#anti targaryen men | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lady-clouves · 10 months

Note

Being a Targ woman lover is becoming increasingly difficult but I know God gave me this task for a reason! (I am going to bash my head into a wall) (why are so many of their gates horrific) (and FUCK Targaryen men btw)

Your so real for this, but really God gave us a mission to love our Targaryen women and we have no choice but to oblige 🤷‍♀️. George and his nasty Targaryen men better watch out for what they put my girls through.

#I am a human second and Targaryen woman lover first 👆#anti targaryen men #pro Targaryen women #especially my girls #naerys targaryen #aelora targaryen #rhaena the black bride #viserra targaryen #saera targaryen #and my lovely winter child Gael Targaryen

30 notes · View notes

thesunfyre4446 · 16 days

Text

i hate hotd's "female rage".

do you guys realize that the only time alicent was allowed to be angry was when her son was maimed? and then, of course, she's ashamed of her behavior and regrets it.

do you guys realize that rhaenyra is only allowed to be vengeful and to want her throne only AFTER luke's death. she's not allowed to be angry that her crown was stolen, she only wants peace <3 it's only after her child is murdered that she's allowed to be angry.

meanwhile male characters like daemon are throwing a tantrum every other episode and it's cool and sexy when they do it <3 <3 <3

#hotd #anti hotd #bad writing #feminism written by men #house of the dragon #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen

594 notes · View notes

daenerysies · 2 months

Text

“at least he FOUGHT in the war what did ur queen do hm sit on her ass and eat cake 🤓👆” buddy boy your king was turned into applebee’s barbecue in his very first battle and spent over a year high on the medieval equivalent of opioids only to be ambushed in his second battle and lose to a thirteen year old little girl on her equally baby dragon i wouldn’t be talking shit if i were you

#house of the dragon #fire and blood #rhaenyra targaryen #pro rhaenyra targaryen #team black #baela targaryen #baela the mf brave #anti aegon ii targaryen #anti aegon ii stans #anti team green #anti team green stans #he literally tore sunfyre to shreds all for the sake of his pride let’s be fr for one sec #rhaenyra knew her strength wasn’t in the battlefield #it’s even more embarrassing that he didn’t plan on fighting baela #he just wanted a victory tour for himself #despite his men being the one to secure dragonstone #dance’s biggest pussy don’t even #doomrotcyclicallosersadvictimmisunderstood i think you guys just like yapping 🤷‍♀️#if i get one (☝️) ‘tag ur post properly!1!!’ i’m calling u a dumb bitch point blank

363 notes · View notes

marysblo0d · 2 months

Text

Fun fact: you can like both Alicent and Rhaenyra. You don’t have to pit them against each other just because the narrative does.

“But alicent did this” “but Rhaenyra” they would not have had to do those things if the men in their lives weren’t constantly pitting them against each other.

It is very much possible to be team women and say fuck you to the men who caused all these problems in the first place.

#hotd #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenicent #team women #anti hotd men #pro alicent hightower #pro rhaenyra targaryen #pro women #this is not an invite to start discourse in the comments #cj speaks.

371 notes · View notes

drakaripykiros130ac · 2 months

Text

“Poor Helaena…to lose a child like that”

“Poor Aegon…a father’s rage is justified”

Not hearing a whole lot of poor Rhaenyra who lost her father, her son, her throne and her unborn daughter in a short span of time.

According to TG stans, a child’s death is absolutely horrible (unless it’s Rhaenyra’s. If it’s Rhaenyra’s child, it’s fun, let’s celebrate).

I fail to see why Helaena’s grief is more important than Rhaenyra’s. She lost one son, said “bye bye world” and shut down (and I don’t see anyone pointing fingers at her and calling her useless in this war even though she was. She had a dragon she could use, but chose to remain locked up in her room and in depression).

Rhaenyra lost a whole lot more, and she had to stay on her feet and fight to take back what rightfully belongs to her.

