she/her
unrepentant jaime posting
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fuck it! portrait commissions!! I’ll draw ur fave i’ll draw ur ship I’ll draw ur oc. hit me up
Anonymous asked:
I read a review of the mad king play by immyclare dot substack dot com that shared some of your same critiques especially re the writing on the women and think you should check it out. She really touched on the issues with the mad king play that I noticed as well.
the review for anyone who wants to read!
I think a lot of what the writer [immy] says is fair and in keeping with my criticisms. there are things that landed for me that clearly didn’t land for her but that’s fine.
I do want to write something longer about the writing of the female characters in this because while there were inspired moments of characterisation, I do think TMK has a girlboss problem that I would love them to revisit before they hit the west end (seems unlikely now alas). part of this is because they don’t actually have time to explore their female characters’ agency, another part of it is that the source material doesn’t offer them much which has led the writers to go too far the other way with no foundations to stand on. and another part of it is just in service to Rhaegar.
bc yeah I do think that the Rhaegar/Lyanna/Elia triumvirate are the weakest part of the story, and unfortunately they’re also the focus. and I really do think the biggest problem here is our sweet sweet prince, who unfortunately is an unsympathetic character playing what is meant to be a sympathetic role. Lyanna and Elia’s writing has to bend to this requirement, and suffers for it: because he isn’t convincing, their relationships with him are not convincing, and their relationships with Rhaegar make up the greater portions of their stories. too much of their characterisation is bent towards making Rhaegar’s more sympathetic, when really I think the best thing the play could’ve done would’ve been to lean into the ways in which he ISN’T - and Elia in particular would’ve been a stronger character for it. but because we can’t have her suffer for what Rhaegar does (because that makes him less likeable), we have to make Elia ROBUST. and Lyanna has to lean into the prophecy and make it her ultimate focus in act 2, because if she doesn’t then what does that make Rhaegar, and their relationship?? the boy is a problem
I also agree that Ashara’s characterisation just felt like a waste of her character and frankly a waste of stage time. I said before I really sense that they weren’t given many of the secrets grrm is hoarding about Ashara - in which case, maintain the mystery and give that stage time to developing Lyanna and Elia. audiences can see through this girlboss characterisations now, and making them bi doesn’t automatically make them more compelling. unfortunately it can end up feeding into some orientalist stereotypes that GRRM himself is extremely guilty of.
nonetheless. I still liked the play and I will go to see it again. but you will never catch me saying it doesn’t have it’s problems, and I remain sceptical that GRRM himself holds the answers - I think many of the problems stem from the fact that GRRM has made a fundamental miscalculation w Rhaegar, and its implications for the female cast of the Rebellion are substantial.
y r ppl in this fanbase when they r desperate to defend and absolve rhaegar vapidly jumping onto jaime specifically for some reason with the most illiterate and asinine points imaginable, i never understood this lol. one of the oddest “what about” attempts that i keep encountering like he doesnt have shit to do with this defend that man properly instead of this pathetic thing u keep doing
Anonymous asked:
I always thought Lyanna was pronounce lie-Anna not Lee-Anna
okay I did always think it was lee-anna tbf
Anonymous asked:
the thing about Elia’s name is if you go back far enough with his interviews, he also pronounced Sansa as saun-sa. He had different names for Brienne as well. But then he flipped flopped on it so I think this is probably just Something he felt like but will change back
yeah to be honest this is one thing where I literally dgaf about ‘word of god’. im invoking death of the author and it is sànsa, èlia, cer-see, bree-èn etc. and jaime.
Anonymous asked:
Okay, not to sound pedantic, but pronouncing Elia as “Ilya” is so grating to the ears.
yeah i hated it immediately 💀 idc if they got that from grrm I am calling her èlia
Anonymous asked:
We know Jaime and Brienne are connected to Sansa, but what kind of relationship will they have with Arya? They swore to protect both sisters, and since they believe Arya is dead, they are searching for Sansa, but they’re bound to cross paths with Arya eventually, right? Do you think they might end up forming a relationship with her as well?
melrosing answered:
I don’t think it’s impossible they cross paths…. like I do consistently think Arya will be the one to give LSH the gift of mercy when she returns to westeros, and if jb, LSH and Arya are all in the riverlands for this then sure, maybe they meet up that way…. it would actually be an interesting twist, because we’re all expected Bri to find Sansa and yet Sansa could easily end up rescuing herself idk. however. Sansa’s story thematically aligns much more heavily w jb’s so idk, I guess I’d be surprised if they did end up more oriented around Arya’s. I wouldn’t hate it though, she and Jaime could have some interesting conversations lmao…..
This is super interesting, because if you think on it, even when Brienne is concentraiting mainly on finding Sansa, she keeps walking across Arya's path.
The major exemples are of course Harrenhal, the Crossroad's inn and the Bwb. Yet they keep missing each other.
fr I have never seriously considered this possibility before but they do cross paths near constantly, and it's interesting that when Brienne gets her first genuine update on the whereabouts of a Stark sister, it's Arya and not Sansa. plus they're all three likely to orbit the Riverlands and LSH specifically in the next book or so so it really doesn't seem unlikely at all...
want to zero in on this:
Sansa's story thematically aligns much more heavily w jb's so idk
because I think it's sometimes widely misunderstood how much Sansa and Arya go through a very similar arcs with similar core beats?
