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Why It’s Harder to Love Alicent than Rhaenyra in “House of the Dragon”
What works on paper doesn’t necessarily work on screen
Spoiler for everything up to S1E7. No book spoilers though.
After episode 6, my patience for this show was running quite low with Queen Alicent and Sir Christon getting on my nerves too much to enjoy the intrigues unfolding on my screen. And although the new episode makes up for a lot, my initial point still stands: Alicent was done dirty.
While I cannot speak for the book, I feel like the show tries really hard to make its audience understand both sides of this feud.
Rhaenyra proves to be understood quite easily, especially from a modern point of view: She wants to attend the throne as the firstborn, despite her gender, and she doesn’t want to be forced to have pleasureless sex with men and instead enjoy herself. She tries to build a comfortable life for herself, her husband, and her children. She tries to be happy.
There is little to hate, I would argue.
Alicent on the other hand gives me plenty to roll my eyes at. She wants Rhaenery to stop fucking around, to honor her duty as a wife and, more importantly, as a woman. She despises her former childhood friend for her promiscuous lifestyle and the audacity to…
