the craziest thing is how you'll be prowling around wikipedia and find some entry about an unknown 14th century ruler who was physically deformed and couldn't string a coherent sentence together.

and you laugh: look at those uneducated, slobby 14th century citizens who went with the flow of things.

then you see an interview with RFK jr. and you wave it away, because even if you notice how much he fits the profile, you think to yourself: "there's someone in charge who would prevent this in 2026," and get back to your tiktok feed of blonde influencers in nondescript luxury apartments showing off their morning routine.

"things are normal', you keep telling yourself. there's someone in charge who knows what they're doing--some higher power to guide us.

nah, it's only _______. but we're not allowed to say that word.

And it was the painter’s job to make them look reasonably good…so whatever he looked like in reality was probably worse.

Incest offspring usually looks fine and has a normal life (apart from the extreme predisposition to cancer, etc.)

We shouldn't stigmatize the victims. They have to tolerate enough terrible shit.

Yeah ancient Egypt was rolling that way too.

Bruh... look at the author and the books.

'Member when Daenerys gets sold to the huge sweaty barbarian dude, and a few minutes later he's tearing that shit up from behind barbarian style and he makes it clear he has no interest in talking or her as a person and she only exists to fuck and bear his spawn?

Then when she's horrified and sad and doesn't know what to do and feels trapped she talks to another girl and gets the sage advice to take over and be the boss in the bedroom, and the next scene is her getting on top and taking charge sexually?

Yeah, in the actual books she's 13. That whole bit of story line is about a child being raped and then that child 'learning to like it' and how to 'give a man what he needs' so that she can matter to him.

That happens in the very first book. They first have rapey time in her 2nd chapter in the book. 84 pages into the story. GRRM started writing with this part in mind.

And you're surprised dude made incest between (sometimes) consenting adults something with no real repercussions?

To be fair it took a lot of incest to make the Habsburgs what they were.

If you re-record a VHS tape once, it’ll probably look just as good as the first recording.

If you reuse the same tape over and over again it starts to get wonky.

Because at some point they decided that we couldn't have ugly people in fictional roles anymore ever. Like less than before and there weren't that many before.

Because show business is a business. Need an evil demon queen? Put horns and a tail on a hot babe in a skintight black catsuit.

Is that Sweet Dee Reynolds? I think you are better off with the Habsburg

The likelihood of noticeable genetic defects in offspring from an incestuous relationship is far less ~~likely~~ than most people think (unless there was a lot more incest in their ancestry). Cersei and Jaime Lannister having pretty and generally healthy kids is not that surprising. Pretty Targaryens are more tricky to justify but can be explained by magic and shit (I mean, they have purple eyes, as you do seem to be aware, judging from the pic, and can communicate with big lizards - it doesn't seem too far-fetched that they have some protection against genetic disorders).

Also, I actually can't think of prominent cases of incestuous offspring in fiction beyond ASoIaF, not enough to claim there is some pattern there, at least.

Edit: "the likelihood is far less likely" is of course nonsense.

Looks a lot like Mark Zucc

Conspiracy theory time:

It's all a psy-op from the elite ruling shadowy cabal of billionaires to make us think their inbreeding turned them into the elves they were promised they'd be, and not the ghoulish goblins they became.

Cause in fiction the rulers are actually god's chosen with magical gifts unlike real world claims by the nobility.

https://youtu.be/QTKY51UkVY4?is=5AAXy_7lWSdbYj_c

I'd still fuck both of them if they were my sister. Dig em up, I don't give a fuck, I'll fuck them tonight on the telly even!