Hi, this is kind of random but do you know why people snapshot blogs in a seemingly random way and put it on waybackmachine? I searched my blog out of curiosity and there's plenty of saves and this started some years ago aparently?? I'm asking you because I noticed your blog have some saves too... idk if it was you or someone else but if it was someone else... why do people do this??
you sit there and think “$1500 for a one bedroom is crazy” and then it dawns on you that there are studios going for $3000. or more. a month. regardless of location. large and small cities alike. And then your brain starts leaking out of your ears
you will be in an apartment that was $900 three years ago and now you’re paying over $1200. for the same space. the same space you live in, the same exact apartment complex, is now also being sold to people for over $1500. you cannot leave because everything else in the general area is around $1800. for what you have. or smaller.
women write men with so much nuance and care and more dimension than most men in real life will ever have and men write women like they’ve never spoken to a woman in their entire life
What are your thoughts or arguments when Dany fans say her going dark or being a villain or anti-hero is misogynistic? I think it's such a stupid, myopic argument. First of all, I don't take morality lessons from fantasy books about dragons and if genuinely think because a fictional dragon queen goes dark and isn't handed a throne it's an indictment of actual REAL women leaders and politicians is ridiculous.
So I wanted to take some time to answer this properly and I disagree with you and agree.
Now personally I love Villain/fallen/Anakin-Darth Vader Dany. I love it for the story, for the narrative, I love the tragedy of it, I could go on about it. I’m a fan of Greek myths and tragedies so Dany ending up in in the place of the villain… I love. In general that’s why I actually like House Targaryen.
However, I do think it’s worth exploring that Dany is the only woman of the major five Martin has in a position of power and her narrative is oversexualized and she is now going to become the villain. When a character like Tyrion (who has raped sex workers and molested his child bride) will likely end up in a position of power as Hand of the King. In that context it is 100% right and valid to criticize Martin. Why is someone like Tyrion (who is a disturbing person) getting a relative happy ending and not Dany? Or why doesn’t Arya have a big political center stage? And if you look at the history of the Targaryen’s women are again and again punished for reaching for power. And this isn’t just a problem Martin has with the Targaryen’s, he literally refuses to give Doran, Obeyrn, and Elia’s mother a name despite her being the Princess of Dorne. For someone who has such a complicated world this is unsettling. And this isn’t me saying Martin is a terrible writer or person, but I think as a white straight male he has a major blind spot when it comes to writing women.
Regarding your last anon, the whole R/L/E is definitely going to be insulting to Martell fans because I 100 percent feel House Martell is doomed - they are basically being used to make some corny, trite parable of 'ReVENgE BaD' and will only lead to their downfall....while the narrative will have the Starks get revenge on the Lannisters and come out on top. The last book was meant to be called A Time for Wolves for a reason lol, and considering King Bran came from Martin and Sansa and Arya come out unscathed and happy, it makes sense. Aegon being real or not doesn't even matter because he's doomed and will doom the Martells with him - which is a truly tone deaf writing choice given literally everything lol but whatever.
If the Martells are doomed (and I really hope they aren’t) I just wonder why we got such rich Dornish POVs in Feast? What’s the point in making us love characters like Arianne? I have a similar issue with the Greyjoys as well. Why make us know so much and care so deeply just for it to be a nothing plot line?
I saw someone on twitter discussing Rhaegar, and other problematic elements of the series, and they basically said GRRM had no idea what trash Rhaegar was in the 90s when he first came up with the character but he probably is now aware of how awful literally everyone (except the targ stans) think Rhaegar is so when/if he ever gets to the part of the series where Martin explains the relationship he will have to do some serious damage control to 'fix' R/L.