Why is Jaehaerys’ death more tragic than Lucerys’?

Lucerys was murdered in cold blood, just like that boy of Helaena’s who’s barely relevant throughout the whole story.

Lucerys was a boy too.

Now there’s the question of who shed first blood.

The Greens did.

Actions call for reactions, and this is war.

Daemon wanted Aegon the Usurper to lose a son, just like the Greens forced Rhaenyra to suffer the loss of one of her own. He called for retribution. A life for a life. He could have arranged to have everyone in that tower killed that night. He could have demanded Aegon’s daughter, Jaehaera, be killed in exchange for the life of the daughter the Greens made him lose (Visenya). But he didn’t.

I’ve seen comments cheering on Aegon for wanting vengeance for his dead son, but apparently Rhaenyra is not allowed to demand retribution for the death of hers.

Misogyny runs high in the 21st century, doesn’t it? A woman who is not perfect is a monster, and a man with vices is just “misunderstood”.

And then you all have the nerve to point fingers at people who don’t care about the consequences of B&C. No, I don’t care that Aegon’s child is going to be murdered. Because I didn’t see that sympathy from stans when Lucerys was murdered. All I saw were jokes made at a child ripped apart by the biggest and most dangerous dragon alive because her rider is a twisted one-eyed psychopath.

The Blacks are entitled to vengeance.

Lucerys’ death is on Aemond’s head. And so is Jaehaerys’. He’s 100% responsible. If anyone is to blame for B&C, it’s Aemond the Kinslayer.

211 notes · View notes

the-daily-dreamer · 6 months

Text

Reminder that if your feminism revolves around propping up women that partake in traditionally masculine activities/roles and shitting on or even hating women who embody traditionally feminine roles and enjoy feminine activities you’re not really a feminist.

It sets the precedent that women are only valuable and valid if they have traditionally masculine traits, which feeds a narrative that masculine traits are better simply because they are associated with men who are the ideal. It perpetuates the idea that things that are feminine and traditionally associated with women are in fact inferior to men/masculinity and should be looked down upon and belittled.

And, it alienates so many individuals that feel more comfortable in femininity, regardless of gender identity.

I think people in the ASOIAF fandom really need to learn this because feminine characters are so despised on the basis that they are not “better” women. Simply because they don’t embody traditionally masculine things like conquering or fighting.

Much of the hate comes from stans that love characters like Rhaenyra, Daenerys, and Arya (and do not get me wrong I love Arya), who are women and girls that are in positions that allow for more traditionally masculine behaviors and tomboyishness. And they will say incredibly sexist things about how the other women in media are inferior and directly contrast these women to their faves negatively by pointing out that they’re “too weak” or “subservient”. They reduce femininity to weakness and bowing to patriarchy instead of considering that some people have a different, more feminine nature. And that is OK! Just because a woman isn’t wielding a sword or fighting on the front lines or pursuing leadership roles in masculine ways (because historically women exacted and sought power in different ways than men) doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable and strong characters. Do not use feminine characters as a negative comparison to show how “feminist” and great your fave is. Because it’s just so blatantly sexist.

Don’t fall into the trap of reinforcing patriarchal rhetoric!!! Don’t reinforce narratives that traditional masculinity is superior to femininity!! Don’t belittle feminine activities and act as if they aren’t valuable!!! Girbosses are great but so are gentlewomen.

