EggBlue

if she looked down upon Westerosi nobility the way you suggest , she wouldn't have seen Harwin as worthy to go to so much trouble for . she could change her paramour as soon as Jace was born or take a man with valyrian blood as paramour . perhaps , Daemon who wasn't married to Laena at that point , another Velaryon or she could downright have her father order Laenor to do his duty as a husband . by that view , we should despise every Targaryen who sought rulership over Westeros.

the point is , she has 3 sons with him that the likes of Alicent look down upon for not having Targaryen features . yet, Rhaenyra keeps having an affair with Harwin of all people and elevates his sons as true heirs to the throne , although she's got real Targaryen sons. it's evident that she doesn't see Harwin or her sons as lesser . and if she doesn't look down upon Strongs , I don't see what's there to say she looks down upon the rest of them . mind you , we never hear her complaining about her half brothers for being half-Hightowers . errr....no .Alicent doesn't want to stick to Westerosi culture. she and Otto want their blood on the throne , that's all.

well , that's true , it wasn't in their culture . but there's a gap there , we first meet 9 yr old Rhaenyra welcoming Alicent to the family . later , when she is 14 and Daemon comes to visit , one of the highlights for her is that he makes fun of Queen's faction . how did that happen? ! besides , there's nothing to say they weren't "plotting" against her .they might have thought it would all be so easy . maybe that's why that later on they push the idea of Strongs so hard . king is alright with that . Rhaenyra's husband is alright with that . but Greens clearly wanted to estrange the Velaryons from Rhaenyra . that's enough plotting to me. all Westerosi nobles are more or less elitists , probably with the exception of Arya Stark. difference is Targaryens actually have something to put their claim on , unlike, say, Lannisters or Hightowers . however , I can't see how Rhaenyra can be an elitist when her three eldest sons were sired by Harwin Strong .

she is the evil step mom in F&B . I mean , pawn or not, any person who can enter a 9yr old's life and make a faction to work against her interests is evil. by the way why do you hate Rhaenyra?

the next show they make , let's say something about Blackfyre rebellion or anything else down the line, could feature Targaryens as mixed race with siver hair . especially with so many times they married Velaryons and the Dornish . it could all be alright with a reboot of GoT where Dany is mixed race.

well there are possibilities: 1. his condition is like Shereen's . he is a prince and he has enough money to hire professionals 2. he's made his men so rich that they turn a blind eye to the situation 3. he was like Jon Con at the beginning and he's hidden his illness for so long that his men had no choice/ were to stay by his side , albeit with a reasonable distance dire need of diversity in the show and it can happen I think

that's not fair ! we can't argue with you! I was just going to support C.T's argument on this

too soon Bard . too soon

on a second watch , I find it more unnecessary to age down Laena and use a child actress . although Viserys complained about Laena's age here and there , there were more reasons for him to turn down the match. and the whole Viserys's issue with ages will go down the toilet when he potentially considers Aegon for Rhaenyra. in the end of the day , he mostly wanted to show Corlys who's the boss . it honestly seemed to me that he was frustrated by Corlys's proud . not to mention , this version downplayed the oddity of him choosing Alicent instead of other candidates . if their problem was that Viserys could not possibly turn down Vhaegar's rider , well, then they could have Laena claim her dragon at the age of 16-17. P.S.I hope they do justice by Laena/Daemon relationship . although I don't know how they're gonna do that considering that in the next episode she just turns 15! and yes, I favor "singer" version of the story there!

yeah. a nasty break up + a power imbalance between princess and stable boy + a vengeful ex lover that cannot let go after 20 years

I finally got to watch the promo for episode 3 , and damn ... I did not expect to find myself so excited for Stepstones! but I am excited . another thing there , I know we've been focusing on how aging up Rhaenyra has whitewashed Alicent for the beginning of the series ( I still think we can properly hate her in future!) , but the impact is much higher on Criston Cole ... I mean , as Rhaenyra's sworn shield throughout her childhood , Criston feels much more like a creepy uncle figure than Daemon ever did , considering Daemon left when she was a kid and returned when she was a grown woman (by Westerosi standards of course) . this has totally changed the dynamic there and in this version Rhaenyra could potentially be the bad guy in that story...

well , it seems we might actually get to read Winds one day .... is it wishful thinking to hope Dream of Spring will be easier for George to write?! I've been seriously thinking about it and if George manages to kill people here and there and bring arcs together here and there , the whole story would be a bit easier to write .

this is one of the show-reviewers that unlike a bunch I've seen , has actually paid attention to who's who and what's what ! no confusing Rhaenyra and Rhaenys , no thinking Rhaenys and Viserys are siblings and finally no opinion of "too many blonds"! enjoy!

