@@LadySophiaVelaryonthe weird thing is they never politically motivated aegon they just made him into a pawn against rhaenyra then he became a player but a rather violent one and not so smart player who is very aggressive
Rhaenys can say that because she is literally a dragon rider. Saying that to a woman living in patriarchal society with no direct power of her own, that line was quite hypocritical in my opinion
@@amyra8159Alicent wasn’t powerless. She chose to continue to be used vs using her position as queen to put her dad, the main one who used her, in his place.
Alicent wasn't powerless at all. You saw her in the small council, correct? You heard her say she was the one ruling on succession of Driftmark, right? She had power, and she used it (in part) to harm people while acting like she was morally perfect. You can like a character without erasing their faults or agency.
Alicent is a case of situational corruption. Otto definitely deserves some of the blame. But I think once Alicent got into her position she became jealous and paranoid.
Can't wait for Alicent's and Rhaenyra's conversations in king's landing. I think Rhaenyra will visit her quite often for company and comfort even if she's mad at her, that will probably be short lived after the Bitterbridge incident and the tragedy that follows :(
You broke it down perfectly. Alicent can’t be blamed for Otto’s actions from when she was a child, but once she became queen and even more so an adult, she was no longer a pawn being used, but a player. Also, I don’t think alicent is evil, but bitter. Anyhow, It’s HER choices and actions that she made that makes me dislike her. She’s a hypocrite and she’s not a victim; she allowed herself to continue to be used by men even after she was in a position of power. Once she became queen, she could’ve put her dad in his place. She judges Rhaenyra for things that she herself ends up doing in another form. Alicent judged the Targs for their incest, what does she do? Has her son and daughter marry. She judged Rhaenyra for “sullying” herself before marriage, but yet she allows Larys Strong to use her body for his pleasure, for her benefit. Alicents own son r*pes women, has bastards of his own, and is a drunk, and she gaslights and pays off these girls, yet she continues to fan the flames of Rhaenyra being unfit. She herself committed treason by calling Rhae’s kids bastards, she let Otto slide when he committed treason by discussing undermining the king and plotting against the heir. She also kept it hush hush about Larys killing his dad and brother, bc it benefited her. Alicent has no real reason to treat Rhaenyra the way she did, Rhaenyra did nothing to Alicent. Alicent could’ve used her position to unite the two sides of the family, but she didn’t.
Completely agree!! I understand her frustrations like, I think, many of the viewers do. I think she’s so disliked because she’s a hypocrite and, as much as she may dislike Rhaenyra, her kids are less fit to rule that her.
As a kid I empathized with her. As an adult I stopped empathizing with her. Like Rhaenyra said she is hiding behind the cloack of her own righteousness. She is a hypocrite, she is also a crappy mother. If she wanted Aegon to be king she should have focused on making him Kingly instead of the mess he turned out to be.
What about the role of the father here? I think a huge problem about those children is the lack of any fatherly attention. There are some things boys in particular need as they grow up, and that's a father who shows them where the limits are. They have known none of that and I think its difficult for a woman to give boys those things, in the same way its hard for a man give girls motherly moments. Viserys is a terrible father or he seems a terrible father to Alicent;'s children. I think it's a big part of why they've turned out they way they have. It can't be the whole fault of just one person. I have to say I don't belong to Team Black or Green, I just enjoy watching the characters and how they interact.
@@663lottyoh please, many people without any father figure turns out pretty good human beings. Most of them don't even have a little speck of riches aegon has being a prince. So that excuse is bullsh*t!!
The one thing i hated was tbat viserys didnt step in to accept the marriage between helena and Jace. Obviously the dance likely wouldnt gave happened or would have happened differently but viserys was well within his rights to accept that offer.
@@My100cottonlife right?? That man was not made to be king lol. But that’s okay we still love him even if he fucked up about as bad as you can fuck up lol
Don’t stone me yall, but Alicent is one of my favorite characters of HoD. She is just so messy and dynamic of a character and I love whenever she’s on screen. It’s because she’s so bitter and jealous of Rhaenyra that lends to her awful ways and terrible decision making, but then she never openly owns up to it like a Cersei that makes her so slimey. She’s fake asf, and insecure, and it shows in all her actions. I can’t wait to see her in this upcoming season!
Yeah, it's entirely possible to love characters who do shitty things while recognizing that their actions were wrong or misguided. It's very weird to me that people try to erase negative aspects of characters they like. People are messy. That's just how it is. For example, one of my favorite scenes in GOT is Cersei's demolition of the Great Sept of Baelor. It was a terrible thing to do. It was evil. Admitting that doesn't mean I can't like Cersei as a character.
I love the segment about Otto pushing for Rhaenyra to be named heir!! It's so frustrating that he pushed so hard then worked so hard to usurp her when it was his idea to put her there in the first place!!
I dislike Alicent because all of these things that happened were unfortunate its the fact the she behaves like she's pious and does things that arent so pious, she expects Rhaenyra to be completely transparent with her yet she doesn't do the same. She's so resentful of Rhaenyra for things her father did ,for things that weren't in Rhaenyras control that she creates a situation of hate and acts like she's victimized in every situation, this is why people dislike her.
Allicent is a product of patriarchy. That's not her fault BUT eventually she drank the Kool-Aid and internalized that which is when I believe she became unlikeable (puttin' it lightly). Protect Helaena!! The rest of the Greens blah 🙄 I missed ya GrayArea!
I don't hate alicent im just tired of the pity party with her character and being constantly told to feel bad for her all the times, and im tired of her being a perpetual victim.
just because she was a villian in the books, it’s clear that show alicent is a completely different character. she is a very human and real character. as a woman trying to navigate the political landscape of the patriarchal, feudalistic society of westeros and is a victim of that circumstance. just because she is a victim of circumstance, does not mean she is a poorly written character and lacks depth. i wish people viewed her through a more empathetic lens.
@@myong2206 first off this is exactly my point being told to feel bad for her and like her just because she has more " depth " I never said she was poorly written I just don't like her type of character where she's a perpetual victim, nothing is ever her fault, her life so hard boooo hoooooo I don't find that a compelling character especially when there are characters in this series who's gone through worse and yet aren't constantly throwing a pity party .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 they might make her less sympathetic/victimized as the story progresses... I don't mind the changes they've made to her character and the story as a whole thus far (I know many people do though), and I actually think that starting her off with this more sympathetic narrative could make for some really effective storytelling if/when they decide to turn her into a full-fledged villain. Like, I think the audience might be more invested in her as a villain in seasons 3/4, since we've gotten this backstory and seen her through this lens that makes her more dynamic, instead of just being a villain straight away. I'm sure she'll still be portrayed as conflicted and sympathetic this season, but we've already seen her become more jaded/vindictive, so I could definitely see them leaning into that more and more as we progress through the season. I really think it could make for some compelling storytelling if we get to witness her "fall from grace" so to speak, and watch how she changes as our sympathy for her starts to disappear.... I didn't really word that in the best way, but hopefully it made sense lol
It’s crazy how differently you can perceive things based on the opinions you see the most because I feel the exact opposite. Im honestly on the side of the blacks but I’m tired of everyone giving Rhae the benefit of the doubt in everything whereas Alicent is just “a jealous b*tch.”
Tbf, the small council would have installed Aegon regardless of what Alicent thought about it. It's ridiculous for her to think Viserys would change his mind about his heir, which he maintained for like 20 years, at the literal last minute of his life. What annoys me is that it's obvious she interprets that in accordance with her own wishes, but people use it as evidence for Aegon as the rightful heir. It goes way beyond straining credulity.
That's just what she tells herself to make herself feel better. She only heard what she wanted to hear. In the books she wanted Rheanyra to die in childbirth
Please remember her kids wernt treated fairly by Viserys. He had obvious favorites, and literally earlier that day walked for the first time just to show he favored Rheanyra... Believing VIserys GAF about her kids helped her convince herself it wasnt all for nothing... She didnt just give every bit of her life for nothing.@@JC-gn7lq
Viserys had a probably prophetic dream that his son would sit the throne. He told Aemma about it in episode 1 and he told Alicent about it in episode 3. In that context, Alicent's interpretation of his final words is reasonable. Regardless, certain lords would never accept Rhaenrya. War was inevitable.
Uh huh, "team black" people say this all the time to convince themselves that that's what she's doing because it couldn't possibly be that she's never heard "the song of ice and fire", oh yea, I'm sure she was all privy to that info, so of course she heard Vis on his deathbed mention Aegon being king and immediately thought "oh, you know what, I can totally misconstrue his words on purpose to really screw over Rhaenyra", that'll show her. Get outta here with that cope.
19:13 Rhaenys saying this was so hypocritical herself though, she literally just serves her husband. She says in the show, she didn't want to be Queen, she did it for Laenor (her son who would have succeeded her) and her Husband who wanted recognition and to be remembered. Rhaeneys also serves men, actions speak louder than words. She never campaigns for Baela or Rhaena to inherit Driftmark even when she is pissed off that Luke is a bastard, which would be the true feminist angle. Literally everyone needs to shut up with the feminist angle because Rhaenys isn't one due to her own actions and Rhaenerya doesn't want to make life better for women, she just see's herself as above the rules.
I think what’s different is that Rhaenys LOVES her family. She loves fiercely and unconditionally, which is not the same as serving men and their selfish desires, Alicent just wants idk security? Power? Rhaenys wants acknowledgement not only for herself but everyone in her family
Great point! Why would Raenera trust alicent w/her sexual exploits after she hid such a huge thing from her about her father that affects her in so many ways
I don't see how Alicent thought it was her business or thought Rhaenyra wouldn't be reluctant to confide in her given the way Alicent approached the conversation. I mean, you come at me that way, I'm not telling you shit 😒 Emily and Olivia are excellent in this role, though
@@JC-gn7lq I think if she had been more empathetic, Rhaenyra might have talked with her. Alicent is one of my favorite characters, because she is so complex, but sometimes she needed to have more tact and warmth. Would have helped eith Aegon as well. Until Episode 9 in the carriage we don't see her being loving with him, just anxious and stressed out and sometimes hitting him. I really dislike the scene where Otto kicks him. He looks around to make sure no one sees him and then kicks him. That is just mean. No wonder he is screwed up.
@@TheRealWattz No she has empathy. That Rhaenyra could choose her own husband is her doing. That Viserys send Daemon help is also her doing. I think she was very young, just 14 when she was send to the king and 15 when she married and got pregnant by a 40 year old man. She is shown to dissociate when she is with him and that she can't ever refuse him, even if she is tired and doesn't want to. That is martial 🍇. I think Otto and Viserys messed her up. Otto for using her for his ambitions and Viserys for not being a good husband and 🍇ing her. She probably has some trauma. She is also shown with signs of postpartum depression after having Halaena. So I think she doesn't generally lack empathy. She was traumatized at a young are. And unfortunately she passed it on. She just barely starts to undo it in episode 9 a bit and by the looks of the green trailer, she will continue to do so in the coming seasons.
Something that people seem to debate on (which I don't even understand, and I think you agree, considering you essentially said it in the video), is that Alicent _genuinely_ believes that Viserys changed his mind on his deathbed and named Aegon as heir...... No.... She doesn't..... That's just what she _wants_ to believe, so she's doing mental gymnastics and cherry picking things out of what he said to make it make sense. I guess we'll see how it plays out in Season 2, but it never came across to me like she _actually_ believed that, and the new trailers have solidified my belief and make it seem like she's even more unsure/hesitant about the whole situation (despite what she actually says), and like she's really struggling with her sense of morality.....
Not to mention the fact that for 20 years viserys said rhaenrya was his hier only wavering once when alicent was still a teen and aegon was 2 while he was drunk yet on his deathbed while om heroin im supposed to believe that she believes what viserys is saying, not to mention viserys literally mentions the cold and the darkness which she completely leaves out
My interpretation of that scene is that she did actually believe it. Because at the dinner, I think it was clear that she accepted Rhaenyra as the heir. I don’t think she’d have a reason for putting Aegon on the throne unless she thought it was what Viserys wanted. I mean it’s a bad decision on the writers’ part, to have the whole dance be due to a misunderstanding, but I do think she believed that’s what he said. I think the producers even say as much in the “inside the episode” interviews for that episode.
Ikr. She wants to feel better about usurping the throne and throwing the kingdom under the bus. The king got up from his death bed in all of his sanity to support his daughter one last time but somehow he changed his mind as lord roseberry or whatever his name " I will not believe that he said this on his deathbed, alone, with only the boy's mother as a witness. This is a seizure. It is theft. It is treason, at the very least. I will take no part in this" before he was murdered in cold blood. Alicent's face after that looked like she got slapped across the face.
