Colorful Mess

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists informs the public about threats to the survival and development of humanity from nuclear weapons, climate change, and technology. It was established in 1945 with the Manhattan Project. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they started to warn the public about the consequences of these weapons. These scientists, who are still on that mission today, asked him a serious question about the meaning of dragon power in his work, and he gave them one. Since a world-destroying threat like nuclear deterrence is a complex and important problem, it probably does take about 200k+ words to show the theme he's telling. Unfortunately for him, some readers have difficulties seeing that, perhaps because they just don't like the message.

Read this quote: “Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only [Daenerys Targaryen] has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world. But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals. Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.” - GRRM, Bulletin for the Atomic Scientists, 2011 No theme - You're absolutely sure of that?

Oh, as a Stark fan I LOVE Fire and Blood. Even with the few good Targaryen kings, the ones that come after them destroy whatever it was they built. I can't wait for F&B part 2 to illustrate this further. I'm fully convinced the author is making a critique of imperialism and the dangers of nuclear power with this House. Other than that, what's the message? Dragons are cool? I share Sansa's concerns, basically asking if Jon has his head on straight. Is he Robb and Ned or is he actually going to learn from past mistakes? It would be good to get some assurances, although I dont know how Jon explains it: "I realized I loved her because she saved me but I also bent the knee because I thought she would make a great queen but I also know we need her armies--but not necessarily a new queen--but I also love her and want her to have my babies." Sansa: oookkkaaayyyy (Slowly backing away) Dany being in a fragile place sounds bad - she needs to be in good mental health. Whatever decision she makes could affect millions.

That Mophie photo shoot is gorgeous! Re: Sansa as queen. Don't rule it out. The Pact of Ice and Fire is looking less likely to be fulfilled with Dany and Jon. Sansa is the only one who can represent Ice/The North at this juncture and stands-in as the "Lord" of Winterfell. Rickon in the original pact was the Lord. The genders don't really matter though. So if she's Lady of WF she's the key to it. Unless Bran marries Dany. So Jonsa political marriage or Brany political marriage. Lol I'm laughing at both.

I'm talking about the advice he gives her in the scene beside the fire. During the war planning scene, I think he doesn't want thousands of people to die in the firestorms of King's Landing, if she sets off an atom bomb, so he comes up with the blockade plan. If you think she should conquer with fire and blood and that's going to work out well for her, Valyria and Robert's Rebellion are right there, ready to repeat. “An empire built on blood and fire. The Valyrians reaped the seed they had sown.”

And we're back to the power trip, which I feel like she was on, because she hadn't even met him yet or knew what his people wanted. It just wasn't a good look. As for the bolded: it's not peacefully resolved until Jon's people agree with his choice. And Sam is the person to watch. He's the moral center of the show.

The "good" Targaryens are a drop in the bucket, because the foundation of their dynasty is a metaphor for nuclear weapons. That is literally what they stand for. Using them or threatening to use them. And now every few of them or so just happen to be madmen with nuclear weapons. And here's a fun game...you won't know which one is gonna lose it. And because they were so certain that dragons would solve all their problems, they formed no innovative structures of government to replace them when the dragons died. GRRM addressed this when people asked why Westeros' institutions were so weak. It was because they sucked playing politics with their wits, they'd just rather threaten people with dragons. And start unnecessary wars with each other all during that 300 year time span. ASOIAF is not sending the message that nuclear weapons are fantastic, that they are the best way to rule, and that only the pure blood special people can do it. This just happens to be what Targaryens think about themselves too so I try not to support their backwards thinking even more.

