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whitegownsandflowercrowns · 3 months ago

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In Defense Of Alicent’s Choice (aka Blood & Cheese: Electric Boogaloo)

Someone had to do it. (Put below the cut because this is going to be a long one)

In case you somehow missed it, here’s a quick recap: after reconnecting with nature and probably narrowly avoiding a suicide attempt, Alicent goes to Rhaenyra to beg for peace. She agrees to Rhaenyra’s terms of opening up the gates of King’s Landing while Aemond, Criston, Daeron and Gwayne are away fighting. Rhaenyra accepts most of this, but insists upon one point: Aegon must be executed. A son for a son, and an end to any in King’s Landing who may challenge her claim. Alicent agrees.

In case you somehow missed it, this has pissed her fans off.

Her choice here has frequently been compared to her final scene in Season 1:

Where she steps in front of Aegon when Rhaenys and Meleys crash his coronation. While this gesture would have been pointless had Meleys breathed fire, it represented Alicent’s love for her son and her willingness to die for him. In the past week, you have probably seen this gif with some variation of “rip season 1 alicent hightower you would have hated season 2 alicent hightower” or “FUCK RYAN CONDAL.”

My main problem with these takes is that they ignore everything that has come before in Season 2.

Because Alicent loves Aegon. Of course she does. No matter what he’s done, she still loves him. But the Alicent of 2x08 is not the Alicent of 1x09, and not in a bad way.

Let’s recap Season 2 for Alicent. Her second son has murdered Rhaenyra’s second son, but it’s been 10 days (at least that’s what I remember them saying) and there’s been no retribution or demand for Aemond’s head. They should be safe. Therefore, she takes a lover in Criston Cole, and sees no risk in sneaking him into her chambers for an hour. After all, they’re not at war yet. Speaking of that war, she seems to be the only person at the Small Council advocating for peace. Everyone else wants war, but perhaps she can prevent it. She doesn’t want innocents to suffer, and she knows what Viserys told her - Aegon must be king. Surely Rhaenyra will come to see things her way eventually. But then, it turns out that all was not so well. Her daughter comes running into her chambers, clutching her granddaughter. Her grandson has been beheaded, her daughter forced to sacrifice him by assassins almost certainly sent by Rhaenyra and Daemon. War is inevitable. She grieves Jaehaerys, but his suffering was brief and is now over. Her daughter, on the other hand, has been launched into a lifetime of pain no one should know. She mourns for Helaena’s happiness and innocence. Had she not taken selfish pleasure in Criston, had he been manning his position, would Jaehaerys still be alive? She has failed Helaena. She blames herself and she blames Criston, and yet she has no one else. Her father (who refused to listen to her anyways) is gone, her sons are uncontrollable, and everyone else on the Small Council either looks down at her or uses her for their own gain. Then, Criston goes off to war, and she is left utterly alone.

Then a moment of grace arrives in the form of Rhaenyra. She is scared and she is angry, but she soon discovers that Rhaenyra wants peace just as much as she does. Finally! She will explain herself, and Rhaenyra will see things her way. The war will be ended, and all will be fixed. But no. Rhaenyra tells her the cold hard truth: Viserys was speaking of Aegon the Conqueror. Rhaenyra is the true heir to the Iron Throne. Why doesn’t Alicent accept this? Because that means everything was for nothing. Her abuse (I do believe that she is subconsciously aware of this) was for nothing. But more importantly? The pain that Helaena is in right now was for absolutely nothing. The trauma that Helaena endured was for absolutely nothing. If she thought that she had failed Helaena before, that is nothing compared to how she must be feeling at that moment. So she pushes it down. There’s been no mistake. There can’t be. If there was a mistake, if I pushed my family onto the throne for nothing, then I have failed Helaena on a scale I didn’t even think possible (this is what I imagine to be Alicent’s internal monologue, not necessarily my thoughts). There’s no choice but to allow the war to continue.

Now that she knows that Aegon was never meant to be king, she sees him as he is. She recognizes that there’s no point in even pretending to believe that he’s going to be a competent king. She still loves him, of course, but he was never meant to rule (I also think that scene is her projecting her own feelings of failure on him). And then he gets hurt. Badly, badly hurt. A level of hurt that he might die from. He might never be able to walk again. His ability to produce another male heir with anyone, let alone Helaena, has been destroyed. He might never be able to do his kingly duties again. In the eyes of Westeros, he is worthless. While I doubt Alicent would describe him in such harsh terms, she still has deep internalized ableism from growing up in Westeros. She may even be questioning if him dying in battle would have been kinder.

