#hotd critical [helaena]

[alicentsultana]

Alicent, the terrible mother

Like all mothers that can't treat her children in the same way.

Aegon looks so much like her, so she is harsh and stern, as she tries to prevent him from being what she once was or something that will only harm him. She doesn't know what to do with him, nobody told her what to do with it.

Helaena is unreachable. So she tiptoes around her and doesn't quite know how to reach her in a way she will receive and understand, in a way she will accept.

Aemond... he have everything she wanted to cultivate in her and her other children, but he sometimes do things she cannot control, it frightens her.

Daeron sweet Daeron. You climb tries and jump from high places, when are you going to stop giving your mother a heart attack? When are you going to come back and be just a baby again? When will they let her take care of you again?

Every slap, every tear, every scream, every desperate action. She did out of love, out of the need to protect and guard. It has intent, though it can be wrong and a mistake sometimes.

Parenting is trial, there is wrongs and rights. There is love and interest.

Each child is different, each one needs and receives something different. It's easier to show her love for ones, difficult to show her love for others.

You can clearly see who loves, you can clearly see who only have interest. You can clearly see who only have hatred.

Alicent is a successful parent. She nurtured as she could, she fought and fights as she can. Because if she doesn't, nobody will, not for her or for them.

You can critique parenting styles and it's effectiviness, but don't say there isn't love there.

Do you love me?

You imbecile.

[2rats1gogh]

Anyone else notice how only Rhaenyra is shown to be a loving mother but not Alicent and Helaena?

Emma’s first scene of Rhaenyra giving birth, Olivia’s is Alicent being the cruel stepmother who forces Joffrey be bought to her immediately. For extra points they even have Rhaenyra leave a trail of blood just to show how evil Alicent is.

Rhaenyra is constantly kissing and showing affection to her sons. Alicent’s only scenes with Aegon is her berating him and Helaena recoils from her touch. All to show Rhaenyra’s the perfect mother with perfect sons whilst Alicent’s a mess just like her kids.

We have a scene where Rhaenyra happily introduces her youngest two to Viserys, she’s cuddling them and smiling with her father. Meanwhile the show doesn’t even tell us Jaehaera and Jaehaerys’ names, Helaena doesn’t even hold them, no one else acknowledges them. Just so we don’t feel too sad about Blood & Cheese.

I noticed it too and it angers me a lot. It’s such a shame we didn’t get to see team green just being a family that acts like one.

When my grandma was watching the show she didn’t even realize that the twins were supposed to be a boy and a girl.

It’s like the creators can’t write a single scene where the greens are showing love and emotions, especially the two mothers, Alicent and Helaena. Almost as if they’re afraid we are going to sympathize with them. I know that both were technically forced to have children, but that doesn’t mean in any way that they didn’t love them and that they were bad mothers, especially Helaena??

ugh it makes me so mad

[very-straight-blog]

Despite the fact that Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell and Phia Saban will get clearly more screen time in the second season, I still feel robbed thinking about the first one. There're so many interesting moments that we could have seen, but now we'll never get. Aegon's total reaction to Aemond's injury. The way Aemond dealt with the loss of his eye. Aegon and Sunfyre. Helaena and Dreamfyre. Aegon and Helaena's wedding, the way their relationship developed, the concept of their parenthood. The most painful thing for me is that in the first season we actually had the only opportunity to see some moments of their happiness and unity, because starting from the second one they will mostly suffer. At the same time, the lack of character development of the green children in the first season already leads to plot holes in the future (yes, Blood and Cheese, I'm looking at you). Remind me, how should the audience sympathize with the Greens' tragedy if it probably doesn't remember that Helaena and Aegon had children at all? The more I think about this series, the angrier I get.

[mejcinta]

My introduction to adult Aegon would go something like this:

He returns drunk to his chambers after his revels to find Helaena and the kids there. As she glares at him, the twins, who had been waiting to see him, attack him with a hug, oblivious to the rift simmering between their parents.

That way, Aegon is still painted as a not so good family guy or husband but the scene still manages to convey his complicated relationship with his family; as well as introduce his kids and Helaena, whose violation by B&C in s2 EPISODE 1 push him to war.

