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elin-moon · 3 days ago

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More on Alicent and her inconsistent character in season 2:

I feel like the writers and directors forgot what and who Alicent is as a character, what she represents. From watching season 1, I'd say Alicent is a representation of the women who not only live the way the Patriarchal society wants them to live, but also openly supports the Patriarchal system and shames women who don't live by the expectation, because for them it works so it should work for every woman.

This is most evident in Alicent's treatment of Rhaenyra, constantly going out of her way to put down Rhaenyra's authority amongst the men at court and in the council. Of course, it is all for her own gain, as Rhaenyra having less power means more power for her, which comes in the form of respect from the men around her. In everything Alicent does, she's looking to make herself look more endearing to the men around her by putting down another woman who is not behaving in the typical way that a woman is expected to be.

Such as with the really strong focus on Rhaenyra having bastards, not because she's sleeping around with a lot of men, but because the man she's married with can't have children with her; Rhaenyra is having bastard children out of a necessity to have heirs, but also because it is expected of her as a woman. If she were a man, no one would've cared, which is even said in the show:

"If I were born a man, I could father a dozen bastards." - Rhaenyra Targaryen

A man can have sex with as many women as he wants and have as many illegitimate children as he'd like, but a woman can't. If she does, she's considered a whore, which is exactly what happens to Rhaenyra, and Alicent perpetuates this by further spreading the rumours of Rhaenyra's infidelity and her children's legitimacy, all for the betterment of her own cause, to make Aegon appear as a better candidate for the throne. Alicent uses the Patriarchal system to her advantage to get what she wants, to put her son on the throne.

The most important thing is that Alicent doesn't necessarily see this as wrong. I mean, look at her father, Otto Hightower, who constantly tells her that a woman could never rule, that it must be Aegon that is king, becuase he's the first born son.

"It wouldn't matter if she were Jaehaerys himself come again; she is a woman."

In his eyes, Rhaenyra could never rule on her own as a woman, and he sends this message down to his daughter. Society itself also supports him in his belief, as is evident by the Great Council of 101, where Viserys was chosen over Rhaenys to rule, the very first scene in the first episode. As every woman in the show, Alicent suffers under the Patriarchy, but she's been raised to believe that that is what's right, and any other woman who refuses to suffer the same and tries to push back against the system in anyway is wrong and should be taught better.

Alicent's loyalty to the Patriarchy is also presented through her piousness to the Faith of the Seven, a fictional religion that takes inspiration from real life Christianity. Now, we all know very well that Christianity is being used as a tool to keep women down and subservient to their husbands, encouraging them to be obedient to the men in their lives. Christianity is alos the root of purity culture, telling young girls they must remain pure and chaste maidens for their future husbands, and if they don't do so, they are harlots and whores and sinners and they will surely go to hell. Since the Faith of the Seven is so similar to Christianity, it supports a similar concept of women needing to remain pure before marriage, and Alicent would've been raised with this belief, so evidently believes it so herself. This would not only further tie into her treatment of Rhaenyra, who she believes has sullied herself by having sex outside of marriage, but also her treatment of other girls and women.

For example, Dyana, the maid that Aegon raped. While, by all means, Alicent does help her, giving her contraceptive Moon tea and money so she can get away without trouble, Alicent still helps the maid hide. It is suggested by the show that this isn't the first time Aegon's done this, yet he hasn't really been punished by the law in anyway, because he's a man, and Alicent knows this. So, the best she can do is offer Dyana (and possibly other maids that have suffered similarly) an escape from further suffering. But she also has to keep her son's actions a secret, because they are considered bad, and while Aegon won't get punished for it, it may give him a slightly bad look to the public and give Team Black something to use as proof that Aegon isn't a capable ruler, and Alicent can't have that. So, she makes sure the maids, like Dyana, don't talk of what's happened to them, paying them to get out as soon as possible. She knows she can silence them easily since their voices don't matter as mere maids, so her privilege as queen is used as well, making sure women beneath her struggle in silence.

