“Daemon was not a good man, at all.” My point precisely. I thought the whole idea was that Daemon was such an asshole that it might make him King material, a la the popular notion of Shakespeare’s roguish Prince Hal. And I don’t know what “morally acceptable” has to do with it, this is not a series that has ever set truck by conventional morality. Anyway, I’m sorry for this back-and-forth, it’s just that I am surprised how people see Daemon’s actions so much worse compared to stuff in Asoiaf?

poorquentyn:

“I don’t know what “morally acceptable” has to do with it, this is not a series that has ever set truck by conventional morality.” This is a truly staggering misread. One of GRRM’s goals with this series is to resensitize us to horrors and abuses of powers that other medieval fantasies have desensitized us to, or ignored entirely. Did you read the scene with Blood and Cheese? It’s unspeakably horrifying! We are supposed to come out of that room realizing that nothing is worth this, that a line has been crossed and innocent lives utterly destroyed, that the man who ordered this is not roguish, but evil. Moral consciousness is central to ASOIAF. I don’t know how you can read Arya or Dany’s storylines especially and think otherwise. 

And as I’ve said, that “how much worse” game is a cowardly dodge. That other characters have done horrible things does not excuse Daemon one iota. He was an adult, and not just any adult, but an absurdly powerful and gifted one; he had all the choices in the world, and what he did with them was horrific. 

Amen.