#rhaenys targaryen critical

[watcherintheweyr]

Rhaenyra telling Rhaenys that Jace and Baelas sons would sit the throne wasn't her being against women inheriting... it was her trying to appeal to Rhaenys, who has been condescending and bitter ever since Rhaenyra was named heir.

Rhaenys did tell Rhaenyra the cold truth no one else would, in ep 2. But she *enjoyed doing it.* she looked pleased, that Rhaenyra would suffer the same fate of being set aside, that Rhaenyra would know her pain. Rhaenyra was also *correct* when she clapped back. Their situations were similar and different.

Rhaenys was never named her fathers heir- the lords of the realm never knelt and swore to her. And her dig about the cupbearer position makes.. no sense.

Historically, a cupbearer is a position of honor and favor. By acting as cupbearer, Rhaenyra is witnessing, experiencing, and learning how the realm is governed. Yes, Otto undermines her and Viserys allows it, but that doesn't change that being a cupbearer is a position of honor.

And when Rhaenyra is crowned, she has *Rhaena* as her cupbearer. And further than that, she does for Rhaena and Baela what was never done for her. She invites them TO the table where decisions are made.

That line was done bc she knew Rhaenys still didn't support the idea of Rhaenyra as queen, and she had no guarantee that would change. So she tries to appeal to Rhaenys in the only way left to her at the moment, with the Greens looming over her. And in doing so she sets up Baela to be queen after her- and for Rhaena to be Lady of the Tides, as Rhaenys is now.

Gods I miss book Rhaenys. Eve Best was robbed.

[sansacherie]

I dont want this to happen but it wouldnt surprise me if Jace's first appearance in s2 will be him in the North which means him getting the Vale swords will happen off-screen.

IMO it is quite possible because s2 is already shorter than its predecessor. So this factor means the writers could (should) be considering other characters. In this case thats Rhaena.

Rhaena will also be in the Vale and unlike Jace going by F&B she spends much of the Dance there. Therefore while his scenes with Lady Arryn are important because it shows his character (diplomacy etc) I would say that Rhaena's is significantly more so because her Vale plotline could (should) demonstrate her character development.

I also believe it will be a much better change to have Jeyne Arryn's iconic line "in this world of men we women must stick together" be something that she says to Rhaena instead of Jace. I think it'll be more meaningful for Rhaena to hear it because she can identify with Jeyne Arryn through their shared gender unlike Jace. IMO making a quote about female solidarity in a male world be said to another female (a teenager) at that would make such a refreshing contrast to the way Rhaenys denigrates Alicent for trying to survive in a misogynistic society. Rhaenys accuses her of being content with building windows in the walls of her prison meanwhile I don't think Rhaenys realizes that while she might be allowed to leave her own prison, she is always expected to come back.

[redrosesandcharmingsouls]

Random thought: people not understanding Alicent's talk with Rhaenys in episode 9 makes me absolutely furious.

"Rhaenys was passed over in favour of a man, Alicent must be dumb to believe that she would help her usurp another woman" No!!!!!!!! You don't get it!!!!!!!

"We do not rule, but we may guide the man that do".

Alicent knows that the realm would never chose a woman as a ruling queen. When they had the chance, the lords of Westeros picked a man over a woman, despite the latter being more fit for ruling.

She recognizes how flawed and unfair the system is and yet she still tries to find a way around it.

She understands that, rather than suddenly upturning centuries of tradition - meeting the resistance of the realm - women can gain agency and power in a more subtle way, by influencing the men around them.

It's direct vs. indirect power, and it's the best - and smartest - thing that Alicent can do with the resources she has.

And who should be better qualified to understand this than Rhaenys, the queen who never was, the one who was snubbed by the realm in favour of her male cousin? The one who literally say that "men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne" in episode 2?

No, Alicent's speech was not about convincing Rhaenys to betray another woman. She was telling her "What they did to you, they will do to her, and the realm will suffer. This kind of power may not be accessible for us, but there are other ways".

