Aerys Targaryen: It took me 15 years to go mad. Daenerys Targaryen: Hold my Starbucks.

Azula has always made sense to me because her downfall is tied to her suddenly experiencing several things she has never felt before: 1. Mai and Ty Lee are the first time she has ever experienced betrayal, and much of her unwinding seems to be designed to remove the possibility of betrayal from her life. Sending away her handmaiden, the twins, the Dai Li, and anyone else who shows her anything less than absolute loyalty. The pain of having someone turn against you is so unfamiliar and so unpalatable to her that she decides she never wants to feel it again, no matter what that costs. 2. It is also the first time she has failed to accurately predict the behavior of those around her. She was truly shocked by it, and we almost never see Azula shocked by anything anyone does. Suddenly, she no longer has absolute faith in herself to predict what *will* happen, so instead she starts to become consumed with what _could_ happen, a mental spiral I've embarked upon myself from time to time. 3. Perhaps most of all, it is *NOT* the first time someone has chosen Zuko over her... but it is the first time in quite some time, almost certainly since her mother. Being the favorite, being the prodigy, being the one who has everything, is a huge part of her identity, and so any sign she might be losing that starts to provoke an outburst from her. So many facets of her identity are coming under threat at once, and she has no support system, so it makes sense to be that she would become trapped in her own thought spirals. Really, the only thing I truly have an issue with is the hallucinations being used as a shorthand for "she cray, y'all." None of her other symptoms have ever suggested she is prone to delusions or hallucinations. They could have just had her sleep deprived and starving due to her spiraling paranoia (fearing assassins in the night and poisoned food) and effectively accomplished the same things in the plot without needing to resort to lazy mental illness cliches they didn't adequately set up for.

Your point on female Targaryen rulers being undermined through Westeros history is so spot-on. Real-talk.

And this is why we need Melinas in writing rooms.

The last season of got was a lot. But, Emilia was like: imma still act the shit outta this. Which I respect so hard.

I get what you’re saying but I will say this regarding the Azula comparison. At least the writers of ATLA handled Azula’s storyline with far more compassion and empathy than these writers. Azula is still portrayed as the villain, but the show still went out of its way to explore why Azula became mentally unstable. Azula is a child and a victim of horrible cruel, parenting. Unlike GOT, whose portrayal of Dany’s breakdown is “This bitch is CRAY-CRAY”, the portrayal of Azula’s spiral is “Wow, this girl is so broken”.

They give Arya all the cool points for delivering the killing blow to the Night King, but without Dany, her armies and dragons, she and everyone else would have been slaughtered, straight up. I also hate this sudden shift of “now she’s cray, she’s the bad guy now”. So JON SNOW is the solution??? Jon??? Wow... Sexism be POPPIN!!!

Based on in universe ethics, Danny is a decent ruler. It's medieval times, people were executed all the time. As for the Tarlys, this just pissed me off. The guys refused to submit to her authority. Tywin Lannister literally committed genocide over the same thing. He didn't just kill the Lord's, but all their Bannerman and small folk. But Tywin is a badass villain. Danny kills two guys who are in open rebellion and she's "evil." People are so stupid.

The thing about "mad kings" in real life vs. fiction is that the problem is pretty much never that they go suddenly murderous. The problem is that depression or delusions or whatever can make it much harder to deal with the demands of ruling, and if they are particularly incapacitating then it can raise questions about who is actually in charge. For instance, George III (who may have had either bipolar disorder or porphyria) periodically had to withdraw to Kew and hand over control to the prince regent...but because he could come back at any time, and because the king was actually quite good at soothing political squabbles when he was well, no one really wanted to put the prince permanently on the throne. The people in history who have done the most horrifying things are not usually the people who have some kind of clear mental illness; they are usually making a deliberate decision to promote their own power.

Of all the breakdowns of the butchering of Dany’s character I’ve seen, this has been the most compelling in really putting into perspective how tragic the botching of her character was. So many complex feelings and emotions about abuse and power, all thrown away in an instant for the sake of, “no, she’s crazy, and she needs to go down.” However I cannot lay the blame on Tyrion so much as I blame the writers, because he, just like everyone else in the latter seasons, came down with an inexplicable case of the stupids. Just like it is unfathomable for Dany to just genocide out of the blue, it is equally unfathomable for Tyrion to suddenly become so delusional as to trust Cerci on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS out of some sudden and unreciprocated concern for her life.