[rhaenin-time]

Being a native who's studied colonialism means that I know wayyyyy too much about blood quantum. I know how stupid it is, how it's tied to eugenics, but I also know how it "works."

Which means I can use my stupid-power to do this:

Well this took a turn.

[daenerysies]

someone sent me an anon ask about the anti rhaenyra agenda most rhaenicent shippers have and like a dumbass i accidently deleted it so i'm just going to try my best to re-answer it here (yes i wrote a whole spiel about it and now it's gone forever and i'm upset.)

from what i can tell there are only two reasons as to why people can't stand rhaenyra but love rhaenicent; and it's because they either have some heavy internalized misogyny OR that's the only way to continue and keep their uwu sad lesbian alicent headcanons semi-tethered in reality. alicent is a character that has next to no positive interactions with other characters, least of all any women. she has a 'good' (and i say that lightly) relationship with rhaenyra for 2 episodes in hotd, and then they are adversaries for the rest of the show. the only other women we see her interact with are helaena and her lady in waiting talya ( who regularly spied on her for mysaria) and minus talya, those are the same female relationships she has in f&b. she doesn't really have a good track record with anyone.

in the book she terrorized rhaenyra from aegon's birth up until rhaenyra's death. rather than teaching her son to rule and raising him to be an upstanding prince of the realm she instead spent her time calling rhaenyra, a literal child, a slut, she accepted criston into her service as her own personal protector in spite of his predatory behavior towards rhaenyra (which she acknowledges), and continuously tries to have rhaenyra and her sons disinherited and killed due to her own spreading of the bastard rumors. not to mention that she was eighteen when she married viserys to rhaenyra's nine. there's really nothing romantic about it. in the show almost everything is still the same except for her being the one to arrange helaena's marriage to her known degenerate and rapist son (in f&b viserys is the one who had them marry) and most likely told her the same rhetoric of rhaenyra killing them to secure her claim that she told her sons from when they were babies up until the coup. with rhaenyra she still antagonizes her because she (lemme check again, told alicent she didn't sleep with daemon and got otto fired because he was working against the crown to install his grandson as heir over her). don't even get me started on the villainization of rhaenyra in order to uphold alicent's constant victimization storyline. alicent is the one who abused rhaenyra, not the other way around, and the age changes in the show (which are so stupid omg) only serve to make alicent more sympathetic and rhaenyra an apparent privileged brat who doesn't understand what it's like to suffer because of the men in her life and therefore deserves her fate (i can literally see the entire galaxy with how far back my eyes are rolled rn.)

if the show wanted to include or focus on two women who were torn apart by the patriarchy and the men around them, helaena's blank character was right there for the taking (and would've been even juicier with the sister vs sister, queen consort vs queen regnant debacle.) she has no personality in the book or any relevance besides losing her children in violent ways and going mad, they definitely could have made her a more present character on screen in a manner that adds an actual emotional connection to her but alas, rhaenicent is top priority. furthering that, if the show wanted to include queer representation with their leading lady, laena had more hints in the text for that type of relationship than anything the show has given us for the rhaenyra/alicent dynamic, even with how hard they're trying to force it down our throats.

the entire relationship has made the story go completely off kilter because the show won't just let it be, and it's affected almost all of their other relationships. they're not going to convince me that rhaenyra cares about alicent more than her own children or even vice versa (though in an entirely different manner) and that reconciliation is possible in spite of aemond murdering luke. it makes both the characters and the writers look like delusional idiots. there's absolutely no reason for these types of glaring mistakes in a series where characterization and the relationships that revolve from them are the reason it's so popular amongst the masses. this lack of proper relationship building has caused hotd to feel a lot more shallow and lackluster than what you'd expect with how massive it's budget was when they created it, the amount of talented actors they casted, and the literal blueprint laid out of what not to do that got season eight is. someone should have taken accountability for these dumb decisions and realized how quickly they're streamlining straight towards what ruined game of thrones in the first place.

[spacerockfloater]

Isn’t it tragic irony how Viserys was so consumed by his hope, desire and desperation to be a dreamer that he never realised he sired an actual dreamer?

