#Alicization Rewatch

[nicksstrongrugbyarms]

(Apparently) unpopular opinion: heartstopper is not cringe 💁🏼‍♂️ it’s just not.

Like can queer people just be happy and in love without everyone calling it cringe? God. Just sit down and let us have this.

[elaena]

You ever think back on what could've been?

[doctorcurdlejr]

this is such an alice ending. this is what being a milf does for you

[nickhugs]

Nick’s journey from “hi” to “i would fight the whole world for you”

[confoodles]

If I had a nickel for every time Mariah played a character that was incredibly attached to their phone to the point of putting themselves/others in harm's way because of it, I'd have 3 nickels which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened 3 times.

[apparently-artless]

●◉✿ SOUSOU NO FRIEREN ❀ FRIEREN & HIMMEL ✿◉●

Anime: Sousou no Frieren Characters: Frieren & Himmel Song Lyrics: Outnumbered by Dermot Kennedy

↳ requested by Alice (@alice-chan-chan)

[2rats1gogh]

i cannot be the only one seeing this

Queen Elinor (Brave)

Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon)

[allyriadayne]

ALICENT'S REBELLION

[soyboywenzie]

‘In all of kings landing, is there no one to take my side?’

idk alicent, maybe because, just listen. you decided to do shit that does not help your side? you did things that only made people feel sympathy for rhaenyra? YOU ASKED FOR HER SON SECONDS AFTER HE WAS BORN??? BEFORE SHE COULD EVEN BIRTH THE AFTERBIRTH???

also, yknow, YOU ARE TRYING TO GET CHILDREN KILLED?? DOING THE EXACT THING YOU WORRIED SHE WOULD DO TO YOU AND IF SHE DID DO THAT, NO ONE WOULD HAVE SYMPATHY BECAUSE OF ALL THE THINGS YOU DID?!

in short, people side with those who aren’t batshit and don’t make their stances that well known, especially if you are doing all this in secret. If everyone knew her children were bastards, everyone also knew you were the one to start those rumors, that alone means you are her enemy and she is the realm’s delight.

you are going against the most popular child of westeros, since her birth and till her death, and you are seriously confused on why no one sided with you? Truly?

[lady-clouves]

I know it’s probably just because I missed something, but it doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever that Alicent would marry Aegons and Helaena to each other. Alicent’s probably the most devout woman of the Faith I’ve seen in the show. Alie literally replaces all the Targaryen tapestries with ones of the Faith and puts seven pointed stars everywhere. I mean it’s literally a sin in her religion for one to marry their siblings, and I doubt she would let her children commit something that could damn them to the Seven Hells.

[selkiewife]

Alicent's relationship with Dragons

“The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion.”

This is a fascinating quote and I love how it builds on the dragon lore we already see being established in asoiaf with Daenerys:

She would sooner have returned to Meereen on dragon's wings, to be sure. But that was a desire Drogon did not seem to share. The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip. Mounted on the dragon's back, she oft felt as if she were learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on her right flank the mare went left, for a horse's first instinct is to flee from danger. When she laid the whip across Drogon's right side he veered right, for a dragon's first instinct is always to attack. Sometimes it did not seem to matter where she struck him, though; sometimes he went where he would and took her with him. Neither whip nor words could turn Drogon if he did not wish to be turned. ~ A Dance With Dragons, Daenerys X

And I also love how it is supported throughout the whole first season of House of the Dragon, both literally (as with Aemond and Luke at the end) and symbolically with Otto and Alicent.

I've been thinking a lot about the symbolism of trying to control dragons in Alicent's arc. Throughout the first season, Otto attempts to use his daughter to control "dragons of flesh" (Rhaenyra and Viserys.) The first part of Otto's plan was to have Rhaenyra supplant Daemon as the heir and I noticed on this second rewatch that Alicent may have been tasked by Otto to encourage Rhaenyra's ambition for the throne:

ALICENT: You're worried your father is about to overshadow you with a son. RHAENYRA: I only worry for my mother. I hope for my father that he gets a son. As long as I can recall, it's all he's wanted. ALICENT: You want him to have a son? RHAENYRA: I want to fly with you on dragonback, see the great wonders across the Narrow Sea, and eat only cake. ALICENT: I'm being serious. RHAENYRA: I never jest about cake. ALICENT: You aren't worried about your position? RHAENYRA: I like this position. It's quite comfortable.

Rhaenyra's flirting aside (I'll get to that later lol), Alicent seems very intent on discussing Rhaenyra's position as heir. I think that Alicent has true concern for Rhaenyra's desires (and she knows her very well) but she has also been told by her father to encourage those desires in Rhaenyra. Even though Otto is trying to manipulate the situation, I think Alicent is happy to comply because to her mind, making her best friend the heir to the throne is really a win win for everyone- her father, Rhaenyra, the realm, etc. Her own desires align with Otto's at this point.

But then Otto tasks Alicent to essentially "break" her "dragon bond" with Rhaenyra and establish one with the king instead. This is when things really begin to fall apart for Alicent because her desires absolutely do not align with "claiming" Viserys. But she does as her father bids and begins a long, traumatic arc of trying to control dragons- both Viserys and later her "dragon" sons, Aegon and Aemond (as we see at the end of Season 1 and from the trailers of Season 2.) But this is doomed to fail because, as Viserys himself says, control of dragons is an illusion.

I think it is also doomed to fail because Alicent is also trying to control her own dragons- that is to say, her own desires. I think that the dragons- and her fear of riding them- is symbolic of Alicent’s sexuality and her feelings toward Rhaenyra. The first thing that Rhaenyra says to Alicent in the show after she climbs off Syrax is that she wants to take Alicent dragon riding with her. But Alicent declines:

ALICENT: Syrax is growing quickly. She'll soon be as large as Caraxes. RHAENYRA: That's almost large enough to saddle two. ALICENT: I believe I'm quite content as a spectator, thank you.

There is a moment where Rhaenyra registers the rejection while Alicent turns to go inside the carriage- which looks similar to a cage. Rhaenyra looks back at Syrax who is lead away into the dragon pit- also a cage- before going in after her.

Rhenyra's invitation to join her on her dragon is an intimate one in my opinion. It reminds me of Rhaena taking Elissa to ride on Dreamfyre. Dragons can symbolize power but I think they can also symbolize sexuality, freedom, and gender fluidity. As Maester Aemon said in asoiaf:

"Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame." ~ A Feast for Crows, Samwell IX

Rhaenyra talks about flying with Alicent again when they are in the godswood and Alicent responds by becoming flustered and attempting to leave. I think that flying on a dragon symbolizes a kind of freedom- and perhaps a kind of sexual freedom that frightens her. So by shutting that conversation down it symbolizes how she is trying to shut down that part of her as well. She is trying to control the "dragons" of her own desires- to keep them locked up in a cage. Unfortunately, "there is a beast beneath the boards" and her desires (like dragons) cannot be caged indefinitely. They will eventually be let out- even if it is in a very destructive way.

[pipedreams13]

Fun fact: you definitely can’t watch Heartstopper without smiling like an idiot 

[knightsickness]

craziest shot in hotd for me still in driftmark immediately after the knife scene where alicent is shown from above as a red head surrounded by valyrian silver hair and silver helmets and criston’s dark head comes to join her. me when the greenie court outsiders theme is theming

[alicent-hightowers]

Alicent Hightower gifs: 1/- 1.01 “The Heirs of the Dragon”

[leotanaka]

[celticcatgirl2]

POV: you insulted Ruby Rose….