Her perpetuating Patriarchal values is also evident with her daughter, Helaena. While she doesn't mistreat her in any matter and cares for her dearly, Alicent obviously thinks that what is bets for Helaena is for her to live by the expectations set out for women. She has her daughter married to Aegon at 13, and forces her to have children with him as a teenager. In the book, she's 14 giving birth to the twins, and in the show, assuming she's around 19 and the twins are 4, she gives birth at 15. Either way, she's far too young to be getting married and having children, but this is what society expects of her, and what Alicent pushes for, since she believes it is for the best. Alicent herself was a teenager getting married and having children young, both in the show and the book. Sure, in the book she's 18, but that is still quite young (as an 18 year old myself, I couldn't image getting married and having children), and in the show, she's about 14 getting married and 15/16 having her first child. Alicent lived by society's expectations, and it is evident in the show she doesn't enjoy it, but she believes she must, so she thinks Helaena must as well. In fact, she believes every woman must as well. She sees Rhaenyra doesn't live a life of servitude to her husband, and Alicent hates her for it, most likely being jealous of her freedom, seen most evidently first when Alicent is still young and Rhaenyra is still unmarried and refuses to marry even though she's given plenty of men to choose from while Alicent had been given no choice.

"I think it's rather romantic" - Alicent Hightower

"What's so romantic about being locked up in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs." - Rhaenyra Targaryen

Alicent is jealous of Rhaenyra's percieved freedom, of her ability to choose who to marry, who to have children with. Alicent doesn't see that Rhaneyra is still being forced to marry when she doesn't want to, she just sees the privilege of choice on who that Rhaenyra has, and she wishes she could have that, and feels that Rhaenyra is being ungrateful. As time passes, and Rhaenyra gets away with stuff women wouldn't normally get away with, such as having illegitimate children as her heirs and having an affair with the man she loves, Alicent becomes more and more jealous, and it turns into cruelty, trying constantly to put Rhaenyra down to make herself feel better; she's the one being a good woman here, she's the one following the rules that society set out for her, she she believes she is righteous in what she does. She believes women must live like her, living for the men around them and offering everything they have to men, even their ambition, or else they are wrong.

"You've gone too far!" - Rhaenyra Targaryen

"I!? What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while you flout all to do as you please! ... Where's duty? Where's sacrifice? It's trampled under your pretty foot again!" - Alicent Hightower

Alicent believes sacrifice is necessary, something women must do, and when Rhaenyra doesn't sacrifice her owns self for the men around her, Alicent believes she's not being a woman correctly, that she's behaving incorrectly because she doesn't live exactly as the Patriarchal society expects her to.

The Patriarchy requires women to sacrifice everything: their very freedom, their very rights, their very desires, all to be desirable to men, and religion is used to make women believed that these sacrifices make them righteous, that it makes them better then other women, which only strengthens the system as the women who are being oppressed support their own oppression.

This is who Alicent was in season 1, and season 2 fails to deliver this. She has sex outside of wedlock even though her religion would forbid it, and she tries to break away from what she started and tries to go back to Rhaenyra even though she hasn't been given a good reason to other than a desire for freedom from the system. While I don't believe her character arc of breaking away rom the system is bad, I feel it was badly written; it all happens far too quickly. In just a few short weeks (at best), she's gone from fully supprting her son taking the throne and being willing to make sacrifices to achieve this, to abandoning her son entirely while he's injured and longing to break away from the cage she's been trapped in for years. It's unrealistic, no one can change that quickly in a few weeks. This arc would make sense if it was more drawn out and build upon slowly. Perhaps Alicent's desire for freedom could be foreshadowed at best in season 2, and in season 3 have it fully manifest, but it being far too late for Alicent to escape and now she has to suffer with her guilt and regrets as she watches everything fall apart around her, driving her mad as she can no longer change anything, no matter how much she wants. She has build her own cage and chains, and now has no choice but to keep to them, no matter how much she hates it now.

But whatever, we shall see what season 3 will do with her character. Perhaps they'll fix up on the inconsistencies and find a way to make her character make sense in a satisfying way that somehow aligns with season 1 and 2, but we'll have to wait.

For now, I'm done.

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