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

Fun Facts:

You can like both Daenerys and Sansa

You can like both Arya and Sansa

You can like both Alicent and Rhaenyra

Many people actually like both characters in these pairings

Someone liking the Dany/Arya/Rhaenyra/Cersei grouping doesn’t mean that they’re a pick me

Someone liking the Sansa/Alicent/Helaena/Elia grouping doesn’t make them a raging misogynist

Stop pitting women against each other

I thought we all agreed that S8 of GOT doesn’t exist, why are we still doing this stupid Sansa vs. Dany stuff five years later (seriously - kids born during the airing of the final season are entering kindergarten this fall. This has been going on too long).

Can we all just be civil to each other when S2 of HOTD airs and not call each other rape apologists, cheer for the deaths of innocent children, or essentially write fanfiction about the other side’s fans? Please?

[pterodactylterrace]

Okay, but… who would you have as your emergency contact from team green?

Aegon: Prolly not. He isn’t exactly the responsible type. I also get the vibe he would look at his phone, see an unknown number and just being like ‘nope’.

Aemond: He’s pretty loyal, so he will help, but he is definitely going to be passive aggressive the whole ride home. He will pick up the phone, for sure. Just to mock you if nothing else.

Helaena: If she has her phone in her, she may answer if you call her once or twice from a number she doesn’t recognize. There is a good chance she left her phone in the other room, though. And her phone is always on silent.

Alicent: She is going to freak out. She would be halfway into a panic attack before the words “don’t freak out” ever leave your mouth. Absolute last resort. Like, she will help, but is it worth it?

Otto: I feel he has connections, so he could probably get you out of a few sticky situations. He would answer his phone, provided he can remember which pocket it is in before it goes to voicemail.

Criston Cole: I feel like he would definitely help you out, and be really chill about it too. Like, lowkey he has seen some shit in his life, and your shenanigans are nothing new. He would help you out and keep his mouth closed. Man folds like a cheap suit, though. As soon as anyone hints at knowing what happened, he is ready to give a full confession.

*Bonus*

Which Green Dragon would make the best getaway ride? (In no particular order)

Sunfyre: He would come get you, and look cool af doing it. Just dripping in rizz as he whisks you away.

Dreamfyre: Pretty blue would blend in with the sky, making me feel like we are camouflaged.

Tessarion: Has a history of heroic, dramatic entrances. You will escape, and you will swoon over her beauty and grace while doing it.

Vhagar: GET ON VISENYA, WE’RE COMMITTING WAR CRIMES!!!! Granny Vhagar’s got your back. She may be slow to get going, but granny DGAF! She will help you out if you are in trouble and cause so much chaos while doing it.

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

i think Helaena can be autistic but also a happy and joyful girl , autism ≠ depression. the way the portrayed the only neurodivergent character on screen as unstable, shunned depressed, and with no importance to the plot feel very ableist and weird , but then they're the ones who made the guy with a foot disability a feet fetishist 🫠

Hi OP, finally answering this because the trailer dropped and still the only Helaena shots we have are from her Jaehaerys' funeral. There is also one still photo of her. If you haven't seen it, here she is, apparently sewing the funeral shroud for her little boy:

So it seems like season 2 is going to continue on this trajectory for Helaena as a character who exists in order to suffer beautifully.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad that the show is going to wring the full emotional effect from Blood and Cheese, not just shock value. The audience will feel the real horror of a six year old child brutally murdered in his own home and the psychological torment of Helaena. It should be terrible, it should be devastating, and I hope they do not pull any punches.

What's disappointing about how the show has handled Helaena is that they didn't really put any effort into building up her character before her tragedy. It's all well and good that she likes bugs and she's touch averse, but what are her opinions? Who is she closest to? How did she react to becoming a mother so young? To what extent does she understand her visions? What does she value? She can be happy and cheerful, or she can be frustrated and angry, and hell, she can be depressed too, but I need to know why. It's telling that I can describe the basic internal motivations for each of the male children, including Luke who was a glorified plot device, but I cannot for Helaena. Aegon wants to feel loved, Jace wants to prove he's as worthy as any trueborn heir, Aemond wants what his brother has, Luke wants to be free from his family's expectations. Helaena? Fuck if I know. I guess she wants not to die horribly.

