Win or Die

[green--willow.livejournal.com]

Name: Liran
How did you find out about the community? If it's through an LJ user, please tell us who it is: Found it while looking for AsoIaF pictures
Age:19

Location: Port Townsend, Washington State

Occupation: Computer Engineer.

 

 Describe your ideal house/home. Please go into as much detail as possible, and be sure to include your ideal geographical location in the description!

 

I’ve always been a fan of high places, the higher the better. My ideal house would probably be a fairly large stone affair that was well-insulated inside and finished with wood. My room would be at least three stories up, possibly more, in a tower. There would be secret passages everywhere and enough room for both my books and my family to fit.

 

The house would be furnished with wood and antiques from everywhere. There’s just something special about knowing how old something is. I’d like my house to have a feeling having been there forever and know that it will be there forever more. That said, it would be very modern in some ways. My office would have the best tech money could buy and the kitchen would be decked out with top-of-the-line equipment.

 

 I love my Pacific Northwest with all my heart (except the cold, but it’s worth it,) and my tower-house would be high on a cliff. Somewhere on the coast of Puget Sound with a proper view of the sea and the mountains but close enough to town that I could go to the library.

 

 Off the water, the wind is so strong that it feels like you could just leap up and go flying wherever you wanted. The rainforest is well-named, it does rain a lot, but there’s a reason it’s so beautiful here.

2. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.

Dentists.

I don’t really have a reason, save that laying in a chair and getting jabbed with sharp objects really isn’t something I enjoy in the least, and the noise the drill makes hurts my ears. I tend to have sobbing hysterical meltdowns when I have to go, despite it being necessary.

 

Loosing my sister.

She’s one of the most important things in my life. She keeps me sane during my bouts of black depression and somehow manages to help me make friends. I’m her Nee-sama and she relies on me to help her stay safe and to ground her out when she’s getting too exited about a bad idea.

 

The dark.

Yeah, I know, 19 is a bit old to be terrified of the dark, but I really am. The feeling of not being able to see, and not knowing what’s in the room with me, scares the hell out of me. I have to sleep with a nightlight because I have panic attacks if I wake up and can’t see.

3. Imagine you’re given the classic opportunity: a genie granting you three wishes. What would you wish for? Wishing for more wishes is not permitted!

 

I’d love to say that world peace and an end to all strife is what I’d wish for, but it’s really not. I suppose it’s cold-hearted of me, but frankly, I don’t see a way to end all war without a whole lot of people dying because war is what they want and what they do well. Humans aren’t always good at heart and a lot of the bad ones don’t want to change. There’s a reason prisons were invented.

 

My wishes would be:

 

For every wish I or any of my loved ones ever make to come out exactly as they intend it to, including this one. None of this “well, you phrased it that way… I thought that’s what you wanted…” Midas-touch trickster crap.

 

Enough money to keep myself and those I care for in comfort for the rest of out lives and those of our descendants. Anyone who says money isn’t happiness has never been poor enough to know otherwise and doesn’t understand how unhappy a lack there-of can make you.

 

The ability to choose any superpower to have for a whole day (midnight to midnight, not from dawn to dusk), every day, for the rest of my life. AKA, I could choose flight one day, and at the end of 24 hours, I could choose flight again, or choose something else. These powers would be fully controlled and as strong as possible without overloading my body.

 

4. In your life so far, what accomplishment are you the most proud of? You can list more than one if you have trouble deciding.)

 

My internship for a television station. Working at the station was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had, both in knowledge and in personal growth. I loved working there and I intend to go to college to major in computer engineering because of that internship.


5. Which of the following is most important to you: Love, Money, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, Adventure, or Pleasure? Which is the least important to you?

 

Knowledge and Family are equally tied, but for different reasons. For myself, knowledge is my one true love. I love reading and researching, even when my interests confuse everyone around me. My family on the other hand (my chosen family, my relatives are a bunch of vultures waiting for my grandmother to pass away) are the mainstay that keeps me upright. They drag me out of my library/den/computer room to ensure I eat and keep me social. They bring me joy in a completely different way then my research.

 

For least important, I’d have to go with Money, despite my earlier wish. Money is easily gotten and easily lost. It comes and goes. Life is a lot easier with it, but manageable on not very much. It is necessary for life as we know it, but there are ways to get around not having a lot of it.

6. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values?