Great points, especially about the mysoginistic gaslighting and Varys's self-fooling "populism". There is also something to be said about the disservice they're doing in fueling some kind of revolutionary phobia. This is a show where the common people are absent, passive, or irrelevant for the most part, as you said before ("everyone there is a priviledged noble"). This is bad enough, but, on top of that, taking the closest character we get to a revolutionary catalyst for the protagonism of the masses and making her genocidal out of the blue is, frankly, just plain politically offensive...

Aegon the Conqueror: I 'carpet bagged' most of Dorne's cities (except the Capital), killing everyone in sight for two years after they killed my favorite sister-wife. (The Dragon's Wroth) Daenerys: I killed everyone in the Captial of Kings landing because they killed my best friend, my dragon, I lost my man & everyone around me that I trusted died or betrayed me. This is the Apple to Apple comparison that should have been made to Dany not the misogynistic comparison to her Dad.

"why did azula suddenly have a mental breakdown?" it's the culmination of life long emotional abuse, trauma-fuelled perfectionism, and her self esteem being founded on the perception of her as "the good child" suddenly crashing down around her in a chain reaction of mistakes and paranoia. she is terrified of losing control and becoming the target of the abuse she watched zuko face for so long, and when she begins to lose that iron grip on the people around her, she breaks down. sincerely, an emotional abuse survivor who's now deathly afraid of failure.

The only reason I can think of why Dany didn't want to give the North independence is because Dany felt that she was fighting for the North. In her view, she came to rescue them, so she owed them nothing. With respect to the Iron Islands, Yara was pledging to fight for Dany, and they would get their independence in return.

I find it interesting how Tyrion advised Dany to send Sam's dad and brother to the Wall for not bending the knee, and how people criticise Dany for killing them. Her ancestor Aegon the Conqueror did this same thing but on a much larger scale. People who submitted were spared but those who refused to bend the knee were killed. He was considered one of the greatest rulers of the dynasty. But all of a sudden when Dany does it, it shows how she is tyrannical and a mad queen. She's a fucking conqueror coming back to reclaim the throne she sees as her birthright, what did they expect her to do? Ask nicely for the throne? It seems there's a gender thing going on here. When male characters show ruthlessness, they're "strong" but when females do the same, they're "bitches."

As soon as you cracked open that can I was like, YASSSSS GO IN!!!!

I too find it annoying that dragon fire is somehow more evil than other executions. Which other king candidate in the show would allow someone to commit treason, and arguably try to poison her with he kid, without killing them?

The thing with Azula was very well-explained by Hello Future Me, you should watch his video on her psychology. Also narcissism as a personality disorder and to an extent as personality trait is strongly connected to the feeling of inadequacy and it often develops as a coping mechanism to it.

I think a good video on the character psychology of Azula was made by Hello Future Me where he breaks dont her mental state in a deep video essay, you should check it out.

Remember how Jamie was captured... And held in a shitty cell chained hand and foot? But Robb was such a great guy...

Yes, Daenrys has a sense of entitlement, but “mad?” No. Randall Tarly told his son, Sam, that if he didn’t leave, he WOULD kill him. That’s a crazy SOB!

The entire Sand Snakes plot was also running on "Bitches Be Crazy" so I wasn't surprised.

My interpretation of Azula was always that she's kind of actually...NOT a narcisistic sociopath? But rather that she's followed the example of her father and is good enough and ACTING like she is, and having that behavior positively reinforced by her father and general culture, that she never developed other tactics or coping mechanisms. Therefore, when that sociopathic behavior stops working, stops getting her exactly what she wants all the time, she has nothing to fall back on. Her father would be pissed at being "betrayed" by his "friends", but wouldn't actually CARE in any meaningful "my feelings are hurt" kind of way, be Azula DOES care because she is mimicking the behavior of a so called "sociopath'" rather than innately being one. But I'm aware that I could've been projecting a lot that wasn't strictly "in" the show itself, because I always kinda liked Azula lol. The thing I find interesting with the Azula example when put alongside the rest of these is that her "turn to madness" is the only one that's framed in its narrative as, like...a good thing? Like, not only do "we", the audience aligned with the heroes and wanting them to win, as well as those heroes themselves, NEED her to "break" a bit for the story to have a "good" ending, there's this implication that SHE ultimately needs to be "broken" out of her evil ways, so to speak, in order to have any chance at growth or whatever. The "madness" is a necessary step towards making her, potentially, less evil maybe, or, at the very least, less dangerous. I don't have any real comment to make on the meaning of that in terms of treatment of mental health in media but...yeah. Interesting.