She needs to make herself believe Viserys changed his mind to live with what she is going to do. She is desperate to morally justify her betrayal of Viserys’s wishes.
I truly believe that Laerys Strong set it up to look like Alicent summoned Rhaenyra after the baby’s birth… I believe Laerys Strong is the manipulator behind the Dance… like an even worse Littlefinger 🤷♀️
Yeah I'm not sure she actually wanted to see the baby before the afterbirth is out. Though when there is doubt about who the father is, it's "normal" to see the child fast, to make sure that the child is not replaced with a more legitimate looking one. So that is a thing. She probably didn't expect for Rhaenyra to come herself.
@@danika9411 I also don’t think the show will show Daemon ordering the death a son for a son. It says in the books that Daemon orders it but it’s not in Daemons point of view it’s written by a Maester and given The White Worms stance on the abuses of Children I definitely don’t believe she would carry it out… I think the Clubfoot is behind it all… it’s a hill I’m willing to die on 😂
Hypocrisy. That’s the reason. Alicent is a character claiming honour and decency as the way of life, she claims victimhood and yet she plots in the dark and does nothing to stop bad things from happening to the others. She perpetuates her father’s abuse fear mongering on her son. Defending and hiding her son’s depravity while condemning Rhae’s own. Which btw. Look at how Rhae and Eg turned out comparatively. Rhae tried with her life to carve out some joy for herself in very disempowering situations. Eg and Alicent give in and wallow, never trying to find happiness or empowerment outside of the toxic family for the former, or in their position for the latter. Alicent brainwashed her kids to see Rhaenyra and her “bastard kids” to see them as goblin spawns, the anti-7 if you will. Even when Rhae in the book gives Aemond V. to her dragon it’s not like some secret plot to make things go her way and look innocent all the while. No, it’s done in the open and everyone knows it. Moreover let’s not forget that the biggest thing going against Rhae was her mothering “bastards”. They made lots of changes in the series that made this look 90% the case and makes her look stupid and thus a bad choice for the throne. In the book the Valaryons aren’t black. Rhaenys has dark hair exactly like Rhae’s kids. Moreover we never know what colour Ser Harwin hair are. The only Strong we knew the hair colour of had blond hair. This all considered it makes it highly unlikely that even seeing her kids coming out dark haired she didn’t try over and over to have more with Laenor. Alicent’s own kids all have silver hair despite having 50% chances. Is it that unlikely Rhae was unlucky and had the opposite fortune? No The greens defaming Rhae and her kids was a campaign to usurp the throne born out of greed. Not, good intentions for the stability of the realm or some other bullshit. Rhae had 50% support even with them plotting against her. She had never gotten a chance to showcase her abilities to govern and reign to disprove others comments (I’m not counting actions post begging of the war for both sides as then it was War). Her own father didn’t do much, lots of it was administered by the council and he let himself be swayed. Otto did it with twice, saw he wouldn’t be able to do it with Rhae, saw his chance and gaslit his way to it. Rhae had against her that when setting a precedent it’s not enough to be decent or even good you have to extraordinary or it’s not enough. Alicent whole side rhetoric sounds hypocritical as well. The 7 hate the other religions and try to cancel them out. They hate the Targs and their queer customs, hate their dragons. And the citadel follows with for the most part. Alicent picks and choose when to apply her own belief. It is no surprise that Rhae appears more genuine. And let’s not forget that Alicent asked for Luke’s eye. She intended to hurt a kid and was ready to do it her self (so please even if Aegon in the books didn’t hurt children and the blacks did Blood and Cheese, the greens aren’t blameless here yet again. Oh and btw I do believe that even if Rhae didn’t do it and it was Daemon who did, behind her back, she should still face it as her own as it was her own “subordinate” to do it and I don’t believe Daemon will face punishment anyway) For both Alicent and Rhae there’s an element of fear that they won’t survive if the other wins. Alicent though had already brainwashed her kids by the time Aemond eye was destroyed in the fight she was already on her way to give in completely. She ultimately fell to her father’s fear mongering though, in this moment, when she asked for a child’s eye to be carved out; believing this a point of no return. Rhae own moment is instead when she looses her child at the end. The fact that she was still thinking about giving up her claim for the good of the people showed that she still believed Alicent’s words and genuine intentions. It also suggests that when she asked for Alicent’s own children to be sharply questioned it was more of a fear tactic to get Alicent to stop with her actions. Moreover if we were follow through with Rhae giving up her claim, we know the greens, either be it Otto or Larys, would have killed them or tried to, and she would have let them or known a posteriori and not say anything. As she did with Lyonel and Harwin, as she did with the coronation. There’s so many times you can claim cluelessness. The war was inevitable.
What bothers me the most is that she's intent on promoting and enforcing religious fundamentalist rules about gender roles, and she knows (or should know) that those social restrictions are a huge part of why her life has been one of reluctant service and sublimation of her own desires. It's like ppl who think that bc they went through something terrible, other people should suffer through it, too.
She is the queen of the seven kingdoms, she has a lot of power but she never uses it for good, despite her claims of godliness. She is either being a weak puppet manipulated by others, even when she thinks she's in charge, or she's acting out of petty jealousy and spite.
Alicent is my favorite character. For me she is neither a villain nor a victime, she is a true protagonist of the story, as Rhaenyra, who fight for peace at the climax of the first season. The true antagonist of the story is the war itself and those that push the kingdom into it, mainly Otto and Daemon. And for sure, the story is a tragedy, as Alicent and Rhaenyra fail to avoid the war.
I am BLOWN AWAY how GREAT YOU ARE at breaking things down! You've brought up so many things that I've missed things in going to rewatch the entire 1st season because of all the things you've brought to my attention. You've just become my favorite Game of Thrones and House if the Dragon channel! I wish I could subscribe 10 times so you could get 10 times the credit!
The only thing I love about Alicent are the actresses playing her lol. For real though, I totally agree with you. Even if Alicent truly believes Viserys told her Aegon should be king, the man was dying. He was obviously delirious and could barely speak. He had so many years to change the succession but chose not to.
I'm sorry I can't feel sorry for Alicent Hoetower, after how malicious she was to Rhaenyra and her kids, making her get up after labor and bleeding all over the place...yeah Otto manipulate her but she still had a choice but Alicent keeps getting walk all over the men in her life.
Alicent was making a play honey. She was playing the game while Rhae was having strong babies! Rhae has been weak and sloppy since day one. Alicent is very Marjory Tyrrell. And I loved her!
19:55 No she was signed up for the game of thrones the day Aegon was born, because the entire realm including Rhaenrya assumed he would be made Heir, that was the deal that Otto signed her up for in the first place, to be Queen and her son to be King, because Rhaenerya wasn't made the heir to challenge gender roles or because Viserys loved Aemma, that's why he feels guilty to change it later which he even admits that was his intention. No he did it because he knew Daemon his heir at the time was too reckless and impulsive to take the crown. Alicent and her children were made to play the game of thrones the day Viserys started looking for a second wife, which while expected was not nessisary if he wanted Rhaenerya to be his undisputed heir, he could have married a woman too old to have more children or just not have had more children. No. Alicent did not start this game of thrones, Viserys did.
Hate ? She is my fave. i def do not hate her. But lets be real. People hate her because nobody likes seen themselves in a true light. They would feel judge so they prefer characters that are unrealistic and do not resemble themselves. It makes them feel better, special. Its pure psychology
I could sit on the bed and ket you tell me these dynamic stories of lorr, I love it, you tell it as if you are reciting a poem. Can't wait for the next chapter.
11:24 this marriage pact is viewed so incorrectly by the fandom. At this point Heleana and Aegon were already engaged, so were Baela and Jace, so this would actually be a total dick move to the Velaryon and is a good indicator that Rhaenerya was not being genuine. but more importantly this is very much a hostage sitution, she isn't offering the marriage to bridge the gap she is doing it so that if the people start to rally behind Aegon because she's a woman or because her children are bastards the Greens cannot act against them without Helaena getting killed. In this proposal she is literally threatening Heleana for the actions of other Lords. Rhaenrya is always threatening to kill Alicents kids, and has a history of killing anyone who stands in the way of what she wants (Vaemond, and Laenor in the books, who she was actually homophobic toward instead of accepting, which is a big reason she killed him, yes it was a hate crime in the books) This is actually a terrible proposition for Alicent who if it were to work would be forced to sit on her hands as her children were killed because of Rhaenerya's children's illegitimacy, as she either couldn't do anything as her son's were killed by Rhaenerya or she could protect her son's and get her daughter killed. Alicent didn't say no to be mean or difficult, she said no because saying yes would further risk her children's lives.
I was JUST thinking last night, that I hadn't seen a new video from you in a while, and was aching for new content. This was such a pleasant surprise to wake up to 😊 Gimme more juice, cuz the Night is LONG 😂❤
I don't hate Alicent at all. She is not a saint, but not a monster either. What throws me off about her is how she is quick to talk about duty and sacrifice but doesn't live that. I mean, the r*ped maid scene? The fact that she sucked as a mother? It's how she firmly believes she is different, but in actuality she is not.
@@МерлинФюсеиноваthats what makes her so complex and intriguing as a character she destroys and betrays herself for family for her children. Alicent deep down is confused on what is right. She doesn’t know anymore. Her internal dilemmas are fascinating.
Yes, these aspects do make her a fascinating character, and there's nothing wrong with liking a character who is morally conflicted and sometimes makes bad decisions.
@@user-op6kt8pg9y Rhaenyra over the span of 20+ years has not disproven this claim with her actions. Alicent has no reason to believe if it comes down to securing her and her bastards claim that she’d spare people she doesn’t even consider family.
Yeah, nah, once again show v book. Alicent was considerably older than Rhaenyra and barely knew her, not to mention that she had already been pimped out way before to the "old" King! Yep Alicent had a horrible life and forced Helena into another horrible life with her despicable, depraved son. And yes the child, Rhaenyra was a spoilt entitled brat who suddenly found herself with a huge burden upon her young shoulders. Alicent had been groomed for very, very many years, way more savvy and accepting of the role she was meant to play. Power at any cost for the family, House Hightower. Choose a side for the show? Team Black! Truth be told, GoT's Shireen had the right of it. War is just bloody stupid, the small folk are always the people who suffer the most.
I don't think she did anything sexual with Jaehaerys, but it's definitely unusual to have a young noblewoman (noblegirl?) attending to someone outside her own family like she's a nurse.
"It does not mean that this is the way it has to be." YES. Every single tradition we have was started by someone at some point, and people just kept doing it for whatever reason (usually bc it reinforces power structures). People make this shit up, and people can change it. It's not the only way to do things. There are always alternatives. We can choose something different, and personally, I believe we're obligated to do so when traditions are harmful. It's usually difficult to do so bc people who benefit from certain traditions feel threatened, but that's not a good reason to keep things the way they are forever.
Team black should have just said "ok, the hightowers did a coup, time to destroy that family" and took their 3 biggest dragons, burned their homeland to the ground, and THEN started their war to get power back. Would also make the point to people deciding whose team to support that usurping the throne will lead to ruin.
@@DanLanningPRTeam i could see it turning the maesters against you, but I believe the maesters were always against targs anyway, so honestly no big loss.
Alicent is not evil or naturally cruel. She is a massive hypocrite and allowed herself to be drawn into conflict and was integral in starting the war due to misplaced anger. Alicent became what she thought she needed to in order to survive. If she had kept her friendship with Rhaenyra and encouraged her children's relationships with Rhaenyra's, if she had agreed to the match of Helaena and Jacaerys, if she had been a better mother, yes, things would have gone much differently. I wouldn't say any of it is strictly Alicent's fault, and she is not as bad as she thinks she is, (she also hates herself for mostly the wrong reasons.) But yes she has wrapped herself in a cloak of righteousness that she uses to hide even from her own conscious, and has allowed a terrible life to warp her as a person. She does not know how to go back and fix her mistakes.
i think the scene that pissed me off the most about alicent was right after viserys died and Otto announced it to the council and everyone just looks at each other and Alicent immediately pipes up (i don't remember the exact phrasing) but she said something like "So i assume you plan to have her killed?" because to me, right there you know she isn't innocent in all of this. She might be playing willfuly ignorant. But she knows everything she does has consequences for someone. That's why she lets Larys play with her nasty feet lmao She is MANIPULATIVE.
Ohh Grey!!😂 thank you for this!! I couldn't have said it better. You took the words right out of my mouth. And I was dying when you said Ser Crispin blew her back out!!!
I get why people might not like her but the show runners, writers, as well as the actors who play alicent and rhaenyra are REALLY going out of their way to tell a more nuanced story. And I think we as viewers should respect and embrace that instead of just writing off characters to hate because it’s missing the point of what GRRM and house of the dragon show runners are trying to do with this show.
