Black Hat Brigade: Episode 39
May. 31st, 2016 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastExterior Shot: A grey, stone castle surrounded by wooden defensive walls. Snow falls amidst fir trees. In the courtyard stands a pale tree with red leaves and, whether carved or naturally, the appearance of a face on the trunk, leaking red sap.
Interior Shot: A mostly empty banquet hall. Straw lines the ground. At one end of the table sits an old man with a long, flowing beard, wearing a purple cloak with gold trim. His chest is heavily muscled and bare. A raven rests on each shoulder.
Odin: They're deliberately reaching into our ancient canons, now.
At the other end of the table is an old man with his own long, curly beard. He wears a toga that leaves half of his own heavily muscled chest bare.
Jupiter: Canons that have been accepted whole-cloth as the invaluable cultural artifacts that they are.
Neddard Stark: I am not unmoved. I am a leader, myself. I know, well, what a leader needs from those over whom one stands as Lord and Protector. Yet, I neither have your own canonical power nor the deep impact upon culture of either of yourselves.
Odin: You are new, that is true. And, it is yet to be known how deep an imprint you will have upon culture once your show is done.
Jupiter: But, you, personally, represent something far older, something that stands as supporting pillar for culture since our own stories were first told.
Odin: You represent something that cultures need to remain firm, yet is under attack.
Jupiter: You represent the place of good, honorable men in society.
The Hall doors fly open. For a moment, the figure is impossible to make out against the light. The camera adjusts and the figure walks in, showing a barrel-chested man with black hair and a red shirt. His sleeves are short to show off his biceps. His shirt is parted to show off his hairy chest.
Gaston: You cannot possibly talk about the place of man without the manliest of men!
Cut to Exterior Shot: Sunset at a city of pyramids. Surrounded by desert, the city is bathed in shades of orange and gold. The golden caps of the palace reflect yet more shades in arcs about the city.
Interior Shot: A door opens upon a softly lit room of earth-toned orange and gold.
A woman of long, stark white hair walks in, confident and naked. She strides into a wide bath, wide enough to fit many and deep enough to stand in hip deep. Around the edge is a stone bench so that one could sit chest deep (incidentally making it so the camera no longer has to be careful to avoid certain shots).
Daenerys Targaryen: From all that I had heard, I expected more boldness in your display.
Across the bath, Susan Pevensie sits chest deep in the bath. She wears a one-piece black bathing suit with wide straps, displaying only a hint of decolletage. She smirks as she sips at her mimosa.
Susan: I show what I wish to show when I want to show it. Right this moment, I show nothing more than that. You needn't feel pressured to display anything, yourself.
Daenerys: I cover what I wish to cover and not more.
Susan smiles: I knew I'd like you. But, we have something to discuss.
Daenerys: You have me curious, Brigadier. Since taking power within my own canon, I have taken care to collect intelligence on the wider meta-fictional world. I have some sympathies for your Black Hat Brigade's cause. But, I thought you far more likely to court Cercei Lannister than to confront me.
Susan sips at her mimosa in thought.: Indeed, Circei would be an obvious choice, as would be The Hound. Both are victims of their societies, even as they are rewarded by them. Such obvious choices, and so likely willing to join, that showing that would be dreadfully prosaic.
Susan: Far richer grounds to, as you say, confront you.
Daeneryes: Then confront me, defender of villains.
Susan's face turns serious: You're not really the breaker of chains.
Cut to the face of Gaston: What? No food? In my semi-mid-evil-ish setting, we have expectations of hospitality.
Neddard Stark: Only for invitation or need.
Gaston: I don't need much. Some bread and cheese and I can show you this delightful thing we do in France.
Neddard Stark: As it stands, I have rights to end you, myself, for your trespass.
Gaston grins: You can try. No one fights like Gaston.
Neddard Stark stands up, his face serious.
Gaston takes a ready stance, a grin on his face.