I said she's on a "little bit of a power trip" when she demanded Jon bend the knee when he was an ELECTED king. You replied to my post to disagree. But now you're asking why she has to be humble. What do you want her to be, humble but not too humble? It's getting confusing. Jon and Sansa were fighting a war because the Boltons killed their brother, raped Sansa, and now occupied the home they grew up in. Ramsay needed to kill all the heirs to WF, so their lives were directly threatened. Dany is fighting a war because her family was ousted in a justifiable rebellion, and the person who was attempting to assassinate her in Esoss is now dead. She also never grew up in Westeros. If she's a conqueror she's taking whatever she wants, even if its not hers, and making other submit to her. This is the legacy of Aegon Targaryen. D&D said she's learning that even as far back as S2, so this is her arc. If she's a peaceful, kind-hearted, politically savvy queen who wields soft power, then she is not a conqueror. Tyrion's advice was written like it came directly out of the author's mouth. Dragons are only one form of power, the intimidating kind, but that kind of power is brittle, it only makes people rise against you, eventually.

No, don't even play that. We're talking about Jon and Dany. Jon didn't go to war to put HIMSELF on the throne. Dany wants to go to war to put HERSELF on the throne. "except the home is much bigger" <---this isn't helping your argument to make her look humble. Dorne, the Iron Islands, and the Reach want to help her conquer Westeros and take it back with FIRE AND BLOOD. They had to be calmed down by Tyrion because he was trying to do it peacefully. He at least knows that overwhelming use of force doesn't win loyalties in the LONG TERM for the Targaryen dynasty. Ruling through dragons DOESN'T WORK long term because its only one form of power - the kind that is used to intimidate. The author has basically spelled it out in interviews. Tyrion's plan didn't work, so now she's conquering. She wasn't on a power trip when she was high above them, cooking thousands of people in their armor by shouting a single word? She was humble and a peaceful and a worthy queen for the North then?

But first she has to make sure Cersei promises stuff to her. Not very reassuring.

Conquest is basically a power trip. That she was on. And they chose her to be her allies, but she hadn't gotten the throne yet. Jon secured the throne because his people directly elected him to it. Dany was trying to win through conquest. You either win by conquering and forcing people to kneel, doing something that earns people's loyalty so that they kneel, or forming alliances through marriage. Westeros has had several different models to attain power.

She hadn't been chosen as queen by anyone yet in Westeros. Jon was elected. She wanted him to bend the knee before she even met him. It was a little power trip she was having. But I agree, realistically monarchs want stuff in exchange. I just hope Jon saw that too and gave it to her, for the North. Not for love.

They did overthrow the Boltons eventually... even while they had to play nice for the short term. "Bend the knee" and live, and rise again with blade in hand, is said by Asha and Val in the books. I think in Ep 2, Sam and Sansa will work behind the scenes to reassure the Northerners that this is what they will do.

That's the most ridiculous part, though. Either he bent the knee because he needs an alliance and knew Dany would eventually want something in return (like most queens do), or because he thinks she'd make an amazing ruler of his people, but he also happens to need an alliance. It's two different issues. They didn't need a new ruler. From the leaks it sounds like he's not even trying to sell it, he just keeps repeating they need allies.

As a Jon fan I'd really rather he not turn into Robb or Ned, but worse. Because then he would get special treatment from the story by surviving and having everything work out perfectly. I want him to face consequences just like every other character. I don't want it to be easy for him. This show is replete with characters making deals with people for an army, Cersei is using Euron and whoring out her body for him apparently, Sansa used Littlefinger, and Jon himself had to try to use Roose Bolton. Not saying Dany is as bad as all those people but it would answer the question of, "did he bend the knee for duty or for love?" clearly. My preference for him is that Jon did only bend the knee because he knows it's the North's best chance. And that is, literally, the -->only<-- reason why he did it.

That's exactly why I believe we're going to see a second Dance in S8. Dany wants all 7 kingdoms. The North wants independence. War. I can predict the outcome. Dorne and the North have never truly been conquered by dragons, and I bet the author wants to keep it that way. I think he sides with these two regions more than any other, because they're poor, and Dorne were written as the heroic underdogs resisting Aegon in Fire and Blood.

Sam's suggestion to Jon that he can be king, and not Dany, sounds like the beginnings of a plot. Sam works behind the scenes to put people into positions who he feels are worthy, whether they want it or not.