"Azula doesn't have friends she has passions, so why does she care?" Well when you're things are taken away from you do you not get upset? 🙃

Thank god for this video. Even a year later I'm still so sick of the Discourse. Dany either never did anything wrong ever or she's the craziest genocidal satan witch who ever lived??? Really??? Is that how far we've fallen???? You and Lindsay Ellis both handled this issue so well. You've so easily demonstrated why Dany's ending is nonsense that it's a wonder no one has physically smacked D&D with a link to this video. Also, thanks for the shoutout to my girl Sansa and how the Sansa/Dany conflict was poorly manufactured garbage trash. My Daensa heart beats again.

I personally like Azula's downfall if it had been more fleshed out. I also think it would have been more effective if they focused more on her relationship with Ozai; his manipulation of her because of her skills, pitting her against Zuko during their childhood, the pressure to be perfect (no hairs out of place) and the final thing being him suddenly declaring her Fire Lord and having her crack from the pressure surrounding that.

I don't even watch GoT, but I love listening to video essays and watching particular scenes about the characters and I've really grown to love Dany. And you did a great job of laying out exactly why this development didn't feel right for Dany and felt incredibly rushed and not well done at all.

I still blame Tyrion for the death of Lady Olenna. You're exactly right- they gave her horrible advice and called her mad for being upset with their trash decisions and following her instinct when a man in the same position would've ignored them and done far worse.

"A scorned man can do many things." Lmao!

For Azula, there were lots of stressors leading up to her break. Her friends betrayed her, her dad abandoned her and she was put in charge of a nation. Human, in the real world, can suffer from psychosis (hallucinations and delusions) brought on by acute stress. it is a little different from a mental illness diagnosis because the symptoms go away once stress levels go down. Though, we totally didn’t get enough time with Azula to feel the gravity of her stress.

Idk why you hate the Tarlys, but I'm here for it every single time you mention it in a video. Laughed with my full belly

Azula may be strong, but she has always put herself in a very high standart. In the first scene we see her in Book 2, there's the line "almost perfect is not good enough". Her viwes about the weakest and strongest and control trough fear, that she learned from her father, were very clear. She based her life on that, then there's the betrayal of her friends. Friends that, yes, she manipulated and intimidated, but that's the point. They were the ones she had controlled the most trough her life, but the basis of their relation, that was also the basis on her whole view of the world, fell apart and fear was o longer enough to keep them under her control. And if she can't trust fear to keep these two under control, how can she believe that anyone else around her is under her control? She based her life in fear and power, and she could no longer rely on that, so she grew paranoid. She was a 14 years old child with a cruel father, a mother who criticized her in every interaction we saw from them, and no support of uncle Iroh to balance the damaging parenting of Ozai.

Your quotes from the books and comments on the show helped me make some more connections in the series between Dany and Cersei. Based on the material in the books, I always assumed Cersei was the person who'd go mad and burn down King's Landing with the wildfire stored all over the city by Mad Aerys as a final "f u" to whoever is going to take the city from her. Maybe though the two Queens are planned to be foils of one another--going mad for different reasons (but, both paranoid due to prophecies). I hope George R.R. Martin does it better, because two women going mad is a great look, especially because none of the male P.O.V. characters seem to be undergoing the same arc. I mean Undead Catelyn may be considered mad as well.

Wouldn't the abuse Auzla witnessed and experienced and was still experiencing (she's 14 and all) and the establishment of her as a perfectionist early on (when she's practicing lightning and the one hair is out of place) make her similarly disposed to having a break? Also Zuko still can't really beat her, and she's not necessarily made weaker so he has a chance, but I think more to show how you can't be a truly great bender the way she was being taught to be. You have to incorporate the other styles (Katara beating her in the end by being the bitch and using breath control) and adapt your ways of thinking, which contrasts to how she's been indoctrinated that fire is the best, most powerful element/ culture. I think her age really has a lot to do with it, she's very young and her worldview is cracking because of mai and ty lee leaving her, and her parental issues.

