#book!alicent

[newts-gay]

where is my alicent “i shall have one of her son’s eyes in return” hightower?

where is my alicent “you may do as you wish husband, when i am cold in my grave” hightower?

where is my alicent “congratulations, stepdaughter. what a blessing this is for you” hightower?

where is my alicent “do keep trying ser laenor, sooner or late you'll get one that looks like you” hightower?

AND

don’t even get me started on alicent “bastard blood shed at war” hightower

she would have been way too powerful for anyone’s screen (especially with olivia’s brilliant performances) and tb stannies kept her from us

[thesunfyre4446]

wrt to book alicent and viserys's marriage :

did book alicent want to marry viserys? did she play an active role in becoming his queen? we don't know. all we have from F&B is :

"His Grace had his own notion, and no amount of argument would sway him from his course. He would marry again, yes…but not to a twelve-year-old girl, and not for reasons of state. Another woman had caught his eye. He announced his intention to wed Lady Alicent of House Hightower, the clever and lovely eighteen-year-old daughter of the King’s Hand"

that's it. that's all we know about their marriage.

alicent was 18 when they married, which is obviously better then 14 but still very young. the book does indicate otto's involvement in alicent and viserys's marriage :

" there were those who murmured that the Hand had risen above himself, that he had brought his daughter to court with this in mind "

we also have one more very important and interesting detail about book alicent that people tend to overlook

"As the Old King’s strength and wits began to fail, he was oft confined to his bed .Ser Otto’s precocious fifteen-year-old daughter, Alicent, became his constant companion, fetching His Grace his meals, reading to him, helping him to bathe and dress himself"

i find it very hard to believe that a 15yo girl would willingly become an old man's "constant companion". it's very obvious that otto put her in that position. but why? to get close to viserys? but why would he do that? aemma was young, healthy and fertile. otto would gain nothing from alicent getting close to viserys and becoming his mistress. on the contrary, the hightowers are associated with the faith - alicent becoming the king's mistress would bring shame and dishonor on them.

my guess is that he made alicent jaehaerys companion because it was an honorable position for her to have, and could potentially advance her & his daughter being around the king all the time gives him more control over him. i don't think it had anything to do with viserys. but i do think it shows how otto wants to advance his family & is very comfortable using his daughter . (because who wants to bathe and dress an old dying man? 15yo alicent must have hated being jaehaerys companion)

but it is important to mention that by having alicent so close to the old king, viserys must gotten to know her pretty well. alicent is 18 when they get married. still a very young girl. the idea that she's some sort of evil mastermind maliciously planning to marry viserys is ridicules. book ! alicent is not show!alicent. she's ambitious. she loves the power. she loves being a queen. (you go gurl). but i do believe that otto played a big part in her marriage to viserys & pushed her to become queen. the narrative of teenager alicent being an evil mastermind having an evil masterplan to marry viserys at 17-18 is just ridicules.

her ambitions , her rivalry with rhaenyra, wanting power for herself. all of these things developed over the years. alicent and rhaenyra had a good relationship when alicent and viserys got married. she was still just a girl.

so did alicent want to marry viserys? i don't know. maybe she did. maybe she wanted to be the queen. but she was obviously being influenced and used by her father.

[amaltheas-garden]

rewatching The Empress on netflix for book!Alicent Hightower

...and her bonus blonde failson

[girl-intrigued]

"A sorrow best expressed through its most gentle souls"

This is the second time Alicent has been called gentle first time being in the first episode when Criston says she has a gentle heart but with WAR on their doorstep this is not the time to be gentle! C'mon writers let us have the book bitchy Alicent it's high time now

[hargitays]

Currently reading fire & blood and i'm really wondering what exactly Alicent has done to even be called an "evil stepmother" in the first place? She is literally the average rich traditional Westerosi noblewoman. The worst things she has done are just calling rhaenyra a whore (which should be noted was said by Mushroom who was not even present at that time) and calling rhaenyra's sons bastards (which, well, is true) 😭

Book!Alicent's crimes:

- wanting her own blood on the throne (which she herself did not admit, but viserys said that when she proposed that rhaenyra & aegon I should be married)

- occasional snark about the blacks

[saltandfire-blog]

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[lya-dustin]

The Queen

"He announced his intention to wed Lady Alicent of House Hightower, the clever and lovely eighteen-year-old daughter of the King’s Hand, the girl who had read to King Jaehaerys as he lay dying."

---The Heirs of the Dragon, a question of succession; Fire and Blood

"The murder of the last of her sons had turned Alicent’s heart into a stone. None of the regents wished to see her put to death, some from compassion, others for fear that such an execution might rekindle the flames of war. Yet she could not be allowed to take part in the life of the court as before. She was too apt to rain down curses on the king, or snatch a dagger from some unwary guardsman."

---Under the Regents, the Hooded Hand; Fire and Blood

fc: young:Gözde Türker(Safiye Hatun, Magnificent Century), older:Hülya Avşar(Safiye Sultan, Magnificent Century:Kösem)

[sarcasticsweetlara]

I can't help but have another image vibe of Alicent's book depiction.

All my respect to Olivia Cooke, but Book! Alicent is slender and graceful to Show! Alicent who seems to try to hide herself, and Book! Alicent is so witty, sassy (a trait she passed down to all her children) and unafraid to use the power she has as queen consort and then queen mother in a manner that Show! Alicent could never be.

Whether you prefer her book version or show version is up to you, but you can not deny Book! Alicent is indeed more powerful and less maleable than Show! Alicent, the show runners wanted to make her more sympathetic but they didn't have to strip her of her agency.

