Something Striking About The Relationship Between Rhaenyra And Alicent That The Show Tries To Awkwardly

We've got less than a month to go.

Couldn't have said it better

Sorry people this is gonna be a long post, but I needed to vent.

A lot of people in the HOTD fandom are so quick to say that everything Alicent does "against" Rhaenyra is because she's judging her for not following the "rules" of the patriarchy, but imo the anger and conflict between them is way more personal than that. After Alicent is chosen by Viserys as his new wife, Rhaenyra, showing all of her immaturity (understandable, she's so young) feels betrayed by Alicent and starts treating her poorly. Of course Alicent in turn feels betrayed by her closest friend cause Rhaenyra abandoned her when she needed her the most. She was too sheltered and comfortable in her privilege to realize that other women cannot simply say no, Alicent was considered her father's property and then her husband's to do with as they pleased. She is continuously raped by a man she did not choose to marry, forced to carry child after child and on top of that she is refused the only comfort she had, her only friend. She never had the luxury of choice, but Rhaenyra in her naivety, still punished her for it. Alicent tried to hang on, still caring about Rhaenyra and still trying to reconcile with her and being constantly denied and judged by her.

Then, the moment Rhaenyra did something that would surely put her in trouble, she lied to Alicent's face. Alicent believed her and defended her with the king, insisting that Daemon must have lied, that her father must have been misinformed. Viserys knew this to be false, he knew Rhaenyra had lied, but still she was not punished for it. Instead Alicent is indirectly punished again, losing her only ally (Otto is a vile person, but still for Alicent he was the only piece of home, of familiarity she had) because of Rhaenyra. Naturally when she learned that Rhaenyra had lied to her, it was another huge blow to Alicent's heart, because trusting Rhaenyra has literally cost her the only bit of protection she felt that she had left. It's only natural at this point, that Otto's claims about Rheanyra's character began to take root in Alicent's mind. Rhaenyra proved that she could not be trusted and Alicent wasn't about to put her children's lives in the hands of someone who had betrayed her so. She realized that no one would protect her, not Viserys, not Rhaenyra, so she must do it herself.

From then on things were bound to go downhill cause Alicent began resenting Rhaenyra as she still remained oblivious to her privilege and she benefited from it again and again, perhaps even using her father's affection for her to her advantage. And Rhaenyra (understandably) grew tired of Alicent's treatment of her.

In light of that, what happened with Aemond inevitably had a massive impact on their situation, especially on Alicent, whose faith in Rhaenyra was already broken. Her son lost an eye (taken by one of Rhaenyra's kids). Rhaenyra refused to even acknowledge the magnitude of this offence, so quick to defend her kids (and their birthright), who would never do anything wrong and were simply defending themselves (despite there being 4 of them against Aemond) And even in such a dramatic circumstance, all Viserys cares about is protecting Rhaenyra from what essentially is, the truth.

So in my opinion Alicent is not only saying "it's not fair" because Rhaenyra constantly did things that were not "proper" and was never punished for it, what she's saying is more along the lines of "Rhaenyra abandoned me, betrayed me, punished me, hurt me, my son and others to fulfil her selfish goals and nobody ever punished her for it or even had the decency to admit that she might have been wrong".

Alicent is not questioning Rhaenyra's claim to the throne because she's a woman, she's questioning her integrity and wether or not she's trustworthy, she's doing it to protect herself and her children, who she feels could never be truly safe as long as Rhaenyra rules with Daemon by her side.

And feelings like these cannot be simply dismissed, not even with an apology, one must really work on rebuilding trust in each other in order to fix years of betrayal and mutual hurt and resentment, and sadly they just didn't get enough time to do it.

queen of westeros

This facebook hotd meme I found is so based and true. Pleasantly surprised to find non team black content there

This fandom's romanticization of abusive relationships will never not infuriate me.

It's quite ironic when you think about it. People here always claim to be hardcore feminists who want Rhaenyra on the throne cause fuck the patriarchy, but at the same time they cheer her relationship with Daemon who groomed her since she was little, took her to a brothel when she was still a teenager and aimed to ruin her reputation to marry her and claim the iron throne through her. Like you can't tell me he didn't do it out of spite cause Viserys named her heir, and that was the only way he could get the power he always wanted. All of this is not even the worst part, since he physically abuses her and neglects her after a miscarriage.

The fandom also loves Viserys/Aemma, as if he didn't sleep with her when she was thirteen, got her pregnant repeatedly, ruining her health in the process, and finally butchered her like a lamb at the slaughter for a son.

Lmao honestly I get that a lot of ships in hotd are problematic, and it's super hard to find something pure and sweet, but the fandom really chose to stan the worst of the worst wtf

Women written by GRRM:

Quotes above from the characters : Catelyn Stark, Alicent Hightower, Arianne Martell, Daenerys Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Catelyn Stark(again), Sansa Stark.

Women Written by Ryan Condal:

this scene is the sexiest 4th wall break in cartoons,

case closed.

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

GUYS LOOK I'M A GENIUS