The ableism is an issue. F&B is full of women who were deemed "simple" -- Gael, Daella, Jaehaera-- without being given much else to define them, and HotD adds another (there's something, I think, to the way the "simple" Targaryens are always women and how disability kind of used as a way to remove them from the narrative and shunt them aside, often tragically). And while it's great to see an autistic person represented on screen, the show consistently has an issue with treating representation as characterization. "Autistic girl who likes bugs" is not a personality. Autistic people, (even those with horrifying prophesies I assume), do have hopes and dreams and feelings about things. The one peek we get into Helaena's life is at the in episode 8 when she roasts Aegon and even that scene is open to interpretation (and gets taken wildly out of context). Now, I can read a lot into the actor performances, but ultimately, lines that could have given a glimpse Helaena personality were cut. It's as if they're afraid that if they give her an opinion on anything she would lose that (frankly kind of infantilizing) "pure cinnamon roll too good for this world" "i would die for her" sympathy from people who are not inclined to be sympathetic for her family as a whole.

(And anon, you're right about Larys. And let me say, turning Larys' clubfoot into the punchline of an OnlyFeet joke also does not inspire confidence that they'll handle Aegon II's eventual disability with any sensitivity either, especially when Mushroom's accounts of his last few months are incredibly mean spirited. We need to start that discourse now so they get the memo).

Sadly, I don't think the show really has any intention of course correcting with Helaena in season 2. I imagine at most we'll have her try to warn Aegon and/or Aemond about Blood & Cheese but they won't understand her warning, and then this will be a vehicle to further their guilt and grief. And while we do need to see Aegon's guilt and his grief, I also want to know if Helaena blames herself, if she wishes they'd run away when they had the chance, if she thinks Aegon could have done something, if she is angry at Aemond for killing Luke, if she wants revenge. I do think, with the public funeral for Jaehaerys, they are going to show that the smallfolk are fond of Helaena, and hopefully that will be expanded upon this season and in season 3 because her death is the catalyst for the revolt that sees Rhaenyra driven from the city, and we should understand why her death has such an impact before she actually dies.

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Team Green: Sorry your faves are boring 😊🤷‍♂️ Sure you're supposed to root for the Blacks but the Greens are just more fun. Jace is boring I'm here for my angsty disaster mess 💚

You realise that's bad writing, right? This is a family civil war drama. One side of that family civil war shouldn't be populated with blank slates. If no effort is made into making Rhaenyra and Daemon's children as fleshed out as Alicent's children then that is bad writing.

Some people find the Lannisters more fun than the Starks, but the Starks are still fleshed out characters (and considering in the books Jace is 14/15, Luke is 13, Joffrey, Baela & Rhaena are 12, Aegon the younger is 9 and Viserys is 7 - these kids ages almost map straight onto the Starklings so they were so meant to be our Targlings). It didn't have to be a zero sum "you can only have ONE side that's interesting". The show is poorer for it. Game of Thrones was a disaster in many ways, but at least the different sides of the conflict had equal screen time and attention.

How hard would it have been to flesh out Jace, or at least give him a half-decent haircut? He could have been a mirror to Jon Snow (they technically have the same initials). One is a bastard who does not know he's a targaryen prince, the other is a targaryen prince who discovers he is a bastard. In a world that hates bastards, that insists they are 'wanton and treacherous by nature', there was plenty of potential to explore some complicated emotions, to give weight to how he feels about being a bastard. The whispers that would have followed him, the scrutiny he would have felt, the internalised guilt and shame, his protectiveness over his little brothers and wish to spare them the truth. Maybe after Alicent confronted Aegon over the pig there could have been a shift where Aegon turns his bullying away from Aemond and towards Jace (more in keeping with book canon). Maybe Jace could feel anxious about lessons with Criston Cole due to his open hatred of him. Maybe he could be equal parts devoted to and resentful of his mother over his parentage, maybe he could be driven to perfectionism to prove himself worthy.

The show made Jace more violent in the fight with Aemond than in the book, by changing who started the fight (from Aemond to Rhaena and co.), by narrowing the age gap to make Jace more of a match for Aemond, and by having him draw a knife instead of a wooden toy sword. But they didn't earn that moment. How much more satisfying would it have been if both Aemond and Jace were given equal emotional weight in the build-up to the fight? If the hurt and anxiety at discovering he was a bastard had been building and building until it burst out. The entire reason the show changed the age dynamic between Rhaenyra and Alicent to make them peers and best friends was supposedly to make their conflict more dramatic - why would you then drop that approach with their kids? How does it make the civil war story better if one half of the next generation of characters aren't really characters?

