#i know rhaenyra just cant face what her father is but GIRL YOU ARE AN ADULT NOW

[alicentsgf]

alicent should have called the guards on rhaenyra as soon as she said 'and i believe [viserys] loved you too' like honestly. death. immediately. you literally acknowledged alicent was 'imprisoned'. you saw your father repeatedly treat this woman with no respect. you even defended her against it once! because you saw how shittily he treated her. like suddenly you're going to guilt this poor woman with the supposed love of a man who treated her and her children like crap?? alicents a stronger woman than me idc if i'd get stabbed i would have spat in rhaenyras eye.

[lilibethwrites]

Hello ! Im surprised how much im on love with Aemond right now, he's so interesting... I wanted to Ask for a scenario where he eavesdrops two Ladies and reader says that instead of being afraid and disgusted by his scar,shes more intrigued ...like she cant take her eyes from him. And now he wants to know who is so foolish. (I would probably stand still if he aproached me xD) thank you and have a nice.day

A Curse and a Blessing

Aemond Targaryen x F!Targaryen!Reader

Warnings: NSFW, incest

Word count: 2023

A.N.: This was such a fun request to write! I think it's pretty self contained, but let me know if you'd like a second part to it.

Aegon II’s nameday celebrations were famed to bring lords and ladies from all across the Seven kingdoms to King’s Landing. Your mother, Princess Rhaenyra and your father, Prince Daemon were no exceptions to those who received invites. Thus, you and your step-brothers flew to the heart of the Throne for a week of feast and entertainment.

Aegon wasn’t seen much, and the conversations of the adults bore you to near death. Offers and pacts, tight-lipped smiles that hid grudges and oaths that were broken as soon as they were made. You had no taste for the arguments over who was the best swordsman of the realm or what material made the best breastplate that your brothers engaged in either.

So you found yourself among your childhood friends with whom you’d driven Septas and Maesters to madness when you were under their tutelage. Some were married, and some even with children already. Though they did not quite delve into the philosophical inquiries of just how much the realm suffered for the fall of Valyria, their gossip was suitable enough to pass the evening.

With your cup in hand, you seated yourself within the close circle that whispered and giggled.

“Oh, dear Y/N, come sit. We were just conversing on the charms of certain Princes.”

“Oh, come off it! I only said I would choose him if I absolutely had to. He is the handsome one of the three.”

“Well, I personally would give my favour to Ser Criston Cole, if you catch my drift.” one of the girls rubbed her swollen belly while staring at the man standing guard across the hall from them.

Y/N grimaced, only half-jokingly. She knew her mother wasn’t fond of Ser Criston, and neither was she.

“Jeyne, who is it that you would choose so… grudgingly? The handsome of the three?” Y/N teased the girl with a plump face and auburn hair that was held in a bun with several colourful ribbons. She and Y/N were the only ones left unmarried, and by the looks of her attire, at least one of them was determined to change it that night.

“Oh, well…” she inhaled and took a large sip from her wine. Then she took a bite from the likewise large cut of cake on her lap to stall the answer.

“You know…” Then her voice lowered. “Prince Aegon.”

Then the girls groaned jokingly and erupted into laughter. Except for Y/N who only gave her a secret, understanding smile.

“Come on now, Jeyne! HE IS—he is a drunkard!”

“And he sired so many bastards they say the Flea Bottom has turned white-haired—oh, sorry, Y/N.”

Y/N only waved her dismissively. Aegon was Alicent’s problem.

“He is at least… intact!” Jeyne spoke with a mouth full of cake. “Unlike his brother! That man… he scares me. I saw him down the hall just this noon. There is something about him—”

“You mean… Prince Aemond?” Y/N perked up. Now, that was a Prince she would converse on.