I swear I think I'm the only one that's more upset about the treatment of the Night Kings story and how they "foreshadowed" him and the resolution between him and the three eye raven

I really hate Varys characterization in the show cause his motives are total bs as you mentioned. I'm very inclined to Varys helping out fAegon as his main motivation in the books, or just plain self preservation, but show! Varys doesn't make sense!

turning a character from good to bad is tricky and risky. a writer has to gradually and slowly make the fans of the character fall out of love with the character to the point where they don't care anymore about the character's fate, I like to call this; a healthy separation. sadly, the writers here didn't want to face the repercussions of Dany's fans falling out of love with her, because for six seasons Danny was the protagonist of her own story and if a protagonist is hated, then their story line is useless. BTW, the best good character turning bad that comes to mind is Willow on the 6th season of Buffy, because at least they took the time to set up her turning evil.

I’m a year late to your video but I gotta say this is a really unique take on GoT season 7. I’ve seen just about every video breaking down why the season was terrible, and specifically why Dany’s storyline was trash, but not one of them noticed the stuff about Dany killing white people being the bad part and her pillaging cities not in Westeros (cities of BIPOC) being okay. I’m white and I didn’t notice any of that either - it doesn’t occur to me to look. All of this existing and adding to the flaws of GoT without me or 90% of youtube film critics / video essay people noticing it really goes to show how blind people are to things that don’t directly concern them or line up with their past experiences. So many smart, discerning youtubers completely missed this - because they’re almost all white. Your voice in this community is so important and just goes to show that diversity matters not just because everyone’s voice should be heard, but because of the variety of perspectives it brings.

ASOIAF sets up this world wherr extreme violence is very common, and communicates that quite effectively so even the 'good guys' as far as anyone can claim that title, kill people brutallY because of law, defence, political strategy etc. Dany, I always thought, was set up as a fairer and less violent person, in as far as the realities of her world would allow. She always considered alternatives (except for the Mastets who crucified all them children, but everyone has their limits). Then all of a sudden in the final season it's like, hey remember when someone killed her horrifically abusive brother and she didn't cry? Yep, she has clearly always been a big bad... Ugh, I'm so pissed off because I believed in this world and knew to adjust my expectations of what the right thing to do would be and then all of a sudden like, no, everyone's suddenly horrified now every time she executes people. Rant over for now...

always found Azula to be an interesting character that made sense and here's why. Azula isn't any sort of sociopath or anything that whole confident sociopath thing is something she puts up to hide her weakness and if we want to understand her we have to go back to her parents. As we all know Azula and Zuko's mom favored Zuko and Ozai was crazy. This is already a bad start because Azula is a child and even if she shows bad behavior at the beginning the fact that her mother calls her a monster and avoids her means that Azula's main paternal figure is her dad, Ozai and he only "over" Azula because she was a firebending prodigy. This basically leads to a feedback loop of self-worth since Azula is being taught that people only stay around if you are useful to them or powerful but her mom still didn't want to hang out with her which probably lead her to some sort of assumption of that she was inadequate in some way or simply put no one would want her around if she wasn't strong enough. In a sense, Azula is a lot like Zuko with the main difference being that Zuko had Iroh and his mom Aula did not. We see in the beach episode that when you get to the core of it Azula has no social skills whatsoever. She's a great strategist and knows how to win but she has trouble making any sort of friends. This leads to a second point that reveals Azula probably doesn't realize she can't just keep manipulating people and forcing them to be her friend. As far as she knows Ty Lee and Mei are her friends and then they both betray her. So on top of this complex, Azula basically has no friends whatsoever and was betrayed. Plus, they basically betrayed her to save Zuko which to all, of her fathers, accounts are the inferior one, and thus her friends should be helping her. Azula's whole comment about admitting her mother was right about being a monster was most likely her reverting back to a sort of facade after a moment of weakness because we know for a fact that Azula did care what their mom thought. When all is said and done Azula is really just a maladjusted and socially awkward teenager who hasn't had the same support system Zuko had and thus was conditioned to believe she couldn't be anything less than perfect(as seen when she was lightningbeinding in her first appearance and became pissed that she was one hair out of place). By the end of the series, Azula was both lonely and seeking validation for herself and her father that she was useful if not perfect, and the fact that her only friends betrayed her made her paranoid since she came to the conclusion that is Mei and Ty Lee wouldn't be her friends, even if they had every reason to do so, she really couldn't trust anyone on top of the fact that Azula is socially awkward and has no idea how to actually talk to people or make friends which lead to a downward spiral when she became Firelord. The hallucinations of her mother were related to the fact that she felt like she couldn't get everyone to love her if she wasn't perfect. I mean I'm not a hundred percent sure if Azula is mentally ill but even if she was the environment she was raised in would make almost any teenager kind of loopy with some negative behaviors no matter how mentally stable they were, to begin with, and they experienced this since they were children. tl;Dr Azula is probably not a psychopath or sociopath its more like feels like she needs to be perfect and thus goes out of her way to please certain people by being their perfect ideal. Which in Ozais's case was a firebending prodigy, soldier and tactician, who did whatever he said. That said I can understand why people wouldn't like Azula's arc and that's because we basically never get it from her perspective. We are on the outside looking in and only rarely know exactly what Azula's thinking and most of that is around when she jumps into the deep end. I think that maybe having a flashback episode or something where we see Azula build-up to becoming the way she is would've helped strengthen the tragic fall. If you want to see an in-depth and interesting perspective on Azula's personality Hello Future I made a good video ( kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gKumndmUqdbHnoE.html ) Although its almost an hour.

