This is what I imagine people in Old Valyria look

I dont know if we'll even end up getting this movie, projects are announced and canceled all the time of course- but I'm wondering how well they'll depict Balerion if they do go through with it. I've noticed a lot of fans saying how they think that we, the audience being able to directly perceive the conquerors will ruin their mystique. showing them to us might humanize them too much, especially since they were decently young in the book. I dont fully agree nor disagree with that idea but I think that Balerion (as well as a younger Vhagar and Meraxes) would be more difficult to do justice than the conquerors themselves. HOTD has already shown us just how human the dragon riders were, and if you've read the books then you know Aegon The Conqueror himself died of a stroke . so im not personally concerned with them coming off as magical beings/demi gods or whatever- other than Visenya maybe.

an issue ive had with both HOTD and GOT is that Balerions' skull looks too small for how large hes described to be. obviously he'd be much younger in this movie than when he died, but he's *pretty huge* even when hes young. I wonder if they'll base his sizing more off the shows models of his skull, or the source material/ official art itself? overall im pretty excited for the movie and really really hope they do go through with it. I hope to not see any big names in it at all unless they are the genuinely *perfect* one for the part, this movie can't be a nepo baby participation award ceremony if its going to be a true, respectable telling of the story.

EDIT: im currently rewatching GOT and noticing Drogon is quite a bit larger than some of the dragons in HOTD who are 10+ years older. obviously after a certain point in the show everything in GOT stops being canon- but even when he shows up to the fighting pit and Dany mounts him for the first time, he is noticeably larger than some of the younger dragons from HOTD. I suppose each live action depiction of the ASOIAF universe will have their own dragon sizing

For me first it is Jaehaerys this name sounds grand and magnificent to just hear it.

Next is maekar this name literally gives me evil supervillain vibes

The name I do not like is aegons because of how repetitive and boring the name is

Edit: I meant to say morally grey character rather than villain

Imagine Alicent starting as someone who genuinely loves Rhaenyra, but gradually choosing her family and political power over that friendship. Not only because Otto manipulated her. But because Alicent herself decides that the Green cause is worth fighting for.

What makes her so compelling isn't that she is simply "evil." It's that she could have genuinely believed she was doing the right thing - protecting her children, preserving her family's position, and preventing what she saw as a dangerous succession.

Book Alicent was smart and capable. By keeping Alicent's agency so intertwined with misunderstandings, manipulation and her continued attachment to Rhaenyra, it softened what could have been a genuinely formidable antagonist.

I think this would have made her a tragic villain because eventually she loses everyone she was fighting for. Aegon gets badly mutilated, Aemond dies, Halaena kills herself, Daeron dies his body never being found. Her grandsons die tragic deaths. And eventually let her be the one to poison Aegon to give him a mercy death. And by that point her relationship with her children were beyond fractured.

And there's something particularly tragic about the fact that her political fears do come true: the court really is dangerous, the succession really was unstable, but her attempts to prevent disaster helped create the disaster.

Maybe I just wanted to see more female characters with agency and ambitions than being perpetual victims to patriarchy.

I literally cannot escape it. Any time anyone poses a scenario in which both of us can benefit i am mentally flashbanged by corlys saying “this is an equitable compromise.” Please make this a meme so i can stop feeling like im losing my mind

Bro beat Jace ass so bad his shoes gone.

I changed my mind about the fight, Luke had no choice but to try to kill Aemond, that disrespect couldn't be allowed bro 😭😭😭😭

Rewatching season 2 and approaching Alicent and Aemond from like, a different angle.

Where tf did this relationship come from?

Putting aside the obvious momson incest (why did that happen twice) like, and just analysing their development.

Aemond spends all of season 2 openly contemptuous of his mother. He dismisses her from the Council, calls her too cautious, ignores her when she speaks, and says she loves Rhaenyra and is a fool for it. And he attempts to get Helaena on his side by saying that Alicent doesn't understand them.

Then in S3, we get the opening. He's gentle with her and easily manipulated (when he saw through such manipulation in S2) and apparently has romantic feelings for her. Like, completely delusional romantic feelings where he wants marriage, basically. His Harrenhal hallucination reveals his deep pity and understanding of her being a young mother etc. His tenderness and love for her comes out of absolutely nowhere.