Unbeknownst to them, behind the heavy tapestry that divided a corner from the Throne Room and reserved a makeshift parlour for the guests, Prince Aemond was eavesdropping on the conversation. He was nursing a cup of wine stronger and more bitter than the ones ladies drank. Though the conversation first grabbed his attention in case a treacherous slander was to be spread—Rhaenyra and her bastard sons were invited, after all—he remained because he was simply bemused. Though he didn’t expect his name to be spoken in a conversation on handsome men and potential husbands. He leaned on of the stone pillars that held the tapestry up in hopes of identifying the ladies.

“It is the scar. Absolutely,” Suesane pointed to the right side of her face, just where Y/N’s half-brother slashed Aemond’s eye out some years back.

“Oh yes. It really is something. I sure am glad we are not to see it entirely.”

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Y/N murmured matter-of-factly. The girls all turned to her with wide eyes and raised brows.

“What? It is not as bad as you say, I’m certain. I would like to see it. I hear he has a sapphire for a right eye now.”

Aemond couldn’t fight the smirk off his face and leaned even closer to the tapestry to make out the hushed voice of his brave champion.

“Do not toy with us! Imagine him… in… you know… your bedchamber. That is dreadful!”

“On the contrary. I think his scar is… well, I think it is handsome, like him. It suits him. It adds to his charm—”

“His charm! The man is a recluse and a maimed—”

“You are forgetting yourself, Emely!” Y/N spoke up. The fierce backlash forced the girls into silence. Y/N was of the highest-standing title, after all.

The girls scrambled to pacify the tone that shifted drastically with Princess Y/N’s outburst. From the other side, Aemond was intrigued now more than ever. A girl would defend him so feverishly even when he was not around, when she stood to gain nothing from shining up to him in his absence. She truly was his champion, it seemed. Besides, who could command the silence of spoiled, empty-headed pigs for ladies? Could it be? No! No it could not be his niece.

“I only meant that I hear Prince Aemond is a skilled warrior and a scholar, too. Do not be too harsh on him.” Y/N cooled off as well, attempting to salvage the chatter that she cut with her words which might very well have been Valyrian steel.

Aemond had to find out. He had to see. Y/N was too fond of her brothers to favour him. All Seven Gods together couldn’t make her see Aemond as anything but a brute and a bully. So, against his better judgment, he lifted the tapestry. It gave some of the ladies quite the scare as they gasped and shrieked. The cake on Jeyne’s lap fell to the floor with a loud clatter. They were like skittish horses galloping away from a dragon.

“Ladies,” Aemond greeted them with a nod and a smirk. In his mind, his entrance was no cause for alarm, yet to the girls, he seemed like a barbarian Dornish warrior who was intend on having their heads. It amused him all the same that they were scared near death.

“Princess,” he then turned to Y/N who was sitting tall, though her eyes betrayed the surprise his entrance was to her.

“Prince—ahem, Prince Aemond. Uncle.”

Was he just passing by and decided to give the poor girls a scare? That was indeed like him to do so. If not, just how much did he hear?

“I heard a matter unsettled on my brother. And…” he cocked his head to the side with a mischievous, lopsided grin, staring directly at Y/N. He blinked once, twice. With each shutting and opening of his eye, his bemused expression faded into something more difficult to read, something darker that unsettled even Y/N.

“And on my scar.”

“My Prince—we—we meant no—” one of the girls babbled, but the rise of Aemond’s hand stopped her swiftly.

“Allow me to chime in. You wished to see it, dear Niece,” his hand moved up to the eyepatch.

“Avert your precious eyes, my fair ladies,” he spoke with no concern to conceal the contempt he felt for the girls. And they looked all over the room but in Aemond and Y/N’s direction.

Y/N leaned closer in her seat like a woman famished at a rich supper. She often thought about Aemond, about how things could’ve been only if Queen Alicent and her mother could get along better. She also explored her body to the thought of her uncle—more times than she liked to admit.

Then, Aemond pulled the patch off. An icy blue eye and a darker cut of sapphire glimmering in the middle of a dark trail of once-torn flesh, a gift from Luke, stared back at Y/N.