#This may not make total sense but I hope the point gets across anyways #Masculinity is not superior to femininity #And if you actively say that your female faves that are masculine are better than feminine characters…#You feed the narrative that those behaviors are inherently better simply because they are associated with MEN #anti team black #anti targaryen #anti rhaenyra #anti rhaenyra targaryen #anti daenerys targaryen #anti daenerys #anti Arya stans #anti dany stans #anti rhaenyra stans #anti got fandom #anti hotd fandom #team black’s feminism is insanity #feminism

377 notes · View notes

sunspearesque · 3 months

Text

i can't even begin to understand the thought process of rhaegar and his utterly absurd decision to take the most powerful kingsguards with him to either fight or to guard his 15-year-old mistress/abductee (?) and their babe with questionable legitimacy while leaving behind his wife and his two children (one of them is his fucking heir) to be guarded by who exactly? 16-year-old jaime lannister? (who was “guarding” the king that kept him “hostage”)

rhaegar knew damn well his father is going even more insane after a war he started by his utter stupidity and selfishness and they won’t be safe yet he didn’t bother to ensure their safety before he fucks off… the only explanation is that he didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone but himself and his delulu which makes him complicit in their tragic death as much as his mad daddy who kept them hostages and the lannisters who slaughtered them

#RATGAR WHEN I CATCH YOU RATGAR #rhaegar you raggedy ass bitch #justice for princess elia and her children #targ men should start from jail and prove their way out #i just know oberyn is whooping his emo loser ass in the afterlife #anti rhaegar targaryen #anti rhaegar x lyanna #anti rhaelya #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones

210 notes · View notes

fragileheartbeats · 20 days

Text

86 notes · View notes

watcherintheweyr · 1 month

Text

desperately need people to understand that alicent is a victim but she’s also an abuser and a perpetrator

that she actively makes choices to harm other women because of jealousy and envy and the greed deep in her bones because submitting to suffering didn’t get her what those women fight to grasp for themselves.

she is absolutely a victim, in show.

that doesn’t change that she abused rhaenyra and her children, her own son, most likely helaena given how she flinches every time her mother touches her, and is actively weaponizing the patriarchy of westeros against other women- rhaenyra primarily, but also mysaria and dyana.

she isn’t the moral, righteous force of good that even she thinks she is, she’s a wounded woman directing all of the rot, pain, and fury inside her at the wrong people and forces.

#anti team green stans #anti team green #anti alicent hightower stans #i don’t wanna say it’s anti alicent bc honestly it’s more ‘accept her for who she is bc she’s so much more complex and interesting when you #but i made this bc someone genuinely tried to say that the reason people hate her is that they don’t see her as a victim #most rational people know show!alicent is a victim #it’s the point that’s she’s an abuser as well #that makes them dislike her #that she’s a hypocrite and a traitor #i don’t even like young alicent bc i don’t at all think she was a good friend to rhaenyra #‘it’s not your place to question the plots of lords and men’ to the named heir #dismisses rhaenyra’s hopes and idealism entirely out of hand #is baffled that rhaenyra is more worried for her fathers happiness and mother’s wellbeing than her position #she knew as early as ep 3 that otto was conspiring against rhaenyra and never told anyone #condemns ‘targaryen customs’ only to wed her daughter to her son even younger than she was when otto dangled her before viserys #acts entitled to rhaenyras secrets whilst condemning and judgemental even though she did not give rhaenyra that same courtesy #made no attempt at apology for the insensitive comment of aegon’s birth #though rhaenyra DID try to apologize for the ‘imprisoned in a castle’ line and tried to comfort her #uses her power as queen to push past the space rhaenyra is trying to create because she feels heartbroken and betrayed #rhaenyra took part in alicent’s culture with prayer at alicent’s urging because she cared about alicent and alicent was trying to help her #alicent is never once shown to return that favor instead condemning it for ‘queerness’ and growing to later #erase and remove all targaryen and valyrian heraldry from the red keep to replace with her own #like alicent is a victim and i DO have empathy for her. but i don’t like her and never will #especially not after the way her stans behave #she deserved better than otto’s machinations and viserys’…. viserysness #but that can also be true whilst i condemn her actions and behaviors

96 notes · View notes

zosia-posts · 1 month

Text

I'm ready to say the hard truth that some fans can't accept..... Aemond Targaryen is not great😁

