#it was never about rhaenyra

[bohemian-nights]

Daemon loved his brother but ultimately thought he was weak. In episode 10 when Rhaenyra is considering not going to war Daemon begins seeing that same weakness in her that he saw in Viserys (and the fact that despite being Viserys’s heir for so many years he never trusted him with the prophecy). That is of course in no way shape or form justification for choking her but that’s just how I interpreted that scene.

Yep. Daemon recognized he got a carbon copy of Viserys with the same weaknesses and obsession with his dreams instead of a new and improved version of his brother. The choking was definitely a reaction to this realization 👏🏽

[caffess]

Rip to the only reasonable Targaryen and her poor dragon

[paperglader]

they really put alicent in bridgerton blue on the reunion and genuinely expected me to think that she didn’t in fact march all the way to dragonstone to get wifed up? bfr

[nicollekidman]

insanely funny that rhaenyra was like 🥺 alicent, we know that men hunger for blood and glory, but not us. not you 🥺 when in actuality years before this, rhaenyra said i need you uncle, you’ll strengthen my claim to the throne and provide tactical advantage in case of violence, so let’s fuck at your wife’s funeral, fake-kill my gay husband, and get married posthaste in a ceremony that involves us consuming each other’s blood. then no one can oppose us. we were meant to burn together.

[criston-cole]

[theynyra]

me every night thinking about how Alicent finally offered the thing Rhaenyra once wanted most in the world but too much time has passed and things far greater than these two are now in motion and the narrative continually lurches forward towards inevitable doom and heartbreak but for one fraction of a nanosecond you could see the fleeting glimmer in Rhaenyra's eyes as she glimpsed the story these star crossed somethings were supposed to share

[alicentflorent]

Alicent never raised her sons to believe women couldn’t rule and I don’t recall her ever suggesting Rhaenyra was going to be an incompetent ruler, her main criticism towards Rhaenyra was about her having obvious bastards that were passed off as legitimate which could contribute towards a succession crisis if someone challenges their legitimacy. She raised her kids to fear Rhaenyra because despite the fact that Aegon had no interest in pushing his claim “you’re a threat simply by existing” she raised them to believe that they could be killed for existing because other men might not accept a woman on the throne when there are male heirs and at any point the lords could rebel and try pushing the claims of viserys’ sons even if they pledge their support for Rhaenyra. She genuinely feared for her children’s lives to the point where it made her paranoid and impacted her relationships with everyone including her children. So can we stop with the “Alicent raised her sons to believe women were incapable rulers and shouldn’t be in positions of power and now it’s coming back to bite her” bs

[miredball]

HOTD’s rhaenyra and alicent can act and talk like (ex) lovers, can have the tension and chemistry of two romantically involved people, can follow romantic themes and have an established romantic dynamic despite being two women in a pseudo-medieval setting because they can’t truly be lovers in the eyes of the general audience.

the text (as in the show), showrunners, and actors can insist all they want on the purposeful nature of the romantic codes that inform rhaenyra and alicent’s relationship (knight and lady, star-crossed, disrupted connection, love triangles, paralleled lives, etc.) but the pseudo-medieval setting comes with certain expectations for mainstream Western audiences to buy and the depiction of an explicit, sensitive, tragic female homosexuality has not yet married with this genre.

the show has a fascinating freedom with their interpretation of this adapted relationship. it’s queer because it can’t be queer, not really! rhaenyra and alicent will never kiss or confess love or even touch lest they betray the perceived rules of this pseudo-medieval period and the narrative that literally revolves around succession and birth and reproduction. It’s easy to brush off the intensity of their bond as oh they are literally just like that.

a thorough exploration of queerness in HOTD is seemingly hampered by the setting and the established source material, not to mention the conservative fans. but at the same time the show is afforded the freedom to play around with these queer limitations because:

1. the source material is literally a history book

2. the GA on autopilot will blink and miss the subtle-not-so-subtle implications

3. the narrative is filled to the brim with men to distract from the very explicit lesbian divorce at the center.

anyways. rhaenicent romantic dynamic is trail-blazingly real and purposeful in a show so popular and expensive but only because general audiences can cajole themselves into thinking that this romance is in fact not real nor purposeful. I mean, there’s a war!

[kcrra]

rhaenyra keeps alicent's letters that everyone laughed at her for sending. alicent still remembers the exact words that rhaenyra once used to lie to her. they intertwine in and out of each other's lives with such significance that not even a war can tear apart the ways in which they know one another. everyone wanted to know what rhaenicent would do if they didn't win...