Both get their romantic illusions (in love and in justice) shattered, both go through hellish versions of their romantic desires (a relationship, an adventure), both have to wear masks to hide and diminish themselves, both question who they fundamentally are, while they're made into tools of abusive people or organisations, and both finish AFFC/ADWD on the precipice of abandoning their true identities as Starks or rejecting the cages they're in to reclaim their Stark identities.
But also more than that, I think Arya as a character is someone who is very concerned with justice - with the right and wrong ways to use violence, to enact fairness or unfairness - in a way resonates with Brienne and Jaime's journeys with knighthood respectively. Arya is descending into disillusionment and loss of self in the robes of an institution just as Jaime is trying to end his cynicism and pull himself out of a fifteen year long identity crisis that also began with an institution and a uniform - the Kingsguard. Arya and Brienne in particular are both perspectives concerned with the difference between murder and justice, and to what extent is justice in ASOIAF simply legitimised murder by the aristocracy bestowed to those who are knights. Consider both of these encounters with Thoros:
-- Arya VI, ASOS
-- Brienne VIII, AFFC
Both characters adhere stubbornly to principles that are socially and politically inconvenient - Arya defends the life of Mycah, a peasant boy the aristocratic class considers worthless collateral, and Brienne adheres to her oath to Catelyn to find her daughters, regardless of how the tides of the war shift. Both wield swords as reminder of the principles they tried to server, to remember what is true to themselves - and interestingly, both Needle and Oathkeeper were gifts from men who loved them and valued them for who they were (you could insert a whole post on Jaime & Jon mirroring here if you wanted), and both swords serve as physical and psychological lifelines.
-- Arya II, AFFC
-- Brienne VIII, AFFC
But I also think, surprisingly, Arya and Brienne have been under-contrasted in how they each approach gender. Their attitudes are far from identical but both fundamentally see their inability to meet standards of femininity as a failure and a root of insecurity. In any case, I actually feel this is where the interesting subversion takes place. Brienne imagines herself rescuing a princess from the tales, but instead finds that princess is in fact a girl in disguise as a boy, with dirty knees and a sharp tongue and a skinny little sword, who is as ill fitting to be a lady as she imagines herself to be, and wouldn't that be interesting and transformative?
Anonymous asked:
We know Jaime and Brienne are connected to Sansa, but what kind of relationship will they have with Arya? They swore to protect both sisters, and since they believe Arya is dead, they are searching for Sansa, but they’re bound to cross paths with Arya eventually, right? Do you think they might end up forming a relationship with her as well?
melrosing answered:
I don’t think it’s impossible they cross paths…. like I do consistently think Arya will be the one to give LSH the gift of mercy when she returns to westeros, and if jb, LSH and Arya are all in the riverlands for this then sure, maybe they meet up that way…. it would actually be an interesting twist, because we’re all expected Bri to find Sansa and yet Sansa could easily end up rescuing herself idk. however. Sansa’s story thematically aligns much more heavily w jb’s so idk, I guess I’d be surprised if they did end up more oriented around Arya’s. I wouldn’t hate it though, she and Jaime could have some interesting conversations lmao…..
This is super interesting, because if you think on it, even when Brienne is concentraiting mainly on finding Sansa, she keeps walking across Arya's path.
The major exemples are of course Harrenhal, the Crossroad's inn and the Bwb. Yet they keep missing each other.
fr I have never seriously considered this possibility before but they do cross paths near constantly, and it's interesting that when Brienne gets her first genuine update on the whereabouts of a Stark sister, it's Arya and not Sansa. plus they're all three likely to orbit the Riverlands and LSH specifically in the next book or so so it really doesn't seem unlikely at all...
Anonymous asked:
We know Jaime and Brienne are connected to Sansa, but what kind of relationship will they have with Arya? They swore to protect both sisters, and since they believe Arya is dead, they are searching for Sansa, but they’re bound to cross paths with Arya eventually, right? Do you think they might end up forming a relationship with her as well?
melrosing answered:
I don’t think it’s impossible they cross paths…. like I do consistently think Arya will be the one to give LSH the gift of mercy when she returns to westeros, and if jb, LSH and Arya are all in the riverlands for this then sure, maybe they meet up that way…. it would actually be an interesting twist, because we’re all expected Bri to find Sansa and yet Sansa could easily end up rescuing herself idk. however. Sansa’s story thematically aligns much more heavily w jb’s so idk, I guess I’d be surprised if they did end up more oriented around Arya’s. I wouldn’t hate it though, she and Jaime could have some interesting conversations lmao…..
This is super interesting, because if you think on it, even when Brienne is concentraiting mainly on finding Sansa, she keeps walking across Arya's path.