It is hard as a book reader to compare fire and blood alicent and house of the dragon alicent because their raised to power is different, she was age down, she was made Rhanerya one and only friend because apparently in a castle with more than 600 people living and serving at all time they couldn’t find other people. They stripped alicent of her responsibility in the war and the pre war because she was young, and so clearly being lead on by the neck by her father which is so opposite from what it was said in the book. Their relationship how they seem to making them be “force” and “pull” apart from each other by this evil men around them because they don’t have a single working cell in their head or spine to stand for themselves as queen and heir princess. However, my biggest issue with Alicent is the obvious mess of the writers from episode to episode. Alicent in one episode is so distraught then she is involved in all the evil done to bring down to Rhanerya, but then they are hugging each other, and praising each other. Alicent uses her authority in 23 years to shut Rhaenrya up in front of the court so Veamond could speak and disrespect Rhaenrya in front of everyone. Told Daemon and Rhanerya that she will be deciding the fate of Driffmark only for otto to sit the throne instead. In episode 9 she broke my head, same as episode 6. I swears this girl has multiple personality disorder because in one episode we see 3 different Alicent. She is so hypocritical and a neglectful and abusive mother, and absentee queen. Which her book wasn’t. Maybe a hypocrite but not the other two.
I read the book when it came out and from what I remember Alicent was much worst in the book she pushed alot for her son Aegon to be on the throne. She was very hateful and spiteful worst. Hoping Raenerya would die on her birth bed. I’m team black never liked the greens. Thank you for the video
We are not sure if she did say that mushroom said that she did in fire and blood but a another book called the princess and the queen it's was stated in the book that she said only in the account of mushroom.
I see Gray, I click Gray, I enjoy the awesome she puts out! Edit: My opinion on Alicent. I don't think show!Alicent is evil, or bad. I honestly, like show!Alicent. She complex, endearing, charming, ruthless from the learning from her father, bold, and a player of the Game. I like this Alicent, and if it wasn't for the mishearing Viserys, she would have still had a great story, going against Aemond, who would have sparked it off in a different way, and her father's plan. Book!Alicent, o she's the evil stepmother! And that Alicent I do hate!
I dont dislike her. She along with Aemond and even Helaena are the only ones a person in their right could empathized with. She had every right to be angry at Rhaenyra (Who prove herself untrustworthy and cruel ) and fearful of the fate of her entire family if she doesn't fight against her. If people want to accused her they should be going both ways. For Rhaenyra and her are both childish hypocrites. And very guilible. Both of their families are gonna be almost entirely wiped out by the end because they allow people like Otto and Daemon to whisper on their ears.
When Vesarys was dying he was talking about the prince that was promised before saying he wants Aegon to be king. In context, he was probably continuing his conversation with Rhaenyra and talking about Aegon the younger (Aegon III). Alicent was willingfully mishearing this because she wanted her son on the throne and hated Rhaenyra.
I been gone since game of thrones ended which I was not happy about 😊 I'm pretty sure you didn't like it either but you're back and so am I so thanks I'm looking forward to your next post
Btw I just wanted to say I am obsessed with your narration. You don't sound like a boring script. It sounds like you KNOW the content to the point where you speak off the cuff with confidence. Come thu with that History PhD chain from the Citadel.
That was typical of medieval Europe. Women were seen as chattel and brood mares in medieval Europe. Matilda, daughter of Henry I left home at 6 to be married to a man of 40.
10:44 how did Aemond start the fight, he literally claimed a Dragon and when he got back Luke and Jace were waiting to fight him, ffs Luke brought a knife. Aemond got attacked. In the scene where Alicent demands an eye Rhaenerya also demands Aemond who just lost an eye, a perminent disability, be tortured for information about the bastardy comments, and Viserys threatens to cut out his son's tongue. Alicent snapped but acting like Rhaenerya did nothing wrong and that Aemond the child who has been bullied by Jace and Luke and even his own brother is somehow at fault for being attacked with a knife is next level crazy. Even the cast said Alicent was in the right here.
Damn. People hate Alicent more so than Daemon. Someone who is objectively more evil descended, spiteful, and hateful. But everyone loves him. We’re cooked 😂.
In the show there was no Alicent and King Jaehaerys moment because Alicent and Rhaenyra are the same age and at the council of 101 Rhaenyra hasn’t even been born yet and Jaeherys died 2 years later which means that Alicent was literally a toddler when he died
17:39 He literally said "Aegon" as his last words, was she supposed to know that he was talking about a prophetic dream he never told her about? Hello? it was completely reasonable that his final words to Alicent, the mother of his son Aegon, think that he was referring to his son Aegon. Why on earth should that not be the conclusion she jumps to? Damn it was the conclusion the entire realm jumped to the day Aegon was born. which only happened because as you blatantly ignored Alicent was with him at his death bed when in fact it was Rhaenrya who up and left knowing full well he could die any day now.
Why would Alicent believe the rumblings of a man who was drugged and in such pain? She believed what she wanted without any consideration for the circumstances.
@@catseye1009 Because by all rights it’s what should have been her sons by right of every single Law of the country. Given that Rhaenerya claiming the throne is very likely a death sentence for her sons to ensure her legitimacy, it is very plausible that on his death bed, a terrible father realized that he wanted his sons to live.
@@Stay_ZeroseThe kings decree is the law. Not the traditions and desires of his subjects. Even the authority of the Lord’s paramount comes from the king. The Starks, for example, are the wardens of the north, but they do not own the north, the king does. even the castle of Winterfell belongs to the king. the Starks can only occupy it with the crowns authority. When the king visits it is he who sits at the head of the table, not the Lord. Targaryen’s have also had no issue in the past of destroying those who try to dictate which traditions they should obey. Ask the old school faith militant about their attempt to dethrone the Targaryen’s for their incest marriage customs. They were destroyed and the royal family still practices incest. The faith of the seven meanwhile was forbidden from ever raising the faith militant again. No longer allowed to take up swords. Visarys had no obligation to respect Andal traditions of male inheritance. To a dragon king, the traditions of his subjects are suggestions not law. The kings word however IS law and the greens are nothing but traitors and oath breakers. Alicent, took the dying kings ramblings about the song of ice and fire ( a prophecy that she doesn’t even know about because it’s only told to the next in line for the throne) and she hears what she wants to hear and breaks the oath of her house. Aegon had no right to the throne because the sitting king deemed it so and he vigorously defended his daughter’s claim and never wavered for 20 years.
@@roxas12590 The kings word is paramount untrue but that doesn’t mean that the king can do whatever he wants because failure to keep good faith with the lords and ladies of Westeros could very literally cause a complete collapse of his kingdom. A poor power hungry leader, Aerys collapsed the empire because the people didn’t let him burn people alive without consequences. He wasn’t able to let his son runaway with Lyanna. If royal decree by the king was paramount than the Blackfryes are the rightful leaders of Westeros and the Targaryens were illegally occupying the throne. If the kings word is law than Maegor was justified in all of his cruel actions because he is the king. No a kingdom is run by order which is what allows the kingdom and family name to go on. A person simply change the entire function of succession just because they had a position of power. Aegon is the true heir to the throne. Point blank because the King doesn’t get to change the rules upon which everyone voted on in and in favour of because he feels guilty that his wife died.
@@Stay_Zerose comparing Visarys to Aryes the mad king is a disingenuous bullshit comparison. Naming a female as heir is not comparable to the atrocities he committed. The mad king abused his authority but the ruin of his house was long in the making, and the Targaryen’s had grown weaker with every generation after the dance of dragons. An incident instigated by an outside house, the scheming Hightowers. There is no vote in monarchies and again all Lords derive their power from the Crown. Even the Lords who sit at the kings table are counselors, not legislators or authorities. They can counsel the king and he is free to ignore them. There was no threat to Targaryen rule before the dance of dragons because no Lord or group of lords or host was going to stand a chance against what at that point was a house that had 17 dragons under Targaryen control. Aegon conquered six of the seven kingdoms with only three. I’ve already shown you clear examples that the dragon kings are not obligated to obey Westerosi customs. To quote Daemon “ you are the dragon your word is truth and law” All Lord’s paramount, including the Hightowers, swore an oath to his the kings chosen heir. There is no debate the throne belongs to Rhaenrya.
I hate Queen Alicent!! Her playing dumb about king versarys saying he wanted her son to be king after he openly declared Rhaenerys to be queen, her knowing he was high on milk of the poppy!
i heard your voice tremble a little when you said "I love Helaena." It made me tear up too. This entire time Helaena has been breaking my heart with how she is, and how she's treated. Poor little fragile thing, poor pure-hearted thing. She deserved so much better than all this.
@@TheDream6842Straight up. Team Small Folk. Everyone sucks at the end of the story. People are gonna feel so dumb for rooting for one side or the other.
I did read the book. Rhaenyra was the rightful heir. Her son ends up on the throne. There's no reason for me not to support her side just bc I know that most of them die and it's a disaster for everyone.
@@JC-gn7lq You can support Rhaenyra's claim to the throne, which I do in a legal sense and the fact that she is a more suitable heir, but not support the ensuing horror that puts her there. No one looks good at the end of this story, even if the throne was stolen from her. People are out here (with admitted nudging from the show's advertising) rooting for one side of the conflict or the other, when personally I can't condone the actions of either. It gets messy, but is entertaining. The show took away a lot of agency and personality defects from both Alicent and Rhaenyra, which is kind of a bummer and definitely muddles the fault that can be laid from their specific decisions and not just their parties as a whole. I hope this changes this season as things ramp up. Book wise Rhaenyra becomes more desperate and unhinged while Alicent deflates almost completely.
I don’t dislike Alicent. I dislike her writing. The Greens are the villains that’s just the truth. But they’re supposed to be villains you can make a case for. The show painted Alicent as this remorseful saint who is delusional about her jealousy and spite. But book Alicent was openly jealous of Rhaenyra as Rhaenyra was of her. They envied and despised each other EQUALLY which made Alicent’s pettiness more understandable or at least less one sided. Show Alicent is just a loser. Which is a waste of her character in my opinion. They seem to be hinting at a more stern, ambitious mindset in the trailer but I guess we’ll have to see what they do with her.
I dislike Alicent because she poisoned her children against Rhaenyra. Yes, that started with Otto. He's her father not a demigod. Accept the show proposed marriage between Helaena and Jace. Talk with Rhaenyra for like 20 minutes to realise she isn't a blood crazed maniac nor is Daemon. Hash out a way that everyone swears an oath of nonviolence to each other and that their weight as Prince/princess goes behind this, it becomes much harder to betray someone as a monarch or a claimant when you publically gave your word you wouldn't.