 

‘Freedom begins with a game of chance’

 

Maliguenua, by Blackmore’s Night

7. How do you manage your money? On that note, how important is money/financial security to you?

Money is something I’m not actually all that good at. The only way I seem to be able to avoid spending it is if it’s not in my possession. Financial security is important to comfort and happiness, but on the whole, life is okay even without it.

 

8. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?

 

I read more then anything else I do. Books, articles, newspapers, fanfic. Anything. Even when I watch movies actually, so that if I’m bored by something on the TV I can focus on my book. My art comes in a close second. I spend a lot of time playing my music or drawing in my sketchbooks, even a bit of embroidery once in a while.

Nothing quite matches a sunny rooftop and a good book.


9. Name (and elaborate on) your top three BEST and top three WORST qualities (personality-related, not physical).

 

Best:

My artistic tendencies.

I love my artwork and working with instruments or art supplies is something I’m good at. My creativity helps me think about what I want to do about anything that’s happening in my life at the time.

 

My planning.

I try to always have a plan. It doesn’t have to be a perfect plan, but a good one helps everything go smoother. I plan out whatever I’m going to do for the day while I get ready in the morning. Every plan is subject to changes, but just having one is nice. To my friends, I’m the strategist, because I’m the best of all of us at doing it.

 

My loyalty.

To my family and to my friends, I am exceedingly loyal. Sometimes to the point of being stupid, though I usually seem to be the one stepping in to help them out of situations. That doesn’t mean that I won’t tell them off if I think they’re being stupid though.

 

Worst:

 

I’m paranoid.

Sometimes overly so, and it causes as many problems as is prevents. I don’t trust people on the whole, and it shows. It makes being social difficult. I’m not likely to be kidnapped off the street because of that caution, but I react very badly to being surprised, even by people I know.

 

I’m controlling.

In a crisis, being bossy is a good thing, because usually, everyone’s flipping out. During downtime it’s a problem because people often resent being told what to do when they’re not panicking.

 

I hold grudges.

It takes me a long time to forgive people. The greater damage the event did to me, the longer I’m likely to stay angry. Apologies help, but chances are that they wouldn’t fix things all the way. Even something small can stay with me for years and make me dislike someone.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.Who are your favorite three characters in the series?

 

Daenarys Targaryen

She’s the queen all little girls dream of being. Daenarys took the card fate dealt her, and then threw them out to make her own game. There are things that scare her, and things she’s unsure about, but ultimately she keeps going foreword. Dany has a goal, and come hell or high water, she’s going to reach it. She loves her dragons, and I like that she doesn’t just see them as exotic pets or the standard of her house, they’re also her beloved children. Admittedly, children that eat people and breath flame, but still.

 

Tyrion Lannister

He’s an evil conniving cunning genius. He makes a plan, and then he runs off and makes six more that all could work just as well. He’s a dwarf and he knows it, but he doesn’t let it slow him down any, and even uses it to make people underestimate him. I like that he’s flawed, but works around it. And that he likes dragons adds points.

 

Ser Barristan

His loyalty is admirable. I liked that he didn’t change sides at the Trident, but rather fought for his prince and his (somewhat insane) king. He chose to follow them again when he went to Daenarys, but did the wise thing and took a good look at her first. His unending loyalty to Rhaegar is cool. It’s obvious that he admired his prince a great deal.

2. Who are your least favorite three characters in the series?

 

Joffrey Barathion

He was stupid. From start to finish he was stupid. He didn’t do all the things he should have, and did do all the things that he never should have come near. If he’d only had a smidge of sense he would have coddled Sansa Stark and curbed his violent tendencies just a little. But he didn’t and someone killed him for it.

 

Robert Barathion

Again with the stupid. He could have done a lot of things that would have changed his fate, and by choice, he did none of them. His hand in raising Joffrey shows very clearly in the foolish traits they shared. He also killed Rhaegar, who would have been a much more interesting character then Robert.

 

Shae
She betrayed Tyrion. Stabbed him in the back. She didn’t have to, she could have lied, but she didn’t. Yeah, they probably offered her more gold then you could shake a castle at, but the fact remains. Tyrion took good care of her. The least she could do is not try to get him killed.

3. #1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far?

 

I’m tied between the hatching of the dragons, and the description of Rhaegar’s death.

To be honest, the dragons are what really hooked me in the first book, and I couldn’t help but love how their hatching happened. I can’t wait to see where they go next.

