Bertie Carvel reveals Baelor didn’t plan to defy Targaryen stereotypes, but found inspiration in Dunk in ‘A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS’
“I’ve heard a lot today about Baelor being a good man, and that’s not true until it is. The story is about the fact that you decide from one moment to the next whether you’re going to do the right thing. And what makes the story moving and heroic is when people choose to do the right thing in spite of what they might choose. That seems to me to be an important story to tell right now in a darkening world.
I want to see stories about people who choose to do the right thing when they might as well not. You want to believe that Baelor might just as well kill you as protect you, and that is true. He might. And he has. He’s won a famous battle, the Hammer and the Anvil, they called Baelor and his brother. These two men have killed, and there is a familial cruelty there that’s available to Baelor. That he chooses to do something we regard as heroic is what happens, but it happens in spite of what might happen. And I find that thrilling.”
(source: https://t.co/P75TS48hHh)
Well, my road might be rocky
The stones might cut my face
My road it might be rocky
The stones might cut my face
But as some folks ain’t got no road at all
They gotta stand in the same old place
Hey, hey, so I guess I’m doin’ fine
@Mo_Rooooooooo@LeFigaroTV@etbadabimbim Et combien de scènes dans une isba? Une maison bourgeoise même à la campagne, ce n’est que la maison du maître. Il n’y'a pas de "connexion avec la paysannerie"
I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes
I slept on the ground in the light of the moon
On the edge of the city you'll see us and then
We come with the dust and we go with the wind
There's a babe in the arms of a woman in a rage
And a longtime golden-haired stripper on stage
And she winds back the clock and she turns back the page
Of a book that no one can write.
Oh, where are you tonight?
On American expansionism.
The incoming administration seems to have a more realistic image of the state of American hegemonial decline and wants to take proactive steps to try to counteract and reverse it, breathing new life into the American Global Empire.
In this context, it makes perfect sense for the US to increase pressure on its vassals. I am not using the term in a pejorative sense. The US does not have “allies” in the traditional meaning of the word. It has vassals with different levels of feudal obligations and elite integration, and different tasks. Extracting more value from vassals -- whether through tariffs, increased NATO budgets, meddling in local politics or potential territorial concessions -- is an absolutely logical step in cementing and renewing America's position as overlord of its sphere.
There are three ways America's European vassals can react to this: look for protection outside of the sphere, try to make themselves more useful/necessary & advance integration, or take it on the face. Were we in, I don't know, the 19th century, Denmark would just ask Russia for military support in Greenland in exchange for mild economic concessions and never worry again. As it is, the Royal Danish Army does not have any artillery anymore because they gave it all away for the purpose of firing cluster ammunition at Russian children in Donetsk. They did not receive anything in return for that and it did not help any Danish purpose. They cannot defend themselves if push comes to shove and they can't ask anybody to help because most of their fellow vassals have done the same. The most likely option is that they'll just take it on the face. Not just for pragmatic reasons, but also because they genuinely enjoy being dommed geopolitically.
America has no obligation to treat its vassals better. I've seen Danish people complain on here about supporting the US after 9/11, participating in the American wars in the Middle East, etc. That's ridiculous. You know how a colony is rewarded for sending troops to its overlord's wars? It doesn't get beaten. That's the reward for a lackey. Any person who takes any of the NATO democracy liberalism pilpul seriously is just not a serious person, it was never real, it was always just voluntary submission to be absolved from existing in History.
The world that existed in 1991-2022 does not exist anymore. It's not coming back. You can just invade your neighbor. You can just fire missiles at international shipping lanes. You can just threaten to annex members of your military alliance. “You can just do things”, as the techbros like to say. The mirage of a post-historical order that only has to be policed from time to time but is never seriously challenged has disappeared. What did you think canceling the End of History meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays?
It's not pleasant to be suddenly confronted with all of the above. It's not pleasant to have to admit to yourself that your existence was a coddled theme park that is existentially dependent on the relative position of someone else and how he feels about that relative position. America's vassals WILL have to confront this state of things and make hard decisions about their future. This means reckoning with their geopolitical impotence and either embracing dependency with open eyes or seeking pathways to autonomy that will inevitably involve risk, sacrifice, and a recalibration of their national priorities.
The era of coasting on borrowed security and ideological rhetoric is over. What lies ahead is a world where historical agency must be reclaimed or forever relinquished, and for many, the question may not be whether they are ready to make that leap, but whether they even remember how. America has now understood this -- and is mentally preparing to switch back to the cold logic that comes with actual History. The times, they are a-changin'.