Did Jon waltz in as their new king though, one they didnt even get a chance to elect? Emilia says she starts at Winterfell "Cocksure and confident." If so thats a bad sign. I think she might be thinking this is a Torrhen situation, when Jon doesn't have that much power to control his Lords as he did.

Rather than saying Dany should take her armies and go home (which would make her look like she expected something from them, all along) why not suggest that Dany propose an election like the NW or a kingsmoot? She could even say she'll step down for now, and it could be held after the battle. She has a lot of options, here and can still do the right thing. Let them debate it out. Then Jorah, Tyrion, Greyworm, Jon ect can make the case for her.

I dare Dany to set aside her queen title at this juncture. If the above is true it really shouldn't matter to her. No one else in the room is queen except her. Politics is harder to "solve" than generic fantasy novel big bads anyway. Aragorn's tax policy???

I'm just borrowing from Maise. What a way to describe a love story!

Seems like they're not objecting her help, they're questioning where Jon's loyalties lie. Sansa's question: Is Jon loyal to the NORTH or to DANY? Is he thinking with his BRAIN or with his DICK? The scripts (which arent to be trusted because D&D are trolls) do say that he realizes he loves her before he bends the knee. Not a good look. Better hope its not true. Better hope its fake. Did Jon trade his people's sovereignty as an offer of love and devotion because he's infatuated like every other man who meets her? Sansa and Arya have the right to know if he's thinking clearly here. If Jon thinks she deserves the North and would make a great Queen for them, I dont really see anything in the leaks where Jon sells Dany's qualities to his people. It might be a hard sell anyway because the wight hunt rescue is tangled up with wight dragon and wall falling. Jon should face pushback for what he did. But, Dany could also step in to diffuse the situation. Don't folks always say Dany would have come without any kneebending? So why should it matter to her if Lyanna doesn't call her their queen and the Lords don't want her to be their queen? Dany has a lot of power to diffuse this situation by simply giving them their independence like she gave Yara. I'm interested to see Dany's reaction.

On the wight hunt, Jon says like 24 hours before he bent the knee (that he never actually bent) that Dany wants him to bend the knee. These scenes are too close together, so how does he know Dany is sincerely going to honor her pledge? She's unpredictable as all get out. GRRM even said that she is a character "who really could do anything," and he has written her to make decisions nobody could predict. Or maybe he realized how prideful he was being? Which doesn't make a lot of sense because Jon is a humble person in comparison to her. Dany has a lot of pride/ambition. What else made her hesitate all season? She even hesitated after she agreed to help him which I'm sure boosted Jon's confidence that he made the right choice to make her supreme ruler of the North.

Dany teaching Jon to ride a dragon is making me lol. How romantic it would be, to bond while learning to use weapons of mass destruction and lamenting the fact that they are so extraordinary and unique because they're Targaryens. "Nobody understands how special we are, Jon. Isn't it so sad how we have to keep reminding them with our pet WMDs?" What would you like to see, what would be more exciting? Jon brazenly getting atop a dragon and soaring in the sky and struggling to figure out how not to die, or Dany patiently giving Jon a lesson on this beforehand?

Jon was oppressed by classist Sansa? More like, Jon was a moody emo bitch in Book 1. He's offended by everything. He's written that way for character development. He has to grow a thicker skin. In Book 5 he's effectively using "bastard" and "Lord Snow" as his armor. Jon isn't "oppressed" by not being able to eat with his family or escort the royal family. As Donal reminds Jon, he's a castle raised bastard which is a far better life than any of the smallfolk had. And as Gendry reminds Arya, at least Jon knew his father and got to live in a castle. And Mel gives him a similar privilege check in S6. I dont know how else the author is supposed to show us that the "class system has teeth" otherwise. Jon's siblings also reinforce his bastard status too. Bran constantly refers to him as "his bastard brother." And funnily enough Arya snaps back at Gendry: "We'll you're nothing but a bastard boy!" Wow imagine that - Arya using someone's bastard status as an insult. The arguments that Jon never thinks of Sansa aren't really proving anything except reinforcing Jonsa theories. He's not supposed to fall in love with his "favorite sister."