I never really understood why people hate alicent. They just use thire pov and not we see . 1st We saw alicent not wanting to go to Vesris to comfort hif after the death of his wife. She doesn't want to but her father made her. We saw the expression on Alicent,s face when Vesris announced thire marriage. People are like. Oh she seduced veseris and she is evil 2nd After her marriage to Vesris she tried many times to make peace with rhaenyra but rhaenyra refused. We saw her many times defend rhaenyra against her father the council even the king. That is literally tje reason her father was exiled because she choose to defend rhaenyra and yet people say alicent is jealous of rhaenyra We saw her son being bullied for years When he finally got a dragon he was confronted by 4 children. Mind you 1 had already planned on harming or killing aemond before the fight. They accused him of being a thief .They attacked him outnumbering him. He picked up the stone to defend himself he he lowered the rock and called the kids who bullied him bastards (Which they are lucerys pulled out a knife and kept trying to stab aemond. Now at that time aemond had already left jace go .Jace and lucerys were free to run away .When .When Jace threw sand in aemond,s eye they had a chance to run away but they stayed just so lucerys could cut out aemond,s eye and everyone is like Oh lucerys was defending his brother. Aemond was going to kill them with a rock but ignore that lucerys actually came whit a knife. They had chances to run away. Aemond was protecting himself to he is the one who was attacked first and yet aemond is the bully At the aftermath of the fight Vesris came and didn't even care about his 10 years old child who had 1 eye cut out like an hour or less ago for telling the obvious truth.Then rhaenyra was like let's sharply question him so he can tell where ha heard such slanders. Then Vesris literally then threatened anyone who dare tell the truth and was just make your apologies and that's all no body in the room cares about aemond or his lost eye .Alicent demand for .lucerys,s eye. Everyone were like how evil is she. How dare she suggest something like that. If a child can plan on killing or maiming someone then that person is not a child When ahe asked for the eye Vesris who didn't even comfort her or her son Thire son he then just ordered alicent to let it go. Not even ask. He ordered Finally alicent was like screw this and takes the knife and was coming for lucerys but she ends up cutting rhaenyra. Then everyone is like she cut the heir how dare she We saw alicent ask for rhaenyra,s baby. Rhaenyra decided to willingly take the baby herself everyone was like alicent is evil. How dare she ask rhaenyra to come right after giving birth but when rhaenyra forced her sick dying father to come out of hos room to defend her over a lie no body said anything When he finished defending her over a lie and fell on the chair moaning in pain rhaenyra didn't even rush to help him. Alicent was the one who ran up to him and called the masters. Still alicent is evil Rhaenyra abandoned her father and flew off to dragonstone for years. Then came back belittle alicent who was there taking care of her father all this years. Alicent is evil We saw Vesris say ageon will unite the kingdom and alicent of course will believe it thire son .Everyone is like Oh she didn't misunderstand the king's last message and are like he has spent years saying rhaenyra is heir why will she believe Vesris wasn't talking about thire ageon. Mabye because there is something called changing of mind at the last minute. How can you usurp someone's throne and then send them peace terms and refuse to kill them. It's very clear alicent misunderstood the message. And yet somehow she is the evil one I can't list all that alicent did that makes her better person
It's kind of easy to understand why people hate Alicent Hightower, the view is one of inconsistency and her actions are always caused by other characters as if she had no motivation of her own; her wardrobe, her allies, her marriage, her children and the way she treats them, her ambitions; everything derives from someone else, almost as if she were a living doll, but at the same time there are moments when the script makes it clear that she knows what she's doing. Especially in the first season as an adult. It's completely understandable when Alicent doesn't want to visit Viserys, but it's also quite obvious why her father is forcing her to, I agree with Gray, she's well versed in the politics of Westeros but she could also have spoken to her friend but it would have been a big risk just like meeting the king. The shock at the council because of the Velaryons and their power being rejected, the public shock was more because "oh, your best friend is now your stepmother" and in that sentence it's quite obvious to understand why Rhaenyra didn't accept her closeness feeling hurt, disgusted, because they were teenagers and there was no maturity, she also didn't want closeness with Viserys. Alicent's defense of Rhaenyra was obviously a matter of guilt, as you say, you can see it in her expression, because she knows full well what her father's intentions are as Hand. The literal reason her father is sacked is for spying on the heir of the throne in order to favor his own side and for dumping his own daughter on Viserys (as he realizes later). And then Alicent uses the declaration of war at Rhaenyra's wedding and for decades afterwards and makes her children use it too, nobody does that without intending something. We saw her son bullied by his child nephews, especially by his older brother, a teenager who despite his young age was the one who led the jokes (and later shows that he can still do it) and she seemed to have eyes only for the Velaryon, the same one who later claims that he is a threat to his sister and that both she and Jace would kill him. This is treason, not only that, but her son shows that he has never felt danger before and yet she encourages this image (we later see Aemond claim that Helaena would be Aegon's queen, hardly anything was a secret between them). If you understand that any of those kids orchestrated a murder then maybe you watched it in the wrong way or you're following in the footsteps of the greens from being delulus. In fact Aemond almost killed Jace, I don't think he planned it but he was going to do it, and Luke defended him, just like before when he caught Luke and Jace defended him. What you said about defending himself was the same as what the two boys did. You said yourself that he was going to kill him. Everyone had a chance to leave before the big climax, but the fighting was already intense and there were no guards around. Viserys wanted that stupid dream to keep his peace, when Rhaenyra had him questioned it was probably to scare him or maybe not, but the fact is that her children are legally Velaryon, she is the heir princess, that was high treason whether it was family or not. So Viserys tried to soften the blow by threatening to cut out the tongue of anyone who suggested it, finally taking the slightest action. And yes, how dare Alicent ask for a child's eye in return. Not just a child but the heir to the house she was in, whether she was queen or not Lucerys was the heir to Driftmark, it's stupid to think that anyone would let her get close, you understand her side as an angry mother and wife but you also realize that it's unfeasible in that situation and she's created an image for herself of piousness and balance that has fallen apart for those present there. The court doesn't react well to women with too many opinions of their own. None of those children planned to kill anyone and that's a pretty bad argument to use when you remember what happens afterwards, this "eye for an eye" dynamic can be answered in the same way, and spoiler: it was answered. When Alicent asked to see the baby, she knew exactly what she was doing, just as when she talked about breast milk while trying to deflect the subject of the probable marriage between her children, it was disgusting and mean. Rhaenyra is a mother, a real one and Joff was a newborn, if you would leave your baby with someone who openly dislikes you and sabotages you, you'd better rethink your concepts of motherhood. (Literally Olivia talked about this and her envy of her stepdaughter). When he came to her defense, it was his last act. I don't know if it was love because I don't think Viserys was good to any of his children, but also about his word, he is the king and he had given his word. She had asked but had no hope that he would go since his throne was taken by the Hightowers who had inherited nothing from Oldtown and were trying to make their way in House Targaryen. Viserys defended her claim and Lord Velaryon's wish, as did Rhaenys, and Alicent helped him because in the fictional view of marriage and the faith she loyally follows, that is her obligation as a wife. Like it or not, she was the king's wife and had much more power than many queens, even having the privilege of a place on the council, Rhaenyra had the right to go away to a quiet life with her own family in focus instead of KL's bitterness, she walked to help him but the others ran ahead of her, Viserys' dream of peace ended when he let snakes into the house of the dragon. She had a chance and left, but I still think she should have stayed and drained the queen consort's power and prevented the usurpation. We saw several times that the usurpation didn't happen overnight. Before Viserys's death, she and her father seemed quite ready to help Vaemond not just because it was "the right thing to do" but because having the Lord of the Tides on their side would be good for future decisions, as Vaemond reminds her, which made it obvious that they were trying to and almost did find him before King Viserys decided to sit on the throne. None of those banners were made in a day, she had already commented to Aegon, Aemond had said something about Helaena so it's practically impossible that she didn't understand before Viserys said part of the prophecy. Alicent would hear what she wanted to hear. There's no such thing as changing your mind at the last minute, everyone would have known it was usurpation and so would she, she just wanted to fool herself because in the show version every episode she has a personality change between wanting her son on the throne or not. "How can you usurp if you send a message of peace?" Quite simple, they wanted a peaceful transaction, Otto's plan was to slaughter everyone, but that's idiotic, Alicent's plan was to give her and her children terms to appear benevolent. They crowned Aegon before even announcing Viserys' death when he had an heir for DECADES, they tried to adorn him with the conqueror's objects to give legitimacy it is usurpation, the peace terms were to soften their side and get more support houses (spoiler: they didn't obtain it, even the Reach, which is where the Hightowers originally are, was divided). The meaning of usurpation is an act of usurping; wrongful or illegal encroachment, infringement, or seizure. 2. illegal seizure and occupation of a throne. Literally what was done. With so many details, alliances, colors of war, dialogues, attempts at sabotage, to think that it was misunderstood is innocence and in the end it didn't work at all because she sold her own children to death to escape with her daughter and granddaughter, after losing positions and experiencing the revolt of the population and, of course, because before "the war had already begun and could not stop", but when she started to notice, she suddenly remembered other colors besides green and that a war was coming, which was OBVIOUS because a usurpation would have a reaction throughout the realm and they thought it would be in their favor, and then it was proven that it was not.
Rhaenyra is more villian than Alicent . She literally using her fathers love for her to break rules. She gaslighting the whole realm about her children, Alicent is not perfect, but Rhaenyra is manipulative , episode 7 is episode where Rhaenyra is villian , not Alicent. I think every actor agreed with this. Its not our world, its Westeros, and in their world Alicent is right about everytjing
I remember talking about Alicent. I was sympathetic to her because she was thrown into a situation that was for the benefit of others. She was basically pimped out by her father for political advancement. I also get why she was upset when she found out Rhaenyra lied to her and the resentment she had towards Rhaenyra because of the lack of consequences of Rhae's actions. Now, as sympathetic I am, I also think she is a calculated hypocrite. She is bitter and spiteful because of the decisions that were made for her and what she gave up to marry Viserys. However, she fails to acknowledge that her hatred is due to her own insecurities and failures. She created an environment where even the children were at odds. Although I get Rhaenyra lied, I wouldn't have trusted Alicent either. Her father was involved in exposing Rhae to Viserys. Viserys clocked what he was up to and fired him. She was a terrible mother to her kids and looked at them as politicial advantages, just like her father viewed her. She married two of own her kids but had such a problem with Rhaenyra and Daemon. She's willing to cover up for her own children but yet scold Viserys for protecting his. I feel bad for her because was a victim of circumstances, but she then became a villian because of her circumstances.
The reason why I don't like Alicent is the fact that she hides behind purity and the role of a mother to actively hurt Rhaenyra and it makes sense that she does so, she thinks every woman HAS to go through the same as she did, she's deeply bitter about the fact that she didn't had a choice (true) but also calls Rhaenyra "Spoiled" As if she isn't the queen and every order she gives is a command and a lot of those we're to make Nyra's life hell. She is trying to always undermind Nyra's children despite her son begin the bully, then indirectly the cause of the dead of Harwin ( a man that Rhaenyra clearly loved) and then TRIED to removed the eye of Jace and hurted Rhae and did thag get her in trouble? NO OFC NOT. Its just the cycle of abuse trying to impose it into Rhaenyra because she is deeply bitter. I can't wait for Crispy Cream video because GOD I HATE THAT MAN. Amazing video ❤
Self-serving! You said it! That throne has a powerful appeal lol Viserys was a good and peaceful king and that is why people stood by his choice even after his death, that being said , I think we have some amazing reveals coming this season, I feel like we will learn where, "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" came from :)
Just like how Rhaenys said “You desire not to be free but to make a window in the wall of your prison.”
That line gave me chills. 👏🏽
@@LadySophiaVelaryonthe weird thing is they never politically motivated aegon they just made him into a pawn against rhaenyra then he became a player but a rather violent one and not so smart player who is very aggressive
Rhaenys can say that because she is literally a dragon rider. Saying that to a woman living in patriarchal society with no direct power of her own, that line was quite hypocritical in my opinion
@@amyra8159Alicent wasn’t powerless. She chose to continue to be used vs using her position as queen to put her dad, the main one who used her, in his place.
Alicent wasn't powerless at all. You saw her in the small council, correct? You heard her say she was the one ruling on succession of Driftmark, right? She had power, and she used it (in part) to harm people while acting like she was morally perfect. You can like a character without erasing their faults or agency.
Alicent is a case of situational corruption. Otto definitely deserves some of the blame. But I think once Alicent got into her position she became jealous and paranoid.
Jealous of what ? Real question
@@constantinmmnbv Really?... 😒
@@blackdragon6 yes tell us
Jealous that Visarys favored Rhaenyra and her children over her and her own. Also that the people, big and small preferred Rhaenyra as well.
Can't wait for Alicent's and Rhaenyra's conversations in king's landing. I think Rhaenyra will visit her quite often for company and comfort even if she's mad at her, that will probably be short lived after the Bitterbridge incident and the tragedy that follows :(
You broke it down perfectly. Alicent can’t be blamed for Otto’s actions from when she was a child, but once she became queen and even more so an adult, she was no longer a pawn being used, but a player. Also, I don’t think alicent is evil, but bitter. Anyhow, It’s HER choices and actions that she made that makes me dislike her. She’s a hypocrite and she’s not a victim; she allowed herself to continue to be used by men even after she was in a position of power. Once she became queen, she could’ve put her dad in his place. She judges Rhaenyra for things that she herself ends up doing in another form. Alicent judged the Targs for their incest, what does she do? Has her son and daughter marry. She judged Rhaenyra for “sullying” herself before marriage, but yet she allows Larys Strong to use her body for his pleasure, for her benefit. Alicents own son r*pes women, has bastards of his own, and is a drunk, and she gaslights and pays off these girls, yet she continues to fan the flames of Rhaenyra being unfit. She herself committed treason by calling Rhae’s kids bastards, she let Otto slide when he committed treason by discussing undermining the king and plotting against the heir. She also kept it hush hush about Larys killing his dad and brother, bc it benefited her. Alicent has no real reason to treat Rhaenyra the way she did, Rhaenyra did nothing to Alicent. Alicent could’ve used her position to unite the two sides of the family, but she didn’t.
Well said
Say it louder for the peaple in the back !!!!!
The best thing I have read
FACTS
Completely agree!! I understand her frustrations like, I think, many of the viewers do. I think she’s so disliked because she’s a hypocrite and, as much as she may dislike Rhaenyra, her kids are less fit to rule that her.
As a kid I empathized with her. As an adult I stopped empathizing with her. Like Rhaenyra said she is hiding behind the cloack of her own righteousness. She is a hypocrite, she is also a crappy mother. If she wanted Aegon to be king she should have focused on making him Kingly instead of the mess he turned out to be.