This is a very moving video and I do agree with most of it, but you are kinda off on what caused Robert's Rebellion. Sure, Robert's fiancee being kidnapped was a factor, but the ones who initially reacted to that were Lianna's family. It was Ned's brother rushing to King's Landing, demanding to duel Rhaegar when he believed his sister had been kidnapped, then him and his father both getting murdered for it is what started it. Afterwards Aerys called for Jon Arryn to kill his wards, Ned and Robert, which caused the North, Stormlands and the Vale to rise up against the throne. Robert may have been a horrible person most of his life, but this particular scenario wasn't caused by him just being salty.

Jorah had the sexiest voice on the show. Shared with Beric Dondarrion.

Also it's kind of dangerous that someone being "mad" justifies killing them, when translated to the real world

Wow. That is the best breakdown of _Akira_ I've ever, ever heard. I'm going to go find that article you wrote now.

I always love your videos because they are so well thought out. Arguments are valid and there is evidence to back up what you’re saying. Plus entertaining to watch. Please keep posting!

BACK TO BACK! Love seeing you back in my subscription feed sis!

LOVE your POV on Dany and everything else!

Your channel is now my new hyper focus and I an finding a lot of inspiration for the book that I am writing. Thank you so much. You kick ass!!!!!

I can see where you’re coming from with Azula, but the way I saw it was that her character is about control, perfection, and abandonment issues maybe? I think the scene where we first see her practicing lighting bending and she is infuriated by a “single hair out of place” illustrates this in small scale. She NEEDS to be in control and to be perfect. But the thing is, Zuko isn’t better or more powerful than her, and that’s the point. Despite being weaker, flawed, marked by his “shame”, everyone still chooses him over her. And to a child, even one like Azula, that must really sting. I think it’s not that she really values the friendship of Mai and Tai Lee, or at least not in a traditional or healthy sense, it’s that she was so confident in commanding their unwavering loyalty through fear that when they betrayed her she became unbalanced by the reality that she does NOT have control. That anyone around her could leave her, betray her, no matter what she does or how she manipulates people, she is alone. The only real positive attention she has is her father’s approval but it’s always conditional I guess anyways, I’m no psychologist lol

Yo, you're description of Akira was so captivating and meaningful that you've convinced me to watch it again. The first time I saw it it didn't click with me and felt kind of lackluster, but viewing it through that lense has me excited!

I’m so glad I’ve found your channel. So good.

Thank you! You pretty much summed up the problems I had with the writing perfectly.

I was led to your channel after seeing you on It's Lit and I've been binging your videos. I love how analytical, social, and emotional your commentary is. And it's fun to hear you talk about fantasy and feminism! Where are your earrings from? They're so fantastic!

I love your videos 💓 They've opened me up to valuable new perspectives. Also I would love to hear your take on Quellcrist Falconer form Altered Carbon

So glad I found your channel (guess that’s a plus of quarantine🥴) and subscribed. Speak the truth on this, sis🙌🏽‼️

"No one had a problem with that until she went to White-landing". I may have misheard that, but I chose to believe.

You always make great points!

