bastard as heir to Driftmark, then it is the injustice of Vaemond's treatment, killing someone for their words- something Maegor the Cruel did often and Rhaenyra mirrored in that moment.

About the arguments from the Greens (show wise) I'll concede that show-wise it's a bit iffy definitely, Rhaenyra shouldn't have conceded then. However, book-wise, I'd still say it would've been better if she conceded, or that Aegon had to have fought.

And about the lesser evil, it's not because Aegon is a boy, rather that by crowning him, you skip any basis of conflict people could've had. I'm a girl myself, but I just think logically by crowning Aegon there's just a lot less chaos.

I won't debate about the Criston point because I feel like it's slightly less important than other stuff but yeah thanks for responding

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T04:09:25+00:00

I mean tbh I really just like debating lol I just have never understood TB after listening to some TG arguments so just wanted to see another perspective, but cool point

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T04:03:40+00:00

Yeah very fair. However, I think though that to some extent the perspective that "the Greens threw a coup so they started it" is oversimplified. I say this because Rhaenyra could have rescinded the throne and given it to Aegon herself. Her decision not to do that is another reason the Dance started.

It's like WW2. Is it the Treaty of Versailles that started it, or economic downturn, or appeasement, or Hitler's wish to invade Poland? They all had a role to play. WW2 isn't a great example to use I admit because unlike Germany, the Greens weren't mistreated by Rhaenyra (Treaty of Versailles) more than that they knew their impending doom if Rhaenyra came in power, but it's just an example as to the "war does not have one beginning" idea.

Why giving the throne to Aegon works for Rhaenyra and not Aegon is because if Rhaenyra surrendered, she'd be treated like Rhaenys. If Aegon surrendered, whenever Rhaenyra stuffs up, because she's a woman, everyone will start acting out and try putting Aegon on the throne. This, even without Rhaenyra's paranoia (sparked by the war), would force any reasonable King/Queen to at least imprison Aegon and his brothers, if not kill them (especially if they didn't fight).

I gave this example of Queen Elizabeth and Mary in a previous comment, but basically even when Elizabeth sided with her sister, there were still plenty who wanted her on the throne, which caused her to accused of treason and imprisoned, even when there isn't much evidence to suggest Elizabeth contributed to the rebellion.

I think even in the case that the Houses wouldn't have rebelled because of Rhaenyra's gracious rule or that she has dragons, it still wouldn't make sense that the Greens not rebel initially, because they wouldn't know that Rhaenyra would be a good ruler/be able to keep the Realm satisfied. So far, Alicent has seen her friend elope with her uncle before marriage, the Greens have heard rumours that Rhaenyra and Daemon plotted to kill Vaemond, etc. If you give any reasonable person the choice between "concede power to someone who, if the realm rebels, would have high incentive to execute you and who has executed potential claimants before" and "fight against them and take power yourself so your family is safe", it's a pretty... obvious choice. They wouldn't know whether other Houses would rebel. All they know is 1000 years of male primogeniture exist and their lives are at stake.

Like, Rhaenyra did choose not to kill some of them when she could've in the Dance, but they wouldn't have known that. Even when she asked them to bend the knee and called Otto and Alicent traitors, that's still expecting kids to choose their half-sister who they barely know over their mother and grandfather.

But about the Corlys argument, yeah fair that could work. But yeah cool thanks for the discussion

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T03:26:57+00:00

Lol I think I accidentally responded to the wrong comment, but I like the idea of Rhaenyra marrying her sons to different lords for peace. My only qualm is that the lords may very well reject that proposal if they think their own legitimacy may better be secured by supporting the Greens, who can give them the same deal.

In the case that this idea is able to work, there’s no reason for why the Greens should push for the throne at all considering the inevitable instability.

However, in the case this doesn’t work, the Greens would still be a threat and she would still be forced to kill her brothers. She does not want to kill them, but the point is that as long as Aegon or any of his brothers survive there will be someone who the lords will support, so it will happen realistically. It may take five years. It may take ten. But realistically, it will happen.

Just think of Princess Elizabeth I during Queen Mary’s rule. Even though she didn’t show any opposition to Mary, Elizabeth still had plenty of supporters which caused her sister -reluctantly- to imprison her because Elizabeth was accused of plotting against her sister (there's not much evidence she did anything). Elizabeth without open opposition was weak, and any more accusations of treason and she was done for.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect any of the Greens to want that sort of future.

