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Emma D'Arcy: This game they are locked in, it's largely a nonverbal one, and it's bitter and silent and stony. To name it is to begin to disarm the chasm, the trauma, the difficulty, the pain. Olivia Cooke: We exist in a series of looks and chess pieces and hearsay and ravens. We don’t ever get to see the words in front of us.

— Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke for Vulture

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“They’re each other's first love, I would say, and they’re incredibly heartbroken towards the end.”

— Olivia Cooke.

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Is this another game? No.

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rhaenyra and alicent are the father of each other's children

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RHAENYRA & ALICENT 1.08 “The Lord of the Tides”

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People still being convinced that the Alicent-Rhaenyra feud was because Alicent was jealous/upset that Rhaenyra had sex makes my head hurt, honestly.

Alicent confronted Rhaenyra about the brothel because she was concerned about Rhaenyra and her position. One of their first scenes in Episode 1 was literally a precursor to the Episode 4 scene; Rhaenyra is rather flippant about her political position, not as visibly concerned as Alicent thinks she should be, whilst Alicent is visibly concerned and frustrated that Rhaenyra isn't as engaged or serious about it. It's literally copy-and-paste in terms of the same general mannerisms.

Alicent isn't frustrated or pissed that Rhaenyra had sex. She's aware of the way politics work and the prejudice and consequences that could come from what is rumoured about Rhaenyra. And she goes directly to Rhaenyra to find out the truth and to help her (she even says "I only want to help you").

I also think people forget how the confrontation ended. Rhaenyra and Alicent come to a resolve the problem and Alicent believes Rhaenyra's side of it. Heck, Alicent even verbally emphasises what we were meant to pick up - that it's about the politically ramifications of a princess being seen in a brothel being sexual with her uncle.

And the "green dress moment" is a consequence of several factors.

One, the obvious is that Rhaenyra did not tell Alicent the entire truth and the person she slept with was Criston, not Daemon. Keep in mind that Criston is a member of the Kingsguard, sworn to chastity. Two, the consequences of believing Rhaenyra were pretty steep for Alicent. Her father lost his job inadvertently because of Alicent, meaning that she is pretty much entirely alone at court.

Three, it's a matter of trust and vulnerability. Alicent cared about Rhaenyra enough to go to her and try to get the truth and to help her. She trusted what Rhaenyra said and expressed this to Viserys, taking Rhaenyra's side even when Viserys doubted Rhaenyra. And then it turns out that Rhaenyra was not telling the whole truth and that Viserys also went behind Alicent's back because he believed Rhaenyra did do something.

With her father gone, Alicent is well and truly isolated, especially since she now perceives that she cannot fully trust Rhaenyra or Viserys not to keep things from her or go behind her back.

I think it's also necessary to consider Criston. A member of the Kingsguard who broke his vows with the Princess, showing once again that Rhaenyra is rather unconcerned about the rules and laws of the land and court. I think also the fact that Criston told her the truth but Rhaenyra, someone she trusted and perceived to be a friend, did not.

All of this combined with Otto reminding her of the brutal realities of feudalism no doubt triggered anxieties for Alicent. She has children to think about now and those she thought she could trust are no longer completely trustworthy.

The "green dress" moment is a moment of strength and independence and defiance for Alicent, and a way for her to carve out an identity for herself. Alicent is politically-conscious and she knows she needs support, which is why she turns to the Hightowers in a symbolic and defiant display.

It's not about Alicent being jealous about Rhaenyra having sex or about Alicent being a raving misogynistic "tradwife". It's about trust and politics and Alicent building up a defence to protect herself and her children against any potential threat.

