#alicent (in my mind) chooses to be modest. she wants to be. she does it for herself as a commitment to herself. her faith. her mother.

[dirtytransmasc]

ok but like, Modest!Alicent Hightower au (more modest than she already is) cause I feel like it, it adds ✨layers✨

Alicent who veils her hair during her day to day life, elegant laces and silks adorning her long ginger-brown hair, covering it completely at the Sept.

Alicent who wears dresses with long heavy skirts and always covers her elbows with billowing sleeves.

Alicent who conceals her silhouette with thick shaping garments. they also just helped her back during her pregnancies and taking care of kids (her servants recommended them so she'd have full range of motion and support)

Alicent who was stripped of her modesty, her dignity and sense of security whenever Viserys wanted her. stripped of it by her own father when he sent her to Viserys's chambers in a dress that didn't cover as much as she would have liked, especially when she visited a man with those (silent) instructions.

Alicent who lets her hair down around people she trusts. covering it around Rhaenyra after she abandoned her, a blow to Rhaenyra, a blatant "you hurt me and broke my trust". letting Criston see her hair after he becomes her sworn sword. covering in front of Viserys until he demands she stops. Alicent putting a little makeshift veil on her daughter, who wanted to look like her mum, promising it would protect her from how loud the world was.

Alicent who only trusts her closest servants to dress her, and even then insists on being in a full shift before they can come in.

Alicent who felt stripped bare while giving birth to her children.

little Alicent looking up to her mum who was also very modest, and spending her childhood playing in long skirts.

Alicent who wears shawls and scarves out in public or at events. Criston watches to make sure she remains properly covered. her hands fiddling with the patterns or tassels while she talks to others.

Alicent doing this with her kids:

Criston offering her his cloak when she's put in bad situations like sudden crowds or outings.

wearing flowy but opaque fabrics during the summers, looking ethereal and goddess-like with her layers skirts and sleeves.

the whole Larys situation being even more sickening.

all 3 of her sons being protective of her modesty alongside Criston, always offering their cloaks to her or standing to block her from the wind or wandering eyes. Aegon holding her veil in place when it's windy, Aemond placing a cloak over her in public, Daeron fiercely defending his mum from lusting glances or lingering stares.

Helaena continuing to veil with her mum when they go out, they love matching veils and trying ornate styles.

Alicent fixing her daughters veil in attempts to get it to stay in on dragon back. it doesn't. but they don't mind the extra bonding time none the less.

gold veils that literally make her look like she's dripping in gold.

tucking her babes in her shawls or holding them against her skirts that are practically swallowing them whole.

Alicent collecting layers. Ornate undergarments that cover her arms in gold and embroidered patterns, some almost like tapestries others more simple. undershirts that cover her neck, with "choker" patterns and sewn in jewels. modest nightgowns and robes made of the softest, most breathable fabrics in existence.

covering her face on holy days/days of importance.

I just have so many thoughts.

[lordeasriel]

Ok, this is my last question for a while, sorry to spam you. But your other two answers got me thinking. In many ways, it seems to me that Dame Hannah is the series opposite of Mrs. Coulter. Both are incredibly clever and scholarly, but they chose to do radically different things with their gifts. Where one is naturally caring, the other is naturally malicious. I could go on and on. I always liked the idea of a gee's golden langur for Mrs. Coulter's dæmon but now I have come around to the golden lion tamarin because it is often called the "golden marmoset," which drives home even more the similarities but also radical differences between the two women. Sorry this has been a bit rambling but I hope you understand what I am getting at.

Please don't worry about sending me asks, I don't mind them at all, it's always nice to have someone to talk to.

I definitely think Hannah is meant to be opposite to Marisa in many ways. Lyra's first meeting with both of them in NL portrays that we'll; she is charmed by Marisa, who is lovely, beautiful, witty, whereas Hannah is simple, modestly dressed and as far as young Lyra was concerned, she was uninteresting. What Lyra doesn't know at the time, is that Hannah is probably the best alethiometrist of her time and that she was much more interesting than Mrs Coulter, who worked as a scholar but was also a Magisterium hypocrite.

So much about Marisa and Hannah contrast; they both serve groups by their own means and they probably suffered equally as scholars given they are women. I also think that Lyra chooses Marisa at first because she is unconventional, but in truth, Lyra's perception of female scholars were tainted by Jordan scholars' opinions. Marisa has to hide behind façades to be herself and be noticed and do what she wants, whereas Hannah is content in being inconspicuous.

Hannah also represents Academic Knowledge, classical, orderly, whereas Marisa represents a visionary and intuitive kind of knowledge. She is groundbreaking in her activities and research, takings risks, breaking rules to achieve her goals, while Hannah prefers and acts on her formal knowledge, especially when reading the Alethiometer.

There is a passage on TSC where Lyra compares Hannah to Alison Wetherfield and how she calls them "good women" and she spirals into thinking about what that means in general. She thinks of the nuns in the Priory of Godstow and how they were good women too, but part of the Magisterium who does so much evil, and I think this connects well with Hannah and Marisa. It's also something I think Philman is a bit prejudiced by.

Marisa doesn't fit this modest, hard-working, good women profile; even if she didn't do bad things, she still wouldn't fit the profile of Alison, Alice, Hannah; she represents a modern women profile that fits with the anti-rationality speech TSC tries to bring us. Marisa is arrogant and entitled, her beauty is something she weaponises and she uses to do harm as well as good. All the "good women" in HDM/TBOD are rarely depicted as beautiful. Beautiful women always bring some form of corruption; Marisa's description is an ode to how her beauty defines her. Through HDM that is all she is ever identified for; Hannah, on the other hand, is often described by her mellow, soft, undisturbed attitude. She is old or middle age, and that is what we get. Because of that, we identify her for what she does, which is the Alethiometer and Oakley Street.

Anyway, I got sidetracked but I agree with you about how they are opposites that mirror each other