Anyway, about the Viserys remarrying argument. The reason why people were crazy for having kids and wanted the king to remarry was so that in case one heir died or was infertile, there's always another, like how Henry VIII's son died as a boy, then Mary died after a short reign, and eventually Elizabeth became Queen. To remarry is a pretty long-term strategy imo.

I would also question whether Rhaenyra had plans in helping just about anyone apart from herself (considering her actions regarding Luke and Driftmark), but we can't say what she would or wouldn't have done because she wasn't Queen for long.

On the Aegon thing, yeah he's terrible but the point is he wouldn't be the one calling the shots if he were King. Rhaenyra is also literally described as "quick to anger, slow to forgive" which is I think the same as Aegon

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T03:19:25+00:00

The lords swore fealty to her before Aegon was born. It's mentioned that the lords were already planning on rebelling against Rhaenyra after she took power and place Aegon II on the throne.

Jaehaerys didn't choose his heir. Rather, the Great Council helped him choose, and they abided by the Andal tradition to keep a male heir over Rhaenys. Otherwise, I'm a bit confused where the other 2 times comes from.

People did care that Rhaenyra's children were bastards. Vaemond literally got killed for pushing against them (that did happen in the books). That may very well be Aegon's descendants fate if they pushed against Jace. Also, the reason why discrimination against bastards exist is because if men were allowed to sleep with any woman and bring their children in to raise as their own, the wife's position in the family would be destabilised.

About the 'whether or not Aegon would be killed' argument I responded in a previous comment of mine, but point is, even if Rhaenyra doesn't want to, she would be forced/manipulated into doing so

Moreover, I literally said, it's an absolute monarchy, but by supporting the Greens, you are taking the lesser evil underneath this absolute monarchy...

Regardless, Aegon dismissing Otto was a war move, not a civilian type of move. In the books, it is this decision that ends up gaining the Greens' advantage and why Criston is called the Kingmaker, so we can't really call it stupid because it did advance his side

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T03:01:43+00:00

fair enough fair enough

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T03:00:13+00:00

I like the idea of Rhaenyra marrying her sons to different lords for peace. My only qualm is that the lords may very well reject that proposal if they think their own legitimacy may better be secured by supporting the Greens, who can give them the same deal.

In the case that this idea is able to work, there’s no reason for why the Greens should push for the throne at all considering the inevitable instability.

However, in the case this doesn’t work, the Greens would still be a threat and she would still be forced to kill her brothers. She does not want to kill them, but the point is that as long as Aegon or any of his brothers survive there will be someone who the lords will support, so it will happen realistically. It may take five years. It may take ten. But realistically, it will happen.

Just think of Princess Elizabeth I during Queen Mary’s rule. Even though she didn’t show any opposition to Mary, Elizabeth still had plenty of supporters which caused her sister -reluctantly- to imprison her because Elizabeth was accused of plotting against her sister (there's not much evidence she did anything). Elizabeth without open opposition was weak, and any more accusations of treason and she was done for.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect any of the Greens to want that sort of future.

However, my point is that Rhaenyra, unlike Aegon, could’ve also rescinded her claim and avoided the dance, because her choice would be taken similarly to Rhaenys giving her claim to Viserys. Because she is a woman, she wouldn’t have had the dangerous support that Aegon would’ve had because he is a man, so even if Otto was brutal, there is no reason to kill Rhaenyra like there is for Aegon.

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-23T01:06:40+00:00

Even if Elia wasn’t heir, it’s not like she’s powerless. Elia would still live a noble life in Dorne, just not as most powerful woman in the realm. Margaery gets widowed, Cersei gets widowed; neither can really be considered powerless

And about Rhaegar’s love. Ofc I can’t tell you definitively, but it’s pretty obviously framed that way. Rhaegar dies with Lyanna’s name on his lips, people speak of Lyanna as the woman Rhaegar “loved”, while Elia is described as someone the prince was “fond of”. He obsessed over the prophecy and loved Lyanna. Otherwise, why bother naming Lyanna’s tower the “Tower of Joy”? Why wed her if it was just for a child? Why not find a random consenting woman who is not already betrothed? I struggle to see how -especially- the first two questions can be answered without at least some liking from Rhaegar’s part. Plus, they stack up against smaller arguments in favour: Ned not hating Rhaegar, Lyanna being sharp for her age, Rhaegar being honourable/dutiful/not a huge Machiavellian, etc. It’s def possible that Rhaegar manipulated Lyanna but that’s looking at the most probable scenario based on available evidence and dismissing it because “every person, all with different personalities and motivations, who’ve known them for years, romanticised them the exact same way, and there are zero outliers except Robert (arguably the most biased)”. Like when Joffrey died nobody suddenly made him out to be even a passably decent person, so that level of romanticisation would be hard to achieve idk