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I think there’s something so deeply and intimately and morbidly true about The Last of Us’s primary thesis which is that humanity’s fatal flaw, in that very Shakespearian way, is that we are destined to care too much about one another so much so that we discard the collective entirely. like we have such a capacity to love the human race and humanity as a whole, to grow our communities and govern cities how we know best and foster such connection with the masses which we are part of, but it’s overtaken by our capacity to love even just a single other person. like one human can come into your life that creates such an intrinsic and passionate love in you— or maybe two people or a family’s worth or any small number— and you suddenly would burn entire villages down just to keep them safe.

joel doesn’t blink twice murdering to find ellie. he doesn’t look back when he decides to do what he does at the hospital later on. he has no remorse about any of it it, because this one girl has grown to mean more to him than any possible greater good could ever mean. and it’s reciprocal. ellie would— and does— do anything she can to help him, save him, protect him, and, eventually, to avenge him. because that’s what you do when you love someone. not when you love people. when you love someone.

and it’s selfish, in a way??? because we love these people and would do so much for them because they mean more to us than other strangers do. it’s exactly like an iteration of the trolley problem, actually. one track has your daughter on it and one track has fifty people. don’t even try telling me you wouldn’t go onto track B if it meant saving your daughter and her puppy dog eyes from the whimpering and pain and fear. The Last of Us says yes, you would. I would. we all would. and like yeah that is our greatest weakness, that we have such a unique ability to love a handful of people so deeply that our compassion towards community and strangers and the bigger collective starts to slip from view. but goddamn what a fucking great fatal flaw it is to have. we are all going to die and the world will burn because we loved another person too much.

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The biggest hypocrite in HOTD has to be Rhaenys. The scene where she's practically belittling Alicent, accusing her of only serving the men in her life had me speechless.

This from Rhaenys, who has done everything her husband wanted, even when it went against her own wishes? This is someone who wants to accuse another woman of upholding the patriarchy?

• She had the highest claim to the Iron Throne, was passed over for a man with a lesser claim, and apparently just gave up and didn't even attempt to fight for her own claim.

• She offered up her 12 year old daughter to Viserys because her husband wanted his blood on the throne.

• Again her husband wants his blood on the IT, so she agrees to marry her gay son to Rhaenyra.

• Completely bypasses her grandaughters claim to Driftmark , and instead supports a boy she knows isn't her son's child and has no legitimate claim to the Driftmark throne. Even if she didn't support her own granddaughters, she could have raised her own claim to DM or supported her brother in law Vaemond. But she does none of those things. Why? Because it's not what her husband wanted.

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nothing is more subtle or more heartbreaking to me than alicent in the wedding feast scene. and half these shots dont even follow her, they follow viserys shes just in the background, (which just perfectly sums up the way alicent and her desires are stifled by viserys/his wants just btw)

so shes just watched whatever it was that was happening between daemon and rhaenyra. salt in a very fresh wound. and as far as i can work out was literally tearing up over it (if we look at the screenshot above). but then people are screaming and pushing and shoving and alicent instinctively gets up before anyone else at the table even does, still looking like shes about to cry the whole time, right up until the moment she realises its not just pushing and shoving - theres a fight happening exactly where rhaenyra was just a moment before, and suddenly her expression changes to this shot of her blatantly worrying about rhaenyra:

"but lydia, how do you know shes worried about rhaenyra? she could just be in shock at seeing the fight and concerned in general."

because its spelled out for us the next time we see her:

this shows us pretty obviously alicents only really interested in where rhaenyra is. this is a tv show, they don't show someone's reaction to something just for the sake of it and alicent is the only person we see react to rhaenyra being safe. she even appears to relax at the end, as if relieved.

this very clearly sets the stage for alicent's refusal to accept any physical harm to rhaenyra - so we can understand why she feels so much guilt and self-loathing over slicing open rhaenyra's arm, and why she is so adamant about protecting rhaenyra in episode 9 even after everything she and rhaenyra have put each other through. just as rhaenyra has a desire to reconcile with alicent she cant shake, reaching out for her even in moments when shes been given no reason to hope (like at the council in episode 6 and dinner in episode 8), alicent has this desperate need to make sure rhaenyra's safe, even at times when she has no intention of reconciling with her. even when shes at her most hostile, harbouring enough resentment to show up to rhaenyras wedding wearing a declaration of war, alicent still cant stomach the thought of rhaenyra being physically harmed. and it doesn't seem to be an aspect of her characterisation thats going anywhere anytime soon.