But of course god forbids that people don't reduce Alicent to a hysterical, delusional trad wife.

Anon ,you nailed it .

But ,if i can add ,if we really want to go in the whole '"Rhaenys was passed over in favour of a man, Alicent must be dumb to believe that she would help her usurp another woman'' then i will say that ,Alicent had every right to believe it.Because Rhaenys at the end of the day made Baela not inherit Driftmark and he gave her claim to a boy who had none of the legitimacy required to inherit .Like ,is Alicent really so dumb for thinking that Rhaenys doesnt really care about women getting usurped or not if it benefits her family?.

Thank you for the ask anon!

[kass-of-the-midlands]

In an attempt to make a feminist show, Hotd has Rhaenys be totally cool with her man cheating on her, has Baela refusing her mother’s claim, has Rhaena reduced to a nursemaid with little to no scenes with her twin sister, has Rhaenyra start a war for a throne because daddy said she could have it, has Alicent dithering around with no influence over the court that she’s ruled for over a decade, has Helaena offer up a necklace instead of her own life to try and save her children, also completely removes the fact that Helaena fell into complete despair and insanity due to this immense trauma, has Nettles–a commoner who learnt how to ride a dragon-erased, has Saera Snow-a major proponent of the Pact of Ice and Fire and an RLJ foreshadowing, not to mention an enriching factor to Cregan and Jace-removed, has Jeyne Arryn be totally cool siding with the man who murderered a fellow female liege, has—

[scarareg]

HOTD idea of feminism is:

Do everything your father says and wishes you to do

If a man forced you into marriage, raped you, and then ignored you and your children, you have to be grateful and kind to him, praise him after his death and fullfil every wish he ever had, even if it at the expense of your or your family's well-being. If you don't do this, you are the worst kind of human being

Be ok with your husband cheating on you

Black female characters are interchangeable

If you grandpa offers you a position of power, you should reject it and simply be a man's wife

Delete or minimize the screentime for female characters who make a pedophile look like a bad person

A woman should not mourn her children. Moreover, she should help the man who ordered the killing of her children

Any lesbian/bisexual women who is not a white Targaryen princess should not have much screen time or even exist in the story

[danyyytarggg]

watching house of the dragon feels like someone is trying to gaslight you into thinking that the characters in the show are intelligent, witty, and cunning but the person trying to gaslight you only learned what gaslighting was like an hour ago from a tiktok

[paradiscake]

Oh don't mind me. I am once again upset and flabbergasted by the favoritism toward Greens in screen time ratio.

We get two long scenes of Aegon making a fool of himself but not Jace's reaction to the prophesy shown, we don't even hear him listen to all of it.

Overlong scenes of Alicent and her potential pregnancy and Larys but no more reactions shown to Rhaenyra's absence.

Two unnecessary long scenes of Gwayne making fun of Criston but we don't see Rhaenys saying goodbye to Corlys. No scene of Rhaenys interacting with Baela or Jace or Rhaenyra. Saying goodbye to them. Even though this was her last appearance. The showrunners disrespect toward Rhaenys needs to be studied. She had one interaction with each of her granddaughters in the whole show and nothing with her grandsons.

Overlong montage of Criston taking in the destruction but no scene of how Jace is placed at the centre of council in his mother's absence.

None of the Team Black characters are given room to breathe. They barely get any screen time. Their emotions and conflicts are made secondary to disposable filler scenes of Greens. While all Team Black scenes are rushed and given no room to breathe.

This is not only incredibly unfair but also making the show quite a bore to sit through. And HBO wonders why the ratings are falling. People don't want to see the same thing with Greens over and over again when they're not developing. They haven't earned excessive screentime. Believe me, everyone's tired of this mess.

[spacerockfloater]

Condal turning the Alys Rivers into a manic pixie dream girl that tries to change Daemon for the best and her first priority being the lives of women and children was my last fucking straw.

Why do all the women have to be pure angelic pacifists with no agendas of their own to pursue?