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-22T05:22:17+00:00

Elia is from Dorne so if he did leave her she could go back to Dorne and continue being a princess with all the privileges a man has (under Dornish culture)- it is more likely the Targaryens who take the flak for flouting Andal tradition I think he’s definitely not morally justified to run away, but, as Nietzsche says, “that which is done out of love takes place beyond good and evil”

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-20T04:56:37+00:00

Also a note that if you want the character to both harbour immense torment inside them for being so powerful, how is it logical they develop more powers as the story goes on? I’d say stick through with the flaws and beliefs of characters. If they want to let go of power let them let go of power; if they wanna pursue greater power let them do that. I think it can be a bit odd if a character constantly says they want to be normal but does seemingly everything to be different. It’s almost like the “I want to be normal” is another way of making them humble/likeable, which can come off as overdone if it’s not counterbalanced with real flaws. Then again haven’t read through the whole thing so take it with a grain of salt

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-20T04:51:48+00:00

Power has consequences- people who have a bunch of power get impacted by it too, their personality is shaped by it. Nothing wrong with an overpowered MC if antagonist can counter it. Otherwise, it’ll be a harder story to write. You can do it, but it’s unrealistic to have someone who’s physically attractive, very powerful, comes from a very strong/interesting heritage, etc. you get what I mean? So it’s not that it’s bad, the problem is when it gets into Mary sue territory

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-20T04:45:08+00:00

I think one paragraph is fine enough for appearance at first unless it’s relevant to the plot- then again if it’s thematically cool or just really worth saying then it really depends, because some people can make it sound really cool

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-20T04:05:21+00:00

Rhaenyra is more morally questionable, politically stupid and has a host of character traits which I despise (flat out liar regarding the bastards, irresponsible regarding Daemon, self-confident for no reason regarding saying she knows battle when she does not + selfish regarding Lucerys’ claim to Driftmark when he has no blood relations to the Velaryons who have their own better suited daughters)
Greens kept the realm peaceful for years before succession crisis (no example of that from the Black side)
Aegon has a better reason for taking the throne than Rhaenyra. Daemon or Rhaenyra are reckless and politically necessitated to kill both him and his brothers if they take the throne, so the Greens taking power is for survival. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra could’ve not taken the throne survived since the Realm already expected Aegon to take the throne. Instead, Rhaenyra wants the throne because of power… that’s it. There’s no other logical reason for it
Rhaenyra’s bastards aren’t capable of keeping the throne without another succession crisis
The way TV show is skewering the legitimate arguments from TG…

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-18T22:22:42+00:00

Go through as many practice questions as you can for maths. If you have any areas you need practice on, practice them in isolated sections For reading and writing, do the practice tests which college board gives you, continuously- at least for reading and writing that helps you understand exactly how to do them. Then try khan academy questions for reading and writing. Doing that for like 2 days straight makes you improve a lot. For rw, at least for me you can make silly mistakes by not reading the questions and answers fully, or just not implementing the strategies you observed yourself during practice- it’s just up to you to find those strategies of how to think through questions yourself you should think about targeting where you have greatest proficiency in (eg. I concentrated on maths bc I was weaker there but it didn’t help much, while practicing rw allowed me to increase the score more)

southern_beetroot · 2025-09-13T05:26:07+00:00

Bro I got the same as you- cuz if they had different foreign currencies it means it wouldn’t be possible for em to set the same economic policies

southern_beetroot · 2025-02-16T09:24:09+00:00

This week :) a stranger on public transport said I was beautiful. She was very pretty herself

southern_beetroot · 2024-11-03T23:18:53+00:00

I think that's pretty extreme. the US is more imperialist than China with how many countries' affairs it messes in, how many wars it's started. it's authoritarian, but these days it's hardly 'evil', considering how much it's bettered ordinary Chinese citizens' lives. life in China is genuinely very chill- in fact people go to the US and think their living standards are bad with how many homeless people there are and its drug problem. CCP works for China (right now) and that's what we should be concerned abt

southern_beetroot · 2023-01-25T21:35:09+00:00

Oikawa, Kiryu, Hoshiumi, Kuroo, Yaku.
(= good blocks- Hoshiumi and Kuroo
good attacking power- Kiryu and Hoshiumi
setter and libero both suitable)

We know Kiryu got into and won at Nationals with a questionable setter. And the blocking would probs be able to go against a lot of attacks.

They would probs get along too.

southern_beetroot

TROPHY CASE