#is this my sign to write the otto x his controversially young new wife that he also treats like a pawn fic lmao

[dulcewrites]

Hey, this is a bit of topic, but since we mentioned Otto recently, I just realized that Otto wasn’t actually there when Viserys ordered the Maesters to cut Aemma open ( and outed himself as the monster he truly is ) so all he was informed of was probably that the Queen had simply passed in childbirth. What I’m trying to say is that this fact makes his decision to marry Alicent to the king a lot less horrible that if he had known the truth.

Because if you look at Otto’s character as a whole he isn’t all that terrible ( for example compared to Tywin Lannister). I always found his decision to marry Alicent to the king slightly out of character until I realized that all he saw from his perspective was a man who had lost his wife ( like he himself had ) and grieved her a lot, again because he probably didn’t know that all this time Viserys was just feeling guilt for having murdered his wife. So in a way I can understand why he would look at Viserys, a man he saw as a caring father to his only daughter and loving and devoted husband to Aemma ( as far as Otto knew ) and thought; he’s husband material for Alicent.

Especially if you compare that to the husband material bar in Westeros which is as low as can be.

Plus if he had caught wind of Viserys supposed idea to marry Alicent to Deamon in order to put an end to Otto and Deamon’s feud I can see why he thought that Viserys would be the better option.

Or am I being to optimistic about his motivations? 😅

I think I’d say that is a charitable read. Otto was still there for a good chunk of viserys life with aemma. Since he was hand for two kings before him. He may not have known the inner working of their relationship, but he must have saw how many times aemma was pregnant. Now just based on the little we get of aemma, she probably felt like it was her obligation to give viserys a boy. But I think otto is a very smart man. I feel he had to know that was not going to end well (healthy wise that is) for aemma.

That being said, and perhaps this is me giving him too much credit, but I don’t think he thought viserys would stand so headstrong on his decision of naming Rhaenyra heir. Let’s be real, viserys is an extremely wishy washy, reactionary person. Otto probably thought he would be no different this time. It doesn’t negate otto putting his daughter in that precarious situation to begin with. But I do wonder how gung-ho he would’ve been about sending Alicent to viserys if he knew that their (the Hightower/targ) kids would end up being ignored and neglected, and Aegon would be named till after the fact. Bc we even see in ep 3 before and during the hunt, when he is talking to Hobert, that he is starting to read the tea leaves a bit. He said that he doesn’t think the king sees it that way (in terms of naming Aegon heir). And all Hobert says is that it is Otto’s job to change his mind. Hence him offering that nyra marry Aegon. In ep 4, we see him contemplating if he should even tell viserys about the nyra and daemon news. And then of course the rain scene with Alicent.

I said this before that while I do think otto knows what he was doing mentioning nyra could put the kids to the sword, and how Alicent would react to that. I do also think he was being serious and was worried for his daughter now being alone. I think that is what makes otto so interesting. He is manipulative, and maniacal but I do think love is there for Alicent. As fucked as as it is. It the same way I feel about Alicent with her kids naming Aegon.

Like I do kind of believe him when he’s like “but I made you queen??? Isn’t that great???”. Bc when you grow up the way he has (the way Alicent has) working your way up that ladder to positions like the hand and queen is considered ‘a win’. But that does not account for all the trauma he put his daughter through.