“So see it for yourself.”

One of the girls, braver than the others, tried to steal a glance between her fingers but gasped in terror and turned her head away with a shrill “Oh, Gods be good!”

Y/N took a sharp breath, though Aemond scoffed because he assumed she was just as disgusted as the rest, she only realized his scar was much more handsome than the one she imagined with her trembling hands between her legs under the covers back at Dragonstone.

“That’s what I thought,” Aemond spoke with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. Though from the beating of her heart and the rushing of her mind, Y/N missed it. To Aemond, his niece was a coward just like the rest, and she’d sooner marry a pompous lord than to look at his face again.

“Enjoy your evening, ladies. Princess.”

Y/N chased after him. There was no point in staying anyway. The silence had fallen like a heavy blanket over a corpse upon Aemond’s departure.

Y/N reached for Aemond and grabbed his arm to stop him in his tracks.

“That was unnecessary.” Yet also highly intriguing. Captivating. Seducing.

Aemond gave her a joyless smile. “I warned you so, dear Niece.”

“It was not me who needed the courtesy of sparing the scare—”

“I do not care for the other girls. You claimed you could brave it. And yet—”

“And I did, did I not?”

Y/N stepped forward, now they were dangerously close to one another in the dark corner of the hall.

“Take it off and I shall brave it again if it pleases you, Aemond.” Please do take it off so I can admire it once more.

And he did. A surprise to both himself and Y/N, he pulled the eye patch off and the flames of candles glimmered off the sharp angles of sapphire. Aemond expected that without her audience, Y/N would speak her true mind. Surely, she’d tell him just how grotesque he looked and his ugly scar would haunt her even when she would be back at Dragonstone.

Instead, Y/N stepped closer, rose on her toes to reach for his face, and gently, oh so gently, ran her fingertips across the length of the scar. Where her soft fingers ran, scorching heat came off and flowers of spring blossomed—and they withered and died just as soon as her fingertips moved on.

Aemond was paralyzed under her touch. A lesser woman would’ve screamed for her life and run for the guards or the Queen. With shaky breaths, his heavy-lidded eye met Y/N’s.

“I truly think it’s beautiful,” she whispered, openly enamoured by his charm. Her finger stopped just beneath the sapphire, her palm dangerously close to caressing his cheek. “I shall forever regret the cruelty of my brother. But I shall also envy your lady wife when the time comes, for she will get to see you as you are now, for eternity.”

Y/N’s words sank like an anchor inside Aemond. She spoke sincerely, which made her words all the scarier. Aemond was used to artificial politeness, not to words spoken from the heart as Y/N did. And admittedly, he gave very little thought to marriage. Once he realized his sapphire eye was an object of terror for women, he shut the idea out. When the time came, as Y/N put it, his mother would choose a girl profitable enough to marry. And they wouldn’t be the first nor the final miserable couple in the realm.

Yet, there Y/N was with her finger on his scar and with the impossible promise that it wouldn’t have to be so.  

“Hm. If you speak true, perhaps you know me very little, niece.”

“Oh, on the contrary, uncle. I believe I know you better than most.”

The murmured exchange was cut abruptly when Y/N gripped Aemond’s shoulder to raise herself, and Aemond’s hands reached for her waist to keep her stable. Y/N tilted her head up and Aemond down and to the side in unison, and their lips felt as if they were created for each other.

Aemond Tag (let me know if you'd like to be added to it):

@cherishedauthor @schniiipsel @verycollectivecreator @dangerousbluebirdpoetry

[balmacedapascal]

you came. you called. [modern harwin/rhaenyra]

02:13 [SMS TO BREAKBONES]: SOS

02:13 [SMS TO BREAKBONES]: i know its your night off but

02:14 [SMS TO BREAKBONES]: i cant find laena or ali and the partys getting bad

02:17 [SMS TO BREAKBONES]: shit nvm ignore this sorry

02:17 [SMS TO BREAKBONES]: ill be fine

02:18 [SMS FROM BREAKBONES]: 5 minutes.