They didn't even have to put much effort into Baela, as GRRM already had her brimming with personality on the page, but they just... ignored that and made her a non-entity. Oh she gets one punch in, and there's a blink and you'll miss it background shot of her trying to hit Aegon (at this point I don't think the actors were even directed to do that I think they just took it upon themselves). Meanwhile Baela in the books is wild and fearless and deliberately provocative and quick to anger and fiercely defensive of her loved ones and wrestles squires in the training yard and has a pet monkey and sneaks out in search of adventure and brings home 'unsuitable' friends. Including a legless beggar, a blacksmith's apprentice whose muscles she admired, a street conjurer, twin prostitutes and an entire troupe of mummers. And she alarms everyone due to being 'overly fond of boys' and gets epic lines like this when it is suggested she marry Lord Rowan:

“I’ve bedded two of his sons. The eldest and thirdborn, I think it was. Not both at once, that would have been improper.”

She could have been an absolutely chaotic presence onscreen. Rhaena meanwhile is a little more like Sansa to Baela's Arya, but would have needed more work to flesh her out onscreen. Her insecurities and wish for a dragon seemed promising at first, but they were dropped as soon as Aemond lost his eye. Because that was ultimately the narrative purpose she served - to provide a new reason for the fight to start that wasn't Aemond hitting and pushing a toddler into a pile of dragon poo. She helps Aemond's image by being the one to start the fight instead of him, and from then on she becomes a voiceless non-entity. We watch Aemond fly away victoriously on Vhagar, we don't see Rhaena tearfully watching the last link to her mother vanish over the horizon.

Considering the prominent role of bastards during the dance (especially the dragonseeds), the uninterest in exploring bastardy in Jace makes little sense. Considering the centrality of gender to the story (and considering a certain event involving key players during the dance), the lack of effort into Baela and Rhaena makes zero sense (the show doesn't even bring up their right to Driftmark in an episode dedicated to discussing the rightful heir to Driftmark).

Considering especially that in fantasy black women are so often consigned to minor Missandei roles, the fact that we were robbed of Baela and Rhaena as main characters particularly stings. Baela in particular was an easy fan favourite in the book, and its a role that black women and girls so rarely get to play. If you had told me before the show that Helaena would be a fan favourite over Baela, I wouldn't have believed it. And don't get me wrong, I like that they fleshed out Helaena in the show, like Rhaena she didn't have much of a presence in the book. But it is so typical that the relative non-entity that they kept white gets to be fleshed out, while the more fleshed out character that they made black becomes a non-entity. And Helaena is skinny now, of course (all love to Phia Saban, but I am mourning plump Helaena).

And don't get me started on Kylo Raemond.

[drakaripykiros130ac]

I just realized another thing that Alicent Hightower and Cersei Lannister have in common: their inability to understand that once the King, your husband, dies, you are no longer the Queen.

And yet, they still act like they are.

Hard to let go of that power, huh, Alicent (the low-class daughter of a second son from a vassal House)?

That’s basically why she insisted on her son marrying Helaena (Taking advantage of the Targaryen queer customs, is she? Tsk. Tsk. What would the Faith say about you, dear holy Alicent?). She got power, so why should she have to share it with anyone? No, no. Let all the power remain in her family and since her daughter is precious but useless and clueless, she remains the Queen in all but name. So what if her daughter is treated terribly by her husband? It matters not, because Alicent gets to use her to remain in power (in her view, she was treated terribly in her marriage to Viserys, and she subjects her daughter to the same fate in the name of power).

Targaryens are criticized for keeping things in the family (even though they do it for pretty good reasons: it is their custom, it’s according to their own religion, and it’s the way to preserve the dragon riding bloodline), but when other Houses do it, it’s perfectly alright and not a clear power grab whatsoever, right?

The double standards…geez.

[gojuo]

Showrunners claiming being "feminist" is the whole circus. They screwed every woman's characterization for high Rhaenyra up:

Book!Helaena was an political advisor who usually participated on Councils,don't shy away from disagreeing with Aegon and he actually listens her advises. She was incredibly loved by the smallfolk and was brave enough to claim Dreamfyre. On the show she did not even have a Coronation or her crown neither(another woman wearing a crown except Rhaenyra is a crime).