Book! Alicent would have never showed Larys her feet, she would have made him give her information whether he wanted or not as Book! Alicent was in more control of her power, and the thing with the Green Council is that she initiated it! Alicent wanted to protect her children, yes, but that scene should have portrayed her power and control of the Council not this meek woman who everyone kept in the dark about their plans for her son that she believed in.

Also, Book! Corlys is far more proud than his suck it up version in the show - again my respect to Steve Touissant, but I feel like they failed in portraying that Corlys was not only ambitious but highly cunning, proud and clever that Show! Rhaenyra would have to do more than offer a random proposal (that actually was made by Laena when the children were toddlers) to get him back to her side, she made him her hand in the end.

In both the show and book versions House Velaryon fought for everything they have and Book! Corlys would not let himself and his family be humiliated.

And Book! Rhaenys is brave, witty and with a no-nonsense attitude that she would never let Corlys go over her like Show! Rhaenys.

I know all of them are complex and flawed but it's like the show is refusing to really portray that.

[daenerystargaryensgirlfriend]

you're misunderstanding the point, rhaenys is not saying alicent and rhaenyra are equally guilty, she's saying both of them are equally not guilty, because both times the choices were made by someone else and yet they get the blame for it. she's saying 'you had no power over this and neither did alicent'

Rhaenys said that Alicent is not the one responsible of the bloodshed that is happening and Rhaenyra says that she's permitting it, after this Rhaenys says that it's the same as her permitting Jahaerys' murder.

Now from a viewer point of view this can be considered false even if it's debatale since she knows of the bloodsheds that are being committed (although she is against it)* and also because most of Alicent's actions before the start of the war are in conflict with Rhaenyra.

From a in-show character pov, from Rhaenyra pov it's instead false since Alicent crowned Aegon and she declared for him and since (even if they're pushing the 'it was luke's murder that started the war' agenda) his usurping is what started the war (since even if luke wouldn't have died the war would've started regardless since neither Aegon or Rhaenyra wanted to renounce to the throne), from her (Rhaenyra) pov Alicent is not against the war.

Now it's true that Rhaenys said that Alicent doesn't want bloodshed, but still from Rhaenyra's pov Alicent is the woman who created, spreaded and used the rumor of her sons bastardy (this time both in the book and in the series) years ago (which could've, if believed, led to the death or banishment of her children).

Why should she believe that after all that (plus Alicent undermining her in the small council) Alicent would be against the war and bloodshed (even considering that she took part in Jahaerys funerals, which are considered to be a political move against her [Rhaenyra])? It's like if i built a tennis court and then acted all surprised people are playing tennis in it.

*This brings me to another thought. I may have written what i did in this post out of the rush of the moment (which is likely since it happens when i comment live 😅), but I can't take back what I said about the uselessness of contaction Alicent of all people.

If Rhaenys mant to say that Alicent did not permit the bloodsheds that happened then why would she be willing to advice Rhaenyra to speak with Alicent? She took part in a political move (Jahaerys funerals) against her so, assuming that Rhaenyra and Rhaenys believe that she was forced to do that, she's to be considere a 'doll' that is being used around. 'She's still in the council' but she's either ignoring what's happening (so basically permitting it) or she's being ignored. If the blacks were to assume the second option (which would still be a huge risk since they can't know for sure and again Alicent did what she did in the past), why would her route be considered an easy or alternative one? I would say that it's to be considered an impossible one. 'But they don't know if she's taking part in the council' even worse, how is she going to do anything then?? 'She can talk to her son' she could've done it before and if she did that before (which she did) it would've meant that he didn't listen to her.

Book Rhaenys wanted to attack and destroy the greens with the dragons. It was Daemon who wanted to act with diplomacy at first. The writers sort of switched their characters and sure, one can say it's fine (since apparently it's a heinous crime for showwriters to adapt accurately a book) but I really miss book Rhaenys.

[la-pheacienne]

Alicent isn’t a final girl, she died locked in a tower, her children and grandchildren died, she became insane, hated the color green and died knowing that the fall of her whole family was her fault.

.

[reignof-fyre]

you're not special by maggie lindeman is book!rhaenyra @ book!alicent everyone needs to listen to it pls omg

Oh, did I push you over the edge?

Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

I heard you screamin' that you want me dead

Is that what the voice says inside of your head?

You're gonna burst, so full of spite

Like I'm your personal parasite

I play the villain in your life

Whatever helps you sleep at night

it's so rhaenyra @ alicent I-

You think you're special to me

You think you can get under my skin

You stick your knife right through me

So dull that I don't feel a thing

I don't hate you, I don't care like that

Do you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?

I'm starrin' in your movie

But you're not that special to me

[saltandfire-blog]

😮‍💨 these quotes alone I think speak for themselves…we did not get the Alicent we should have.

Queen ALICENT HIGHTOWER & the Dance of the Dragons As described in Fire & Blood Part 1

[the-swift-tricker]

in almost every other children's book where the main heroine is swept away to a land of whimsy she's shown having a lovely time; braving dangers occasionally, trying to find her way home, sure, but ultimately delighting in the magic around her. meanwhile alice spends her entire time in wonderland like

[girl-intrigued]

Where do I find Alicent's iconic dialogues from the book ???

[ur-daily-inspiration]

[saltandfire-blog]

So cool. I love the relationship they created between Rhaenyra and Alicent in the show…

But Book!Alicent deserves her due 💚

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?

BOOK!Alicent edition