 

On the other hand, Rhaegar’s story, sad though it is, has such beautiful dramatic imaging that I had to re-read it three or four times. It’s still really sad though, because I like Rhaegar a lot and I want to know more of his story. I hope we get to see more of it soon.

4. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end?

I think Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna’s, and that that union was consensual. If that’s the case, then he’ll find out about it sooner or later.

 

I think that when Jojen and Meera meet Jon for the first time, he’ll find out, because their father Howland Reed was there for Jon’s birth. I suspect they know about the whole thing.

 

I am looking forward to the final battle, when Daenarys has her dragons. I suspect that Tyrion will be on one dragon and Jon or Arya will be on the other. Probably Jon. It would make sense for him to see that if she can’t have children, then when Dany dies the realm will go to war again. If he were heir, that wouldn’t happen. It would mean leaving his vows and the wall, but he’d do it. Reluctantly, but he would.

 

A big part of me thinks that the wall may end up falling. Ice and dragonfire don’t mix so well. Add whights and it turns into a bigger mess then it already was.

 

I’d just love it if Dany ended up pregnant and the books ended with her baby being born alive and well.

Comments

Re: Tyrell

[mitasova.livejournal.com]

Re: the dragons' size, we'll see eventually, I still think they won't grow enough to represent a significant (game-changing) battle power - that just wouldn't be realistic, as far as you can apply the word to flying fire-breathing magical beasts.

Dany's stupid decisions: bringing Drogo back to life; abolising slavery in that city (forgot the name) and laeving it to its own devices, the plan for taking that other city (forgot the name again) which consisted of mostly sitting around waiting for a convenient secret passage that noone previously knew about to present. itself. All of them worked out just dandy without any loss on her part. Again, I'm not talking about losses in a human sense - Dany is not a real person, she's a fictional character with a certain storyline. For a real human being losing her husband and an unborn child would be a terrible tragedy, but for a fictional character in Dany's position it served to further her quest for power without any drawbacks: she would never be allowed to rule in her own right if she had a husband and/or a male child. Losing them gave her liberty to pursue her own goal and acquirre her own power base. If she's truly barren, then yes, it's a drawback plot-wise (not a terribly important one, as a queen might appoint anyone as her heir, but still), but as you've been saying yourself, the issue is iffy so far.

The slavers were colossally stupid not to foresee the possibility of someone turning their unversal soldiers on them. They're businessmen; when I was reading that part, I couldn't believe that not a single one of them suspected that the deal was hairy in the extreme. They were even more stupid to not install some kind of failsafe in the Unsullied's psychological conditioning. That was on par with Jon the Lord Commander development which also demanded the IQ of all the characters surrounding the protagonist being lowered to that of 7-year olds.

Re: Dany's luck, most of your explanations are valid, and any of these occurrences taken in isolation would be perfectly acceptable. It's their entire sequence that breaks the credibility. It's one happy coincidence piled on top of another. As for comparison with other characters, I agree, they got some plot armor too, Jon most of all (he's the most alike to Dany in that regard), but also Tyrion the Berserk Warrior (a deformed dwarf who barely can walk without help. Right), Arya and her suspicious amount of luck and so forth. What is the difference with Dany here, is that that allows them to stay alive, but hardly lead them to succeed. Arya is alive yes, but she's a member of a death cult rapidly losing her identity. Tyrion, I'm convinced, is being set up as the main villain of the series. Cersei is a failure in any and every aspect. They had some luck yes, but it didn't allow them to pile success atop of success atop of success - they merely stayed alive. Arya wanted to get home, but she's now farther from home than ever. Sansa is as much of a pawn as she ever was. Tyrion wanted his family's approval - he's now completely alienated from it. Jaime wanted to love Cersei and to be a knight - well, we all know how that one turned out. Catelyn wanted her children safe and prosperous - she lost all of then and became a vengeance demon in the process. Dany's path, on the other hand, was a smooth sailing from a powerless pushover girl to a queen with an army, dragons, loyal advisors etc. That's the core difference.

Oh, and I agree with you, that Cersei will get out of the Church's paws alive. Jaime burning the letter was a total red herring - he'll be riding to KL hell for leather to somehow try and save her. He may not love her anymore, but he's not about to leave her to die.