They also said, which I fully agree with, that because he's taken 30 years to finish this series, social mores and cultural norms have shifted so much that a lot of plot points and characterizations he was probably planning are now deeply, deeply problematic whereas back in the 90s, the fantasy-reader audience the books were originally marketed towards would not have cared. Like you said, the post-me too era has brought forth a lot more awareness about grooming, age gaps, power imbalances, etc. I definitely think one of the reasons its difficult to finish the series is because GRRM is now aware of certain plot points he has been planning no longer being palatable and knowing he would get crucified for if he went forward with them. Like San/san was definitely something that was meant to be more romantic or sexual but the ages of the characters, lack of five year gap, and knowing people would rage at him if he made San/san canon in anyway means that romantic ship is over imo lol. Sa/ndor's love for Sa/nsa will be a lot more platonic and self-sacrificial going forward as opposed to romantic undertones.
For R/L though, I do wonder if GRRM telling HOTD writers to include the ice and fire prophecy in the show means that he will lean way more heavily into 'Well, ackshually, Rhaegar was saving the world it wasn't about wanting to fuck a teen he became infatuated with. Also, Elia was chill with it because Dornish(tm).' Basically, I can see Martin leaning way more heavily toward Rhaegar doing what he did to save humanity versus him not being able to keep it in his pants. But we'll see if/when the series is ever completed, which is a big if.
I do think the Rhaegar praise in the books is definitely a part of the Dany/Targ POV trap because the Perfect Prince character just doesn't exist in his world....Rhaegar will be a complex character with slightly grey shades I think....
But the fact that GRRM is so crawled up Rhaegar's ass that he won't allow any of the Martell characters that have been so far introduced to condemn Rhaegar or even say anything remotely bad about him is egregious and I'm not even invested in that storyline lol. I know he made some random comment in supplemental material that Doran was slow to send soldiers during the rebellion because he was outraged at Elia's mistreatment but that is not sufficient condemnation that needs and should happen in the actual text of the main series.
Martin still has the last Princess of Dorne be unnamed and when someone asked him if the name was Loreza (Oberyn’s daughters name) because it seemed Oberyn named all his kids after someone, he said you’ve thought about this more than I have.
GRRM's blindness when it comes to Rhaegar and R/L at large haunts lmao. Here's the thing, and I don't know if I will articulate this well or not, but I don't have any issues with characters being terrible or engaging in terrible/amoral actions - these books aren't a moral play after all or an after school special lmao. But my issue is when characters act like that, but the narrative or author still wants to push them as good people we need to sympathize with and root for, while contradicting what the narrative shows with zero self-awareness.
I think he genuinely wants R and L to be seen as Good People(tm) who just greatly miscalculated their actions but the narrative just makes them into assholes lol with seemingly little self awareness by GRRM. Like, it's nice I guess that Lyanna wanted to defend Howland Reed or whatever but then having her watch Rhaegar publicly humiliate his pregnant wife and then being like, 'Yes, I am in love with him and will run away with him (while his wife and two babies are chilling at home) so I don't have to marry Robert who is a single, unmarried man having consensual sex...' I just.....am so baffled lmao. I feel like people think GRRM is a 5d chess master and all of this will be perfectly explained and make sense should he ever finish the series and I just....don't think that's the case lol. I just genuinely think he's so married to these juvenile Romeo and Juliet fantasies that his self-awareness was no where to be found when he conceived of this.
Like, he genuinely wants readers to find it romantic that Rhaegar said his teenage mistress' name when he died.....and then we find out that his toddler daughter he abandoned was hiding under his bed hoping her dad would save her before being brutally slaughtered. Like I'm sorry but IS HE INSANE LMAO.
Personally I think he got himself into a pickle. Martin never expected ASOIAF to become what it has. He expected a three trilogy fantasy series and wrote the basic plot points in the 1990s. One of ASOIAF biggest plot points is Jon is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. He can’t undo that, it would break the story.
And so much has come out since the 90s about abuse, sexual assault, power, and age gap relationships. We have all grown in this matter. I think he might try to make Rhaegar as morally grey as he can but I think the basic plot that they were doomed starcrossed lovers will still be a plot point.
Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.
Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.
Asked by Anonymous
