Game of Thrones: The Reasons for Incest

    Once Game of Thrones and HBO confirmed that Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen a few people were disappointed because they think now Jon can't marry Daenerys because she's his aunt. What part of this show has given the impression that being blood related is an obstacle to romance at least for the nobility? 

Doing incest right... well...

      Some real world facts: Royalty and nobility have been kissing their cousins and more since the dawn of time. In Ancient Sumeria and Ancient Egypt, royal families preferred siblings to marry each other. Abram (a.k.a. Abraham, the father of Judaism) was actually a prince who married his half sister Sarai (a.k.a. Sarah). King Philip II (Mary I's husband) married his niece Anna of Austria. The purpose of such marriages was to keep land and fortune in the family as well as to cement alliances. It was not uncommon for first cousins to marry and though now royals are much more selective in their choice of consort, they still marry a 5th cousin or further; mostly because they have little choice, almost all of the nobility of England are related through some great-great grandfather or other.

Targaryens are the sister-f&*%ers of Westeros

      It was only labeled as incestuous when families wanted to divorce or dissolve unions either because the union wasn't fruitful or a father wanted to marry his daughter to someone of better status. 

Some guys prefer brunettes, others like them blond...
and related to them

      I've gotten over Jaime screwing his twin sister to be honest. Some people theorize that means they could really be Targaryen bastards but wanting to bump uglies with your brother or sister isn't a mark of royalty. It still happens to common people whether by accident or on purpose regardless of status. I've grown more concerned that Jaime loves Cersei more deeply than she loves him given she cheated on him... with her first cousin, Lancel (damn, she likes her men blond and blood related doesn't she?), while he was away fighting. So my heart's gonna somewhat bleed for him when he eventually finds out (if he does at all because it would suck if he didn't).  

This is accidental incest, by the way

   
     There may be dragons and ice zombies in this story but George R.R. Martin based his novels off real world events and real people and those people married their cousins for mostly political reasons. So Jon could marry Sansa if it's proposed because it would unite their houses and bring peace and Sansa could become Queen of the 7 Kingdoms one day. I've already seen MEMEs of people shipping them and that's okay. I don't even blink anymore when someone starts making out with some blood relation on this show. We're okay with incest but ONLY on GoT. In other cases it's gross. 

Be honest, kissing your first cousin is less gross than
kissing your brother or sister

OUAT: Why Regina Should Have Died

Not the best character death.

      Took me a while but finally decided to blog about my feelings on the death of Robin Hood from OUAT. I've been saying it a while that Regina should have died but not because I don't like her. I LOVE Regina which is why I think her death would have had a greater impact on the audience. 

I know what you're thinking:
"It should have been me!"
Believe me I think so too...

       Sean Maguire himself was surprised and a bit miffed that his character was killed off. Robin was a minor character but then was bumped up to the main cast HOWEVER, I felt like Robin Hood's storyline was often shoved in the background in favor of the other main characters still making him a minor character. I know it's hard to shift focus from main characters when you have so many characters, especially ones that have potential to make the story more intriguing and intricate but the writers could have done better with their execution on Robin's story line. So far I only saw him as Regina's boyfriend and not much else. As a result I wasn't as emotionally invested in his character, which made his death feel like a real cheat. So here are reasons why Regina's death would have been much more effective:

Her soul mates die like flies...

   1. Regina is the underdog. She's been through a lot. She started out as a villain but through love of her adopted son, Henry, Regina became a huge part of the Charming Family. She became Emma's best friend when they started out as enemies. That's a huge accomplishment however Regina still felt like a villain; that she was cursed to never be happy. Sacrificing herself would have convinced her that she truly was a hero. Losing Robin only enforces her cynical belief and for me as a viewer, again, it felt like a huge rip off to take away her second soulmate. It's not that I believe a woman needs a man to make her happy. A soul mate can be a best friend or even a child. Both Regina and Emma broke the curse through their true love for their son. Regina is also the type of person who will go all the way for those she loves. She plotted revenge relentlessly against Snow White because she blamed her for her first love's death then followed the Charmings to Neverland to get Henry back. Regina would have jumped in front of that lightning bolt to shield Robin and her niece earning herself a hero's death.

As much as I love sister bonding this shouldn't have happened

     2. Seeing her dead sister at the hands of her boyfriend, Zelena would have still turned on Hades. Zelena and Regina bonded in hell and their mother gave them back memories from their lost childhood of when they were happy together to seal that bond. As a result, Zelena would have named her daughter in honor of her fallen sister to make up for all the pain she caused her in life. The baby started out as a real wedge between them and Zelena naming her after her sister would have been poetic (like some small victory on Regina's part) and have more impact. 

Didn't think you and Robin were so close...
-rolls eyes-

    3. Emma staying at Robin's grave alone made absolutely NO SENSE. Emma wasn't really that close to Robin Hood. Sure they were friends but not so close as to warrant Emma to stick around while everyone else (including Regina) walked away. If it had been Regina in that grave THEN it would have made sense. It would have worked better because Emma and Regina bonded fiercely to the point where Regina would refer to Henry as "our son" instead of just "my son" like before when she saw Emma as a rival. Emma entrusted Regina with her dagger when she became the Dark One because she knew she could trust her to make the right call. Regina's death would have had a big effect on not only Emma but Henry as well. Henry would still see magic as a threat and  try to destroy it so that story line would have remained in tact leading to Storybrooke turning steam punk.

Maybe next time...

        Everything still would have played out the way it did in the season finale if Regina died. The point of killing off characters isn't just to move the story along it's so we see how much it effects the remaining characters. More tears would have been shed by the audience if a real main character was killed off. Sean Maguire is a good actor and killing him off felt like a huge waste of his talent. I hope the writers think more strategically when they think of killing off another character, minor or otherwise.