Re: Tyrell

[green--willow.livejournal.com]

Re: Drogo's death and ressurection. The spin I saw on Drogo's ressurection was less, him being brought back to life, and more her wanting him healed. I don't think she knew he'd died, only that he was comatose, and she did correct that mistake herself once she saw it for what it was. The loss of the huge army she'd hoped to use to take over her homeland doesn't count as a drawback? Dany lost all but a hundred or so of the hundred thousand that Drogo commanded. The danger of her late husband's rivals forced her into the wastes where she lost more of her people.

Re:The plan for taking the city via the sewers... Well, have you ever read the story of the Trojan Horse? Troy was under seige for seven years. They couldn't get into the city, and those inside couldn't get out, but it was a standstill. That's how seiges work unless one side or the other has something to give them the advantage.

As you said, she is a charicter in a fantasy novel. She has a set plotline, and she will continue on it until the finish. What would you have happen to her? Mr. Martin really can't just kill her off randomly, it has to fit the plot, and clearly he's setting her up for something. She can't just stall out, that wouldn't make for much of a story. She's already lost one army, it's not plausible for her to loose a second without a battle that wiped them out.

You say that she's had too many wonderful coincidences, and I agree, but I also don't see how she could go any other way. She couldn't go to ground, that's what Arya's doing. Nor can she charge in without an army, so she had to have one. There isn't much middle ground to be had without repeating what someone else is doing. I think she's going to stay in Meereen until the dragons are ready to fight. She keeps saying that she doesn't wish to do battle in Westeros without them. There will be problems with that of course. Giant flying, fire-breathing, lizards eat a whole lot, and they're not picky about what it is they eat. Keeping them fed will be a problem Dany probably hasn't considered.

As far as everyone else is concerned, Arya's becoming one of the same group as her friend Jaquin, the assasin who arranged for the very unpleasent death of several people. It also took her out of the reach of her enemies for the moment. She wants to loose her identity, she's been insisting that she's no one for a while now.

Sansa's still a pawn, but she's learning the master-lier's art form Littlefinger at the same time. He's gaurding her and using her, but she's learning a great many things form him while he does.

-snerk- Tyrion the Berserk Warrior. Yes, I agree with you there, and having tried to heft one of those great-axes once, I know how likely it is that Tyrion could manage one and stay on a horse at the same time. Or at all really, they tend to swing whomever tries to swing them.

Jaime and Catelyn both got more then their share of pain, and while Catelyn walked into it, Jaime got dragged. He at least tries to be honorable in his own way, it just keeps not really working. She tried to be a good mother, but never returned to the two young children left alone at Winterfell. I wonder though, if Jaime will actualy do anything about Cercei. I think it more likely that Varys, or someone else, will get her out via a hidden tunnel, same as Tyrion.

Re: Tyrell

[mitasova.livejournal.com]

No, loss of the khalasar does not count as a setback, because a) they were never going to conquer Seven Kingdoms with it anyway, that plan was pure folly from the start. Most likely, they would've gotten hammered down before even disembarking; and b) had they, against all reason, conquered Westeros, the Iron Throne would've been Drogo's, and after him - Rhaego's, and Dany would'nt have ever entered the equation.

I know the story of the Troyan Horse, and Dany's taking of whatever city does not fall under that category: Ulysses found a way to infiltrate the city through his own cunning (feigning the festivities, than leaving the horse as an offering to the gods). Dany just got the secret passage location because of dumb luck. Not the same thing at all.

I don't know what Martin should've done to make the character's storyline less contrived, but then, I'm not a prise winning, globally famous fantasy novelist. I'm just saying that the character fell flat for me, and why. I actually liked Dany in the first book, thought that she was clever and resourceful (though "I'm the blood of the dragon" schtick got obnoxious fast), but after the slavers I just couldn't abide her anymore. It didn't help that the oriental world around her was poorly developed and stuffed to the brim with cartoonish exotics, and the secondary characters in ther chapters were pretty much indistinguishable from each other (the sole exception being Mormont).

Re: Sansa and Arya, I agree that they both reached some new state, but that falls under definition of normal character development; after all, about three years have passed in Westeros, noone's going to stay the same all that time. They had some successes, some failures, their goals changed accordingly, and mostly they were just trying to stay alive.

Re: Catelyn, she WAS a good mother, I think, and didn't stay in Winterfell simply because Robb needed her more. Younger boys needed her too, of course, but they were well looked after. Robb, she felt (and with a good reason) would've been lost without her counsel. Not to mention that Robb's mission was more important to survival of all the North, and, by extention, her younger children as well.