Gaston: I'll gladly fight you, if that's what you want. I'll gladly fight you, then we can talk over mimosas and fondue.
Neddard Stark looks spiteful: Combat is not a game.
Gaston: Maybe not to you. Before we fight, there are two things you need to notice.
Neddard pauses, his hand at his sword, but not drawn yet: State your piece, trespasser.
Gaston: First, I come in peace. If a fight is the offering you need, then so be it. But, I offer you the respect of one dead man to another. Second, neither of your guests have moved.
Neddard looks to Odin and Jupiter, both still relaxed in their seats.
Gaston: They're doing what they do, waiting for the fight to be finished so they can take credit for the result. If you win, they'll say they granted you the victory. If you lose, it will be your own fault, or a lesson they teach you.
Odin's face turns grim. He stands: You've already died once, Gaston. Don't be so eager to die again.
Jupitor: This is about the place for honorable men, you have no place in that discussion.
Gaston: No. This is about the true enemy of A Song of Ice and Fire!
Cut to the stern face of Daenerys: How dare you deny my accomplishments. Without me, the slavers would still be mutilating boys for their "unsullied" mercenaries.
Susan: That is something, I'll grant you. But, your ultimate purpose matters.
Daenerys: My ultimate purpose is to retake the Iron Throne for my family's rightful place.
Susan: "Rightful place" is a very appropriate phrase for that... in that I don't think such a thing exists.
Daenerys: You'd rather the usurper on the thrown? You'd rather the petty squabbling of schemers and murderers?
Susan: Oh please, you know by now that your family is no better than they. Your entire story is that of shedding naivete. Tell me, when you inevitably have a murderous descendant, a statistical inevitability for anybody who doesn't wind up completely absent descendants, what will be their proper place after, say, burning several people alive?
Daenerys: I won't do that. I am, possibly, the most just of all the characters in my canon.
Susan: There is that possibility. But, I didn't ask about you. I asked about a statically inevitable descendant.
Daenerys: That won't happen, I'll have proper education instituted so that future Targaryans do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Susan: You'll be dead, dear. Or didn't you realize that you are mortal? You will not have the power to stop them.
Daenerys: Then, I'll breed better, choose for people of compassion rather than continuing the past practices.
Susan: As I appreciate how that will be less... well, less icky than the past, the marriages will be of political necessity and the mechanics of power, not a program set to produce the wisest and most compassionate. The statistically inevitable will still happen.
Daenerys: You obviously have alternative to propose.
Susan: I do, but I first want you to realize the problem... to realize the true enemy of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Cut to the face of Neddard Stark: I understand. We're fighting these takes on the War of the Roses, with so many sides, all the while, unknown to most of us, an army of the undead rises in the North.
Gaston: Oh, they're not the enemy. Let me put it this way. What do you and Geofry have in common?
Neddard: Absolutely nothing. I am, at every point, written to be the very image of the knightly ideals. He is, at every point, written to be the very image of the failure to live up to those ideas.
Gaston: That's not entirely true. There are two points where you two are exactly the same.
Neddard: What? We are both born of noble blood?
Gaston gives a surprised grin: Yes! Neither of you earned your position!
Neddard puts his hand to his sword: What did you just say?
Gaston: Neddard Stark, Lord Protector of Winterfel, what did you do that earned you your position?
Neddard: There has always been a Stark at Winterfel. My family has-
Gaston: I didn't ask about your family. I asked about you, personally.
Cut to Daenerys: I take it you do not refer to ice-monsters as yet still half a world away.
Susan: No, in a way, they are in league with the same enemy with which you find yourself in league.
Daenerys: Something socio-political, then.
Susan: Indeed.
Daenerys: This is a fantasy setting, taking heavily from the War of the Roses, long before the full introduction of democracy to Europe.
Susan: The Magna Carta was written and signed some two and a half centuries prior.
