OH MY GOOOD

I know that right now we're all pissed at the horrendous character assassination Alicent has gone through this season (God I'm the first one who still can't believe her eyes), but this awful representation of the green Queen on screen has at least given me some newfound appreciation for book!Alicent and all she stands for.

Alicent, the young girl who stood by Jaehaerys's side as he passed.

Alicent, who became queen against all odds and watched in horror as her foolish husband dismissed her sons' claim to the throne in favor of her step-daughter.

Alicent, who knew what she wanted for her family and fought tooth and nail against Rhaenyra to protect her children.

Alicent, who demanded Luke's eye in exchange for Aemond's when she realized Viserys didn't care for the wellbeing of their son.

Alicent, who cleverly plotted Aegon's ascension and put her plan in motion the moment her useless husband kicked the bucket, disregarding his wishes in order to save her kin from the blacks.

Alicent, who witnessed the atrocity that was blood and cheese, helpless to do anything as her grandson was butchered and who then later on said she wishes to bathe in the blood of the men who had committed this horrible act.

Alicent, who remained loyal to her side till the bitter end, and kept taunting and threatening Rhaenyra even after she took the capital.

Alicent, who never recovered from her children's deaths and lived only to erase Rhaenyra's legacy, trying to convince her granddaughter to kill Aegon III despite the end of the war.

Alicent, who spent her last days in imprisonment, seen as a remnant of the past, a grief stricken woman fueled by vengeance, unable to see a future with Rhaenyra's blood on the throne.

Alicent, who died alone and defeated still thinking of her happy teenage years and her beloved family.

She was fierce, she was loving, she was manipulative, loyal, clever, brave and even fucking evil when she had to be, but at least she felt real.

She had agency, knew what she wanted and how to obtain it.

Never forget what they took from us.

lol please not you defending Criston Cole for bullying the strong boys but hates on Rhaenyra for not being nice to her siblings. 🤡😂

"bullying" ? really? it's very obvious he preferred alicent's sons and gave them most of his attention when he was training them but i didn't see him bully rhaenyra's sons. i don't think he could have even if he wanted to - rhaenyra & viserys would have him removed from the king's guard for mistreating the princes.

the only prince i saw getting bullied in ep 6 was aemond.

and as i have said in my cole post, i'm not justifying cole's wrongdoings. he's far from perfect.

and lastly, yeah, i think rhaenyra wanting to have her little brother tortured is worse than cole ignoring her sons in class.

“He is my son, my first son!”

i think it's really funny that rhaenyra is like "why do they think that i sent assassins after it - i mean after dear helaena's son"

*cue montage*

"children squeal like boars" while glaring at baby aegon, later proceeds to violently stab a boar to death, gives aegon more death glares while covered in blood

never interacts with her siblings, seemingly does not give a shit about them

"sharply questioned"

has laenor "killed"

marries daemon, number one fear of everyone in westeros

*end montage*

i mean, rhae-rhae, you've shown yourself to be an insensitive, violent person, and you stand to gain from jaehaerys's death. of course they think it was you.

"Alicent should have killed Aegon for what he did to Dyana. Is this how she defends SA victims?"

Has to be one of the shittiest takes I've ever had the displeasure of reading in the hotd fandom.

I genuinely cannot believe that a lot of people think this, like, are you guys insane??? Lmao casually saying this as if they aren't demanding a mother to execute her child.

I get it blacks, you are mad that Aegon raped Dyana, trust me, it upsets me too. It's horrible and unexcusable, I don't condone at all. It would be very concerning if I did.

With that said, what exactly were you expecting Alicent to do?

Tell all of Westeros that because the prince assaulted a servant ( I would like to remind you, a generous chunk of nobles has certainly done it as well to some degree.) he has to face justice and be executed.

Whaaat? Westeros is not in the 21st century, it doesn't work like that, by their standards it probably wasn't even considered rape! They would just think the prince had honored her with his attention and she had showed ungratefulness.

She would be punished instead for attempting to taint his image and have her tounge cut out or something. We're in the middle ages!!

Rape in Westeros is unfortunately super normalized, his execution would cause a shit show. Oh and sorry, how are you demanding a mother to have her firstborn killed?

Ali is veery disappointed with her son for many reasons, obviously including this one, and she's not shy to say it to his face, slap him and tell him he's no son of hers. But he is still her son, and she will always love him no matter what. There is no way in hell she would ever kill one of her kids.

Lmao if one of the strong boys did the same thing would you demand Rhaenyra to kill her sons as well?

Oh and also kinslaying. The circumstances of it are irrelevant, kinslaying is always considered one of the worst crime one can commit in Westeros. Hell even people who unwillingly kill their kin are cursed and ostracized, imagine what the realm would think of a mother, the fucking queen, killing her son.

Team black will really find any excuse to shit on Alicent, even if said reason is dumb as hell and devoid of any logic.

Something striking about the relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent that the show tries to awkwardly scoot past is that time and time again, Alicent sacrifices her own interests and desires for Rhaenyra's benefit, while Rhaenyra never does the reverse. Alicent teaches Rhaenyra history, dresses and crowns her for her investment ceremony, comforts her after her mother's death, advises Viserys *against* naming Aegon heir, supports reconciliation between Rhaenyra and Viserys that ultimately gets her father and sole supporter fired, seriously considers switching sides to her despite the severe risk to her own children, and goes against her father to try and save her life. The most Rhaenyra gives Alicent is a few hollow words of praise in episode 8.

Though the show doesn't seem to realize it, their relationship isn't one of equals, but of master and servant. Otto and Alicent are parallels in this sense - both are in a sense, servants of the Targaryens who do not wish to merely serve. But the show buys into the expectation of their service and Targaryen masterdom uncritically: the great crime of Otto and Alicent is their attempt to subvert the natural order of things rather than meekly serving their Targaryen masters. It's why Alicent is most sympathetic when she is loyal to Rhaenyra, but the reverse isn't true, because why would Rhaenyra be expected to do anything for a mere servant like Alicent?

Which really just goes to show the big class blind spot the show has. By presenting "goodness" as solely a function of how closely one can follow Viserys' orders, they're regurgitating one aspect of medieval social customs to oppose another. With this context, Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship feels less healthy and a lot more like a premonition of Alicent's relationship to Viserys, with similar power imbalances. Rhaenyra and Alicent love each other, but Rhaenyra sees Alicent as a sidekick at best, doesn't take her seriously as someone with her own inner life and desires, and is sensitive to Alicent's perceived disobedience ("questioning my virtue is an act of treason.")

I think it also gives context to Criston and Alicent's relationship, given that Criston is *also* relatively low nobility, and a servant to the Targaryens, who feels taken advantage of by them, and whose great crime is trying to be something other than a servant, to *make* kings, not just to serve them.

the way in which jon and robb's futures are foreshadowed by the mother of the other: robb dying too young and becoming a ghost that haunts their siblings, a reminder of innocence and happier days, and jon dying and being brought back to life, a shadow of what he once was, a dark mirror to himself

MAYA ANGELOU ‘Phenomenal Woman’

failmarriages are evolving. what if you’re your father’s firstborn son and she’s your mother’s firstborn daughter and you were doomed from the day you were born. what if you’re the sun and you only know how to burn. what if she’s every myth about moon and madness. she claimed a dragon before you and you named your dragon after hers. your pink and gold to her blue and silver. she hasnt been outside in ages. you stopped dreaming long ago. sun. dream. fire and blood. one flesh one heart one soul. what if the tragedy isnt that you have nothing in common. what if the tragedy is that you have everything in common