“Shit shit shit.” Maybe it was the room temperature jungle juice that had settled poorly on an empty stomach or maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t been able to find the girls for the last half hour no matter how many rooms she’d checked. But her head had been a little fuzzy and she’d felt that anxious itch the longer she made her way through crowded spaces full of unfamiliar faces and she’d done the only thing she could think of. Her cry for help to the man who’d been her shadow for the last two years thanks to her father. The only reason she’d managed to get to a party on Greek row at KLU was because it was his night off and now she’d gone crying to him like a scared little girl. And the second she’d done it she’d been left with a sickening feeling of embarrassment.

Phone clutched tight in her hand, Rhaenyra elbowed her way through the crowd of coeds, drinking and dancing and actually enjoying their night. Her eyes scanned the room like she’d been doing since Laena disappeared to dance with some guy from the rugby team. Alicent had been gone even longer and she was hoping to stumble upon her. Instead, she spotted a familiar figure shouldering his way into the house, glancing around with a determined look in his eyes.

Harwin Strong had walked through the door, towering a head taller than most of the other guys there. And when his eyes finally landed on her, it only took a moment for him to cross the room to where she stood frozen. Heat crept up her neck and cheeks as he stopped in front of her, another wave of embarrassment at having called him for a rescue like the damsel in distress. And the heat stayed as he bent his head, lips close to her ear to be heard over the music as he asked, “Are you okay?”

Rhaenyra nodded, trying not to think about the color in her cheeks or the way her stomach had somersaulted at his voice. Harwin had been her personal bodyguard for the past two years, her shadow ninety percent of the time at her father’s insistence. She liked to think they’d become friends over that time but this was something else entirely. She was used to him in the neatly pressed suits that were his uniform, his hair pulled back into a tight bun, his expressions always just a bit guarded. All of that was gone tonight. His curls hung loose, a little damp and falling into eyes that were tinted with what she thought might be concern.

“You came,” she said after a beat, the words stumbling out with almost a touch of surprise before she could stop them. She wasn’t sure why. Nothing in their history gave her any reason why she should doubt he’d be there when she needed him.

“You called,” was his reply, given without hesitation as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His gaze on her softened a touch as his hand found its place between her shoulder blades. The touching was guiding, maneuvering her through the crowd of people, not demanding but reassuring. “C’mon, Nyra. Let’s find your friends and then you can tell me what you’ve been up to at that greasy spoon in Blackwater that you love so much.”

She felt a grin pull at her lips as they went, the anxiousness of before melting away with him right behind her.

[safely-in-vhagars-belly]

Fury storm alternative version

FANFICTION: Au concept you are Lord Baratheons daughter, Maris and your peaceful day gets interupted by a awful dragon with an even more awful rider.

Aemond x reader

Furys storm (the first Aemond fanfic I made!🥺❤❤)

()(

Dark warnings and non con warning apply.

--

You are enjoying a nice breakfast with your family. You, your mother your sisters and your father. 'My darling girls,' your father finally speaks. 'It would appear that dark times are soon ahead of us. King Viserys the Peaceful has died a few days ago, and now it's time for a new monarch.' You sip your tea, letting your thoughts wonder everywhere else but Westeros and its damned politicing.

'Yes, a first in history. A Queen. She will do amazing.' Cassandra says with a smile when she picks out the best apple out of the basket to devour. You groan as you are presented the left overs.

A loud roar can be heard outside and for a moment the whole castle shakes at its core. Your mother looks at the courtyard. 'What in the seven hells was that?' Your father roars, getting up from his seat at the table. He storms off and leaves you and your sisters be.

Your mother gives each and every one of you a kiss and hurries off after him. Ellyn plays with her long hair. 'I have a bad feeling about this.' You roll your eyes. Its always something with her.