Right!
Best pov of the conflict I’ve seen.
What about the role of the father here? I think a huge problem about those children is the lack of any fatherly attention. There are some things boys in particular need as they grow up, and that's a father who shows them where the limits are. They have known none of that and I think its difficult for a woman to give boys those things, in the same way its hard for a man give girls motherly moments. Viserys is a terrible father or he seems a terrible father to Alicent;'s children. I think it's a big part of why they've turned out they way they have. It can't be the whole fault of just one person. I have to say I don't belong to Team Black or Green, I just enjoy watching the characters and how they interact.
Viserys was dying for a long time. He was so sick he could barely function. It's no excuse, I'm just saying.
@@663lottyoh please, many people without any father figure turns out pretty good human beings. Most of them don't even have a little speck of riches aegon has being a prince. So that excuse is bullsh*t!!
The one thing i hated was tbat viserys didnt step in to accept the marriage between helena and Jace. Obviously the dance likely wouldnt gave happened or would have happened differently but viserys was well within his rights to accept that offer.
He messed up in regard to marriage 3 times in 10 episodes lol
@@My100cottonlife right?? That man was not made to be king lol. But that’s okay we still love him even if he fucked up about as bad as you can fuck up lol
@@jesseandersen4055i don't like him at all,he doomed rhaenyra when he didn't make it a law that the eldest regardless of gender is the heir
Don’t stone me yall, but Alicent is one of my favorite characters of HoD. She is just so messy and dynamic of a character and I love whenever she’s on screen. It’s because she’s so bitter and jealous of Rhaenyra that lends to her awful ways and terrible decision making, but then she never openly owns up to it like a Cersei that makes her so slimey. She’s fake asf, and insecure, and it shows in all her actions. I can’t wait to see her in this upcoming season!
Same! Like I love Daemon but I don’t try to be like Daemon is innocent. I know hes awful but he’s still my fav.. it’s like that sometimes🥰
Yeah, it's entirely possible to love characters who do shitty things while recognizing that their actions were wrong or misguided. It's very weird to me that people try to erase negative aspects of characters they like. People are messy. That's just how it is. For example, one of my favorite scenes in GOT is Cersei's demolition of the Great Sept of Baelor. It was a terrible thing to do. It was evil. Admitting that doesn't mean I can't like Cersei as a character.
Hey Cersei was my favorite character in GoT 😂 Hate Allicent though
I very much love to hate her!
Yes! My fave characters are definitely this, like you just have to have the popcorn ready when they're on screen 🍿
I love the segment about Otto pushing for Rhaenyra to be named heir!! It's so frustrating that he pushed so hard then worked so hard to usurp her when it was his idea to put her there in the first place!!
I dislike Alicent because all of these things that happened were unfortunate its the fact the she behaves like she's pious and does things that arent so pious, she expects Rhaenyra to be completely transparent with her yet she doesn't do the same. She's so resentful of Rhaenyra for things her father did ,for things that weren't in Rhaenyras control that she creates a situation of hate and acts like she's victimized in every situation, this is why people dislike her.
Allicent is a product of patriarchy. That's not her fault BUT eventually she drank the Kool-Aid and internalized that which is when I believe she became unlikeable (puttin' it lightly). Protect Helaena!! The rest of the Greens blah 🙄
I missed ya GrayArea!
I don't hate alicent im just tired of the pity party with her character and being constantly told to feel bad for her all the times, and im tired of her being a perpetual victim.
just because she was a villian in the books, it’s clear that show alicent is a completely different character. she is a very human and real character. as a woman trying to navigate the political landscape of the patriarchal, feudalistic society of westeros and is a victim of that circumstance. just because she is a victim of circumstance, does not mean she is a poorly written character and lacks depth. i wish people viewed her through a more empathetic lens.
@@myong2206 first off this is exactly my point being told to feel bad for her and like her just because she has more " depth " I never said she was poorly written I just don't like her type of character where she's a perpetual victim, nothing is ever her fault, her life so hard boooo hoooooo I don't find that a compelling character especially when there are characters in this series who's gone through worse and yet aren't constantly throwing a pity party .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 they might make her less sympathetic/victimized as the story progresses... I don't mind the changes they've made to her character and the story as a whole thus far (I know many people do though), and I actually think that starting her off with this more sympathetic narrative could make for some really effective storytelling if/when they decide to turn her into a full-fledged villain. Like, I think the audience might be more invested in her as a villain in seasons 3/4, since we've gotten this backstory and seen her through this lens that makes her more dynamic, instead of just being a villain straight away. I'm sure she'll still be portrayed as conflicted and sympathetic this season, but we've already seen her become more jaded/vindictive, so I could definitely see them leaning into that more and more as we progress through the season. I really think it could make for some compelling storytelling if we get to witness her "fall from grace" so to speak, and watch how she changes as our sympathy for her starts to disappear.... I didn't really word that in the best way, but hopefully it made sense lol
It’s crazy how differently you can perceive things based on the opinions you see the most because I feel the exact opposite. Im honestly on the side of the blacks but I’m tired of everyone giving Rhae the benefit of the doubt in everything whereas Alicent is just “a jealous b*tch.”
@@AdriaNicoo I think it goes both ways people make to many excuses for both girls I just feel it happens more with alicent because of hotds writing m
So stoked to see u dropped a video. I search for you constantly!! 🎉
More to come!
When Viscerys was on his deathbed, Alicent hearing what she wanted to hear started all the bullshit that followed.
Tbf, the small council would have installed Aegon regardless of what Alicent thought about it. It's ridiculous for her to think Viserys would change his mind about his heir, which he maintained for like 20 years, at the literal last minute of his life. What annoys me is that it's obvious she interprets that in accordance with her own wishes, but people use it as evidence for Aegon as the rightful heir. It goes way beyond straining credulity.
That's just what she tells herself to make herself feel better. She only heard what she wanted to hear. In the books she wanted Rheanyra to die in childbirth
Please remember her kids wernt treated fairly by Viserys. He had obvious favorites, and literally earlier that day walked for the first time just to show he favored Rheanyra... Believing VIserys GAF about her kids helped her convince herself it wasnt all for nothing... She didnt just give every bit of her life for nothing.@@JC-gn7lq
Viserys had a probably prophetic dream that his son would sit the throne. He told Aemma about it in episode 1 and he told Alicent about it in episode 3. In that context, Alicent's interpretation of his final words is reasonable.
Regardless, certain lords would never accept Rhaenrya. War was inevitable.
Uh huh, "team black" people say this all the time to convince themselves that that's what she's doing because it couldn't possibly be that she's never heard "the song of ice and fire", oh yea, I'm sure she was all privy to that info, so of course she heard Vis on his deathbed mention Aegon being king and immediately thought "oh, you know what, I can totally misconstrue his words on purpose to really screw over Rhaenyra", that'll show her. Get outta here with that cope.
🖤Team 🖤Black🖤🔥
I felt for Alicent, until her jealousy turned her bitter and angry. This grudge helped fuel the war.
Yes, girl needed some therapy and maybe then she'd have more agency over her own life instead of just staying bitter and mad.
we can argue that a lot of targaryens just need therapy fr
19:13 Rhaenys saying this was so hypocritical herself though, she literally just serves her husband. She says in the show, she didn't want to be Queen, she did it for Laenor (her son who would have succeeded her) and her Husband who wanted recognition and to be remembered. Rhaeneys also serves men, actions speak louder than words. She never campaigns for Baela or Rhaena to inherit Driftmark even when she is pissed off that Luke is a bastard, which would be the true feminist angle. Literally everyone needs to shut up with the feminist angle because Rhaenys isn't one due to her own actions and Rhaenerya doesn't want to make life better for women, she just see's herself as above the rules.
I think what’s different is that Rhaenys LOVES her family. She loves fiercely and unconditionally, which is not the same as serving men and their selfish desires, Alicent just wants idk security? Power? Rhaenys wants acknowledgement not only for herself but everyone in her family
Alicent is a judgemental moralist, points fingers at everybody and distorting reality to adjust to her own purposes
Helena and Jace seemed to really like one another she was very happy to dance with him and as far as I know it’s the only time she ever looked happy
The goat 🐐 is back. Happy you spoke on this topic👏🏾
Great point! Why would Raenera trust alicent w/her sexual exploits after she hid such a huge thing from her about her father that affects her in so many ways
I don't see how Alicent thought it was her business or thought Rhaenyra wouldn't be reluctant to confide in her given the way Alicent approached the conversation. I mean, you come at me that way, I'm not telling you shit 😒
Emily and Olivia are excellent in this role, though
@@JC-gn7lq That too! Your point justified btw she went behind the princesses back questioning ppl
@@JC-gn7lq I think if she had been more empathetic, Rhaenyra might have talked with her.
Alicent is one of my favorite characters, because she is so complex, but sometimes she needed to have more tact and warmth. Would have helped eith Aegon as well. Until Episode 9 in the carriage we don't see her being loving with him, just anxious and stressed out and sometimes hitting him.
I really dislike the scene where Otto kicks him. He looks around to make sure no one sees him and then kicks him. That is just mean. No wonder he is screwed up.
@@danika9411 she has zero empathy shown btw she couldn't imagine how she would feel if Raenera was bedding her father! Lol
@@TheRealWattz No she has empathy. That Rhaenyra could choose her own husband is her doing. That Viserys send Daemon help is also her doing.
I think she was very young, just 14 when she was send to the king and 15 when she married and got pregnant by a 40 year old man. She is shown to dissociate when she is with him and that she can't ever refuse him, even if she is tired and doesn't want to. That is martial 🍇. I think Otto and Viserys messed her up. Otto for using her for his ambitions and Viserys for not being a good husband and 🍇ing her.
She probably has some trauma. She is also shown with signs of postpartum depression after having Halaena.
So I think she doesn't generally lack empathy. She was traumatized at a young are. And unfortunately she passed it on. She just barely starts to undo it in episode 9 a bit and by the looks of the green trailer, she will continue to do so in the coming seasons.
Something that people seem to debate on (which I don't even understand, and I think you agree, considering you essentially said it in the video), is that Alicent _genuinely_ believes that Viserys changed his mind on his deathbed and named Aegon as heir...... No.... She doesn't..... That's just what she _wants_ to believe, so she's doing mental gymnastics and cherry picking things out of what he said to make it make sense. I guess we'll see how it plays out in Season 2, but it never came across to me like she _actually_ believed that, and the new trailers have solidified my belief and make it seem like she's even more unsure/hesitant about the whole situation (despite what she actually says), and like she's really struggling with her sense of morality.....
I mean, I'm sorry, but she'd have to be extremely gullible to truly believe he changed his mind, and that's not Alicent
Not to mention the fact that for 20 years viserys said rhaenrya was his hier only wavering once when alicent was still a teen and aegon was 2 while he was drunk yet on his deathbed while om heroin im supposed to believe that she believes what viserys is saying, not to mention viserys literally mentions the cold and the darkness which she completely leaves out
My interpretation of that scene is that she did actually believe it. Because at the dinner, I think it was clear that she accepted Rhaenyra as the heir. I don’t think she’d have a reason for putting Aegon on the throne unless she thought it was what Viserys wanted. I mean it’s a bad decision on the writers’ part, to have the whole dance be due to a misunderstanding, but I do think she believed that’s what he said. I think the producers even say as much in the “inside the episode” interviews for that episode.
Ikr. She wants to feel better about usurping the throne and throwing the kingdom under the bus. The king got up from his death bed in all of his sanity to support his daughter one last time but somehow he changed his mind as lord roseberry or whatever his name " I will not believe that he said this on his deathbed, alone, with only the boy's mother as a witness. This is a seizure. It is theft. It is treason, at the very least. I will take no part in this" before he was murdered in cold blood. Alicent's face after that looked like she got slapped across the face.
She needs to make herself believe Viserys changed his mind to live with what she is going to do. She is desperate to morally justify her betrayal of Viserys’s wishes.
I truly believe that Laerys Strong set it up to look like Alicent summoned Rhaenyra after the baby’s birth… I believe Laerys Strong is the manipulator behind the Dance… like an even worse Littlefinger 🤷♀️
I loved littlefinger so much ❤❤❤
@@Theinfamouskiki411 I am clutching my pearls like Littlefinger clutched at his neck when Arya slit it 😳😉😂
Yeah I'm not sure she actually wanted to see the baby before the afterbirth is out. Though when there is doubt about who the father is, it's "normal" to see the child fast, to make sure that the child is not replaced with a more legitimate looking one.
So that is a thing. She probably didn't expect for Rhaenyra to come herself.
