This Brilliant (pun Intended) Post By @artemideaddams Comparing Lila Cerullo And Catherine Earnshaw Also

Daenerys Targaryen and Lila Cerullo Parallels

lila and rino sibling dynamic in my brilliant friend book reminds me very much with dany and viserys. both of these girls suffered so much abuse from the brothers that supposed to protected them :(

“I begin to feel a new tenderness toward you, very raw and unfamiliar, like what I remember of love when I was young— love that was so often foolish in its objectives but never in its choices, its intensities.”

—Louise Glück, excerpt from “Crossroads”

If Nino Sarratore has zero haters then I’m dead

Irish band kneecap opening their set at coachella weekend 2

since dawn, israel has killed at least 64 people in strikes targeting overcrowded homes and displacement tents — one of the deadliest mornings in Gaza since the genoc/de resumed last month.

ALICENT AND HER CHILDREN; “I have sinned / I do not wish to hear of it.”

sharp objects, gillian flynn / unknown / holy family, pompeo batoni / richard iii, byam shaw / dreams of clytemnestra, dacia maraini / bad sun (moon version), the bravery / ivan the terrible and his son ivan, ilya repin / elektra, sophocles / above the clouds of pompeii, bear’s den / novitiate (2017) / poplar street, chen chen / time within time: the diaries 1970-1986, andrei tarkovsky / class of 2013, mitski / house of the dragon (2022–), s02e01 and s02e02

Annie Ling, 81 Bowery, New York, 2011.

Why did I just notice that???

Do you see how Alicent is so dissatisfied in the scenes during the Green Council meeting in episode 9? How utterly surprised and somewhat disappointed?

It's not because she falls from cloud nine to discover the possibility of Aegon becoming king when she learns about the lords' "long-laid plans" from Tyland Lannister. She knew that it would make sense for Aegon to inherit the throne for both the realm and the survival of her family, and basically gave us hints she realized this as early as the hunt scene in episode 3.

More specifically, she understands that she might have to put Aegon on the throne during the scene when a heavily drunk Viserys laments his fears of making a mistake in naming Rhaenyra his heir since he now has a son, and reveals to Alicent his prophetic vision of seeing his son with the conqueror's crown. Even if at that moment, Alicent reassures Viserys he made the right choice, you can see that the doubt lingers in her mind, and in seeing Rhaenyra return from the hunt covered in blood in absolute and ruthless callousness, Alicent recognizes the danger.

It is a wake-up call: in the end, she might have to choose her son over Rhaenyra.

And of course, we know that as Aegon was growing up, Alicent spent hours musing these doubts and even confronts him with them in episode 6: "You are the challenge, simply by living and breathing. You are the king's firstborn son and what they know, what everyone in the realm knows in their blood and in their bones, is that one day you will be our king."

So what explains her dismay during the Green Council meeting??

As I see it, the cause of Alicent's distress during the Green Council among other things is not that the lords planned a whole operation to crown Aegon as king, but that they did so behind her back, as if she is not fit to be included in these discussions, let alone be consulted for her own son's future and survival.

She rightly says: "Am I to understand that members of the small council have been planning secretly, to install my son without me?" and right after that comes the condescending reply: "My queen, there was no need to sully you with darkling schemes."

No sh!t.

Remember how betrayed and distraught Alicent felt went Aemond lost an eye and everyone dismissed her concerns as that of an overreacting and overbearing mother? The Green Council scene gives flashbacks to this.

Once again, Alicent's wishes, her wills, her thoughts, and her whole person as a mother, queen, advisor, and woman, are sidelined and minimized by members of her own council.

So this is why I think it makes sense that episode 9 is called "The Green Council" which contrasts the name given to a different council meeting in episode 10, namely, "The Black Queen." Because apparently, Rhaenyra owns her council meeting, even if she has to shut down Daemon to do so. But Alicent is not yet perceived as her own council's queen.

I hope we can somehow see Alicent truly become her own Green Queen in season 2.

the thing about the dance is that. the entire pointless horror of it really shines through aegon and viserys. grrm took the pathos of the princes in the tower enigma from the war of the roses and reversed it. the tragedy isn’t that the children died - it’s that they were the only ones who lived. and so the kingdom rearranges itself around boy kings with gaping wounds for souls because that’s what feudal systems do - but what can you do with a targaryen king who cannot stand the sight of a dragon ? the magic is gone. the tragedy must degrade into a farce. and right on cue here comes aegon the fourth!

god loves you, but not enough to save you

“Veil of Smoke” by Unknown Photographer ◇ Cigarette smoke caught between transparency and touch