Floris is away in dreamland probably daydreaming about her handsome bastard guard that she started dating secretly.

Your mother comes rushing back in not too long after. She is out of breath from running. 'Girls! Finest dresses. Now.' She then rushes back to your fathers side. You can instantly tell when something is wrong and this is very wrong.

---

There is a man downstairs. He talks with your father and they seem to hit it off. When he notices the four of you entering his only good eye briefly switches between you, taking you all in.

'Girls! We have a very important visitor. An emboy from the king!' You see Cassandra freeze next to you and quickly squeeze her hand. 'Cass,' you softly whisper at her. You know what she is thinking. If the Queen of the seven kingdoms cant even become queen of her own kingdoms, why would she ever become Lady of Storms end?

You are not sure what the silver haired one eyed prince wants but that it's a plot to overthrow his elder half sister is very clear to you. He finds it very curious and definitely noticed cassandras reaction. Wonderful. 'He is here for father. We are just fun accessories.' You softly whisper trying to comfort her.

Your sis cracks a joke like she always does when she is upset. 'Why, I was planning on riding today.' Your eldest sister whines like a little girl. You hide your smirk.

'Pray tell me; is this a horse or a boy that should prepare itself?' You whisper soft and grin.

Cassandra has trouble containing her laugh.

Your mother shoots you a glare. 'Maris, don't be rude and greet our guest. Prince Aemond came from far to see us. We dont get visitors like this everyday.' You force yourself to walk over to Aemond and make a curtsy. He barely looks at you.

Ellyn speaks. Very out of character for her doing. 'What brings you to Storm's end, my Prince?' Always the diplomat. Or just the curious one.

'There is a war coming. We personally wanted to see if Storm's end is choosing the right side.' The right side. His side. He thinks he will win. He is dragging you and your sisters and your house everything you hold dear into a civil war because his sister wasnt born with a cock.

'What side is that?' Cassandra asks to clarify but she is not stupid. You can tell by ber angry eyes that she figured it out too.

Aemond grins. 'My brothers side. Against the whore Rhaenyra Targaryen.' He really did just call the rightful queen a whore. This is serious.

Ellyn pouts. 'We sworn an oath-'

He cuts of her off right away getting in her face. 'Your grandfather did. You didnt swear anything.'

You hold back Cassandra subtly holding her hand. She looks like she can kill him any moment. 'They're quite spirited. Except that quiet girl.' The prince tells your father. He sounds disapproving.

Floris looks up, finally freeing herself from the love spell Eyden storm put on her. The guard himself stands unnoticeable in the middle next to the doors by your side.

Floris come closer. She is the smallest of you all and next to Aemond that is even more clear. 'Forgive me, I was just noticing your dragon, my prince. Does she maybe like a snack?'

His good eye blinks. 'That is very kind to offer, but I'm afraid Vhagar does not like regular snacks. She likes to eat cow. Whole cows. I can't ask that.' a whole cow? For that beast?

'Of course you can. Bring the prince's dragon a cow. She must be starving after flying here.' Floris orders some servants around who run off fetching her a cow.

You roll your eyes. She already has Eyden. When will it be enough? 'I do have one request. I can't engage myself with someone I dont know. I am responsible for many things as prince...'

'Speak plainly.' You have a bad feeling.

Aemonds good eye hungry looks at the four of you. 'I'd like to try them out a bit. I will need to judge whoever will make the best wife but how can I do that when I haven't seen them do the most important job: granting me heirs.' Wife? That is news. You and your sisters eye each other uneasily.

'You want to lay with all my daughters?' Your father roars out. He will do much for a crown but not this.

Ellyn growls at aemond. 'Did that dragon perhaps hit you?'

He smiles creepily and Ellyn backs off crying. 'Careful or I'll fuck you first.' He grins darkly.

'Not to lay, perse. I want to at least taste them. Properly. A kiss will be more suited, I suppose. It will save us all some awkwardness at the wedding.' He came here for a wife.