@@danika9411 I also don’t think the show will show Daemon ordering the death a son for a son. It says in the books that Daemon orders it but it’s not in Daemons point of view it’s written by a Maester and given The White Worms stance on the abuses of Children I definitely don’t believe she would carry it out… I think the Clubfoot is behind it all… it’s a hill I’m willing to die on 😂
Hypocrisy.
That’s the reason. Alicent is a character claiming honour and decency as the way of life, she claims victimhood and yet she plots in the dark and does nothing to stop bad things from happening to the others. She perpetuates her father’s abuse fear mongering on her son. Defending and hiding her son’s depravity while condemning Rhae’s own.
Which btw. Look at how Rhae and Eg turned out comparatively.
Rhae tried with her life to carve out some joy for herself in very disempowering situations.
Eg and Alicent give in and wallow, never trying to find happiness or empowerment outside of the toxic family for the former, or in their position for the latter.
Alicent brainwashed her kids to see Rhaenyra and her “bastard kids” to see them as goblin spawns, the anti-7 if you will.
Even when Rhae in the book gives Aemond V. to her dragon it’s not like some secret plot to make things go her way and look innocent all the while. No, it’s done in the open and everyone knows it.
Moreover let’s not forget that the biggest thing going against Rhae was her mothering “bastards”.
They made lots of changes in the series that made this look 90% the case and makes her look stupid and thus a bad choice for the throne. In the book the Valaryons aren’t black. Rhaenys has dark hair exactly like Rhae’s kids. Moreover we never know what colour Ser Harwin hair are. The only Strong we knew the hair colour of had blond hair. This all considered it makes it highly unlikely that even seeing her kids coming out dark haired she didn’t try over and over to have more with Laenor. Alicent’s own kids all have silver hair despite having 50% chances. Is it that unlikely Rhae was unlucky and had the opposite fortune? No
The greens defaming Rhae and her kids was a campaign to usurp the throne born out of greed.
Not, good intentions for the stability of the realm or some other bullshit. Rhae had 50% support even with them plotting against her. She had never gotten a chance to showcase her abilities to govern and reign to disprove others comments (I’m not counting actions post begging of the war for both sides as then it was War). Her own father didn’t do much, lots of it was administered by the council and he let himself be swayed. Otto did it with twice, saw he wouldn’t be able to do it with Rhae, saw his chance and gaslit his way to it. Rhae had against her that when setting a precedent it’s not enough to be decent or even good you have to extraordinary or it’s not enough.
Alicent whole side rhetoric sounds hypocritical as well. The 7 hate the other religions and try to cancel them out. They hate the Targs and their queer customs, hate their dragons. And the citadel follows with for the most part. Alicent picks and choose when to apply her own belief.
It is no surprise that Rhae appears more genuine.
And let’s not forget that Alicent asked for Luke’s eye. She intended to hurt a kid and was ready to do it her self (so please even if Aegon in the books didn’t hurt children and the blacks did Blood and Cheese, the greens aren’t blameless here yet again. Oh and btw I do believe that even if Rhae didn’t do it and it was Daemon who did, behind her back, she should still face it as her own as it was her own “subordinate” to do it and I don’t believe Daemon will face punishment anyway)
For both Alicent and Rhae there’s an element of fear that they won’t survive if the other wins. Alicent though had already brainwashed her kids by the time Aemond eye was destroyed in the fight she was already on her way to give in completely. She ultimately fell to her father’s fear mongering though, in this moment, when she asked for a child’s eye to be carved out; believing this a point of no return.
Rhae own moment is instead when she looses her child at the end. The fact that she was still thinking about giving up her claim for the good of the people showed that she still believed Alicent’s words and genuine intentions. It also suggests that when she asked for Alicent’s own children to be sharply questioned it was more of a fear tactic to get Alicent to stop with her actions.
Moreover if we were follow through with Rhae giving up her claim, we know the greens, either be it Otto or Larys, would have killed them or tried to, and she would have let them or known a posteriori and not say anything. As she did with Lyonel and Harwin, as she did with the coronation. There’s so many times you can claim cluelessness. The war was inevitable.
Spittin facts🎉
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
What bothers me the most is that she's intent on promoting and enforcing religious fundamentalist rules about gender roles, and she knows (or should know) that those social restrictions are a huge part of why her life has been one of reluctant service and sublimation of her own desires. It's like ppl who think that bc they went through something terrible, other people should suffer through it, too.
@@JC-gn7lq Alicent is the Phyllis Schlafly of Westeros. Iykyk 😂😂😂
Oh I do know, unfortunately
I’m so glad you’re back. I literally started reading the books waiting for you
I’m back back!! But I’m glad u started reading the books! its definitely an experience
She is the queen of the seven kingdoms, she has a lot of power but she never uses it for good, despite her claims of godliness.
She is either being a weak puppet manipulated by others, even when she thinks she's in charge, or she's acting out of petty jealousy and spite.
I definitely hate how alicent taught her children to hate their older sister and nephews.
The content ive been genuinely missing😭
Alicent is my favorite character. For me she is neither a villain nor a victime, she is a true protagonist of the story, as Rhaenyra, who fight for peace at the climax of the first season. The true antagonist of the story is the war itself and those that push the kingdom into it, mainly Otto and Daemon. And for sure, the story is a tragedy, as Alicent and Rhaenyra fail to avoid the war.
I’ve been waiting for you!!! ❤ Gray Area!! Team Black ❤
I am BLOWN AWAY how GREAT YOU ARE at breaking things down! You've brought up so many things that I've missed things in going to rewatch the entire 1st season because of all the things you've brought to my attention. You've just become my favorite Game of Thrones and House if the Dragon channel! I wish I could subscribe 10 times so you could get 10 times the credit!
Yay!! Gray is back!
The only thing I love about Alicent are the actresses playing her lol.
For real though, I totally agree with you. Even if Alicent truly believes Viserys told her Aegon should be king, the man was dying. He was obviously delirious and could barely speak. He had so many years to change the succession but chose not to.
I love to hate her! And her actresses have made that perfect.
I cannot wait for more GrayArea videos!
I'm sorry I can't feel sorry for Alicent Hoetower, after how malicious she was to Rhaenyra and her kids, making her get up after labor and bleeding all over the place...yeah Otto manipulate her but she still had a choice but Alicent keeps getting walk all over the men in her life.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Eventually she does have a choice.. and none of the choices she makes make any sense.
I thought “Hoetower” was a typo, until I thought about it. 😂👍🏽
Alicent was making a play honey. She was playing the game while Rhae was having strong babies! Rhae has been weak and sloppy since day one. Alicent is very Marjory Tyrrell. And I loved her!
Alicent is not Margaery. That's tantamount to blasphemy, and Margaery deserves better.
Lets remember that, in the book, Alicent was 18 years old (a GROWN ass woman) in the books when you married Viserys
Yes GreyArea please do more like these . PLEASE! it’s bad enough We have to wait till June. These videos will help us get through waiting ❤
Saw someone shout you out on twitter i was like OOP thats my girl
19:55 No she was signed up for the game of thrones the day Aegon was born, because the entire realm including Rhaenrya assumed he would be made Heir, that was the deal that Otto signed her up for in the first place, to be Queen and her son to be King, because Rhaenerya wasn't made the heir to challenge gender roles or because Viserys loved Aemma, that's why he feels guilty to change it later which he even admits that was his intention. No he did it because he knew Daemon his heir at the time was too reckless and impulsive to take the crown. Alicent and her children were made to play the game of thrones the day Viserys started looking for a second wife, which while expected was not nessisary if he wanted Rhaenerya to be his undisputed heir, he could have married a woman too old to have more children or just not have had more children. No. Alicent did not start this game of thrones, Viserys did.
Hate ? She is my fave. i def do not hate her. But lets be real. People hate her because nobody likes seen themselves in a true light. They would feel judge so they prefer characters that are unrealistic and do not resemble themselves. It makes them feel better, special. Its pure psychology
I could sit on the bed and ket you tell me these dynamic stories of lorr, I love it, you tell it as if you are reciting a poem. Can't wait for the next chapter.
Season Premiere gonna have the streets rocking
11:24 this marriage pact is viewed so incorrectly by the fandom. At this point Heleana and Aegon were already engaged, so were Baela and Jace, so this would actually be a total dick move to the Velaryon and is a good indicator that Rhaenerya was not being genuine. but more importantly this is very much a hostage sitution, she isn't offering the marriage to bridge the gap she is doing it so that if the people start to rally behind Aegon because she's a woman or because her children are bastards the Greens cannot act against them without Helaena getting killed. In this proposal she is literally threatening Heleana for the actions of other Lords. Rhaenrya is always threatening to kill Alicents kids, and has a history of killing anyone who stands in the way of what she wants (Vaemond, and Laenor in the books, who she was actually homophobic toward instead of accepting, which is a big reason she killed him, yes it was a hate crime in the books) This is actually a terrible proposition for Alicent who if it were to work would be forced to sit on her hands as her children were killed because of Rhaenerya's children's illegitimacy, as she either couldn't do anything as her son's were killed by Rhaenerya or she could protect her son's and get her daughter killed. Alicent didn't say no to be mean or difficult, she said no because saying yes would further risk her children's lives.
I was JUST thinking last night, that I hadn't seen a new video from you in a while, and was aching for new content. This was such a pleasant surprise to wake up to 😊 Gimme more juice, cuz the Night is LONG 😂❤
But is it dark and full of terrors? If so, the fire burns them all away 🐉🔥
@@JC-gn7lq well of course, but the _juice_ makes it so much easier to get through 😆
I don't hate Alicent at all. She is not a saint, but not a monster either. What throws me off about her is how she is quick to talk about duty and sacrifice but doesn't live that. I mean, the r*ped maid scene? The fact that she sucked as a mother? It's how she firmly believes she is different, but in actuality she is not.
She watched Bursburry got killed by Criston,lord Cassuel get hanged, nothing,lords in the court blackmailed,nothing.
@@МерлинФюсеиноваthats what makes her so complex and intriguing as a character she destroys and betrays herself for family for her children. Alicent deep down is confused on what is right. She doesn’t know anymore. Her internal dilemmas are fascinating.
Yes, these aspects do make her a fascinating character, and there's nothing wrong with liking a character who is morally conflicted and sometimes makes bad decisions.
Idk telling your kids theyre going to be killed when they arent just so they can have the throne is quite monsterous
@@user-op6kt8pg9y Rhaenyra over the span of 20+ years has not disproven this claim with her actions. Alicent has no reason to believe if it comes down to securing her and her bastards claim that she’d spare people she doesn’t even consider family.
Yeah, nah, once again show v book. Alicent was considerably older than Rhaenyra and barely knew her, not to mention that she had already been pimped out way before to the "old" King! Yep Alicent had a horrible life and forced Helena into another horrible life with her despicable, depraved son. And yes the child, Rhaenyra was a spoilt entitled brat who suddenly found herself with a huge burden upon her young shoulders. Alicent had been groomed for very, very many years, way more savvy and accepting of the role she was meant to play. Power at any cost for the family, House Hightower. Choose a side for the show? Team Black! Truth be told, GoT's Shireen had the right of it. War is just bloody stupid, the small folk are always the people who suffer the most.
I don't think she did anything sexual with Jaehaerys, but it's definitely unusual to have a young noblewoman (noblegirl?) attending to someone outside her own family like she's a nurse.
This is a really great. Video, and I especially like the way you presented it, good fortune to you.😊
You are back!
"It does not mean that this is the way it has to be."
YES. Every single tradition we have was started by someone at some point, and people just kept doing it for whatever reason (usually bc it reinforces power structures). People make this shit up, and people can change it. It's not the only way to do things. There are always alternatives. We can choose something different, and personally, I believe we're obligated to do so when traditions are harmful. It's usually difficult to do so bc people who benefit from certain traditions feel threatened, but that's not a good reason to keep things the way they are forever.
Didn’t realize how much I missed your channel.
Every time you drop a video is a good day. Consider the long night vanquished
I hate alicent a lot...she's so indecisive...she doesn't have any control but she thinks she have all control...
Team black should have just said "ok, the hightowers did a coup, time to destroy that family" and took their 3 biggest dragons, burned their homeland to the ground, and THEN started their war to get power back. Would also make the point to people deciding whose team to support that usurping the throne will lead to ruin.
Easiest way to get any follower of the faith of the seven to turn against you.
@@DanLanningPRTeamTell that to Maegor, more armies to burn.
Facts it would have destroyed their fount of power
@@DanLanningPRTeam i could see it turning the maesters against you, but I believe the maesters were always against targs anyway, so honestly no big loss.
@@umitencho didn't work out too well for maegor.