He is nothing, his fans (mostly women) just have that fantasy about him.💀 Also they are many people who have wrote about him that makes others think that he is all great and stuff. The truth is he is not that "badass sword man" you have all Aemond fangirls in you're head, he is just a pathetic, psycho, idiotic little boy who likes to play soldier and loses all the time when he actually starts fighting someone whith battle and war experience.😁

Every time I see another delusional Aemond fan defending him: (I have 5 different reactions EVERY TIME)

#house of the dragon #hotd #Aemond fans are delulu #Im very disappointed about women taste to men #He is so pathetic #I don't see why everyone is obsessed with him?#anti aemond targaryen #anti aemond stans #team black

98 notes · View notes

dragondream-ing · 6 months

Text

If someone defends Rhaenyra’s usurpation because of tRaDiTiOn, they better be waving a Maegor banner proudly.

I’m being serious.

So many people in this fandom care about the tradition of Westerosi inheritance and act like yelling about it justifies team green’s actions. They never seem to take into consideration what it means.

This post is inspired by my allergy to inconsistency and hypocrisy. Here we go.

The only consistent tradition of Targaryen succession is the ruler choosing their own heir. Sometimes that aligned with Westerosi tradition, often it did not. And it started with the very first heir. So either you admit Maegor was the rightful heir over Aenys, or you admit he wasn’t because Aegon the Conqueror said so.

Let me explain.

Visenya was Aegon’s first wife. In Westerosi tradition, Rhaenys would be considered at best a mistress and her children out of the succession or, at the least, behind Visenya’s children. The lords accepted the validity of Aegon’s plural marriage because they didn’t have the power to oppose the Conquerors, simple as. Tradition didn’t matter in the face of dragons. It is not a genuine argument and hasn’t been since the creation of the Crown itself. House Targaryen’s exceptionalism went beyond incest and dragons from the start, and accepting Aenys as king shows the nobles accepted this when it was convenient.

So I’d like team green to be consistent. Is the king’s word law, a la Aegon choosing Aenys as his heir? Or is this a break from tradition that was only corrected when Maegor killed his nephew and took the throne?

It gets messy from here. Maegor, as we know, didn’t have a child, so he chose his great-niece, Aerea as his heir. Jaehaerys was still alive, he could’ve chosen him. Heck, that might’ve eased like a drop of the tension between him, Jaehaerys and Alyssa Velaryon. So if you’re a tradition truther, Maegor was the proper king but then chose an untraditional heir. Hmm.

Then we get to Jaehaerys, and a tradition truther might think YES, THAT’S OUR GUY. But he’s really not.

Yes, he stopped considering his eldest living child, Daenerys, as his heir after Aemon was born. But then Aemon died.

Aemon did, however, die with an heir. Her name was Rhaenys. In Westerosi tradition, she’d inherit after him, because a daughter inherits before a brother. Now, I know the lords do all sorts of things to circumvent this (see Alys Karstark), but that *is* Westerosi tradition.

Did Jaehaerys follow tradition? Nope. He picked his second oldest son, Baelon.

Some might say there are logical reasons for this. Baelon was a warrior, older, and had grown sons. Rhaenys was like 18, married to an ambitious lord not named Targaryen, and at risk of dying in childbirth (Baelon was named heir in 92, Rhaenys had her first child in 92). HOWEVER, we see with Jeyne Arryn becoming Lady of the Vale while still a *toddler* that Westerosi tradition doesn’t set aside claims merely because such concerns exist. In fact, in ASOIAF, some Lannister married an f-ing BABY to lay claim to her lands because *she* is the acknowledged inheritor.

You could argue that it matters more when it’s the Crown, and I’ll concede that while pointing out you’ve made my argument for me: isn’t that a good reason for the Crown to do what it wants instead of following traditions that hamstring it?