'Unless you like me to roast your pretty daughters or feed them to my dragon. That can be arranged as well.' Aemond speaks very coldly and you realise it was a mistake to assume you would be allies. He is not looking for wives or allies. He is looking at conquests like his ancestors did.

[bohemian-nights]

nettles was theorized being the only non valyrian to claim a dragon the same way the shepherds did for yrs, for some reason its now that ppl suddenly believe she's his daughter which was never a popular theory or even entertained until daem*ras started to go crazy on twitter

their fake outrage about nettles is also very funny considering rhaenyra was 15 (or younger in the books) when she started getting groomed and kissed by daemon in brothels and suddenly they think he cant have an emotional affair with a young girl when we all know daem*ra is a crumbling relationship at best it was never really interesting in the books cause there relationship is barely touched on

i think its on the showrunners for romanticizing it so much including behind the scenes but its also stupid to think daemon is a good spouse considering all he's done in s1

I think these fans know that Nettles isn’t his daughter, but the fact that they insist that Daemon only saw her in a father/daughter light does not make sense. Yes one source does claim that Daemon saw Nettles like a daughter, but that same source also says that Daemon and Nettles bathed naked together 🫠

They will wholeheartedly believe the first claim at face value. This is the main basis of their argument against the romantic relationship between Daemon and Nettles. Cause that is the only source that claims Daemon saw her as his daughter, but somehow the second claim(made by the same source) is a lie or it’s not what it appears to be🫠

I don’t want to go there, but did these fans bathe naked with their dad or their father figure at 17? No one is having father daughter bonding time naked with their dad(if you are let me call the cops for you cause that’s not right).

Yes Nettles grew up an orphan who lived on the streets, but there is no reason for Daemon to hop in the bath with her to show her how to bathe properly.

The man was prince and the castle they were staying at had plenty of female servants that could help Nettles out. Nettles was also not an infant. She could bathe herself. Use your brains people.

They do not care about the “grooming” they only care that Nettles will be the “final blow” to Daemyra(which is why they are so defensive). If they really cared they would dislike Daemon x Rhaenyra as much as they do Daemon X Nettles.

The ship is stale and that is what gets me. If you read the book(s) Daemyra is not this epic romance these stans are making it out to be. Their relationship on screen is dry to me. Daemon has 0 chemistry with adult Rhaenyra.

It’s like am I watching the same show? Show!Daemon is being portrayed as this man obsessed with proving himself(he’s like this in the books) and has a general love for chaos.

His approach to his wives so far and just everyone in general is not the most loving(an understatement I know). I’ve got a problem with this, cause I think Daemon does have the capacity to care for/love others w/o a motive, but I won’t get into that right now.

The director/show creator has come out and said that Daemon is lowkey obsessed/in love with his brother and sees Rhaenyra as an extension of him, but you guys somehow think Rhaenyra is the love of his life 🙃 Whatever drugs these people are on I want it cause I too would like to be that delusional.

[alicentsgf]

I want to like Rhaenicent but I feel like Alicent protects Rhaenyra and cares for her way more than Rhaenyra does for her. Adult Rhaenicent seems rather one sided to me ngl. One way Rhaenyra betrayed Alicent was by marrying Daemon, a man who absolutely despises the Hightowers and who wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter Alicent’s children. Does Rhaenyra really not realize how ruthless Daemon is? Daemon is arguably the biggest threat to the Green kids who are Rhaenyra’s own siblings. It just kills me that Alicent stood up to her abuser for Rhaenyra’s life in 1x09 and Rhaenyra has never done anything of that severity for Alicent. And Rhaenyra will likely never know how much Alicent fought to save her. Idk, I just feel like Alicent deserves someone who will love her completely. I can’t see Rhaenyra being that person with the way she’s disregarded Alicent’s worries and feelings.