I'm guessing they could mention Dorne's current independence in a future episode when they discuss whether a Dornish prince would be a good choice for Rahenyra's husband in order to unite the 7th kingdom with the IT .

overall I liked the episode . I expected it to be slower than premiere. so not a big deal there. starting with the opening , the blood running reminded me a bit of Tim Berton's Sweeny Todd's opening. lol . I liked its graphic but the theme song didn't suit it ,in my opinion . Laena Velaryon is so adorable. reading F&B I kinda assumed Corlys and Rhaenys expected Viserys to choose their daughter but didn't effectively work for it . maybe because they did not live in King's landing in the book I wonder what show-viewers think of them now ... I also liked Rhaenys and Rhaenyra's conversation . judging by a previous shot when Rhaenys is looking on Rhaenyra choosing a new Kingsgaurd in a way that is more idealistic than the actual "order of things " , makes me wonder if Rhaenys sees a bit of her younger self in Rhaenyra and that's what sparks her unnecessary conversation with her that is not friendly but is enlightening . this actually makes sense with the books in my opinion . Rhaenys like Rhaenyra was an only child expecting to inherit the throne one day . and instead of playing by rules and taking her cousin or uncle as husband (you know, just to be safe in line of succession) she goes to someone who she probably likes a lot and will bring her even more wealth and power as if her own position is already safe. Rhaenyra isn't a far cry from that , she defies marriage to Laenor ( the best political match by all regards) and later secretly marries Daemon who is already her ally instead of marrying her younger brother to make peace with Hightower or allying herself with someone like Tyland Lannister who brings her wealth of house Lannister and his voice in small council. I like that Alicent is pretty smart and has a subtle manipulation. Misarya was a true let down . if only someone tells entertainment industry that Asian women do not sound like that when speaking English . not after years of living in a country that speaks common tongue . finally , why was the episode called Rogue prince? he was just being a man child for two scenes , that's all.

out of curiosity , what is your own rating?

that's one of the things I really want to see them explore . F&B doesn't have much on that other than Otto was Jaeherys's hand as well. but one wonders why on earth did Jaeherys called for a pretty young second son to be his hand when there were all the Targaryens , Velaryons and older more experienced courtiers around him. well the show is already establishing them as a love match according to interviews and obviously that's what we were talking about.

I will watch it in that case : a man visiting every corner of the world only to return and fall in love with a princess who would (not) be the queen.

I mean .. the man speaks for the Crown in front of the king himself isn't the point of 9 voyages that they feature in other parts of WoIaF? it definitely sounded as such to me . which unfortunately I found as cheesy. my hopes too . especially the romantic ones who will die pretty soon , meaning Laena and Harwin.

this was Lyonel Strong . you are referring to his son , Larys, who'se not currently in the story. Lyonel is master of laws as far as I recall . that's why he is the one who cares so much about the precedent .

I thought I was done with Game of Throne analysis video essays ... but the video below just made me laugh so much .he describes GoT as "a masterpiece and a complete disaster" which I fully agree with. alas, @Ran thinks Rant and Rave thread is not needed anymore so I'm posting this here . by the way Ran I tagged you to say with HOTD we need Rant and Rave thread more than ever ! a lot of people may have revisited GoT before starting HOTD!

if they'll add Aegon II's later obsession with preventing his sister's line to continue (whether with Aegon III's killing or castration) , then they'd probably include Jaehaera's death in some fashion , most likely in written form .

I finally spoke with some friends who were GoT-only fans or were book fans who have not read F&B yet . turns out , HOTD does have a hook for a general audience (at least for the ones I spoke to) . not only that, after I described how F&B is written, some were excited to read the book in the mean time . Gold Cloaks scene was not initially understood as I had imagined but the next scene seemed to have cleared everything out .surprisingly , despite lack of consensus over "heir for the day" thing, everyone more or less has a positive opinion of Daemon after the episode is over! although, most had disliked him at first. Rhaenyra turns out as a likeable character but the favorites are Alicent and ser Criston Cole!! also , no one had much of a problem with the tourney and they thought it's not different from GoT.

to be fair, the variety of movements these dragons have alone , makes the CGI better than before which is simply expected after 3 years of advancement in the field.

obviously , they could if they wanted to even with faith complaining about it . Laena had the most terrible dragon of the time for god's sake! but your question was if Rhaenys and Corlys intended for their kids to wed , had Laenor been straight ... well.. why would they?! if Rhaenys had ended up on the throne , it wouldn't have been a question . they would've married . but with Viserys on the throne , it's a whole different issue . they wouldn't want their kids to marry , not get close to the IT and make a new enemy in faith . what Laenor and Laena would have wanted if Laenor wasn't gay , we can never know .but it's plausible that with their Targ mindset , they could develop romantic feelings for each other . yes , but they'll need to include Viserys's return as well , not only because it's an important piece of the story , but because they'll need it to make the ending (Rhaenyra's death and Aegon III's depression) less bitter. I imagine they would show the coronation and with a time jump , they'll show Targaryen siblings' reunion . they'll probably move the timeline a bit so they won't have to deal with regency (which is different in tone than Dance) and Jaehaera's death which they could include in the outro .. for example " Alicent Hightower died in a mad state ..etc. etc. ... Aegon II's line died out with queen Jaehaera's mysterious death .... Aegon III was followed by his sons and later his brother whose line was continued until Daenerys...." something along those lines .