Alicent is not evil or naturally cruel. She is a massive hypocrite and allowed herself to be drawn into conflict and was integral in starting the war due to misplaced anger.
Alicent became what she thought she needed to in order to survive. If she had kept her friendship with Rhaenyra and encouraged her children's relationships with Rhaenyra's, if she had agreed to the match of Helaena and Jacaerys, if she had been a better mother, yes, things would have gone much differently. I wouldn't say any of it is strictly Alicent's fault, and she is not as bad as she thinks she is, (she also hates herself for mostly the wrong reasons.) But yes she has wrapped herself in a cloak of righteousness that she uses to hide even from her own conscious, and has allowed a terrible life to warp her as a person. She does not know how to go back and fix her mistakes.
i think the scene that pissed me off the most about alicent was right after viserys died and Otto announced it to the council and everyone just looks at each other and Alicent immediately pipes up (i don't remember the exact phrasing) but she said something like "So i assume you plan to have her killed?" because to me, right there you know she isn't innocent in all of this. She might be playing willfuly ignorant. But she knows everything she does has consequences for someone. That's why she lets Larys play with her nasty feet lmao She is MANIPULATIVE.
Ohh Grey!!😂 thank you for this!! I couldn't have said it better. You took the words right out of my mouth. And I was dying when you said Ser Crispin blew her back out!!!
She wanted lucerys eye more because her kids injury was being overlooked in favor of rhaenyra.
I get why people might not like her but the show runners, writers, as well as the actors who play alicent and rhaenyra are REALLY going out of their way to tell a more nuanced story. And I think we as viewers should respect and embrace that instead of just writing off characters to hate because it’s missing the point of what GRRM and house of the dragon show runners are trying to do with this show.
It is hard as a book reader to compare fire and blood alicent and house of the dragon alicent because their raised to power is different, she was age down, she was made Rhanerya one and only friend because apparently in a castle with more than 600 people living and serving at all time they couldn’t find other people. They stripped alicent of her responsibility in the war and the pre war because she was young, and so clearly being lead on by the neck by her father which is so opposite from what it was said in the book.
Their relationship how they seem to making them be “force” and “pull” apart from each other by this evil men around them because they don’t have a single working cell in their head or spine to stand for themselves as queen and heir princess.
However, my biggest issue with Alicent is the obvious mess of the writers from episode to episode. Alicent in one episode is so distraught then she is involved in all the evil done to bring down to Rhanerya, but then they are hugging each other, and praising each other. Alicent uses her authority in 23 years to shut Rhaenrya up in front of the court so Veamond could speak and disrespect Rhaenrya in front of everyone. Told Daemon and Rhanerya that she will be deciding the fate of Driffmark only for otto to sit the throne instead. In episode 9 she broke my head, same as episode 6.
I swears this girl has multiple personality disorder because in one episode we see 3 different Alicent.
She is so hypocritical and a neglectful and abusive mother, and absentee queen.
Which her book wasn’t. Maybe a hypocrite but not the other two.
I read the book when it came out and from what I remember Alicent was much worst in the book she pushed alot for her son Aegon to be on the throne. She was very hateful and spiteful worst. Hoping Raenerya would die on her birth bed. I’m team black never liked the greens. Thank you for the video
We are not sure if she did say that mushroom said that she did in fire and blood but a another book called the princess and the queen it's was stated in the book that she said only in the account of mushroom.
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That “back blown out line” was a great bar gray
Onmg I thought TH-cam lost you Ms Grey.... Haven't seen any if your stuff since HOTD started...So glad I found ya again
I see Gray, I click Gray, I enjoy the awesome she puts out!
Edit: My opinion on Alicent. I don't think show!Alicent is evil, or bad. I honestly, like show!Alicent. She complex, endearing, charming, ruthless from the learning from her father, bold, and a player of the Game. I like this Alicent, and if it wasn't for the mishearing Viserys, she would have still had a great story, going against Aemond, who would have sparked it off in a different way, and her father's plan. Book!Alicent, o she's the evil stepmother! And that Alicent I do hate!
I dont dislike her.
She along with Aemond and even Helaena are the only ones a person in their right could empathized with.
She had every right to be angry at Rhaenyra (Who prove herself untrustworthy and cruel ) and fearful of the fate of her entire family if she doesn't fight against her.
If people want to accused her they should be going both ways.
For Rhaenyra and her are both childish hypocrites. And very guilible.
Both of their families are gonna be almost entirely wiped out by the end because they allow people like Otto and Daemon to whisper on their ears.
When Vesarys was dying he was talking about the prince that was promised before saying he wants Aegon to be king. In context, he was probably continuing his conversation with Rhaenyra and talking about Aegon the younger (Aegon III). Alicent was willingfully mishearing this because she wanted her son on the throne and hated Rhaenyra.
Grey Area I've missed your special kind of tea 4 your sweet Summer children! I can't wait until June 4 S2!😮
I been gone since game of thrones ended which I was not happy about
😊 I'm pretty sure you didn't like it either but you're back and so am I so thanks I'm looking forward to your next post
Btw I just wanted to say I am obsessed with your narration. You don't sound like a boring script. It sounds like you KNOW the content to the point where you speak off the cuff with confidence. Come thu with that History PhD chain from the Citadel.
HELENA THE BLESSED
That was typical of medieval Europe. Women were seen as chattel and brood mares in medieval Europe. Matilda, daughter of Henry I left home at 6 to be married to a man of 40.
This video is all the reasons why I love your content!
10:44 how did Aemond start the fight, he literally claimed a Dragon and when he got back Luke and Jace were waiting to fight him, ffs Luke brought a knife. Aemond got attacked. In the scene where Alicent demands an eye Rhaenerya also demands Aemond who just lost an eye, a perminent disability, be tortured for information about the bastardy comments, and Viserys threatens to cut out his son's tongue. Alicent snapped but acting like Rhaenerya did nothing wrong and that Aemond the child who has been bullied by Jace and Luke and even his own brother is somehow at fault for being attacked with a knife is next level crazy. Even the cast said Alicent was in the right here.
Omg you love us another video❤❤❤❤
Yes I do!! 🥹
I love your commentary, great video!
Your analysis is on point! Well thought out and presented!
The long night is when you’re gone!!!!!! Love your voice and videos so much!
You explained it perfectly Gray
Damn. People hate Alicent more so than Daemon. Someone who is objectively more evil descended, spiteful, and hateful. But everyone loves him. We’re cooked 😂.
Alicent grew to be Otto Jr. that’s why I don’t like both of them.
Alicent is one of my most hated female characters I’ve ever seen.
In the show there was no Alicent and King Jaehaerys moment because Alicent and Rhaenyra are the same age and at the council of 101 Rhaenyra hasn’t even been born yet and Jaeherys died 2 years later which means that Alicent was literally a toddler when he died
17:39 He literally said "Aegon" as his last words, was she supposed to know that he was talking about a prophetic dream he never told her about? Hello? it was completely reasonable that his final words to Alicent, the mother of his son Aegon, think that he was referring to his son Aegon. Why on earth should that not be the conclusion she jumps to? Damn it was the conclusion the entire realm jumped to the day Aegon was born. which only happened because as you blatantly ignored Alicent was with him at his death bed when in fact it was Rhaenrya who up and left knowing full well he could die any day now.
Why would Alicent believe the rumblings of a man who was drugged and in such pain? She believed what she wanted without any consideration for the circumstances.
@@catseye1009 Because by all rights it’s what should have been her sons by right of every single Law of the country. Given that Rhaenerya claiming the throne is very likely a death sentence for her sons to ensure her legitimacy, it is very plausible that on his death bed, a terrible father realized that he wanted his sons to live.
@@Stay_ZeroseThe kings decree is the law. Not the traditions and desires of his subjects. Even the authority of the Lord’s paramount comes from the king.
The Starks, for example, are the wardens of the north, but they do not own the north, the king does. even the castle of Winterfell belongs to the king. the Starks can only occupy it with the crowns authority. When the king visits it is he who sits at the head of the table, not the Lord.
Targaryen’s have also had no issue in the past of destroying those who try to dictate which traditions they should obey.
Ask the old school faith militant about their attempt to dethrone the Targaryen’s for their incest marriage customs. They were destroyed and the royal family still practices incest. The faith of the seven meanwhile was forbidden from ever raising the faith militant again. No longer allowed to take up swords.
Visarys had no obligation to respect Andal traditions of male inheritance. To a dragon king, the traditions of his subjects are suggestions not law.
The kings word however IS law and the greens are nothing but traitors and oath breakers. Alicent, took the dying kings ramblings about the song of ice and fire ( a prophecy that she doesn’t even know about because it’s only told to the next in line for the throne) and she hears what she wants to hear and breaks the oath of her house.
Aegon had no right to the throne because the sitting king deemed it so and he vigorously defended his daughter’s claim and never wavered for 20 years.
@@roxas12590 The kings word is paramount untrue but that doesn’t mean that the king can do whatever he wants because failure to keep good faith with the lords and ladies of Westeros could very literally cause a complete collapse of his kingdom. A poor power hungry leader, Aerys collapsed the empire because the people didn’t let him burn people alive without consequences. He wasn’t able to let his son runaway with Lyanna. If royal decree by the king was paramount than the Blackfryes are the rightful leaders of Westeros and the Targaryens were illegally occupying the throne. If the kings word is law than Maegor was justified in all of his cruel actions because he is the king.
No a kingdom is run by order which is what allows the kingdom and family name to go on. A person simply change the entire function of succession just because they had a position of power.
Aegon is the true heir to the throne. Point blank because the King doesn’t get to change the rules upon which everyone voted on in and in favour of because he feels guilty that his wife died.
@@Stay_Zerose comparing Visarys to Aryes the mad king is a disingenuous bullshit comparison. Naming a female as heir is not comparable to the atrocities he committed.
The mad king abused his authority but the ruin of his house was long in the making, and the Targaryen’s had grown weaker with every generation after the dance of dragons. An incident instigated by an outside house, the scheming Hightowers.
There is no vote in monarchies and again all Lords derive their power from the Crown. Even the Lords who sit at the kings table are counselors, not legislators or authorities. They can counsel the king and he is free to ignore them.
There was no threat to Targaryen rule before the dance of dragons because no Lord or group of lords or host was going to stand a chance against what at that point was a house that had 17 dragons under Targaryen control.
Aegon conquered six of the seven kingdoms with only three.
I’ve already shown you clear examples that the dragon kings are not obligated to obey Westerosi customs. To quote Daemon “ you are the dragon your word is truth and law”
All Lord’s paramount, including the Hightowers, swore an oath to his the kings chosen heir. There is no debate the throne belongs to Rhaenrya.
I hate Queen Alicent!! Her playing dumb about king versarys saying he wanted her son to be king after he openly declared Rhaenerys to be queen, her knowing he was high on milk of the poppy!
i heard your voice tremble a little when you said "I love Helaena." It made me tear up too. This entire time Helaena has been breaking my heart with how she is, and how she's treated. Poor little fragile thing, poor pure-hearted thing. She deserved so much better than all this.
Happy to see you back.
Their is nothing innocent about Alicent 🤣
Neither is Rhaenyra
@@TheDream6842Straight up. Team Small Folk. Everyone sucks at the end of the story. People are gonna feel so dumb for rooting for one side or the other.
Ty! They need to learn the book lol
I did read the book. Rhaenyra was the rightful heir. Her son ends up on the throne. There's no reason for me not to support her side just bc I know that most of them die and it's a disaster for everyone.
@@JC-gn7lq You can support Rhaenyra's claim to the throne, which I do in a legal sense and the fact that she is a more suitable heir, but not support the ensuing horror that puts her there. No one looks good at the end of this story, even if the throne was stolen from her.
People are out here (with admitted nudging from the show's advertising) rooting for one side of the conflict or the other, when personally I can't condone the actions of either. It gets messy, but is entertaining.
The show took away a lot of agency and personality defects from both Alicent and Rhaenyra, which is kind of a bummer and definitely muddles the fault that can be laid from their specific decisions and not just their parties as a whole. I hope this changes this season as things ramp up. Book wise Rhaenyra becomes more desperate and unhinged while Alicent deflates almost completely.
I don’t dislike Alicent. I dislike her writing. The Greens are the villains that’s just the truth. But they’re supposed to be villains you can make a case for.
The show painted Alicent as this remorseful saint who is delusional about her jealousy and spite. But book Alicent was openly jealous of Rhaenyra as Rhaenyra was of her. They envied and despised each other EQUALLY which made Alicent’s pettiness more understandable or at least less one sided. Show Alicent is just a loser. Which is a waste of her character in my opinion. They seem to be hinting at a more stern, ambitious mindset in the trailer but I guess we’ll have to see what they do with her.
I can always count on you to break it all the way down!!!
