duty + sacrifice

Anonymous asked:

you’re amazing at getting in the minds of the hotd writers so i have a question: where do you think they’re going with alys??? like. after the daemon stuff. how do you think they’re going to have her get with aemond… for some reason i can’t picture the path they’ll take

visenyaism answered:

I also have been wondering this. I liked what they did with her in season 2 where she was just living in her home doing her own witch thing when Daemon comes in all high and mighty and she’s basically is like well no one else in this man’s life has ever made him experience consequences so I am going to spike him spin him around and throw him into the freudian psychosexual torture labyrinth for fun until he realizes there’s other people in the world. She cares about women and smallfolk like actually but also clearly has opinions on what daemon has done to rhaenyra. Very interesting!

It also puts her in a way different place than the book where she’s very clearly steering Aemond around a bit and going with him to burninate the countryside and dropping him off at what she knows is his own murder before trying to claim Harrenhal in the name of their kid. Show Alys is too woke for this and hasn’t been established as self interested at all. I think either they contextualize her as way more of a victim of Aemond’s or they give her some kind of arc about how she wants to use the power that he has to help people in the Riverlands and ends up really in it. Let me ruminate

visenyaism

Here’s my best corniest guess: I think s2 was mostly about figuring out what you’re actually fighting for so if I had to pick a unifying theme for s3 I would guess probably something along the lines of getting what you thought you wanted and having it make you more miserable than ever.

A plot: Rhaenyra takes king’s landing but is down three children and everything is deteriorating. Daemon gains a sense of purpose and a place at her side and will fumble it to embark on a suicidal bender. The dragonseeds gain status and it does not make them happy. Rhaena gets a dragon and still isn’t allowed to be in the show. Baela gets grounded. Aemond gets to be the king but loses everything immediately. I think Aegon has a bad time on vacation and actively decides to return to westeros. Daeron shows up starry eyed and gets himself killed real quick. Alicent is handcuffed to a radiator in the basement, but they keep hinting very not subtly that she’s actually more free and less trapped than Rhaenyra.

B plot: peripheral characters namely Mysaria, Alys Rivers, Criston, maybe corlys maybe Otto maybe larys go through some permutation of Alicent’s S2 plot where it’s like wait a second attaching myself to power might not mean power aligns itself with me I can’t control these people or the full ramifications of their actions. Also war is bad. Did we tell you war is bad.

C plot: tyland Lannister is still in the show, naescent smallfolk rebellion, northern army coming south and the walls are closing innnnn.

Alys plot: Aemond shows up and kills everyone. Alys resolves to manipulate him so that she can stay alive. one episode of freudian torture nightmare labyrinth with Aemond, but no more than that because he folds like a wet deck of cards psychologically. he’s not going what’s happening to me what could it mean like daemon did he’s going obviously I deserve this help me mommy. Extended bit where she is the devil on his shoulder giving him terrible advice that is exactly what he wants to hear while Criston is desperately trying to convince him to be a loyal knight and go back to the city and save his family. We remember that Ryan Condal read the books and knows who Melisandre and Davos are. She’s trying to manipulate him for the #cause though.

Final pivotal moment is when Criston decides to abandon them to go back to the city because things are getting bad and then he gets shot to death on the way there. Alys stays and we get the hotd special where they find out that uh. The northern army they’re going to plow through a village of civilians or something and Alys is like Aemond you gotta save those people they’re innocent and then on accident slash Aemond goes rogue vhagar kills EVERYONE. Oh no Alys can’t control him and is gonna have to start thinking about how to get rid of him. If they do the demon baby plotline this is when she would find out about that I think. Also, I think that the wig they’re gonna put her in will be worse.