I’m so glad I found your channel

I was so excited about the Callisto content in this video. I would love to hear more of your thoughts about the show (which I unashamedly love).

hmm to be honest: this is one of - if not the most insightful, intelligent, articulate channel on all pop-culture things on youtube. all praise deserved

You make lots of excellent points here

You need to watch ATLA again, Azula was handled pretty well. It was mostly paranoia that drove her break down. And Zuko beat her because at that point in the show he was better. You should watch it and actually watch the fight choreography, it tells a story too. Zuko is centered l, finally following Uncle Iroh's advice and all the lessons he's learned in his journey, you see him flow from stance to stance, and absorb redirect attacks like a water bender, it's a culmination of Zuko And Azula's conflict the genius vs the hard worker. Zuko beats her fair and a square

I’m so glad to see you in my subscription list again!! I’m watching this and I don’t even watch GoT lmao

I cant believe I’m just finding this channel. I co-sign on this whole video. Jorah WAS the finest man on the show. Dany was mad not to jump on that bear tbh

Hi Melina! I have been following your reviews and analysis for years now. I hope you write your own books someday. I look forward to reading them.

I am so happy I found your channel. 😭😭🤗

Yeah the Tarly one drives me up the wall, they betrayed their Liege Lord's the Tyrells directly resulting in the fall of Highgarden and Daenary's losing a her biggest allies in Westeros, and then rejected her offer when she offered them a place in her army. Suddenly Tyrion gets stupid and asks her to spare them, that's a good way to get your throat slit in a feudal system. She needed to make an example of them. Season 1 Tyrion would have known better.

Please more ice and fire content, really great points

This video is pure gold

Queen Daenerys is not mad or crazy. She took the throne with force. All those people died because Queen Cersei used them as human shields. Queen Daenerys was at war she struck back at her enemy. If a male had done it they would say it was a convincing victory. Aegon did the same. I don't accept that she's mad the writers never said it. Greyworm did nothing wrong he was being a soldier seeking victory. The Tarlys slaughtered their own people in the Reach but they didn't show it on screen. All the complaints about Queen Daenerys amounts to moral hypocrisy and false double standards.

I don't agree with you're framing of Dany's naming her dragons after her brothers, and Drogo because she normalized her sexual/physical and emotional abuse. No, she's a Targaryen and her place among her family is an indelible aspect of her identity. Viserys was the only family Dany ever had, despite him being crazy and cruel. He instilled in her the single-minded goal to take back what the "usurper dogs" stole from them and reclaim their family's honor. After he died, that seemingly insurmountable task fell on her young shoulders. Why would she not honor and uphold the memory of her brother, Rhaegar, who was a great man? As far as Drogo, she truly loved him. I'm not sure what you read about her feeling as though she was better than them. She adapted to and adopted the Dothraki culture. Did she abandon the handful that followed her after Drogo died? No, she still felt responsible for them and referred to them as "her people." Hell, Jorah still referred to her as Khaleesi even when she got to Westeros. Dany was not hardly xenophobic. She cared for Missandei like a sister, afterall she burned down King's Landing after her death. She talked softly and measured to Grey Worm, but was quick to chew Tyrion's or Vary's ass out. Even in her first and final act as queen of the 7 Kingdoms, she promoted him to being her Master of War, not Jon Snow.

If done right mental illnesses can be great for a character's development. Seeing how it affects them and their relationships, and how they deal with it. Characters like Niklaus and Freya Mikaelson and more from the Originals, Polaris from the Gifted, Qetsiyah from the Vampire Diaries etc...

Love your videos!!!

Wow! I consider myself a fan of Akira, have seen the movie at least five times and it's really special for me. And although I have been struggling with mental illness, I hadn't understand Tetsuo the way you did. It makes me appreciate the movie in another level. It'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on the manga.

It always bugged me that the writers decided to have Khal Drogo rape Dany in the show, whereas in the book, she consented willingly. They did it to Sansa too. It’s like that despite all the actual horrific situations each woman experienced, the show writers didn’t feel like either woman “suffered” enough.

I've never seen GOT or read ASOIAF. I'm just here because Azula is in the thumbnail.

Robert's rebellion didn't just start because Lyanna was "kidnapped", it was also started because Ned's older brother, Brandon, went to King's Landing and demanded that Rhaegar give him his little sister back, the Mad King then said that Brandon and his men had committed treason, they demanded a trial by combat, and the Mad King chose fire as his champion. He burned Ned's father alive, and had Brandon tied to a strangeling device, placed a sword just out of his reach, and told him that if he could reach the sword and cut his father free he would win. Brandon ended up strangeling himself to death, trying to save his father. That was the biggest reason for Robert's rebellion, not because Robert was salty.