If you’re a tradition truther, however, you should be in a rage and insisting Rhaenys inherit, and you should be outraged by what was done to her at the Council of 101 after Baelon dies. Her claim wasn’t even considered, Laenor’s was—ya know, her toddler son who got his claim *through* her.

So then Viserys takes the throne and continues the Targaryen custom of choosing his heir. And the tradition truthers of the fandom rise up and boo, and they cry “duty and sacrifice! What about tradition!?”

Just admit that the lords of Westeros, Alicent, her merry band of greens, and the fans that make excuses for them didn’t and don’t care about tradition unless it suits them, and they only become vocal about it when a woman stands a good chance of inheriting over a man.

Viserys never wavered in his choice, the realm knew it and so did the greens. This is precisely why Rhaenyra had far more support than her brother, and why the argument that the realm wouldn’t accept her is bs. The realm DID accept her. Because they understood something many in this fandom struggle to

There was only one consistent tradition of royal succession between the Conquest and the Dance: the ruler chooses their heir.

#anti team green #anti alicent stans #say tradition one more time I dare you #the Targaryens answer to neither gods nor men hello #is the king’s word law or not #one time I asked a team green stan this on Twitter and got blocked so fast lmao #team black forever #Rhaenyra is the true queen deal with it

161 notes · View notes

lady-clouves · 1 year

Text

I don’t understand how anyone can truly hate young Alicent Hightower. Like how are you gonna look at a young girl who’s practically being pimped out by her own father and then call her a cunt. Not only that but I remember when episode two came out people where not only at the characters throat but also the actress who played her.

And it’s just so heartbreaking because you can very clearly see that Alicent doesn’t want to be anywhere near that man. Every single time I saw her near him it looked like she was about to cry and just wanted to be somewhere else. Don’t even get me started about how heartbroken she looked when her father told her to where one of her DEAD mother’s dress to the King, she looked as if her world had just ended and I was surprised she didn’t have a full blown panic attack.

Then in episode two when Viserys told her not to tell Rhaenyra that she was visiting him, as if that’s not the #1 thing abusers tell their victims. And people had the audacity to say, “while why didn’t she just tell Rhaenyra?”. As if Alicent isn’t 15 years old, obviously she’s not gonna tell her friend when her KING and her father told her not to!

#queen alicent #alicent hightower #anti viserys i targaryen #anti otto hightower #god I hate the men in this show #hotd #asoiaf

1K notes · View notes

ride-thedragon · 10 months

Text

The worst thing about Rhaenyra is the inherent need her fans have to moralize the protagonist. Rhaenyra isn't a good person.

That's okay.

Rhaenyra isn't a feminist.

That's okay.

She is not a girl's girl and that's fine.

It's so unfair that people can unapologetically Stan Aegon and Daemon but draw the line at morally questionable women.

We love gray characters until a character is truly gray and a woman.

Rhaenyra isn't better than Alicent, nor is Alicent better than Rhaenyra. These women are both brought to the heel of their patriarchal society at the helm of the most power it affords to women.

Neither of them are intersectional thinkers or necessarily progressing women's rights. Rhaenyra would rule then her son. Alicent will just have her son and grandson's rule.

It's a disservice to her character to pander to the idea of moral righteousness or bettering.

What happens to her happens because she is a woman. At every turn, her womanhood and the role of it will pigeon hold her in this society. That does not excuse her very questionable behavior.

Two things can be true.

For example, using my favorite girl, Nettles.

Under Viserys' rule with Alicent and Otto ruling this young girl is a sex worker to sustain her life. She is assumed to have lost her virginity to eat and was disfigured as punishment for wanting to eat. That was her assumed life under their rule. The entire time she has the capability to be a dragon rider.

Had it fallen normally to Rhaenyra nothing would've changed for her and like most of the women we see in that line of work she'd die at the hands of someone or from illness or pregnancy all while being able to claim a dragon.

Women do not need to be exceptional.

( Not everyone can be Nettles)

Women can just be legally named the heir and be heir.