Rhaenyra, Alicent, Mysaria, Alys, Rhaenys and any other female character have been whitewashed to fucking hell. There’s nothing interesting or controversial about them. They’re all just borderline powerless victims who do exactly what Alicent said to Rhaenys in S1 E9: try to guide the men instead of taking action themselves. Where is the feminism in that?

Let women be humans.

[applepie2523]

[mejcinta]

The TEA is scorching!!!!!!

[sunfyrisms]

me personally i will never forget how rhaenys called out alicent for subjecting herself to the will of men. supposedly. and i say supposedly because she did the exact same thing! she was willing to give her twelve year old daughter to her much older cousin because her husband demanded it. she let her son, her only living child, marry into house targaryen, knowing how dangerous it was (it supposedly cost him his life). she supported rhaenyra’s claim in honor of her husband, while under the impression that rhaenyra had a hand in said son’s death (and her anger about it is just never bought up? to rhaenyra nor daemon). her husband constantly overstepped himself and was willing to do anything to get more power (including essentially leaving his children to the wolves), while justifying it as him wanting to avenge rhaenys’ claim. while rhaenys herself made peace with the crown being passed over her!

her, of all people, telling alicent (who was a child bride whose children through marital rape) literally anything about the topic is so hypocritical and weird. but it’s not meant to be hypocritical and weird. it’s meant to be this girlboss, feminist moment that fans, for some reason, gladly ate up without thinking about it for more than a second. it didn’t make sense for rhaenys’ character but the writers didn’t care. in that moment, she was nothing more than a self-insert for the writers to loudly and annoyingly voice their personal opinions into the show.

it’s so fucking weird and i haven’t liked rhaenys since. you deserve better writing girl.

[alicentsgf]

SORRY I don't listen to anything that condal says (which I recommend) but someone just told me he said meleys was BELOVED by the smallfolk I'm so fucking done with this show if he said that. even putting aside the fact she squished a healthy chunk of them into peasant paste a few weeks back. The idea that any dragon is beloved by the smallfolk is fucking hilarious. Thats like the British army carting the shell of a nuclear missile through the streets of London and me being like “heartbreaking. she was so slay 😢”

[so-what-then]

Rhaenyra: “I don’t want the throne”

Alicent: “I don’t want the throne”

Rhaenys: “I don’t want the throne”

Baela: “I don’t want the throne”

Ok well what do you bitches want? Why y’all even fighting if you don’t want power? And don’t say peace. Peace actually requires power.

[backjustforberena]

listen, folks, they just love each other

[mostly-delusional]

the more i think about the show the more i get mad at the writers. you want grrm's story but you don't want his characters that complement the story so well. instead you'll create your own version of those characters that barely resemble the original ones and make no sense to the overall plot and essence of the story. not a single main character in the show is as they should be. they've ruined almost every single woman in the show. everything is just a bloody misunderstanding at this point. they've pulled absurd storylines out of their asses instead of adapting the source material like they were supposed to. the timelines are fucked up, character motivations have been altered. house of the dragon as a whole feels like the later seasons of game of thrones did. but it still cannot manage to pull me in and make me want to watch it. the show has become a joke and I can't wait for it to be over so i can forget about its existence like i did got's.

[greenqueenhightower]

Sometimes I just love the irony in HOTD:

True legitimate heir Rhaenys is bypassed for a male heir to the throne and her grandfather Jaehaerys goes along with it, only for Viserys to succeed him two years later and reverse the order and name Rhaenyra his heir despite desperately wanting a son and even though she is a woman (like Rhaenys was), and who as it might turn out, might actually be a bastard, who then goes on to have three bastards of her own with Harwin, and since Laenor does not die and simply vanishes when she is still married to him, that automatically makes her children with Daemon bastards as well.

Do you see the point? With every generation, the Targaryen claim to the Iron Throne is weakening instead of getting stronger.

They literally went from having two legitimate heirs to the Iron Throne to choose from, to completely destroying their entire line. The weak choices a generation made created a domino effect that affected the generations after it.

Oh yeah. Of course the only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon was itself, it just had to be.