@@GrayArea I always need the juice to get there tho ❤️❤️❤️
I dislike Alicent because she poisoned her children against Rhaenyra. Yes, that started with Otto. He's her father not a demigod.
Accept the show proposed marriage between Helaena and Jace. Talk with Rhaenyra for like 20 minutes to realise she isn't a blood crazed maniac nor is Daemon. Hash out a way that everyone swears an oath of nonviolence to each other and that their weight as Prince/princess goes behind this, it becomes much harder to betray someone as a monarch or a claimant when you publically gave your word you wouldn't.
dont mind me, just here to get my juice fix to get me through the long night...
I have been enjoying this channel for years. I am so glad to see your new videos! :)
I never really understood why people hate alicent. They just use thire pov and not we see .
1st We saw alicent not wanting to go to Vesris to comfort hif after the death of his wife. She doesn't want to but her father made her. We saw the expression on Alicent,s face when Vesris announced thire marriage. People are like. Oh she seduced veseris and she is evil
2nd After her marriage to Vesris she tried many times to make peace with rhaenyra but rhaenyra refused.
We saw her many times defend rhaenyra against her father the council even the king. That is literally tje reason her father was exiled because she choose to defend rhaenyra and yet people say alicent is jealous of rhaenyra
We saw her son being bullied for years
When he finally got a dragon he was confronted by 4 children. Mind you 1 had already planned on harming or killing aemond before the fight. They accused him of being a thief .They attacked him outnumbering him. He picked up the stone to defend himself he he lowered the rock and called the kids who bullied him bastards (Which they are lucerys pulled out a knife and kept trying to stab aemond. Now at that time aemond had already left jace go .Jace and lucerys were free to run away .When .When Jace threw sand in aemond,s eye they had a chance to run away but they stayed just so lucerys could cut out aemond,s eye and everyone is like Oh lucerys was defending his brother. Aemond was going to kill them with a rock but ignore that lucerys actually came whit a knife. They had chances to run away. Aemond was protecting himself to he is the one who was attacked first and yet aemond is the bully
At the aftermath of the fight Vesris came and didn't even care about his 10 years old child who had 1 eye cut out like an hour or less ago for telling the obvious truth.Then rhaenyra was like let's sharply question him so he can tell where ha heard such slanders. Then Vesris literally then threatened anyone who dare tell the truth and was just make your apologies and that's all no body in the room cares about aemond or his lost eye .Alicent demand for .lucerys,s eye. Everyone were like how evil is she. How dare she suggest something like that. If a child can plan on killing or maiming someone then that person is not a child
When ahe asked for the eye Vesris who didn't even comfort her or her son Thire son he then just ordered alicent to let it go. Not even ask. He ordered
Finally alicent was like screw this and takes the knife and was coming for lucerys but she ends up cutting rhaenyra. Then everyone is like she cut the heir how dare she
We saw alicent ask for rhaenyra,s baby. Rhaenyra decided to willingly take the baby herself everyone was like alicent is evil. How dare she ask rhaenyra to come right after giving birth but when rhaenyra forced her sick dying father to come out of hos room to defend her over a lie no body said anything
When he finished defending her over a lie and fell on the chair moaning in pain rhaenyra didn't even rush to help him. Alicent was the one who ran up to him and called the masters. Still alicent is evil
Rhaenyra abandoned her father and flew off to dragonstone for years. Then came back belittle alicent who was there taking care of her father all this years. Alicent is evil
We saw Vesris say ageon will unite the kingdom and alicent of course will believe it thire son .Everyone is like Oh she didn't misunderstand the king's last message and are like he has spent years saying rhaenyra is heir why will she believe Vesris wasn't talking about thire ageon. Mabye because there is something called changing of mind at the last minute. How can you usurp someone's throne and then send them peace terms and refuse to kill them. It's very clear alicent misunderstood the message.
And yet somehow she is the evil one
I can't list all that alicent did that makes her better person
It's kind of easy to understand why people hate Alicent Hightower, the view is one of inconsistency and her actions are always caused by other characters as if she had no motivation of her own; her wardrobe, her allies, her marriage, her children and the way she treats them, her ambitions; everything derives from someone else, almost as if she were a living doll, but at the same time there are moments when the script makes it clear that she knows what she's doing. Especially in the first season as an adult.
It's completely understandable when Alicent doesn't want to visit Viserys, but it's also quite obvious why her father is forcing her to, I agree with Gray, she's well versed in the politics of Westeros but she could also have spoken to her friend but it would have been a big risk just like meeting the king. The shock at the council because of the Velaryons and their power being rejected, the public shock was more because "oh, your best friend is now your stepmother" and in that sentence it's quite obvious to understand why Rhaenyra didn't accept her closeness feeling hurt, disgusted, because they were teenagers and there was no maturity, she also didn't want closeness with Viserys.
Alicent's defense of Rhaenyra was obviously a matter of guilt, as you say, you can see it in her expression, because she knows full well what her father's intentions are as Hand. The literal reason her father is sacked is for spying on the heir of the throne in order to favor his own side and for dumping his own daughter on Viserys (as he realizes later). And then Alicent uses the declaration of war at Rhaenyra's wedding and for decades afterwards and makes her children use it too, nobody does that without intending something.
We saw her son bullied by his child nephews, especially by his older brother, a teenager who despite his young age was the one who led the jokes (and later shows that he can still do it) and she seemed to have eyes only for the Velaryon, the same one who later claims that he is a threat to his sister and that both she and Jace would kill him. This is treason, not only that, but her son shows that he has never felt danger before and yet she encourages this image (we later see Aemond claim that Helaena would be Aegon's queen, hardly anything was a secret between them).
If you understand that any of those kids orchestrated a murder then maybe you watched it in the wrong way or you're following in the footsteps of the greens from being delulus. In fact Aemond almost killed Jace, I don't think he planned it but he was going to do it, and Luke defended him, just like before when he caught Luke and Jace defended him. What you said about defending himself was the same as what the two boys did. You said yourself that he was going to kill him. Everyone had a chance to leave before the big climax, but the fighting was already intense and there were no guards around.
Viserys wanted that stupid dream to keep his peace, when Rhaenyra had him questioned it was probably to scare him or maybe not, but the fact is that her children are legally Velaryon, she is the heir princess, that was high treason whether it was family or not. So Viserys tried to soften the blow by threatening to cut out the tongue of anyone who suggested it, finally taking the slightest action. And yes, how dare Alicent ask for a child's eye in return. Not just a child but the heir to the house she was in, whether she was queen or not Lucerys was the heir to Driftmark, it's stupid to think that anyone would let her get close, you understand her side as an angry mother and wife but you also realize that it's unfeasible in that situation and she's created an image for herself of piousness and balance that has fallen apart for those present there. The court doesn't react well to women with too many opinions of their own.
None of those children planned to kill anyone and that's a pretty bad argument to use when you remember what happens afterwards, this "eye for an eye" dynamic can be answered in the same way, and spoiler: it was answered.
When Alicent asked to see the baby, she knew exactly what she was doing, just as when she talked about breast milk while trying to deflect the subject of the probable marriage between her children, it was disgusting and mean. Rhaenyra is a mother, a real one and Joff was a newborn, if you would leave your baby with someone who openly dislikes you and sabotages you, you'd better rethink your concepts of motherhood. (Literally Olivia talked about this and her envy of her stepdaughter).
When he came to her defense, it was his last act. I don't know if it was love because I don't think Viserys was good to any of his children, but also about his word, he is the king and he had given his word. She had asked but had no hope that he would go since his throne was taken by the Hightowers who had inherited nothing from Oldtown and were trying to make their way in House Targaryen.
Viserys defended her claim and Lord Velaryon's wish, as did Rhaenys, and Alicent helped him because in the fictional view of marriage and the faith she loyally follows, that is her obligation as a wife. Like it or not, she was the king's wife and had much more power than many queens, even having the privilege of a place on the council, Rhaenyra had the right to go away to a quiet life with her own family in focus instead of KL's bitterness, she walked to help him but the others ran ahead of her, Viserys' dream of peace ended when he let snakes into the house of the dragon. She had a chance and left, but I still think she should have stayed and drained the queen consort's power and prevented the usurpation.
We saw several times that the usurpation didn't happen overnight. Before Viserys's death, she and her father seemed quite ready to help Vaemond not just because it was "the right thing to do" but because having the Lord of the Tides on their side would be good for future decisions, as Vaemond reminds her, which made it obvious that they were trying to and almost did find him before King Viserys decided to sit on the throne. None of those banners were made in a day, she had already commented to Aegon, Aemond had said something about Helaena so it's practically impossible that she didn't understand before Viserys said part of the prophecy. Alicent would hear what she wanted to hear.
There's no such thing as changing your mind at the last minute, everyone would have known it was usurpation and so would she, she just wanted to fool herself because in the show version every episode she has a personality change between wanting her son on the throne or not. "How can you usurp if you send a message of peace?" Quite simple, they wanted a peaceful transaction, Otto's plan was to slaughter everyone, but that's idiotic, Alicent's plan was to give her and her children terms to appear benevolent. They crowned Aegon before even announcing Viserys' death when he had an heir for DECADES, they tried to adorn him with the conqueror's objects to give legitimacy it is usurpation, the peace terms were to soften their side and get more support houses (spoiler: they didn't obtain it, even the Reach, which is where the Hightowers originally are, was divided).
The meaning of usurpation is an act of usurping; wrongful or illegal encroachment, infringement, or seizure. 2. illegal seizure and occupation of a throne. Literally what was done. With so many details, alliances, colors of war, dialogues, attempts at sabotage, to think that it was misunderstood is innocence and in the end it didn't work at all because she sold her own children to death to escape with her daughter and granddaughter, after losing positions and experiencing the revolt of the population and, of course, because before "the war had already begun and could not stop", but when she started to notice, she suddenly remembered other colors besides green and that a war was coming, which was OBVIOUS because a usurpation would have a reaction throughout the realm and they thought it would be in their favor, and then it was proven that it was not.
Rhaenyra is more villian than Alicent . She literally using her fathers love for her to break rules. She gaslighting the whole realm about her children, Alicent is not perfect, but Rhaenyra is manipulative , episode 7 is episode where Rhaenyra is villian , not Alicent. I think every actor agreed with this. Its not our world, its Westeros, and in their world Alicent is right about everytjing
I remember talking about Alicent. I was sympathetic to her because she was thrown into a situation that was for the benefit of others. She was basically pimped out by her father for political advancement. I also get why she was upset when she found out Rhaenyra lied to her and the resentment she had towards Rhaenyra because of the lack of consequences of Rhae's actions.
Now, as sympathetic I am, I also think she is a calculated hypocrite. She is bitter and spiteful because of the decisions that were made for her and what she gave up to marry Viserys. However, she fails to acknowledge that her hatred is due to her own insecurities and failures. She created an environment where even the children were at odds. Although I get Rhaenyra lied, I wouldn't have trusted Alicent either. Her father was involved in exposing Rhae to Viserys. Viserys clocked what he was up to and fired him. She was a terrible mother to her kids and looked at them as politicial advantages, just like her father viewed her. She married two of own her kids but had such a problem with Rhaenyra and Daemon. She's willing to cover up for her own children but yet scold Viserys for protecting his.
I feel bad for her because was a victim of circumstances, but she then became a villian because of her circumstances.
First here love you Gray
Totally agree you know her and Crispen Cole are sharing fluids.
Team Small folks
Wasn't alicient sick by rynerya sleeping with her uncle.. but then wedds her two kids together
Thats a better alternative than marry your only daughter to a known bastard
oh i loved this! i've missed you
Keep the content coming
The reason why I don't like Alicent is the fact that she hides behind purity and the role of a mother to actively hurt Rhaenyra and it makes sense that she does so, she thinks every woman HAS to go through the same as she did, she's deeply bitter about the fact that she didn't had a choice (true) but also calls Rhaenyra "Spoiled" As if she isn't the queen and every order she gives is a command and a lot of those we're to make Nyra's life hell. She is trying to always undermind Nyra's children despite her son begin the bully, then indirectly the cause of the dead of Harwin ( a man that Rhaenyra clearly loved) and then TRIED to removed the eye of Jace and hurted Rhae and did thag get her in trouble? NO OFC NOT. Its just the cycle of abuse trying to impose it into Rhaenyra because she is deeply bitter. I can't wait for Crispy Cream video because GOD I HATE THAT MAN. Amazing video ❤
Alicent is a victim who snapped
Self-serving! You said it! That throne has a powerful appeal lol Viserys was a good and peaceful king and that is why people stood by his choice even after his death, that being said , I think we have some amazing reveals coming this season, I feel like we will learn where, "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" came from :)