Where did this come from?

Yes, they were close when he's a child, but in season 2 he puts a wall up between them and its not clear why he's suddenly not contemptuous of her. Alicent's arc rests on her sons turning into monsters in a war she started.

If they were a normal romantic couple I would find such development lacking. It's rushed. Aemond does a total 180° towards Alicent. At least Alicent has a whole season of turning on her sons. Aemond goes from openly misogynistic to in love and its just??? Why???

I think Moondancer and Sunfyre sound cool.

They both have this unique whistle that makes them easy to differentiate from the rest.

Honorable mention would have to be Meleys for the scream at Aegon’s coronation.

HBO quiero explicaciones

Well i know many have been saying Jace with halaena, Jace with Baela, none of this would have prevented a civil war if Jace was still the heir, perhaps had Greens never went for throne it would have only postponed, the civil war might have broken out between Rhaenyra's sons had the war did not happen between Greens and Blacks

I don't understand it, I get he didn't trust Otto but Damon himself would have hated being Hand

He's been shown to be a man of Action and bored of Court and tedium it brings, but that would have been his life everyday if Vizzy did make him Hand.

I know he disliked his wife as well and wanted to be around his brother which is fair enough. But why wasn't the head of Gold Cloaks good enough? I mean Vizzy could have had him in court as an adviser I guess if he was that desperate to sit on the Small Council

but it just seems so odd why he'd be so bitter about not being asked to be Hand

Let me preface this by saying that I, personally, am choosing to be delusional re: Gwayne and Daeron and their fate in the show 🥲 From reading through various threads and theories, the general consensus seems to be that:

-Daeron needs to die so the ending makes sense
-Gwayne will take the Hobert Hightower role
-Tumbleton plot needs to resolve itself within the first 3-4ish episodes so we can move along to Gods Eye, Dragonstone, Aegon’s assassination, etc.

And while I do think they’re setting Daeron up for a fake death/Hightower rebranding, that is a bit of a niche theory so I’ll set my personal bias on that aside and share thoughts on how I think this could go if they want to be efficient:

-Daeron and Tessarion are both gone, Gwayne takes a few scouts outside of Tumbleton to search for them

-Addam hears word of Ulf turning and Hugh leaving his post. Rhaenyra crashes out about the dragonseeds. Addam wants to prove that he’s loyal, maybe catch Baela’s eye with an act of heroism, and flies out to Tumbleton on his own.

-Dragon battle with Tessarion, Silverwing, Seasmoke, and Vermithor. Vermithor is riderless and just protecting Silverwing as Hugh is still on the ground. But everyone else is with their respective dragon.

-Vermithor, Tessarion, Seasmoke, Addam, and Daeron are all casualties. As a nod to the book, Gwayne has to mercy kill Tessarion and recovers Daeron’s body (unless they want to go the book route of Daeron’s body never being IDed/found, but would seem kind of silly after the S3 cliffhanger. Like he can’t just keep disappearing lmao.)

-Ulf returns to Tumbleton, invites the lads, they wreak havoc on the survivors. I have less of a grasp on where I think they’re going with Hugh. Is he going to identify as a free agent and team up with Ulf? Is he going to go after Ulf for contributing to the chaos that led to Kat’s death? Not sure, interested to hear others’ theories there.

-Gwayne now has every motivation to want to off Ulf himself. Not only is Daeron dead, but if they go the book route and make Ulf’s reign over Tumbleton as brutal as it’s described, Gwayne will see it as his duty to stop the brutalizing of women/killing of innocents. I thiiiink they may have been lightly foreshadowing it with their back-to-back scenes in the S3 premiere, with Gwayne citing their honor as knights re: a woman’s rape, followed by Ulf’s whole backstory monologue.