Book!Alicent was a witty,smart and incredibly charismatic woman dutiful at the old King Jaehaerys and her sons. She was so interesting: she was disrespected on so many ways for Viserys and had every right to be upset. No other woman in Westeros had to suffer having her first born son be desinherited and ignored by his father (except Ellia from the show and on the book Jon is just a bastard) Alicent,Helaena and Aegon could had been such incredible characters on the show

The Helaena treatment is ssoooooo beyond evil. I can't believe that this fandom is still bitching about the same old tired 3 talking points months after season 1 has finished but not a single peep about how misogynistic the writers have been towards Helaena.

Being beloved by the Smallfolk is not something that randomly happens. It has to be a deliberate move, because technically, Helaena is a public figure and near every public outing she makes has to be a thought-out decision to a certain extent. She can't just willy-nilly go out into the streets of King's Landing, mingling with the people and getting to know them and have an impact on them in such a way that they would love her so much to rise up in revolt in her name. In a way, the cultivation of her public image is reminiscent of Margaery, with one major difference: no deliberate manipulation at play. There is, after all, not a single indication anywhere in any canon that Helaena was a manipulative person in the way that Margaery was, no. What this was — what the Smallfolk adoring her was — was the tangible proof of Helaena's bravery to be out in the streets with the people of King's Landing, the fortitude of her to break down the invisible line between high-born royalty and low-born commoners, a testament to her graciousness and gentility and the affirmation of her adventurous heart. She was the first one of the Targtower siblings to claim a dragon, she showed her political acumen when she and her mother drafted the more than generous peace terms for Aegon to send to Rhaenyra, she had an incredibly complex relationship with her husband who she shares such a horrific trauma-bond with which is, to this day, still unparalleled by any other couple in this entire franchise, and she was a truly witty and humorous person ...

... and all of that characterization was thrown out of the window for the show. She is an extra to someone else's story in every. single. scene. she appears in. Her first scene as a child was to cement to the audience how "weird" and "unorthodox" she is. To show the audience that she is now on the autism-spectrum apparently. She is a dragon dreamer but all she does is utter some vague one-sentence prophecies no one can make any sense of, now always having to live psychologically in isolation because of this, which is the complete opposite of how life was for her in Fire and Blood. She speaks two or three sentences during the dinner scene, and it was to service the contrast between Jace and Aegon as people, it wasn't about her. We get a two-second shot at her children and she isn't even interacting with them. Do not even get me started on how the show completely erased how Helaena used to bring the kids to Viserys every single night to sit down together and hear him speak of tales of the past as he lay dying. These passages in the book weren't without reason, they were there to humanize all four of them — Helaena, Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor — and to garner sympathy from the reader. Blood and Cheese is one of the most disgusting things to have ever happened in all of the books, but the brutalization of all of these characters was that much more awful because we had actually spent some time together with them in the text, because we had gotten to see them be loved, because we had actually gotten to know them, even if only a little. And the show erased every single fucking thing concerning this point. Everything.

And if that wasn't enough, showrunners and writers then went on to make her an extra during her own coronation scene. That coronation was about Helaena just as much as it was about Aegon and they fucking took that from her! And for what? For what did they change her character this much? All to turn her into the fucking female lead of a fucking incestuous love triangle which is a fucking plotline straight ripped off from three fucking different characters in a different fucking part from canon. FUCKKKKK!!!!

Don't even get me started on Alicent. They gave her raw as fuck book character and motivations and narrative purpose to fucking Otto of all people in the show. She has become the abeyance of her own storyline! And instead of the fandom putting attention to this type of misogynistic writing Helaena and Alicent have been victim of by the writers, I'm having to suffer through the same played-out takes on how being an Aegon fan means being a rape apologist or how Alicent is an evil person because Helaena doesn't like to be touched. For fuck's sake GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!

[very-straight-blog]

After all, we could really get a study of the problem of incest and forced marriage using the example of Aegon and Helaena. How wrong it is when a person perceives their brother/sister as a potential husband/wife since childhood. How traumatic it is when the boundary between kinship and romantic/sexual relashionship disappears. How disgusting it is when siblings are literally forced to enter into such relationships and they don't even have a chance for true love and a healthy marriage. But no, we're not in that kind of series.