Re: Cersei, I feel that political implications fo her trial to the entire realm and for the Lannisters in particular are so significant (basically, handing the church the right to do criminal proceedings was never, ever a good idea), that Jaime just can't afford to act as a scorned lover here. He HAS to try to save her, not for Cersei himself, but for the future of his family and Tommen. Not to mention Cersei is still the Queen-Regent and thus his liege lady, and he's sworn to protect her. Of course being Jaime, he might let his anger and outrage overcome his good sense, but that wouldn't be advisable.

Varys left the KL, so no hidden way out for Cersei. :)

Re: Tyrell

[harpseals.livejournal.com]

I don't know what Martin should've done to make the character's storyline less contrived, but then, I'm not a prise winning, globally famous fantasy novelist.

So I guess your beef is with George, not with his creation Daenerys. So I guess that sorta invalidates all your arguments for the many ways Daenerys is not a figure of success, doesn't it.

Re: Tyrell

[mitasova.livejournal.com]

Naturally, my issue is not with Dany per se - she doesn't exist, how can I have any beef with her? I dislike the way she's been written by GRRM so far. I don't see how it invalidates my arguments though.

Re: Tyrell

[green--willow.livejournal.com]

It doesn't invalidate the debate, because the points would hold wheather they're said to me or Mr. Martin. There has never been any words on my being able to change the story, only that Mitsova dislikes Daenarys and her choices, and I disagree with her about it.

Sorry this is short, Real Life is being difficult and I may be a bit scarce for a while. I won't really have access to my computer.

Re: Tyrell

[harpseals.livejournal.com]

First you implied that you don't like how George has written Daenerys to be some magnet for easy success, then you said you don't like the way George wields this authorial "fiat". Those two things don't quite fit. Maybe I shouldn't have said one invalidates the other per se, but it's very clear to me that they don't support each other. The first idea can be supported by objective facts in the book, and will be no matter what because it is written, so they are valid. it's the second that bothers me,and the idea that GRRM has cheated.

If you're saying that George has cheated with his authorial authority, then it implies that a couple of things have to be set in stone: that Daenerys has to win, has to reach some clearly defined end goal. He has to write this ending no matter what. Also, it assumes that readers will lap it up and treat this as fact, without any sense of individualism and subjectivity between them.
If your true beef is with the way GRRM seems to lead his readers by the nose, then isn't it kind of moot whether Daenerys gets the crown, or whether enemies are defeated without a hitch and so on and so forth. It seems that those latter things are what is wrong with the way she is written. Because your true beef lies actually with how GRRM can easily change things at the drop of a hat, there really isn't much room for "debate". I just noticed your exchange with green__willow went in certain directions that are not at all conducive to discussion - even as you point out, objectively, the myriad ways in which D is disproportionately cool, you cannot resist parsing some kind of special exemption pass or immunity that GRRM has prepared for her. In a universe full of outstanding characters, it seems as though it is the latter that really catapults your conclusion towards dislike. How she is singled out I can understand, but I don't understand why she alone is being singled out as an example of GRRM's "offense".

Re: Tyrell

[mitasova.livejournal.com]

If you're saying that George has cheated with his authorial authority, then it implies that a couple of things have to be set in stone: that Daenerys has to win, has to reach some clearly defined end goal.
Not at all. Irrespective of how Dany's story will pan out eventually (and I suspect that it didn't end with her sitting on the Iron Throne married to some hunk surrounded by cute lilac-eyed babies), to this moment her story was written so that give her the opportunity to biuld her own power base in an extremely short period of time, and in the road to this goal, too many shortcuts (in the form of miraculous coincidences) were taken which made her story seem contrived. As I said, once she gets to Westeros, I expect GRRM to turn the cheat-mode off, or at least downgrade it significantly.

Seriously, I just don't understand the distinction that you're trying to make here, between the objective plot twists written by GRRM and... what? The character's general purpose? I don't see how they're mutually exclusive or don't support each other. Dany would be a fine character in some other fantasy series, but compared to almost all other asoiaf characters, she's simply not up to snuff.

Re: Tyrell

[harpseals.livejournal.com]

But lots of characters are not up to snuff...there are those really flat caricaturey characters and there are those who are perceived to be more 3D. Out of so many characters a person may swing an axe at, I'm just wondering, ...why her?