But to impose a moral code that these characters can never live up to is unfortunate. Again, I rise and say I love Rhaenyra, and I understand that she's been groomed by a crazy person and has the moral compass of every Targaryen after the conquest. She's that girl. I'm sorry for those who don't get it or feel the need to justify it.

I also love Alicent, and as a victim of white people's nonsense in 2020 and the Hollywoodification of the feminist movement in the 2010s, you'll never see hate a woman when men are to blame. Seeing someone try to care about something, she has no understanding or ability to truly escape from is hard and a lot of you project the lack of understanding most people have had when it comes to feminism on her as a means to seem above her and what she does. We all fall short and to villanize her for it, is crazy, especially when the person we compare her to has access to do better and doesn’t pursue it.

I'm still waiting for y'all to dislike Daemon for killing a wife, sleeping with a woman at his wife's funeral, and strangling the other after she miscarried their child. Let's not mistake splinters for planks.

178 notes · View notes

daenerysies · 3 months

Text

“He’s always angry, but we haven’t done anything.”

“…but I have a crooked finger, just like Mama!”

“We were born here. Mama is our mother.”

“I do not wish to be different.” “Nor do I.”

“So let us be good sons and please those who love us, so they may forget what we lack.”

I’m never going to recover from this. Once again scenes were removed that would add to both boys characterizations, and we all know why. The scenes would make the audience realize how Aemond’s ‘I’m being bullied for not having a dragon :( I’m the real victim!’ storyline so fallible and easy to shatter in universe because it’s a completely normal occurrence for Targaryen’s. Aemond is not the first child to not have a dragon by the age of ten, the original conqueror’s, Baelon, Alyssa, Rhaenys, Laena, Viserys, Daemon, Aegon II, Helaena, etc. all claimed young or fully grown dragons somewhere between the ages of 11-18.

The only character that had the potential to be marketed as his biggest bully is his brother. They’re never going to convince me (and many others) that it was Rhaenyra’s sons who would ever go after another child for their lack of a dragon, especially given that they were almost surely taught that hatching a cradle egg is but one way for a Targaryen to have a dragon. Aemond felt lesser than his nephews due to the way Alicent was parenting him. She led him to believe that his nephews were bastards, that due to their blood they were beneath him, and this is what led to his inferiority complex. It makes more sense than the crock of shit the show runners decided to include in the show.

Rhaenyra and her sons were subjected to actual abuse and bigotry over the timeskip due to their gender and their blood, respectively. It very much makes me sick how they’re being treated by not only the show runners, but a decent portion of the audience as well. Bastardphobia is not cool or edgy. Looking down on someone because their parents weren’t married is vile. It falls into the same category as believing in blood supremacy. It’s 2024. Do better.

Jace and Luke will forever be Mama’s boys and are never beating the best brothers/sons allegations.

</3

230 notes · View notes

drakaripykiros130ac · 4 months

Text

I just have to say this: Aegon the Usurper flying off like an idiot in battle while Rhaenyra does not, doesn’t make this guy a hero, nor does it make Rhaenyra a coward.

We need to set the record straight: Women don’t have to be warriors in order to be worth something.

This is just another proof of classic misogynistic thinking of TG stans. But they also prove to be highly subjective since they give “poor sweet innocent” Helaena a pass for doing absolutely nothing and being less than relevant even as a dragonrider. And as the ringleader of the Greens, I don’t think Alicent sat on a horse and rode off to battle in order to further her own ambitions. She started the whole mess and then hid behind her sons. Even after Rhaenyra took King’s Landing, the only thing Alicent could say was something like “Just wait till my son Aemond returns bla bla bla.”

Rhaenyra is a girl’s girl. Those who read the book understand that. The canon version of her never wanted to be a son (unlike the stupidity induced in that show). She was very feminine: always choosing to wear the best dresses with the finest silks, many pieces of jewelry, and she is highly interested in men. She was always proud to be a woman. She embraced it. She never tried to act like the opposing gender as a way to make others look at her as worthy of the throne.