Daenerys: Perhaps. And, George R.R. Martin seems to take as much joy in subverting common story elements as he does in causing his readers and viewers to suffer. But, you are honestly claiming that the monarchy is the true evil in my canon?
Susan: How could it be otherwise?
Cut to Gaston: You were born a Stark of House Stark, descended of the Kings in the North, destined to be the Lord Protector of Winterfel. You did not earn your place, it was given to you long before you had that chance. Geofry was the same. You can argue his legitimacy, but you can also argue Robert Baratheon's or anybody's
Gaston: And, you both believed in your place fully and completely.
Neddard: He did not. I witnessed his actions. He was a petty bully, killing as amused him.
Gaston: He believed he was beyond the judgment of anybody, above all in full, as a King is said to be above all, save, maybe the old gods or the seven. And, it's not like they ever show up to make a clear statement on the matter.
Neddard: That is not the place of the King, a King is to be a leader, to seek the good of his people.
Gaston: That is one way of looking at it. Or, the King is the ultimate authority, beyond which there can be no others.
Neddard: Well, he is...
Gaston: Then, you didn't have any business leading a revolution against the Mad King, did you?
Gaston: Listen, I'm saying this because I like you. In a canon where the dead can return to life or magic can infuse everything to let you influence things from beyond the grave, if you are to have anything like a happy ending-
Cut to Susan: You'll have to change to meet it.
Daenerys: I'll take that into consideration.
Susan: Please do, you have what it takes to be a truly revolutionary figure.
Cut to Gaston: Rather than just someone who swaps interchangeable parts in a broken system.
Interior Shot: A mostly empty banquet hall. Straw lines the ground. At one end of the table sits an old man with a long, flowing beard, wearing a purple cloak with gold trim. His chest is heavily muscled and bare. A raven rests on each shoulder.
Odin: They're deliberately reaching into our ancient canons, now.
At the other end of the table is an old man with his own long, curly beard. He wears a toga that leaves half of his own heavily muscled chest bare.
Jupiter: Canons that have been accepted whole-cloth as the invaluable cultural artifacts that they are.
Neddard Stark: I am not unmoved. I am a leader, myself. I know, well, what a leader needs from those over whom one stands as Lord and Protector. Yet, I neither have your own canonical power nor the deep impact upon culture of either of yourselves.
Odin: You are new, that is true. And, it is yet to be known how deep an imprint you will have upon culture once your show is done.
Jupiter: But, you, personally, represent something far older, something that stands as supporting pillar for culture since our own stories were first told.
Odin: You represent something that cultures need to remain firm, yet is under attack.
Jupiter: You represent the place of good, honorable men in society.
The Hall doors fly open. For a moment, the figure is impossible to make out against the light. The camera adjusts and the figure walks in, showing a barrel-chested man with black hair and a red shirt. His sleeves are short to show off his biceps. His shirt is parted to show off his hairy chest.
Gaston: You cannot possibly talk about the place of man without the manliest of men!
Cut to Exterior Shot: Sunset at a city of pyramids. Surrounded by desert, the city is bathed in shades of orange and gold. The golden caps of the palace reflect yet more shades in arcs about the city.
Interior Shot: A door opens upon a softly lit room of earth-toned orange and gold.
A woman of long, stark white hair walks in, confident and naked. She strides into a wide bath, wide enough to fit many and deep enough to stand in hip deep. Around the edge is a stone bench so that one could sit chest deep (incidentally making it so the camera no longer has to be careful to avoid certain shots).
Daenerys Targaryen: From all that I had heard, I expected more boldness in your display.
Across the bath, Susan Pevensie sits chest deep in the bath. She wears a one-piece black bathing suit with wide straps, displaying only a hint of decolletage. She smirks as she sips at her mimosa.
Susan: I show what I wish to show when I want to show it. Right this moment, I show nothing more than that. You needn't feel pressured to display anything, yourself.
Daenerys: I cover what I wish to cover and not more.