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House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra Targaryen and The Politics of Having Illegitimate Heirs

I don’t think people understand why Alicent was so bothered by Rhaenyra having illegitimate children as much as she was. Yes, part of it was coming from a place of frustration at Rhaenyra for scoffing at tradition and not honouring her marriage vows, but Alicent’s primary focus was on the politics - and how it put her own children in mortal danger.

Painting: The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

You see, if Rhaenyra had legitimate children with Ser Laenor, then the Greens would have no reason whatsoever to try and replace Rhaenyra as heir to the throne with Aegon. They, in truth, would’ve been usurpers. But as we know, Rhaenyra having bastards not only weakened her own claim to the throne but by it, she has given her enemies a legitimate reason to support Aegon instead of her. Just think about it - nearly every lord in the realm has a bastard of his own. If Rhaenyra puts her own bastards on the throne, it sets a precedent - that bastards can have a claim to a title just as much as legitimate children can. This of course presents a HUGE crisis to the lords who probably have multiple bastards running around, now all potential heirs to his house. Some lords might even have older bastard brothers, brothers who would potentially be better rulers than them if they were trueborn. Brothers who would follow Rhaenyra’s suit and place themselves in positions of great power and usurp their trueborn sibling’s claims. No doubt, this would lead to violence, in-fighting, bloodshed and the potential extinction of houses and bloodlines that go back thousands of years.

So naturally, any lord who would be fearful of this playing out would naturally ally themselves with the trueborn children of House Targaryen - Alicent’s children. Whether the Greens want it or not, Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron would become unwilling figureheads for rebellions against Rhaenyra. These rebels would rally themselves around Alicent’s children, demand them to be crowned instead of Rhaenyra, and of course, Rhaenyra would have absolutely no choice but to execute her half-siblings, to save herself and her children. Whether Alicent’s children want it or not, they are living, breathing, constant challenges to Rhaenyra’s throne.

It’s the exact predicament Mary I of England faced - a Catholic queen who had just deposed her Protestant cousin, the Lady Jane Grey, Mary had no choice but to order 16 year old Jane’s execution in 1554. Despite having Jane imprisoned, rebels kept on popping up around England, all marching on London to dethrone Mary in Jane’s name, even though Jane herself was oblivious to what was happening because she was behind bars and had already relinquished her crown and declared for Mary. Mary was hoping to restore Catholicism to England and was planning to marry a foreign prince so she could provide England with a Catholic heir - but she knew so long as Jane lived, Mary, her future children and England would never know peace. So she reluctantly signed Jane’s death warrant, causing the death of one of England’s most tragic figures.

This would be the fate of Alicent’s children if Rhaenyra ever ascended the throne. No matter how good willed Queen Rhaenyra would be to her siblings, it wouldn’t last. The minute the first lord lit the beacon of rebellion and openly called Rhaenyra’s sons illegitimate usurpers of Alicent’s trueborn children with no right to the throne, Alicent’s children would’ve been executed. There’s absolutely no way Rhaenyra would ever chose Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron’s lives over her own living children - what mother would?

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“almost every woman i have ever met has a secret belief that she is just on the edge of madness, that there is some deep, crazy part within her, that she must be on guard constantly against ‘losing control’ — of her temper, of her appetite, of her sexuality, of her feelings, of her ambition, of her secret fantasies, of her mind." 

notes for a magazine, elana dykewomon (sinister wisdom #36)

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(via w7uzcbav582a1.png (PNG Image, 1080 × 2340 pixels) — Scaled (33%))

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