And then there’s Aemond. Aemond, who has returned from battle without a scratch, Aemond who all too happily takes his brother’s place, Aemond who almost immediately kicks her off the Small Council, Aemond who is so prideful. While I don’t think she knows in the same way Helaena does, there must at least be a voice in the back of her mind whispering “was he the one who burned Aegon?” Either way, he is uncontrollable, and he has certainly grown accustomed to power.

Now left with only “domestic pursuits,” Alicent takes Helaena to the sept. To pray for those they’ve lost, to absolve herself of her guilt, to relieve her anxieties. But that trip does not occur in peace. The smallfolk are hungry, and they are angry. They see the representation of wealth and excess right before them, just after having been fed by their enemies, and they riot. What do the crowds want? Do they just want to throw fish? Do they want to harm them? Do they want to kill them? Will she fail her daughter again? They escape, but not before a guard permanently disables a man in front of them. Now the royal family is cutting off hands for barely even touching their queens? If the crowd was angry before, they’re furious now. They manage to escape, but Helaena could have been seriously harmed. She could have failed her once more.

So she escapes. Goes out, away from King’s Landing, far away from the angry crowds and the politics and the eternal risk of an invasion of the city by Rhaenyra’s forces. And while she’s out there, she realizes that escape is the only way to protect her daughter. Helaena and Jaehaera will always be at risk in King’s Landing, but if they can escape, they could be safe. She has failed Helaena so many times, this is what she owes her.

And so she goes back, suggests escape to Helaena. Then, Aemond comes in, demanding that Helaena ride Dreamfyre to battle. Helaena does not want to do this. Between Aemond grabbing Helaena and the atrocities he committed at Sharp Point, she must know on some level, conscious or subconscious, what he did to Aegon. She still loves him, but she can no longer trust him. Nor can she trust him not to fail Helaena. She must plan an escape.

So she goes to Rhaenyra. While Rhaenyra does judge her for Criston, she does seem willing to accept her terms. She may finally be free. But no. Rhaenyra insists that if she is to take King’s Landing, Aegon must be executed. A son for a son, and an end to the only person in King’s Landing that can challenge her claim. She tells Alicent that she can’t do everything she’s done, then happily run off with no consequences. Alicent may as well be in the same room that Helaena was, a knife to her throat, Aegon and Helaena sleeping peacefully, forced to point one out.

Because now she can’t just run off. She’s given Rhaenyra valuable information about when King’s Landing will be largely undefended. If Helaena had been defiant and said “I’m not giving up my son,” it wouldn’t have mattered. Blood and Cheese likely would have just killed both of the twins, because that way they’ll definitely get Jaehaerys. If Alicent is defiant in this moment and says “no, I’m not giving up my son,” it doesn’t matter. Rhaenyra is still going to invade King’s Landing. How could she not, when such an opportunity presents itself? And if she succeeds in that scenario (she has more dragons, she likely has a larger army ready to go to KL, the smallfolk’s support is heading towards Rhaenyra) Aegon will still be executed. But what of Helaena? Will Rhaenyra harm Helaena out of revenge on Alicent? Will she be killed during the invasion? Will Alicent lost half of her children (and her only remaining grandchild?) She has failed Helaena so many times before. She will not fail Helaena again. So she does the only thing she can do. She points at Aegon with tears in her eyes, grabs Helaena, and runs.

I also think it’s worth reminding ourselves of this scene:

Similarly to how Helaena has seen visions of Blood & Cheese probably her whole life, Alicent has known since she was eighteen that her choices were between Aegon ruling and the deaths of her children. (And of course, Driftmark only reaffirmed this). She’s been in denial about it for as long as possible, because she does still love Rhaenyra on some level, but in that scene, Rhaenyra confirms this prophecy of sorts.

“She’ll have to put your children to the sword […] Either you prepare Aegon to rule or you cleave to Rhaenyra and pray for her mercy.” She gave Aegon the throne, and now as far as she knows he’s on his deathbed. Now her only choice is to cleave to Rhaenyra, and being allowed to save Helaena is the closest thing she’ll get to mercy. So of course she agrees to sacrifice Aegon. She can’t do anything else.

#it was always going to end this way etc.#also i like that helaena is such a big part of alicent’s arc this season #on today’s episode of it actually makes sense if you think about it #and of course the parallels #the parallels are delicious #alicent hightower #house of the dragon #pro house of the dragon #hotd s2 spoilers

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