I repeat: Rhaenyra was a girl’s girl and she was proud of it.

She was not a warrior. She never trained with a sword in her life, unlike her idiotic half-brothers. She was not even the type (unlike Princess Rhaenys). Rhaenyra spent her time doing girly things and riding Syrax.

Shortly before the war started, Rhaenyra suffered a miscarriage which greatly affected her health. She needed months to recover. This is the reason why she didn’t ride Syrax in battle, as confirmed in the book. It was not because she didn’t want to or because she refused to fight her battles herself (as I hear many TG stans claim in spite).

And even if flying hadn’t been detrimental to her health, why would she fly into battle? You think that is a smart idea? It’s brave, but it’s also stupid, and the usurper himself proved that.

Aegon the Usurper rode his dragon into battle to show that he’s a man’s man, and what did that get him? Injuries which prevented him from being able to move well enough in order to sit on the throne he stole. The only battle he actually won was against a baby dragon, Moondancer. A baby dragon who inflicted deadly wounds on Sunfyre and caused his death.

So tell me again how ‘intelligent’ the usurper was to fly off into battle himself and what exactly he has accomplished with that. What exactly is so “heroic” about that? The fact that he shows off his masculinity on a big bad dragon?

And of course do forgive a poor woman for not flying her dragon into battle like a crazy person after a miscarriage and several psychological blows in one go like her father’s death, her daughter’s death, her son’s death and the usurpation through which a faction of snakes stole the throne that belonged to her.

Do forgive her for lacking any combat experience because you know…she was raised a girl and has a girlish personality!

And do forgive her for not being an idiot and getting herself disabled, like her half-brother did.

154 notes · View notes

ladyofthebears · 3 months

Text

I am genuinely, consistently confused by people who are team green solely based on the argument that Rhaenyra should have saved Alicent. Not only because the dance of the dragons is meant to directly parallel the Amethyst Empress and the Bloodstone Emperor but also because it seems their arguments are built on this very shakey ground of “Rhaenyra should have stopped her father from marrying alicent and everything that happened after that was because of her inability to act.”

Lets take a second and look at it from both a book and show stand point.

In the book, Alicent is much older then Rhaenyra and consistently has beef with her 8 year old step daughter. Perhaps she was coerced into marrying Viserys, perhaps she was abused in the book, but what was a literal child meant to do about it? A child who just lost who own mother to be placed on the knee of a knew women who tells her to call her “step mother”.

