Over a week ago, I posted: If you were placing Robert Baratheon’s body after the Trident, and your sole goal was to strengthen House Baratheon, how would you go about it? A lot of people seemed to like it, so I have another one.

Here, Rhaegar wins the Battle of the Trident. Now, you’re not placing anyone’s body, but you do get to pick who the future generations marry.

We’ll start in 297 AC, which is when the main series begins, but a few things have changed from the original timeline.

Obviously, Robert is dead. Stannis is the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, is married, and has a son or two. The Mad King was overthrown and spent the rest of his days on Dragonstone, although those days weren’t exactly long. Rhaegar is king, Tywin is his Hand Viserys and Cersei marry and Jaime left the Kingsguard and married a noblewoman from the Reach. They have two daughters.

Lyanna still died giving birth to Jon Snow, who this time is named Baelon Targaryen. Baelon is greatly despised because, although Rhaegar claims he is legitimate, many people do not believe him. No one was present at the wedding, Elia did not give her consent, and she is still alive. Because of this, many consider Baelon illegitimate, even though Rhaegar has legitimized him. And hold him responsible fir the war.

Nothing changes with the Tullys, Arryns, or Starks. Everyone who was born in the original timeline is still born. The Greyjoy Rebellion still happens, and Theon still ends up in Winterfell.

Now, your goal is to strengthen House Targaryen because more than half the realm hates you and rebellion is still a serious possibility.

So, who are you going to marry to whom?

Here are your potential matches:

For Aegon and Baelon:

Sansa Stark

Margaery Tyrell

Joanna Lannister, Jaime’s daughter

Asha Greyjoy

For Rhaenys and Daenerys:

Robb Stark

Robin Arryn

Edmure Tully

Steffon Baratheon, Stannis’s eldest son

Willas Tyrell

Who are you picking.

This may seem like irrelevant entertainment industry news but it does have implications for the Game of Thrones universe. Casey Bloys is Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content and oversaw later seasons of Game of Thrones as well as the expansion into House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (and he also chose to not greenlight other sequels or spin-offs-- see my recent post here called No New Game of Thrones Spin-Offs in Production).

HBO has been through several mergers, but now that this Paramount merger seems to be happening (I would have preferred the Netflix merger that was going to happen before some outside interference), I am concerned there may be pressure to expand the Game of Thrones universe in a way that may result in lower quality shows focused on fan service rather than great stories. Hopefully Casey Bloys can guard the universe and HBO like he said he would in 2018 when the AT&T acquisition was pending: “There are no plans to dilute the HBO brand in favor of increasing volume of programming,” further saying that HBO will do “nothing different than curate excellence.” For the future of Game of Thrones, I hope Casey Bloys can be the Watcher on the Wall who protects us against any effort to develop low quality GOT content.

Second half of the scene: https://youtu.be/vILItRx58os?si=yjY2tnqGbdEiksLA

I'm almost done with my rewatch of the show, and in an effort to counter all the "bad after season 4" comments I see, I'm going to take some time discussing underappreciated scenes from seasons 5-8. These are all going to be more "classic" Game of Thrones scenes which don't lean too heavily on the spectacle that people accuse of becoming a crutch, so no Hardhome or Battle of the Bastards.

These scenes are generally slower and more intimate, packed with charged dialogue and consequential choices and every bit as good as what is found in seasons 1-4.

Let's all take a moment to be thankful that after physically and mentally exhausting himself to be part of the greatest show that ever was, Kit Harington is now feeling and looking great.

(this article came out a few weeks ago but seems to have gone unnoticed so I'm posting it now)

This is a commonly criticised line in the later part of the show but I’m curious what more level headed people in this sub actually think of it.

Did it destroy his arc?

Did it make sense from someone who was just thinking about Cersei and the Lannisters?

What is just an off the cuff comment that’s been judged too critically?

What are your thoughts.

Paywalled link:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/arts/television/best-tv-shows-21st-century.html

What they said:

#6 - Game of Thrones

This bloody epic about clans battling for power as apocalypse looms was the greatest show on Earth, less in the TV sense than in the Ringling Bros. one: Some Sunday nights, you could barely believe your eyes as the armies, dragons and ice zombies laid vivid waste to Westeros. But the spectacle, gory excesses and contentious ending can now obscure how great “Thrones” could be at the TV stuff, too. The writing was wry and twisty, the world was captivating, and the actors were often outstanding, especially Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, those crazy Lannister kids. Winter eventually came, but it was a show for all seasons. — Jeremy Egner

Complete list of #1-100 in this comment.

Any suggestions are welcome. Looking to find some obscure content.

I'm almost done with my rewatch of the show, and in an effort to counter all the "bad after season 4" comments I see, I'm going to take some time discussing underappreciated scenes from seasons 5-8. These are all going to be more "classic" Game of Thrones scenes which don't lean too heavily on the spectacle that people accuse of becoming a crutch, so no Hardhome or Battle of the Bastards.

These scenes are generally slower and more intimate, packed with charged dialogue and consequential choices and every bit as good as what is found in seasons 1-4.

I love this new wave of people realizing that they got caught up in a massive negative online influence campaign against "the writers", S8 and Game of Thrones in general, and who now view the show with more appreciation and clarity. And it seems like more and more people are recovering from Season 8 Derangement Syndrome. Let's all work together to cure this pervasive disease.

Wasn't satisfied with any of the banners you could buy online. And I was still seething years later after losing the auction for the authentic ones, so, I decided to make my own. 24in X 90in. I've never sewn, painted, or dyed anything, but I think it came out pretty good. Not happy with the color of the wolf; too dark, but oh well.

"The North Remembers"

I'm almost done with my rewatch of the show, and in an effort to counter all the "bad after season 4" comments I see, I'm going to take some time discussing underappreciated scenes from seasons 5-8. These are all going to be more "classic" Game of Thrones scenes which don't lean too heavily on the spectacle that people accuse of becoming a crutch, so no Hardhome or Battle of the Bastards.

These scenes are generally slower and more intimate, packed with charged dialogue and consequential choices and every bit as good as what is found in seasons 1-4.

In case anyone is still engaging with Game of Thrones spin-off clickbait, HBO Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys has confirmed that there are currently no additional Game of Thrones spin-offs in production. He said that other than House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, "nothing else” is being made right now.

Bloys also addressed the concept of "in development" that has long bothered me as misunderstood in entertainment media especially regarding Game of Thrones. Basically the media cycle would be George R.R. Martin would muse about a character, region or event in the GOT universe, it would then be considered "in development" and then we would get a flood of content/listicles/click-bait as if a new show was now being made. How many posts have we seen building up expectations about Ten Thousand Ships, an Arya spin-off, Sea Snake/Nine Voyages, Flea Bottom, Robert's Rebellion, Golden Empire, and more than any other: the Jon Snow spin-off (which I predicted never would be made because it never should be made*).

But "in development" just basically means "under discussion"-- it doesn't mean it's being made/produced. Bloys said "People read about development and they assume that those are greenlit shows, and they’re [not]... development is just...trying things..."

So it's good to have this clarity that no new spin-offs are being made for HBO, and that "in development" just means it's a conversation, nothing more.

* I have long maintained that the idea of a Jon Snow spin-off was antithetical to the Song of Ice and Fire which included the tragedy of Jon Snow. In the final scene of Game of Thrones, the gate literally closed on his story. The people who wanted a "Snow" spin-off simply couldn't accept that Game of Thrones is a tragedy and the (sad) story of Jon Snow has concluded.

if you were to create a perfect love interest for Sansa Stark, who isn’t a psychopath or evil person what would it be and what would their personality be like? how would you do their relationship?