Omg thank you!! I was so so so so confused at the end I kept looking at my partner as if I was missing something. It did not make a lick of sense!!! You are right they 100% make her look like a badass and everyone was doing a crap job at helping her. They made us like her too much. Thank you again for this video essay!

"John doesn't think" 😂 💯 🔥

So many good points! I also felt that Azula's downfall wasn't perfect, though the delivery was skilled enough that it didn't come off as completely jarring. And Tetsuo is such a perfect example - personally, I found Akira to be maybe the best and most satisfying portrayal of the personal affecting the public that I've ever seen, if that makes sense? Like, the way that the extremely small scale and individual issues of Tetsuo, a singular person, end up leading to mass destruction on an unimaginable scale is done so well that I believed it all the way. And the commentary on Tetsuo's mental state and the way it influences how his powers manifest - that in his eyes he's playing around, that he dresses up as superman, that his violence stems from a need to never allow himself or the ones he cares about to be hurt, that he misconstructs care as pity, that his way of dealing with his problems is childish and that's why it ultimately transforms him into a child - mwah. chef's kiss.

I love your videos, it is like we are drinking at a party together and I miss it!

I think that the reason(s) Varis hadn’t assassinated Robert was... A: The next best thing to the right king is a puppet king... Robert spent most of his time drinking and whoring, and left the majority of the rule of the kingdom to the high council (which Varis was a part of) and the hand of the king (Tywin Lannister)... B: He knew that the death of Robert would immediately mean a Lannister regency. Meaning that Tywin and/or Cersei would be the primary ruler until an heir came of age... C: He likely knew that Roberts heirs were not his biological children... so Roberts reign buys Varis time to plot and maneuver and figure out what to do if/when the next ruler comes to power... especially if he believes that this future ruler is illegitimate, unworthy, and/or a danger to the realms...

Glad to see you back! I just hope Bran doesn't end up on the throne...

Great take on Tetsuo!

Super good video. It really felt like the writers were faking character development and being like "Don't look over there! At what we actually wrote! Look at our cliche shorthand instead!"

This is the best opening to a youtube video ever.

Overall I loved the video, however I disagree with your reading of Azula. I read Azula as a child who was talented from an early age, then praised for that talent and nothing else causing it to be core to her identity. That core of talent combined with her seeing the people who praised her being incredibly controlling caused her to see control as the natural next step for her power. She never learned to have meaningful connections with people, only to control them. Because of this when her "friends" refuse to be controlled by her that world view starts to crack. Then she sees her father taking credit for her idea as another hit to that control, effectively she has been opened up to the flaws in her world view, and she can't unsee them. This causes her to spiral attempting to regain her ignorance by becoming more and more controlling more paranoid. She never had a healthy way of dealing with her emotions and so she lashes out at everyone, and everything around her. She is trying to prove that she still has control over something by exercising the power she has over others. This is her equivalent of the rock bottom Zuko had to hit twice to bring about meaningful change in his life, however because the show did not set up the following through on that change the show ends before it starts. (which is not a bad thing, it's what made sense for the story) I did not read her hallucinations as literal but as her thinking about her mother just being shown to us as the audience. Her changing world view is causing her to be self reflective and she is thinking about her mother, and that maybe it's not a good thing that her mother called her a monster and she was fine with it. I never read her as having any explicit mental illness, but as having a lot of buried emotional issues from her upbringing that she never dealt with, and now that they are coming to the surface she doesn't know how to deal with them.

The whole season reads like they had an extended wine lunch and completely forgot where they were.

I keep seeing that this ending is canon from what GRRM told them. Regardless of what canon book plot points they claim to be going off, I really doubt it'll go like this. This was so rushed and thrown together. There are too many variables and too many plots going on in the books. Almost everyone has the potential of going darker in the books. And I'm sure if they do mad Dany, grrm will devote the time needed to tell that story. They don't even have Quaithe in the show. And Euron is just...bad. I think this ending is due to the fact that they wanted to rush and end it. It was a pretty hefty undertaking that didn't pan out as well as they probably thought it would.

Yeah the ending of this series has really made me want to read the books now. Lol #HouseMartell

You said everything that I've been mulling over for a year now. The show ending with Dany made me wish I'd never even watched the show. And I tell every person who asks if they should get into it... NO.

The content I deserve 👏👏👏👏👏 If Jon ends up killing Dany imma be mad as hell

THANK YOU!

