The only way to escape fast enough would be on horseback, Cressida has no experience in the tipe of hard riding it would take to get away before someone found her. Joren can't mount or dismount without help, and any hard riding would put him in to much pain... Joren is held prisoner by his own disability. Also I doubt that anyone but the men of IvoryTowers would try and murder Cressida.
And by the time period. Most high born woman would not do much horseback riding, so it is unlikely that Cressida would have spent much time in the saddle. What Joren is capable of doing, is to some extent held back by what the body is capable of after such an accident. The fact that he kept his leg is amazing in its self. Why would anyone other than the people of IvoryTowers what to murder Cressida?
My point about murder is that I don’t find rape any more excusable than murder. And you created the magic whatsit that keeps them from just lying. My point is that I can’t imagine ever seeing Joren as anything but a coward and a villain, if he goes through with this.
That is your own opinion, and well I understand it, and where you are coming from. I believe that it was something beyond the control of ether character. I do understand your how you feel about Joren, even if I don't agree. I do hope you will continue to give me feedback, because you make points that no one else I know would.
Well, my main suggestion is that you find a way to make this not-happen. Heck, GoT’s Tyrion, who’s certainly not a shiny hero, refused to do it.
Playing devil's advocate: But Khal Drogo did not refuse. In fact, he purchased the opportunity. And unlike GoT, where Daenerys Stormborn looks to be conveniently in her mid 20's, in the books we know for a fact that she's 13. Also unlike the show (let's face it, GoT is fanfic) the relationship is not tumultuous between Dany and Drogo, it's not a power play where Dany flips the script on Drogo, thus empowering herself. That's not how it plays out in the books at all. Drogo is painted as charming and very comely in the eyes of Dany. In the end, and despite the dissenting arguments, the Dany & Drogo Ship is a fan favorite. I know that these topics are of concern to you, CF, but it's only fair to point out that not everyone will see it the same way. Clearly the producers at HBO did see the possibility of this particular engagement of the dynamic and adjusted things to try to tone it back, to sell it in a different light (not completely successfully given the scathing articles I've read regarding the Dany/Drogo dynamic). And in truth, the ages of most of the younger characters are jacked up a good bit for the screen compared to the books for similar reasons. But there are other ways for people to engage the matter, and context, the world they live in, the time, the place, is certainly a big factor. I know the argument that the reader lives in 2018 Earth and has to be considered as well, but with the unprecedented success of GRRM's novels, it would seem that the hypothetical 2018 Reader™ does not always trump story context, and that once the reader knows that bad things happen to people in Westeros and Essos, well... that's the world they live in.
Dawn of Empire by Sam Barone .. Eskar is given Trella as a slave, she's a virgin in her mid teens, hes in his mid twenties... they have sex (it isn't rape except in as much as it would be statutory rape by todays standards … such things didn't matter in Bronze age Mesopotamia) .. eskar is the hero of this and three sequential books … all of which made the best seller list ergo that kind of thing doesn't matter to a lot of readers (unlike rape rape - where someone is taken by force against their will, which does tend to make it hard to view the rapist in a good light)
That is basically what I have been trying say. I have only read GoT, but a close friend is a bit fan, and she has told me a lot. I am trying to write Winter Blossoms In the eyes of the time period, in the world where Casolin is located Joren and Cressida's marriage is fine. I also understand why people don't like it, but this is a fantasy world, not now! Just wondering, but do you even know the story we are referring to Wreybies?
Sure, but the OP seems to care about just how offensive her story might be—the evidence being this thread. She didn’t ask about this aspect of the plot, but I chose to take this thread as evidence that she isn’t in full “I don’t CARE who I offend!” mods. I’m not posting in the workshop thread because my comments would absolutely be off topic there. I would argue that Khal Drogo is different in many ways. He does countless evil things. He does have a culture that supports what he does. We see him through Dany, who arguably loves him from a survival/Stockholm Syndrome position. (I absolutely see no charm.) We’re not supposed to identify with the rapist. Here, he’s the POV character, he clearly regards it as wrong, but he would suffer if he refused, so he doesn’t refuse. He’s a villain. Villains are fine. But I don’t think this author wants this character to be seen as a villain and a coward.