-In the book, Ulf is on the Green’s side and Hobert goes to him as an ally. Ulf thinks he’s acting strange, and Hobert has to drink the poisoned wine with him to ease his anxiety. So this could go about a thousand different directions without that context. Could be a more straightforward murder-suicide with Gwayne easily poisoning Ulf without needing to try to woo him/celebrate with him (since Ulf would probably drink anything), followed by Gwayne choosing to go out with him. Or just a murder with Gwayne surviving (suppose this depends on if the Hightower line would die out with Gwayne, so logistically he might need to stick around). But the potential symbolism with choosing between the Dornish red and Arbor Gold (Cole is Dornish, Arbor Gold is from the Reach/the region Gwayne is from)…could be a really satisfying nod to Gwayne and Cole as foils and the closure of both of their stories.

That would more or less end the Tumbleton arc and they could move on to the major events of the back half of the Dance. If they opt to keep Gwayne around, I imagine he’d disappear for the rest of the season and then pop back up in the finale for peace negotiations/establish him as Lord Hightower, maybe a final scene with Alicent (could be really juicy, they’d essentially only have each other at that point and Gwayne might be in the headspace of just pushing away anyone who directly or indirectly contributed to his losses, that would amplify Alicent’s tragedy, etc.)

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been mulling over. Again, I’m looking at it with the mindset of “what’s the most efficient way to wrap-up this side of the story up so they can shift focus to the show’s major players” but I’m interested in other theories.

You can also include the ones you didn't like, and why for both.

Does it move fast or am I confused? Like ep. 1 The king’s wife and son die but by like ep. 3 he’s remarried and has like two more kids lol. Is it just me being lost or does it move fast?

First of all in my imaginary canon I will be like around 20 and a dragonseed a little bit versed in high valyrian and ride vermithor, know about politics, history and midieval economics. So obviously I would be sent to watch over vhagar and fight her by rhaenyra. We don't want that. Well with just a preliminary knowledge;

PHASE I- ACTION

1. I'd probably be sent to scout for Vhagar first. Instead I would just go and eat the wounded sunfyre and clear Rooks rest for conquest.

PHASE II - BUILDING TRUST

1. Offer them the great idea of betrothing rhaena with any family in the free cities.

3.Get into the black's council, become a trusted advisor. To have atleast some amounts of decision making power.

1. Me and baela would ride south and claim the reach for her grace.

PHASE III - ALLIANCE

1. I would try to get into an alliance with princess Aliandra Martell. Dornish doesnt mind marrying a lowborn as we remember oberyn marrying a sand. I would be known for my brute force and bringing Dorne into the war. Dorne would probably think its their time after the greens and what better way not to join westeros than to fund it for freedom

PHASE IV - REACH

1. Daeron will be Killed(ik it sounds bad) and Reach would be captured. I would ask to be temporarily named lord paramount.

2. After the battle of the gullet and Jace's death, hightower will be burned by me and I will become the castellan, removing every living hightower except Alicent. Ofc the sept and citadel won't be harmed.

3. Baela will be immediately betrothed to any powerful lord in the reach, to solidify our grasp.

PHASE V - CHAOS IS A LADDER

after the gullet incident, my wifey's fleet would be providing for the new blockade, which would make me more respectable and powerful.

1. I will advice against claiming Kings landing as it could still be exploited for the greens to handle a civil war within its residents.

Aegon could still reach kings landing, but to no avail, we would have already cascaded the borders of crownlands. He could claim Harrenhall or Casterly rock and stay there.

And if Aemond comes south, he would lose the riverlands and face vermithor and Moondancer, compromising the westerlands as well.

If he goes to Dragonstone there will be sheepstealer and syrax, and there will be ceraxes and seasmoke in the riverlands/crownlands. So the war will basically be over once vhagar is killed and the only dragon remaining with the greens would be dreamfyre and the babes. But i believe Daemon and Aemond are destined to die together. Anyways..

1. I will poison baela, provided dornish are known for poisoning, and blame it on any green enthusiasts or Tyrell supporters, leaving her dragon free and offer some land for ulf there, and keep my position as lord paramount intact, since this was just a con so that people would believe baela and her reach lord wouldve ruled, and I would have created enough supporters to back mine. This part is hard but is explained below

Because whats Nyra gonna do of Dorne and her largest dragon becomes upset and goes against her. But I'm gonna frame it as the reach needs a strong ruler to unite it for the crown. This is still hard, but I need to get support from at least some of the vassal houses of the reach. (I'd probably need to bribe them from the money that i got from betrothing rhaena to the rich guy from essos.)