Susan smiles: I knew I'd like you. But, we have something to discuss.
Daenerys: You have me curious, Brigadier. Since taking power within my own canon, I have taken care to collect intelligence on the wider meta-fictional world. I have some sympathies for your Black Hat Brigade's cause. But, I thought you far more likely to court Cercei Lannister than to confront me.
Susan sips at her mimosa in thought.: Indeed, Circei would be an obvious choice, as would be The Hound. Both are victims of their societies, even as they are rewarded by them. Such obvious choices, and so likely willing to join, that showing that would be dreadfully prosaic.
Susan: Far richer grounds to, as you say, confront you.
Daeneryes: Then confront me, defender of villains.
Susan's face turns serious: You're not really the breaker of chains.
Cut to the face of Gaston: What? No food? In my semi-mid-evil-ish setting, we have expectations of hospitality.
Neddard Stark: Only for invitation or need.
Gaston: I don't need much. Some bread and cheese and I can show you this delightful thing we do in France.
Neddard Stark: As it stands, I have rights to end you, myself, for your trespass.
Gaston grins: You can try. No one fights like Gaston.
Neddard Stark stands up, his face serious.
Gaston takes a ready stance, a grin on his face.
Gaston: I'll gladly fight you, if that's what you want. I'll gladly fight you, then we can talk over mimosas and fondue.
Neddard Stark looks spiteful: Combat is not a game.
Gaston: Maybe not to you. Before we fight, there are two things you need to notice.
Neddard pauses, his hand at his sword, but not drawn yet: State your piece, trespasser.
Gaston: First, I come in peace. If a fight is the offering you need, then so be it. But, I offer you the respect of one dead man to another. Second, neither of your guests have moved.
Neddard looks to Odin and Jupiter, both still relaxed in their seats.
Gaston: They're doing what they do, waiting for the fight to be finished so they can take credit for the result. If you win, they'll say they granted you the victory. If you lose, it will be your own fault, or a lesson they teach you.
Odin's face turns grim. He stands: You've already died once, Gaston. Don't be so eager to die again.
Jupitor: This is about the place for honorable men, you have no place in that discussion.
Gaston: No. This is about the true enemy of A Song of Ice and Fire!
Cut to the stern face of Daenerys: How dare you deny my accomplishments. Without me, the slavers would still be mutilating boys for their "unsullied" mercenaries.
Susan: That is something, I'll grant you. But, your ultimate purpose matters.
Daenerys: My ultimate purpose is to retake the Iron Throne for my family's rightful place.
Susan: "Rightful place" is a very appropriate phrase for that... in that I don't think such a thing exists.
Daenerys: You'd rather the usurper on the thrown? You'd rather the petty squabbling of schemers and murderers?
Susan: Oh please, you know by now that your family is no better than they. Your entire story is that of shedding naivete. Tell me, when you inevitably have a murderous descendant, a statistical inevitability for anybody who doesn't wind up completely absent descendants, what will be their proper place after, say, burning several people alive?
Daenerys: I won't do that. I am, possibly, the most just of all the characters in my canon.
Susan: There is that possibility. But, I didn't ask about you. I asked about a statically inevitable descendant.
Daenerys: That won't happen, I'll have proper education instituted so that future Targaryans do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Susan: You'll be dead, dear. Or didn't you realize that you are mortal? You will not have the power to stop them.
Daenerys: Then, I'll breed better, choose for people of compassion rather than continuing the past practices.
Susan: As I appreciate how that will be less... well, less icky than the past, the marriages will be of political necessity and the mechanics of power, not a program set to produce the wisest and most compassionate. The statistically inevitable will still happen.
Daenerys: You obviously have alternative to propose.
Susan: I do, but I first want you to realize the problem... to realize the true enemy of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Cut to the face of Neddard Stark: I understand. We're fighting these takes on the War of the Roses, with so many sides, all the while, unknown to most of us, an army of the undead rises in the North.
