#house of the dragon season finale

[cateyesinlove]

OH BY THE GODS! what a delicious scene!

Let’s talk about….

let's begin with the most satisfying part of this scene to see Alicent open her eyes and realize that she is nothing without the system she upheld for so long. Without men to lift them who in return lift her she finally feels like Rhaenyra but she can't defy said system so she has to run, she has to take Helaena ( who Alicent thrust into the same position she was shoved as a child but even younger, Helaena was 13 when she married aegon and probably between 14 and 15 when she was pregnant).

The fact that Alicent tries so hard to be the victim and make Rhaenyra feel like this is somehow still her fault and that all of Alicents flaws are because Rhaenyra is WILD but still incredible because Rhaenyra gags her ass and makes her see how she can’t keep washing her hands of guilt for the things SHE has done, and set into motion. All who have died, their blood is on Alicents hands, especially because Cole was her sworn sword, the man who has an insane amount of blood in his hands.

Then we get to the part where Alicent who has raised all her sons to be full of hatred has told numerous times that Rhanyra was evil, cruel, a monster, that she hates them and would put them to the sword at any minute, and is surprised her sons are monsters. She has basically indoctrinated them to be in a constant flight or fight when it comes to their sister and now she thinks little of them and is willing to just give her sons up to die after she is the reason they are like that?

This is the catalysis of the end of Alicents "complex" character they tried to do everything with this character but they ended up doing nothing. She wasn’t a villain nor she was a good character, she was a bad written character that tried to have layers but all of them ended up mushing together like even when Rhaenyra and her are speaking and Alicent says she tried to do what Viserys wanted yet she talks about how he never stopped loving Aemma and that’s why he kept Rhaenyra as her yet she still pushed for Aegon to be crowned.

Finally I know we all have different takes on the parallel between these two in the final shot but my take is the next;

Rhaenyra who has always been trapped under the weight of being a Targaryen since she was young, from the expectations of marrying and everyone wanting her valyrian blood, being named heir, upholding her claim to always having in the back of her mind the prophecy, and how she and her lineage are meant to unite the realm against the true enemy. She whose blood will bring the prince who was promised.

Then there is Alicent who is finally "free" but who in reality has always been free. She built herself a prison and a window from where she only allowed herself to see Rhaenyra, having the impression Rhaenyra was "free" and could do as she please when in reality she is the one making the sacrifices, the one bounded by duty. Alicent WAS free yet she chose to be trapped under her father's thumb when she brought him back to court, she chose to poison her sons, she chose to crown Aegon, she chose a fake prison where she could sulk and hate Rhaenyra but now she has finally realized she has always been free.

[justa-personn]

season finale is tonight i can’t wait any longer but i’m scared to watch it because then it’s over for another two years

[so-what-then]

"History will paint you a villain."

God could the writers be more on the nose about their agenda?? I swear to god half of HotD dialogue is some gen z feminist bs and the other half is an attempt to be all meta about the story itself.

I'd take D&D's gratuitous nudity and r*pe over this because at least their female characters had spines.

[margarita-life]

"...Was it worth the price?..."

#HouseofThedragon #HOTD #houseofthedragonseason2 #hotd2 #aemondtargaryen #EwanMitchell

[aemondluvbot]

oh that second season just… did not hit…

i think the battle of rook’s rest might be the only episode i genuinely enjoyed!! everyone’s character arc has felt so abrupt and confusing. aemond has gone from being the calm, collected, cunning prince to being an absolutely power hungry mad cunt (thanks aegon)

aegon has gone from being a petulant child who was never ready for the throne to ?????

allicent was barely even there so we’re just supposed to accept her character arc because the writers said so

jace is ????? (extremely incel core sorry)

daemon was fine i guess whatever

daenerys COMFIRMED to be the prince that was promised fuck yeah i have always known

stark banners for three whole seconds but i did lose my shit <33

very interested to see where the story with sheepstealer goes

i genuinely don’t trust ulf it feels like it’s all for shits and giggles for him and he’s going to fuck up very badly

that’s all i think i am quite underwhelmed rn :/

[bbygirl-aemond]

alicent being forced to choose between saving aegon or saving helaena in the exact same way that helaena was forced to choose between saving jaehaerys or saving jaehaera, and making the exact same choice helaena did to save her daughter, because the truth is that there is no saving her son no matter what she tries to do... the writers ate this one lil thing because the parallels are paralleling

[nijigasakilove]

FROM RHAENYRA’S BLOOD COMES THE PRINCESS THAT WAS PROMISED AND HERS IS THE SONG OF ICE AND FIRE — ALL HAIL QUEEN DAENERYS STORMBORN!