I'm going to be totally honest and I say this with love... a lot of it becomes easily justifiable for me when i acknowledge that Rhaenyra is just a bit dense. like shes always been sheltered and naive, to the point of genuine stupidity sometimes. she isnt inherently so but her father stomped all over her developing any kind of critical mind early on and she did nothing to overcome that mistake. she became far too comfortable with Viserys waving his crown and magic-ing her problems away and its just a fact shes never managed to see things from alicents perspective... but that doesnt mean alicent isnt as equally important to her as she is to alicent. please bear with me because i promise i will explain this fully.

but first of all, to answer your question 'does rhaenyra not realise how ruthless daemon is?' I mean, giving her the benefit of the doubt ...maybe not? shes pretty much always always seen the best side of daemon. with viserys. with her. with their children. what does she know of daemons genuine ruthlessness? we cant say for sure. once again, giving her the full benefit of the doubt, we dont even know if rhaenyras aware that daemon murdered rhea. like daemons not exactly gonna bring it up and who else would dare suggest that to her of all people? sure shes seen him fight at tourneys she knows hes capable of killing but thats a controlled enviroment where its expected. and she clearly feels safe enough with him personally otherwise she wouldnt have laughed in his face after her grabbed her neck.

its going to be very interesting to see what they do with B&C for this reason. because if rhaenyra isnt involved, at least in the Details... will she be shocked by what daemon is capable of? depends on what version of rhaenyra we get post-luke i suppose. but i dont know if i believe they're likely to have her go That dark so quickly that she'd agree to B&C. (sorry. tangent.)

imo you have to try and see her perspective - rhaenyra is deeply Confused. she thought for many years alicent just suddenly Hated her on the basis of her /loose morals/, like purely hated her, the girl she loved is Gone overnight right when they'd begun to reconcile, and she couldnt really understand why. she just does not understand alicents perspective and she cant begin to fathom alicents situation. and in a way, how could she? shes never faced similar limitations theres an argument to be made she wouldnt be able to even conceptualise it without alicent taking her by the hand and walking her through it. even when they were friends i doubt rhaenyra thought about the privileges she held over alicent (after all, she was a child, it was just what she knew and as far as she could see alicent got to do everything she did so there was no visual imbalance). from rhaenyras point of view, all those years alicent was being unnecessarily antagonistic over something that didnt effect her. this girl she loved and in rhaenyras eyes she is betraying her again and again and again. and rhaenyra thought all that because she couldnt see the bigger picture. how could she begin to understand 'alicent fears what my reign could mean for her children' when viserys actively disencouraged her political interest - her opinion on that point would likely only be 'well obviously i would make sure nothing happened to them', not understanding that That isnt the reassurance she thinks it is.

so yeah. rhaenyra truly doesnt understand what went on or whats going on. but alicent Does (and this imbalance is perfectly demonstrated by the dialogue in the knife scene because, lets be honest, alicent pins down the situation and how rhaenyra fits into it kind of perfectly... whereas rhaenyra incorrectly attributes alicents rage to 'righteousness', not fear.). and personally i think thats why it seems unbalanced or one sided, especially in episode 8. alicent could afford to be genuine, rhaenyra isnt hard to read, whereas rhaenyra still had her guard up because she was just so fucking confused lmao. she briefly saw the gentle, beautiful, kind girl she was in love with in alicents treatment of a dying viserys at the dinner table - and upon realising alicent actually Does still have that side to her rhaenyra doesnt know what to do except subtlety apologise for perhaps not truly Seeing alicent and for accusing her of trying to harm viserys. she thought the alicent she knew was long dead until that moment - the girl has got emotional whiplash. so its not that rhaenyra loves alicent less. her reactions in episode 10 make it very clear there is still A Lot going on there for her (and we know emma d'arcy's pov on it was that rhaenyra genuinely considers conceding the throne with the hope of alicent 'taking her back'). shes just very very Very muddled about whether the current version of alicent is Still the person she loves...

and i think maybe 'love' is the wrong word for what they have when theres so much piled on top but its definitely a devotion. its this constant need to reconcile and be close that they just cant shake because a part of them will always desire the other.

tl;dr rhaenyra is just... kinda dumb god bless. and their imbalance is in their ability to understand the situation, not in the amount of love thats held.