[mejcinta]

I don't think the writers can escape this criticism.

From a writing standpoint, introducing an original character to dictate and affect the path of Aegon's story (his adult version who we had just barely met) instead of just using familiar characters like HIS family (specifically Helaena and his kids) to do so was very unnecessary.

Aegon had his flights of fancy for sure in Fire and Blood, but none of that was so important as to dictate his being 'worthy' of the Iron Throne or not (if that even matters in a civil war started by a bs indecisive king). In fact, Aegon's infidelity and scandaluosness was better off being used as a central force for Helaena's character build up, not a character outside of his family. Her sassy book respons(es) to whether she knows his whereabouts or not as well as her justified frustrations with him would've been best displayed here, giving Helaena more to do, not just with Aegon but with her other family members.

The writers taking Mushroom's account, of all people, to heart and then inflating it to levels even the court jester would be envious of was...certainly a choice. And that is why Dyana as a character is unfortunately nothing more than a vehicle for the writers to promote Rhaenyra, whose flaws have been made 'palatable' for audiences if you factor in the way her taking advantage of a helpless Criston has been framed as 'romantic' and full of whatever a 'female gaze' means.

Truthfully, there's really no essential purpose that Aegon's story arc with the original character created by Sara and her band of fellow writers serves the plot of the Dance, unlike Criston's CANONICAL arc with Rhaenyra which was a major contributor to the birth of a political schism in the Red Keep!!!

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but my fear is that Dyana will be made a pawn yet again or worse a martyr for the evils and conspiracies of two warring parties.

[rhaenin-time]

As much as I believe that questioning the parentage of a married woman's chiIdren feels like a witchhunt, I do think it's time we start an honest discussion about the Dance of the Dragons and the legitimacy of the contenders.

Because too often we forget that Alicent's bastards are just as ineligible for the throne as Rhaenyra's bastards.

By Andal convention, only Aegon the Younger and Viserys are eligible for inheritance. Even if Alicent's bastards wanted to push their claim through Daemon, their true father, they could never inherit over his trueborn sons.

In fact, her children are less eligible. At least Jace's claim comes through his mother! At least least Luke was promised to Rhaena and has Velaryon blood regardless. But Alicent, trying to put the bastards of a man who was disinherited on the throne ahead of the King's trueborn daughter? She's fortunate that Viserys was conflict averse enough to show let it pass and quietly keep Rhaenyra, his only trueborn child, as his heir.

Keep in mind that the question of Rhaenyra's sons' parentage was strongly dismissed by Septon Eustace. But at no point does any reliable source argue that the rumours regarding Alicent and Daemon are fabrication. Instead, we have only the far weaker defense that they're "unsupported."

Now, I think we can all agree that the most plausible explanation is that, once Alicent worried she might be pregnant by Daemon, she immediately seduced Viserys to cover the matter. Whether this happened before or after Aemma's death, and whether she turned out to be truly with child, is a matter of debate.

But even on the small chance Alicent did manage to bear a child of Viserys's blood, she should have known better than to put herself in situations where the question could even arise. And Daemon did not help matters with his public display of jealousy.

Because once the truth is out there, there is no way to "prove" that Alicent's children are not Daemon's bastards.

Not only do her children resemble him, but Daemon is a dragonrider. Which means geography is not an obstacle. All it takes is a few moonlight rides, and a quick trip through the secret tunnels, and you have another bastard sired with no one the wiser. And indeed, he did seem committed to secrecy, even taking precautions like distancing himself from Alicent and his bastards in every public setting.

The question of motive does remain. Was Daemon siring bastards out of true affection for Alicent? Or was it simply a mutually beneficial arrangement because they were both wed to spouses who could not give them heirs? Alicent feared being set aside, and Daemon feared dying without a legacy. And it is noteworthy that Alicent stopped bearing his bastards after he became free to wed Laena Velaryon.

Another interesting area of debate is, of course, Viserys's knowledge on the matter. Some might argue that he affected a willful blindness. But surely he would be understanding of Alicent's predicament if it was he who was no longer able to produce heirs. Indeed, the text does support the theory that he was aware.