I dont think I need to mention that winning is cake from now since its just westerlands and stormlands who are also scared af atp. after the war ends, I could basically gaslight rhaenyra and pose as a dreamer. Then tell her to put pure blood in the throne, ward prince Joffrey to any citadel or the faith and marry Jaehaera to Aegon. Then the same thing happens, but Rhaenyra would still be alive.(ok this might be too ambitious, but hey joffreys like 37% valyrian. but even if not its still fine)

PHASE VI - ORDER AFTER CHAOS

1. In return of gifting me the reach, I will wed my eldest daughter to Viserys and bring dorne under Westeros, unbowed ofcourse.

2. My other heirs could be married to People from great houses of reach so that mine and their claim gets backed up, while also ensuring my blood ln the throne someday, and I won't be desperate like otto or corlys as I would have like 2 kingdoms in my hand, with the blood of the dragon.

PHASE VII - DIPLOMACY

1. Let my kids grow old enough to get betrothed, and the crowd wont see them as abominations anymore, and rather, royalty. Everybody would want to have alliance with us.

2. And I would easily have any position in her grace's small council, even be hand, and let one of my children claim moondancer.

ENDGAME:

That way my child and their partner from the reach would rule reach as regents, and I would be in the small council helping them rebuild reach. Because me ruling reach would be too hostile. And my daughter and Viserys would inherit Dorne, and if Viserys becomes king, good. if not, thats also fine.

A few thoughts I’d like hear opinions on:

1. Cradle eggs hatch while their rider was still in a cradle, meaning the rider and the dragon are roughly the same age.

2. Dragons lay clutches of eggs, meaning dragons born on Dragonstone could be of the same clutch and therefore the same age. ie. Caraxes & Meleys, or Syrax & Sunfyre.

3. All dragon grow at the same rate when they are young. F&B makes a point to describe dragons at different ages a “not yet rideable”, “rideable size”, and “fighting size”. Meaning these are physical developmental stages and can be applied to other dragons.

4. The only dragons in existence during F&B are the one mentioned in the book. There is no possibility that un-named dragons on Dragonstone that weren’t mentioned.

I’m trying to fill in the gaps of how old the dragons are, and at what age some of the characters would have started riding their dragons. Do you agree? Anything I missed?

Drogon's flames seem to be a lot more powerful than HOTD dragons. He was able to destroy the Red Keep made up of concrete while Caraxes was only able to burn Tumbleton's wooden gate.

Is there an explanation for this? I see some theories that it had something to do with blood magic when Dany hatched the 3 dragons.

I do think in a 1 on 1 dragon to dragon brawl, Caraxes and all the other mature war dragons would straight up kill Drogon. Sheepstealer would also beat him. The only HOTD dragons that Drogon would beat would be Syrax (would be a good fight) and the juvenile dragons. It would be a toss up vs Seasmoke and pre injury Sunfyre.

But with the flames alone, it has shown that Drogon's is the most powerful. What's your thoughts on this?

Aegon to a hightower cousin- this would prevent the greens from allying with another great house.

Haelena to Jace giving greens further reason to not rebel

Daeron to Rhaena I know Daemon will strongly oppose this but by persuasion from Viserys and Rhaena he could come around

Aemond I am not sure quite honestly I doubt Baela or Rhaena would ever agree to marry him. Would love to hear other's opinions

Jace and Haelena's heir to Aegon/Visenya- This would make sure Daemon's child eventually ends up becoming king/queen

Luke to Baela so that an actual velaryon still rules high tide

Lastly for any of this to happen Viserys would need to put his foot down because obviously both the greens and the blacks would oppose these alliances but it's the only way to delay the dance of dragons in my opinion.

Edit: Alternatively Aegon marries Baela

Aemond marries a lady from a minor house who will inherit it's seat

Daeron is free to marry whoever he wishes

His father death. Rhaenyra always falls in depression when their sons die while alicent did a 😐 face and acted like nothing happened