[daenysthedreamer101]

HBO's security apparently:

WHY AM I SEEING LEAKS EVERYWHERE???

[theabigailthorn]

NEXT WEEK ON HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

It's Sharako time baybeeeeee

[newts-gay]

“Still you defend him!” is a crazy line to be thrown when from rhaenyra’s pov the only fault aegon has committed is ascending the throne. i guess it’s just so outrageous to her that anyone would dare live without abiding by her wishes

[kataraavatara]

“these secret meetings are RIDICULOUS can you imagine if cersei and catelyn met after ned was beheaded to negotiate for peace” FALSE EQUIVALENCE RED FLAG ON THE FIELD, catelyn and cersei were never homoerotic childhood best friends. the comparison you’re looking for is theon sneaking out to meet robb in secret after he takes winterfell and pretends to kill bran and rickon. still ridiculous and implausible but at least thematically consistent.

[pierrotlu]

Ewan gave us a beautiful rendition of Aemond's vulnerable side. For the first time , we see the pain he caused is haunting him ,his trauma,everything he's been talking about during the interviews finally onscreen. And all this fandom can do is bodyshame him 😤. So fucking TIRED, can some of you at least try to be decent human beings, just try it.

Gifs by @ewans-mitchell

[homielander]

i'm sorry but hotd positing that all women are innately cautious and peaceful and compassionate while men are rash warmongers is not a feminist win! i could see the value in everyone being hesitant to go to war at the onset of the story because it intensifies the tragedy of this house tearing itself apart, but at this stage, rhaenyra has as much reason for bloodlust (if not more) as the men on the show. it's pretty heavily implied that the shock of her usurpation killed her daughter, aemond killed lucerys, and one of aegon's kingsguard snuck into her quarters with the intent to assassinate her. most importantly, she has felt entitled to the throne since she was named heir as a child. she should be incensed! rhaenyra's inaction in the season 1 finale due to a sudden aversion to violence was already stretching believability -- this is the same woman who expressed nothing beyond mild shock at vaemond's beheading, who plotted with daemon to have an innocent man killed to facilitate laenor's escape while declaring that the realm should fear her. to have rhaenyra insist on peace at this point in the story, when war is already well underway, is incredibly irrational.

this problem is not limited to rhaenyra. alicent ordered larys to kill mysaria's network of spies and any suspected traitors in the red keep, presumably without any due process, and neither of these decisions was depicted with the gravity they deserved for a character who was once horrified by any bloodshed. meanwhile, aegon had a few extra ratcatchers executed, and not only was the direction sufficiently ominous, but we also got a lengthy monologue from otto about how it would spell his doom. it is probably pointless to bring up rhaenys because she is written less like a believable human being and more like a mouthpiece for the writers to assert whatever political opinion they believe is correct in a given episode -- but she did very much kill dozens if not hundreds of smallfolk last season. she did do that and very clearly did not care. why is she an advocate against war? for both alicent and rhaenys, there is a strange dissonance where their actions are at odds with their attitudes about opposing large-scale war for the good of the realm. i'm not saying this dissonance cannot exist, but it should at least be acknowledged.

helaena raising concerns about the losses suffered by the smallfolk might have worked in isolation, but for it to accompany everything above is exhausting. can none of these women be allowed to feel for themselves?

[tanomoon]

“a targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing”

[aphrmoosun]

HOTD S2E8 LEAKS!!!

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicent saying: "The significance of Viserys' intentions died with him" marks the start of a new era.

Goodbye duty & sacrifice, welcome scheming and vengeful Queen Alicent.