Trying to do a good job as status quo restabilizer monarch when your three advisors are your uncle who groomed you who is your husband saying “BURN EVERYONE WE WILL INVADE DORNE AND ESSOS AND YI TI AND CROWN A NEW EMPIRE OF THE DAWN WE SHALL RULE AS GODS anyways I’m leaving see you never, your girlfriend who is your uncle’s ex girlfriend whispering about how the most important factor in maintaining monarchical power is of course just consent of the peasantry you are governing you ought to alienate yourself from your minor nobility completely and permanently to appease the people, and your middle school girlfriend you are repulsed by the thought of displeasing going you have to do shit that makes me mad to rule effectively but I will be mad. and also you have no fuckingggg money
i do really miss when hotd had scenes that layered multiple character interactions happening very quickly & meaningfully. i think its kind of noticeable how many scenes now are just two characters interacting in their own bubble that barely affects characterisation & if it does its usually bc one of them states the thematic point of the interaction. i miss scenes like daemon unhorsing gawaine, a target he chose to specifically fuck with otto, only to ask for alicent's favour, to fuck with otto & maybe to tease rhaenyra, & for alicent to grant it in a moment of tension between the sort illicit nature of it (clearly in some rebellion and/or disobeyance with otto) & just being a teenager at a joust having fun. & the scene lasts like two minutes tops
hotd season 3 writing for every other plotline: two steps forward and one step back. some genuinely compelling writing and dialogue next to the most why would you ever plot it like this character beats of the whole show. pacing somehow rushing and dragging at the same time.
hotd writing for the criston-gwayne-ormund-daeron enmeshment for some reason:
thinking many thoughts about daeron, ormund, and gwayne….
the hightowers may have been the most compelling part of season 3. i think i enjoyed them above every other plot
ormund you were evil and you had to go, but you were also a father and you loved deeply. gwayne, you were a mother and you have charmed me entirely. daeron, you’re a sweet summer child and i will be quite devastated if we follow through with your book plot
the knighting scene ??? the tears in ormund’s eyes ??? the look of betrayal on his face when he finds out they’ve gone against him ??? gwayne “my boy, please” hightower ??? that shit was gold
maybe the poison drips through…
such potential for some angst hurt/comfort x reader fics with those three
Everyone underestimating and belittling Gwayne this season. Meanwhile my man has a heart of gold and nerves of steel. Him fighting alongside Criston. Him killing the assassins. Him negotiating with Daemon. Him standing against his very own boy, ready to give his life to change his mind.
I will defend this Hightower man until the day I die.
The blocking for Daeron’s knighting scene was soooo evil. Ormund makes direct eye contact with Gwayne when he tells Daeron to kneel and there’s an immediate shot of a sword hanging over Daeron’s head
Ormund’s sword then goes directly through the giant target on Gwayne’s chest and into Daeron’s neck, it visibly hurts Gwayne and Ormund does it again
then Ormund again looks back at Gwayne and puts his hand directly over Daeron’s chest but high enough where Daeron looks genuinely worried he’s going to choke him
Really sooooo much abusive father material packed in here. The implication of physical violence towards Daeron, the way they clearly all expect Ormund to hit him, the way he clearly does this both to keep Daeron in check and as a proxy to hurt Gwayne because Gwayne is physically stronger than him. We needed a Succession type miniseries with these three