Now, it's pretty clear that while Alicent was comfortable throwing stones from her glass house of bastards, Rhaenyra was not. Be it from feeling above the matter, respect for her father's wishes, or simply a lack of desire to see Daemon's bastards publicly shamed, she seems to have held her own tongue even when faced with Alicent's hypocrisy. Which I find admirable, if maybe a little unhelpful.

I suppose we can give Alicent a little credit. She did originally acknowledge her good fortune of her bastards all bearing a vague resemblance to Viserys. And it seems she even encouraged Rhaenyra and Laenor to hold onto hope that they might one day share that fortune. As long as they keep trying the way she did.

Or was it in fact, a brazen taunt? A flaunting of her privilege of having bastards that resembled their supposed father?

Regardless of the sentiment behind the comment, it does open up questions regarding whether she'd previously "tried" and "failed" only to end up with dark-haired babes she was forced to send away. After all, with Viserys in such poor health that surely his ability to sire heirs would be whispered about, it was essential they resemble him.

Another question worth pondering is Alicent's true feelings toward Daemon. Did she, perchance, ever entertain hopes of wedding him once Viserys had passed? Of him legitimizing her bastards for the Realm to hear?

But what would she gain? Well, potentially a lot.

What is not disputable is that once she'd given up hope of Viserys installing her bastard above his trueborn daughter, Alicent turned her hopes to usurping Rhaenyra based on her gender. But perhaps she worried that, should she cross that line, Rhaenyra would no longer turn the other cheek. She likely worried that Rhaenyra would point out the obvious fact that Alicent's bastards were ineligible for inheritance.

But Daemon wasn't.

Per the Council of 101, Daemon should have been heir over Rhaenyra. And it's not illogical to assume that Alicent might have nursed hopes of usurping Rhaenyra after Viserys's death (which she did do) and installing Daemon as King. A King whose wife had passed leaving him only daughters — therefore ineligible under the precedent they established. A King finally free to marry the mother of his bastards and name them bastards no more. To name them his heirs.

Unfortunately for Alicent, Daemon had moved on. And not only that, he appears to have set the example for Rhaegar by naming his son Aegon despite already having a son named Aegon! (History truly does repeat itelf!) A message to Alicent that he would never claim her bastards as his heirs.

Alicent might have thought she was clever in the moment — to select a man who resembled her husband. But it also works against her.

Because her children resemble Daemon. And not just in appearance.

Remember that, when Aenys proved to be a sickly boy despite being ostensibly sired by a man of Aegon's vigor, that was when his parentage was truly put to question?

But does the opposite not apply? Viserys was in poor health, yet Alicent's bastards did not seem to share those troubles.

Now, you can hardly fault Alicent for bearing healthy children. But that does not mean she couldn't have taken other steps to make her bastards' parentage less obvious. We can credit her with notably dressing them in green as children to avoid easy superficial comparisons, but it seems like her attention, or authority, on the matter lapsed as her bastards grew older.

Why was Aegon allowed to cavort in Fleabottom the way Daemon once had? Why was Aemond allowed to style his hair and clothes so that he resembled a young Prince Daemon? Alicent should have better stressed to them the importance of appearance — and masking appearance. Because she ended up letting her sons undo all her efforts.

Honestly, the more you think about it, the more undeniable it becomes. Undeniable because, I repeat, there is no way to prove otherwise.

Well, I think that's enough evidence for now. I honestly never thought it was worth dwelling on the matter. If Viserys knew, if he made arrangements to keep Alicent's bastards both safe and respected while preserving his line, it truly should not matter.

But the problem is that Alicent pushed too far. Not just by trying to seat her bastard on the throne — something that, unlike with Rhaenyra and Driftmark, she did not have the blessing of the Head of house for nor did she take steps to ensure the line remains intact — but by also then being brazen enough to point her finger at Rhaenyra, knowing Rhaenyra was above doing the same.

Well, I don't think that's fair. And I think it's time we acknowledged it, and put the 'bastard' talk to rest. Honestly, it often feels both disingenuous and steeped in misogyny. And in a world of fundamentally unjust systems, it's best to just accept that these matters should be kept quiet, and resolved within the family.