Gaston: Oh, they're not the enemy. Let me put it this way. What do you and Geofry have in common?
Neddard: Absolutely nothing. I am, at every point, written to be the very image of the knightly ideals. He is, at every point, written to be the very image of the failure to live up to those ideas.
Gaston: That's not entirely true. There are two points where you two are exactly the same.
Neddard: What? We are both born of noble blood?
Gaston gives a surprised grin: Yes! Neither of you earned your position!
Neddard puts his hand to his sword: What did you just say?
Gaston: Neddard Stark, Lord Protector of Winterfel, what did you do that earned you your position?
Neddard: There has always been a Stark at Winterfel. My family has-
Gaston: I didn't ask about your family. I asked about you, personally.
Cut to Daenerys: I take it you do not refer to ice-monsters as yet still half a world away.
Susan: No, in a way, they are in league with the same enemy with which you find yourself in league.
Daenerys: Something socio-political, then.
Susan: Indeed.
Daenerys: This is a fantasy setting, taking heavily from the War of the Roses, long before the full introduction of democracy to Europe.
Susan: The Magna Carta was written and signed some two and a half centuries prior.
Daenerys: Perhaps. And, George R.R. Martin seems to take as much joy in subverting common story elements as he does in causing his readers and viewers to suffer. But, you are honestly claiming that the monarchy is the true evil in my canon?
Susan: How could it be otherwise?
Cut to Gaston: You were born a Stark of House Stark, descended of the Kings in the North, destined to be the Lord Protector of Winterfel. You did not earn your place, it was given to you long before you had that chance. Geofry was the same. You can argue his legitimacy, but you can also argue Robert Baratheon's or anybody's
Gaston: And, you both believed in your place fully and completely.
Neddard: He did not. I witnessed his actions. He was a petty bully, killing as amused him.
Gaston: He believed he was beyond the judgment of anybody, above all in full, as a King is said to be above all, save, maybe the old gods or the seven. And, it's not like they ever show up to make a clear statement on the matter.
Neddard: That is not the place of the King, a King is to be a leader, to seek the good of his people.
Gaston: That is one way of looking at it. Or, the King is the ultimate authority, beyond which there can be no others.
Neddard: Well, he is...
Gaston: Then, you didn't have any business leading a revolution against the Mad King, did you?
Gaston: Listen, I'm saying this because I like you. In a canon where the dead can return to life or magic can infuse everything to let you influence things from beyond the grave, if you are to have anything like a happy ending-
Cut to Susan: You'll have to change to meet it.
Daenerys: I'll take that into consideration.
Susan: Please do, you have what it takes to be a truly revolutionary figure.
Cut to Gaston: Rather than just someone who swaps interchangeable parts in a broken system.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-04 05:35 am (UTC)I suspect that her potential homicidal descendent won't be an issue, because Dany has been cursed with sterility for five books (or six seasons, if you're going with the TV show).
Susan: I do, but I first want you to realize the problem... to realize the true enemy of A Song of Ice and Fire.
A climate catastrophe (in the form of a years'-long and possibly decades'-long winter) that no one is sufficiently prepared for, despite numerous warnings, and a bloody civil war that is wasting resources and lives?
At this point, I don't think it matters if any of the warring nobles captures the Iron Throne or if the Brotherhood Without Banners establishes a kleptocracy. Who rules in Westeros is irrelevant. What matters is ensuring the peoples' survival.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-04 05:50 am (UTC)But, as far as that goes, I think the fact that they're all fighting over who gets to be King is the bigger distraction.
Not only is there the big ecological disaster on the way, but there's also a change in society that can either be worked to advantage for all or fought and stalled at great cost.
Although, considering that this is going into a War of the Roses (winter of our discontent later on to be made glorious summer by a sun of York), the Winter that is coming may, itself, be caused by the war... or at least symbolic thereof.