The only thing I disagree with is the whole Greyworm thing: he loved his Queen and Missandei very much. Before meeting Dany the Unsullied were emotionless weapons.

I agree with basically all of this but I feel like it's important to point out that Robert did not start a rebellion because Rhaegar and Lyanna went off together. Lyanna disappeared with him and it was unclear whether she left of her own volition or not so Brandon and Rickard Stark went to King's Landing to ask Aerys to order Rhaegar to return her home. Aerys, in his madness, chose to burn them alive instead. This is what triggered the rebellion and Robert led it because 1) he was raised to lead as the oldest son unlike Ned and 2) because Brandon and Rickard were like family to him. He also wanted to get Lyanna back because as far as they were concerned she had been kidnapped. We don't know yet in the books if Lyanna was genuinely in love with Rhaegar yet, nor if she definitely left by choice. Also Robert became king after not because he led the rebellion - it was Tywin who took King's Landing - but because he has a claim to the throne through the Baratheon bloodline. The idea that the whole rebellion started because Robert was in love with Lyanna and she didn't reciprocate is an invention of the show. Yes it played a part in the events that led to the rebellion but it was most definitely not the trigger. Sorry to harp on but that just bothered me 😅 Robert was a terrible king and husband and basically a deadbeat father but he didn't plunge the whole of Westeros into war because his ego was wounded. The Mad King technically started the war when he burned the Starks alive with no trial and no crime. These showrunners were just so desperate to tie their terrible ending to the beginning of the show in any way possible, I reckon that's the only reason they even brought that up.

Yeah Tyrion really fucked some things up for Dani. As for Varys, I think he just wanted a ruler he could manipulate. And I do agree with you on the potrayal of her going mad. It could have been something interesting but they used it as cheap way to go from A to B. I have a feeling dumby Jon Snow is going to get kill by Dani, and Arya will then in turn kill Dani. And Westeros will just become a republic or something. I'm not thrilled about it but that's what I predict. I just hope Drogon lives. Side bar: I do like the running theory that Bran is evil but like most of the other theories, it will be trashed like Jamie's character arc.

You're amazing.

Hi Melina, can you share a link to your Patreon? I heard you mention it in a video but I can't find you there.

Thanks for this! I'm glad that you bring in the comparison with male characters. While no character would be "good" following something along the lines of Christian morality*** and such, leaders never follow such morality. Instead, it is Machiavellian as to what's for the public good, with any level of ruthlessness permitted, and full measures always preferable to half ones. As far as "ruthless" Dany before the genocide at King's landing, she did nothing worse than any other character, had better intentions, was more decisive, etc. In regards to the Tarleys, I would have had them executed for being racist opportunistic bastards, though would not have put my daughter to the torch like some characters, nor behead someone for fleeing ice zombies. ***Christian morality is of course never actually followed, i.e. loving your enemies.

Robert didn't start the war. From everyone else's point of view, they saw Rhaegar as a kidnapper. It was Brandon Stark who came to King's Landing and asking Rhaegar to "come out and die". He had friends with him and he had been shouting for Rhaegar around the city. Aerys II heard of this and has him and his friends arrested and charged with plotting Rhaegar's death. He then sends for the father's of Brandon and his companions, to answer for their sons. Then he has them killed without fair trial. Brandon was put in a strangle device as his father Rickard was set on fire and a sword was put out of reach for Brandon to spare his father the pain but he died trying to save his father, as the device would strangle him, the more he reached for the sword. The Mad King sat and laughed as his father burned. Aerys II was still paranoid and sent a message to Jon Arryn to send him the heads of Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon. Jon Arryn refused and instead, raised his banners. So Robert did not start the war, he had no choice tlbut to fight, as the mad king already wanted him dead. From Robert's view, Rhaegar was a kidnapper and r*pist, who stole his betrothed from him. He did not see her as in love with Rhaegar. Most of the realm didn't know they were together, as Rhaegar was already married and had two children. Robert at the time, was with Jon Arryn and Ned in the Vale. So the war started because of a misunderstanding, Rhaegar and Lyanna running off together led to people believing it was a kidnapping, then the elder brother Brandon had been angry that he believed that his sister was kidnapped and the Mad King being paranoid brutally executed them and had provoked 3 great houses into rebelling against him. There were even moments where the mad king had believed his own son Rhaegar would dépose him, if you read The World of Ice and fire. He definitely was paranoid.