Alicent offering up Aegon's life was the ultimate sacrifice, and there is no surprise that yet again, it is religiously coded. God himself offered up his firstborn "only-begotten" Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for the survival of humanity. Alicent's pain for having to do the same with Aegon is immeasurable. Did she think she was actually redeeming Aegon if she condemned him to death, thus giving him a new birth? Did she want to save him from a life of disgrace and disability? Is it his turn to become a sacrifice for the good of her family as she had become?
Like God, Alicent had to offer what she held dear for the survival of all her children and family. Aegon being her firstborn, the carrier of her flaws and the mirror of her psyche, was the only choice. His fate has always been so linked with hers that in sacrificing him for her and her daughter’s freedom, in severing the umbilical cord with him so abruptly, she condemns her own life to death in the process. That’s the only way Alicent can pay retribution for everyone's sins, and Aegon's messianic sacrifice can ensure peace, deliverance, and hope. She's the one who, like Viserys said, "must do this" and pay the highest price ever paid. She makes the ultimate sacrifice at the expense of herself and her son and in effect has done much more to unite the realm than Rhaenyra ever has.
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You know what still bothers me about the end of season 5?
We still have no idea what exactly is it that Gabriel wished for AND we have no idea what he used to pay for his wish
All we know is that a wish was made and were then shown a scene of an idyllic alleged (dare I say even eerie?) utopia, in which he is deemed a hero and the entire world, his son included, has seemingly forgotten about every wrong he has committed.
A world everyone appears to be happy and serene, the heroes of Paris able to have fun as there is no occasion for them to need to step in. A world where fast progress is able to occur without any consequences being brought up. A world where Adrien is apparently happy and is “blessedly” unaware of all the things that Gabriel has kept from him, and hasn’t caught on to anything being amiss
How the only thing that appears to have been taken away from Gabriel was possibly his life, which was something he was mere hours from losing anyway. And regardless of whether or not this was a real sacrifice, it seems to pale in comparison to what he potentially wished into existence
It just feels to me like there is a subtle ticking going on in the background, counting down to the eventual explosion of this unstable wish
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People who are saying 'it's so sad/annoying that Eloise never realized Penelope was in love with Colin!' and then using that to villify her and claim she was a bad friend to Penelope are. . .so missing the point.
WE know because we see much of the show through Penelope's eyes. Debling knew because Cressida told him. Cressida knew because she had a vested interest in that being the narrative. Violet knew because Colin very obviously asked her about friendship and love, and has a grand total of ONE woman he could have been talking about.
It is not on Eloise to assume truths about Penelope.
Read that again.
It is NOT on Eloise to assume truths about Penelope!
In the same way it was not on COLIN to assume Pen had a crush on him. The thing about trust is that you HOPE that the person you care about will open up to you, and in fact, it is GOOD that Eloise didn't notice. It doesn't mean she was a bad friend, or self centered, but rather that she was of the belief that her friend would be open with her.
That's not unreasonable of her.
How is Eloise meant to listen to a fact that is never voiced, and in fact, is actively denied?
Eloise asked Penelope in Season 2 if she would ever know what it was like to have a crush on someone, the way she had on Theo. Penelope told her STRAIGHT UP "no, I wouldn't know". What did you want Eloise to do? Accuse Penelope of being a liar and then proclaim she was clearly in love with her brother?
Same with Lady Whistledown- Penelope assured multiple times she wasn't LW to Eloise because when Eloise was talking about her, and having theories, and going on a detective chase about it, Penelope never told her she was LW.
The fact that Eloise HAD to assume these things about Penelope was an indication the friendship had problems. And these problems are tied up in Penelope's arc: coming into the light and living her authenticity unapologetically. Because she kept so much close to the chest for so long. 'Eloise didn't listen'. Penelope never SAID ANYTHING about it for her to listen TO.
Now, does that mean Eloise is blameless and saintly and good? No. That would be lame and boring and would do her a disservice in being a complex, interesting female character. The way near all the women in this show are. The truth is that BOTH Eloise AND Penelope were wrapped up in the immediacy of their own lives, and had different goals and interests from one another. In many ways, Eloise and Penelope were together by proximity, rather than aligned in purpose.
But also. . .we are ALL more invested in our own lives than those of our friends. We care for our friends, yes, but we live our own lives first and foremost. And when we have friendships, we trust that they will talk to us about their lives, their truths, their passions, and their hopes and that we will celebrate such with them. Whilst Eloise has ignored Penelope at times, Penelope has also ignored Eloise. Eloise has assumed Penelope to have the same interests in feminism and not in marriage as she does, but Penelope does not talk to her otherwise until they have a fight about it.
It explodes out of her. Comes out, almost against her will.
They have issues communicating. That's relatable.
But people don't want to see the relatability of these women. They want to compare them and pit them against each other, instead of trying to understand BOTH of them.
Listen, the truth is that this fandom has a misogyny problem. We only want to empathize with the woman we see as the most relatable for our own viewing, and any other woman who is in any way contesting their immediate happiness is turned into a villain. In fact, in Polin, it's extended to ANYONE who has done Penelope any form of disservice ever, as if tension and conflict isn't what drives a narrative.
Colin said one thing that was hurtful to Pen? Burn him at the stake. Eloise is hurt by Penelope's secrecy? Well, she should have listened more, and fuck her, she was a bad friend. Marina told Penelope to butt out of her relationship and to stay in her lane? She's evil and cruel and treated Pen horribly. Penelope never did anything wrong, everyone else is the problem.
This denies Penelope her own accountability, her own narrative of growth, firstly,
But secondly, ALL the women in this show have compelling reasons for acting the way they do. Not just the one you like the most.
I see people talking about how they feel so bad for Penelope, that she has undergone so much and has no one to really confide in, that she feels she has no friend with which to unburden herself with: but the same is true for Eloise. She had no one to talk to about the pain and grief she experienced at the end of Season 2, and kept mum about Penelope's identity as LW all throughout. The same was true for Marina, who had been Otherized from the moment she stepped into the ton, and had been physically and emotionally abused by her own family as she faced down a future of potential misery. Why can you see and sympathize from one character's perspective and yet not the other? Why is it okay to proclaim one a villain, and the other an innocent?
If you can feel empathy for Penelope, you better be ready to feel it for Eloise, for Cressida, for Marina, for Kate and Edwina, because ALL these women underwent some very painful circumstances in their lives, and all of them made mistakes that resulted in other people getting hurt. They have all been hero in their own story, and the antagonist in another. As we all are.
How ironic to see 'well, Eloise is terrible because she's' not seeing it from HER perspective!'
when we are doing the same
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