The major exemples are of course Harrenhal, the Crossroad's inn and the Bwb. Yet they keep missing each other.
fr I have never seriously considered this possibility before but they do cross paths near constantly, and it’s interesting that when Brienne gets her first genuine update on the whereabouts of a Stark sister, it’s Arya and not Sansa. plus they’re all three likely to orbit the Riverlands and LSH specifically in the next book or so so it really doesn’t seem unlikely at all…
Anonymous asked:
You can say Mad Queen Dany, you know? You keep making these vague statements lol. As much as I love George, it’s garbage and rooted in bioessentialism. It’s not compelling or good writing that a child borne from rape and incest, who is sold and raped, goes mad because her father was mad and her mother cursed her and then has to be put down like a dog by her lover. And this is ignoring what we know of other ruling queens in Westeros and their fates. I don’t care how he spins it if that’s the bare bones of her plot. Not sure why you guys saying “well everything is pointing to that, so build a bridge and get over it!” means we aren’t allowed to critique it. I am hoping George is a better writer than that and I would hope you would too.
hey! thanks for ur second message I appreciate it - I do also understand getting heated over the shit ur passionate about, but yeah obv it’s difficult to manage the tone of these things over anon so thanks for checking in again.
apologies for what I feel is probably gonna be a long-winded answer but I just wanna clarify a few things bc im aware I haven’t talked about any of this in much detail
Anonymous asked:
We know Jaime and Brienne are connected to Sansa, but what kind of relationship will they have with Arya? They swore to protect both sisters, and since they believe Arya is dead, they are searching for Sansa, but they’re bound to cross paths with Arya eventually, right? Do you think they might end up forming a relationship with her as well?
I don’t think it’s impossible they cross paths…. like I do consistently think Arya will be the one to give LSH the gift of mercy when she returns to westeros, and if jb, LSH and Arya are all in the riverlands for this then sure, maybe they meet up that way…. it would actually be an interesting twist, because we’re all expected Bri to find Sansa and yet Sansa could easily end up rescuing herself idk. however. Sansa’s story thematically aligns much more heavily w jb’s so idk, I guess I’d be surprised if they did end up more oriented around Arya’s. I wouldn’t hate it though, she and Jaime could have some interesting conversations lmao…..
Anonymous asked:
Who in the play reacts to Rhaegar crowning Lyanna, and how do they react?
I think a substantial portion of the cast were looking on (definitely the Starks anyway) but they’re doing so from amongst the audience. the only characters actually onstage are Rhaegar, Lyanna and Elia that I can recall, and Elia looks horrified while Lyanna looks stunned.
Anonymous asked:
You said tyrion's future may involve him riding a dragon. I'm curious, how would he do that without valyrian blood? Do you think there's truth to the joanna-aerys theory or that he'd ride a dragon without valyrian blood? (I promise I'm not some weird valyrian blood supremacy fan I'm just trying to understand)
well there’s likely precedent for someone without valyrian blood bonding w a dragon via Nettles (there’s some noise made about the fact she might be a valyrian bastard but idk I think that story makes her less interesting). but I am also 50/50 on A+J=T, I think there’s just that bit too much detail around Aerys and Joanna’s relationship for that not to be a smoking gun and the timelines have them meeting in the year before Tyrion’s birth…. so. I’m still not a massive fan of the idea but I’ve kind of gotten used to it over the years
Anonymous asked:
do you wfh
two days a week I do….. today I am in da office
Anonymous asked:
You said in a previous post that jaime might or might not be the valonqar, and that in your opinion Tyrion isn't the valonqar. Who are your other possible candidates for the valonqar, I'm curious? Do you think cersei's death will come at the hands of her family or an outsider?
Also on a related note do you see briene having a role in maggy's prophecy?
tbh I don’t really theorise much about the valonqar prophecy bc even if you guess right the WHO, the why and how and when remains unknown so I just kind of shrug at it atp. most of the time I think it’ll be Jaime, now and then consider outliers like Osney or whatever but it doesn’t really take me anywhere interesting.
I don’t see Brienne as the YMBQ if that’s what you mean! this might sound boring but lately I’ve been wondering if it isn’t just Margaery…. like apart from the valonqar, the other aspects of the prophecy are either already accounted for or plain in their meaning, so I end up wondering if the YMBQ aspect isn’t the same and we’re just supposed to be focusing on the valonqar. like Jaime isn’t EVERYTHING Cersei holds dear (or even half of it) so I don’t think Brienne ever could take ‘everything she holds dear’, plus the wordplay of ‘maybe it’s not a queen after all’ is too spurious.
the only other candidates I think could ACTUALLY supplant Cersei are Arianne and Dany. Arianne is beautiful but her being the YMBQ for five minutes feels thematically meaningless. Dany meanwhile is actively set up as Cersei’s foil and is the surprise third option Cersei never considered…. but I’ve long assumed the battle over the iron throne will be between Aegon and Dany, not Cersei and Dany, and that Dany will never sit it anyway (hence Bran emerging as king). all round I don’t really know what to do w the YMBQ bit. Cersei stands to lose everything anyway, whether a YMBQ is involved or not, so I kind of don’t know what we’re waiting for