(besides they were never exactly going to be a healthy equal deserving love thats not the point of them imo. they are a missed opportunity. a greek tragedy. starcrossed lovers. etc)

[alicentsgf]

hey! i started following you only recently so i don’t know if anyone has already asked you, if that’s the case i apologise in advance, but i like the way you express your opinions and the way you put things when you talk about things you like/don’t like, so i wanted to ask you if you liked emily carey’s and olivia cooke interpretation of alicent in hotd ,,

hope you have a nice day/night ✨

Hi babe! Thank you so much - I'm gonna try and sum up my feelings on this because I do have some thoughts. I think by and large we've got it really good with the HotD cast in general theres only very few comments they've made where I personally disgree, and none of those are from Emily or Olivia.

Beyond all the repressed lesbian jokes I do think making the subtext of Alicent's character repression and queerness and shame was... Inspired actually. And that apparently came primarily from the actresses. Emily and Olivia saw the potential on the page and really elevated it. Alicent in the book was sometimes implied to be a bit of a (heterosexual) sex pest, as women are oft remembered to be when history wants to blame them for every terrible thing that happened to them... (should I reference Anne Boleyn again?) So the writers critiquing that element by flipping it on its head for the show, and the actresses taking that and going 'actually she was incredibly sexually repressed and its at least in part because this world would never have even let her recognise what she desired' was a great direction to go with it. Because this is a world that does not encourage women to have any sexual agency, or even an awareness of their own sexuality (in Alicent's case). Just look at Rhaenyra - look at the consequences she faces for the semblance of sexual agency she enjoys. So yeah, call me biased lmao but making Alicent the poster girl for catholic shame and queer sexual repression and then putting her next to Rhaenyra, who isnt ashamed or sexually repressed at all, really drives home how neither of them could win; gilded cage, gilded handcuffs, a gilded knife at your throat... choose your pretty affliction if you like, it all ends the same anyway. And they were always going to make Alicent her father's puppet, someone who cant comprehend her own desires, so the actresses building on that and making her a closeted lesbian, who cannot even fathom what desire means because she is so repressed that she doesn't even know how to want anymore. In a lot of ways her longing for intimacy with Rhaenyra isnt even sexual, because she'd have to cut through the calcified surface of her sexual appetite for what she feels to become lustful. And Olivia herself basically said this I think.

I do think I prefer Olivia's portrayal, even though Emily's young Alicent is still incredibly important to me. I just think Emily's youth worked against her even as it was so necessary to role because Olivia's just a more seasoned actress and she seems relaxed enough to make choices that really added to her performance where Emily has a slight stiffness sometimes. Also its not really a fair comparison because I truly believe Olivia is out-acting every single person on that set, not just Emily. Don't get me wrong they're all incredible actors but the only other person coming at all close for me is Paddy, or maybe TGC (but I haven't seen enough of him yet to say that definitively).

I just keep coming back to the knife scene and how well acted that was by Olivia. The pain and righteous anger was all too palpable and you could really plot Alicent's emotional journey playing out so beautifully in Olivia. She and Paddy really were the dream team the way they played off each other - that shot where Viserys gets in Alicent's face, the uncertainty and guilt in Viserys eyes even as he all but growls at Alicent because even he doesn't really believe what hes saying but hes not going to back down, and Alicent with her tear-streaked face - the realisation he will never ever choose her or her children first even when they are bleeding and pleading for him so obvious in her eyes. I really feel the framing did Olivia so dirty because they made it so difficult for people to truly understand Alicent's perspective but absolutely none of that was Olivia's fault, she played Alicent to a T.