[rhaenicentric]

rhaenyra and alicent being central to the dance of the dragons is truly proof that all of history is just a doomed love story. everything they did was out of love — even the hateful wretched things, which they could only bear to do because they thought they were doing them out of love. for their parents, for their children, for the love that they once had for each other. and so it goes. and so it was.

[iheartbookbran]

There’s something about Rhaenyra’s epithet being the Black Queen and how the color black is often associated with mourning and grief. Because Rhaenyra’s story really starts with the death of her mother, and that’s a grief that she carries onto her adulthood. But it goes deeper than that, we’re told how many children Aemma lost during her marriage to Viserys, and Rhaenyra, though just a child herself at the time, had to experience the loss of her siblings alongside her mother, never being enough for her father because she wasn’t a son. Then she finally becomes the heir, but not in time to save her mother, and the grief never really leaves her. She loses Harwin (and at least in the book, Laena). She learns about the usurpation of her throne at the same time that she learns about the death of her father. She loses her only daughter.

She watches her sons leave her one by one until only one is left.

How could she ever be anything other than the Black Queen?

[rynnthefangirl]

I love so much the concept of the dragons being tied to Targaryen women and their fertility. It plays so poignantly into the history of House Targaryen in Westeros. The Targaryens come to Westeros, and in an attempt to consolidate their power, they assimilate into the oppressive social structures of Westeros, sacrificing and devaluing their women to do so. Rhaena, Aerea, Rhaenys, Rhaenyra, Daena, Naerys, Rhaella, and so many more — crushed under the heels of their brothers and fathers and uncles in order to appease the lords of the realm. And in doing so, the Targaryens ironically kill their true source of power. Dragon egg production is high before Dance, as Syrax and her rider Rhaenrya’s fertility flourishes as one. Then Rhaenyra is usurped and killed, and suddenly, no eggs can hatch. It speaks to the general devaluing of women’s labor and contributions, not just in House Targaryen, but in broader Westeros and our own world. It is not the fighting or the conquering or the crown or the Sword or the Iron Throne that forms the weight bearing beams of the House of the Dragon. It is female fertility, labor, childbirth, motherhood. The latter had been exploited for the sake of the former for 300 years, chipping away at that load bearing beam until the House collapses around them, dragons and crowns and thrones and men and women alike.

And the one to bring it all back? A girl. Overlooked and underestimated, her value tied solely to the son she could bear or the army she can be sold to buy. But the true power is intrinsic to her. All the men think themselves the great saviors of their house and their world— with women like Lyanna Stark and Elia Martell being sacrificed at the altar of Targaryen men’s destiny— but it is Daenerys Stormborn, Daughter of Dragons, Bride of Dragons, Mother of Dragons, who succeeds where they all failed.

[feminist-cult-following]

it’s been just over a year since we got alicent’s driftmark monologue and the way olivia delivers the line “where is duty? where is sacrifice?” has never left my mind. that scene alone should have earned her an emmy nomination.

[dcbnam-aep]

Rhaenyra being a ghost that walks the corridors of Alicent’s mind is crazy Olivia Cooke I love you

[sihtryggr]

The more I think about it the more insane I find the Driftmark confrontation. Rhaenyra was at eye level and tending to Luke with her back turned toward Alicent (her back!! She was not facing Alicent! She had no idea Alicent was coming at them with a dagger until the last moment when Alicent had already crossed the room!!) when Alicent went after Luke with the catspaw dagger AND during that entire confrontation NOT ONCE does Alicent loosen her grip on the blade but instead continues to push against Rhaneyra with it in her hand. At one point the blades point is quite literally inches from Rhaneyra’s face and then she proceeds to slice Rhaenyra’s wrist open!! and zero punishment. Just nothing. Insane.

[st-eve-barnes]

I usually don't engage in discourse about team green vs team black but following the link in Tom's Insta story yesterday I just posted my opinion, that the show wants us to be team black but team green is just way more interesting to watch (for me).

Within minutes someone had to point out that I was supporting a r*pist and how I was "team misogynist".

I washed my hands of the whole thing after that but still got notifications for every new comment and man do people take this shit seriously!

It's a FICTIONAL SHOW with fictional characters who are NOT REAL. Nobody actually got hurt, I need people to realize this because I don't think some do lol

Also, double standards much? If you hate Aegon so badly but make every excuse in the book to point out Daemon isn't that bad.

Girl, please.