In the show, Rhaenyra and Alicent are at a similar age. In the show, both of them are being taken advantage of and changed by older men. Unfortunately, Alicent is being taken advantage by two man and ultimately is married to Viserys. Rhaenyra had only lost her mother half a year earlier and whilst Alicent was her closest friend, she very obviously felt blind sided and hurt by the revelation. Perhaps if Rhaenyra was older and not so emotionally fraught, she would have been able to take a step back and realise that Alicent was the victim in that situation. Unfortunately, she was also just a girl, a girl who felt alone and now felt her best friend was abandoning her as well. I am not saying Rhaenyra was right to push Alicent away, I am saying her feelings were valid. I think what further made it worse was the fact that Alicent was so quickly giving Viserys everything he had ever wanted- a son. Ultimately, both of these characters are but girls, they make mistakes, they misspeak, they lash out. Rhaenyra distances herself from Alicent not realising Alicent is a victim, Alicent is forced to bear children and bears a healthy boy and is pregnant with another, Rhaenyra feels discarded and unwanted and becomes even more distant and angry. Alicent tries to offer an olive branch but Rhaenyra indirectly insults how Alicent is being forced to live. Granted, Rhaenyra apologises afterwards but those words had to have hurt Alicent. Rhaenyra, in her ignorance of the truth of Alicents situation, cannot move past the apparent betrayal of her best friend. Alicent tries again to bridge the gap but ultimately stumbles and accidentally brings up the fact she had a male heir with no problems, something Rhaenyras own mother was unable to do. And around and around they go, with Rhaenyra and Alicent both tryingbut ultimately alienating eachother. The breaking point is when Rhaenyra is taken to a pleasure house with daemon. You can argue with me all you would like, but Alicent was a victim to Viserys and Rhaenyra was a victim to Daemon. She famously says that they were meant to burn together, but that is only so because Daemon made it so. From a young age, he favours her, he takes liberties with her, he gives her gifts and makes her feel special and scene. He is TEXT BOOK grooming her. So when Rhaenyras uncle (who has always been so special to her and given her rare gifts and indulged her) invites her our for a night of fun, she says yes. And when he initiates sexual contact with her, she reacts. She feels wanted and seen by him, and she is a 17 year old girl coming into her own, and she reacts to his escalation of grooming. And ultimately, when he once again plays with her emotions to make her desire him as he desires her, she leaves and finds her pleasure elsewhere. I am not here to argue about Criston Cole- they were both consenting and whilst one could definitely make an argument about the power dynamic on either side, I am not that person. During the confrontation, Alicent lashes out at Rhaenyra for having freedom she did not have and seemingly squandering it. She immediately is on the attack accusing Rhaenyra of things loudly and harshly. She insults not only Rhaenyra but also Rhaenyras family which she is now a part of. And in doing so, completely alienates herself from Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra, feeling cornered, tells a half truth and evades Alicent. And when Alicent speaks to Criston Cole, she does so softly and kindly. Looking at the two confrontations, it is no wonder one party was more willing to be completely honest as opposed to another.

At the end of the day, Alicent and Rhaenyra started out loving each other. Ultimately they are forced apart by the decisions and actions of men around them until what they had is so broken and unrecognisable it can no longer be fixed.

Alicent, at her core, was a victim. Unfortunately, her pain leads her to continue the cycle of abuse until she is almost unrecognisable from the girl she once was. She over reaches and abuses the excess of power she has from her husband (and rapists) sickness. She instills fear and hatred into her children, and continues her own parental abuse onto them. She became the abuser she once sought to escape.

Rhaenyra, was also a victim. She was much more privileged than Alicent in many ways, which is what allowed her to not be trapped in a loveless and painful marriage as Alicent was. She manages to make the best out of her situation, loving her husband as a life partner and not a lover. She breaks the cycle of abuse started by Targaryens generations before by not marrying her children at 13, by not picking favourites among them, by loving them and teaching them to be honourable boys. She ultimately is caught in the trap of her groomer and marries him, and he unsurprisingly abuses her. Whilst he fought for her and stood by her side, he ultimately hurt her too. Rhaenyra spent her entire life feeling discarded and alone, first by her father, then by her mothers death, then her friends apparent betrayal, by her uncle time and time again coming and going and speaking ill of her dead brother and taking his egg, by the realm once Aegon is born. She manages to be a healthy and loving parent despite her very obvious abandonment and attachment issues.

Unfortunately, all the children grow under their respective parents cycles, and the dance happens because ultimately, evil men did evil things.

Rhaenyra was a girl. A girl who could not realise her friend needed saving, a girl who felt alone. And Alicent was a just a girl, a girl forced into a widowers bed by her father, a girl who only knew pain until she thought it was normal and expected. They both deserved so much better at such a young age.

But ultimately everyone must grow up and change, and they changed so much and grew so separately, they could never again fit together as they once did.

#house of the dragon #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #baela targaryen #helaena targaryen #alicent hightower #daemon targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #rhaenyra targaryen #dance of the dragons #anti daemon targaryen #anti greens #anti otto hightower #anti aegon ii targaryen #anti aemond targaryen #anti viserys i targaryen #anti men

56 notes · View notes