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Alicent Hightower - Blog Posts
THIS
Characters, just like people, aren't black and white!! That's the interesting part of a character, the different shades of them, the different aspects.
There's no interesting point in a story where there is pure good vs pure evil and all that kinda stuff. Make a character complex. Give the hero some darkness. Make the villain conflictual. Confuse the readers over who they should root for because it's just too much to unpack at once!!
Especially with anything related to the Dance of Dragons, where literally every single character is equally right and wrong.
Man I love these type of posts
need rhaenicent writers to lock the FUCK in and write alicent and otto’s relationship properly like LOOK AT THIS……..look at how they embrace each other……i don’t want evil otto with no motivations but be tradcath and mean to alicent……..i want deeply layered sexually repressed bicurious evil otto who hurts alicent so much and still loves her so deeply the poison needs to drip through what the fuck
A list of my most unpopular ASOIAF opinions and theories
Please remember this is all based on the books alone, and there also might be SPOILERS for Fire and Blood and the Game of Thrones book series.
ALSO I might open the requests for Game of Thrones fics and headcanons, and maybe for Baldur's Gate as well once I get back into it.
Okayyy so here we gooo.
1. Maegor's story doesn't add up
Don't get me wrong, he must've obviously been a horrible king and a shitty husband, but reading the chapters that talk about him in Blood and Fire, it all just felt like a list of rumours and versions of all nefarious crimes he would've committed. There are about five versions of whatever he did with each wife of his, each of them more depraved than the one before.
Again, I don't think he was an angel or anything, but my theory is that his history was written by biased sources. His reign was made illicit by Jaehaerys, so it would've been in his best interest to have him remembered as nothing more than a viscious monster.
It's a form of "damnatio memoriae" that we've already seen, in a way, with Mushroom and the Dance of Dragons. When in a conflict, and especially after a victory, each side wants to depict the side they beat as badly as possible Caesar did a similar thing in "De Bello Gallico", the book about his conquest of the modern French and Swiss territories. In this book he excuses his conquest with the supposed preparations for an attack by the Helvetians, a fact that was proven to be misinterpreted as it was a mere pacific migration. And again, he did the same thing when he accused them of cannibalising each other while being under siege, another untrue fact made up to just make them seem worse.
So in a way, Maegor's reputation could've been made worse by following historians to legitimate Jaehaerys' reign over Aerea's claim.
2. Incest has no effects on Valyrians
Okay, this is a bit weirder. My theory is that Valyrians practised incest because it had no effect on their offspring.
Looking at the Targaryen family tree, I noticed that the cases of madness increase the more Targaryens marry with other houses. Baelor the Blessed was the first mad Targaryen, and he had a grandmother of house Harte and a great grandmother who was half Arryn.
Before Baelor, Helaena is questionably considered mad as well, which would prove my theory furthermore had it not been for the amount of trauma she endured in her life so I'm honestly not gonna count her as "mad". Rhaegel Rargaryen was the second confirmed mad Targaryen, with a Martell mother; his daughter Aelora is questionably considered mad too, and her mother is an Arryn.
Aerion Brightflame was another mad Targaryen, with a half Martell father and a Dayne mother. The last two mad Targaryens were Aerys II and Viserys III, but at this point, the bloodline was mixed with others enough to make the Targaryen madness an unpredictable factor.
3. There is no good or bad in the Dance of Dragons
So I think we could theorise that Valyrians can perform incest so long as it remains within pure Valyrian blood.
Edit: some of you have pointed out how there were other signs of incest complications in the Targaryen family such as malformities and stillborn babies. I really am no biologist and I don't want to dwell into that "Valyrian race supremacy" craziness, but those cases are once again always correlated to marriages between Targaryens and other houses, for example all of Maegor's stillborn and unborn children (as 5 out of his 6 wives were not Targaryens/Valyrians) or the following cases.
Rhaenyra had a claim on the throne because of Viserys' will, but Aegon had a claim on the throne because of the laws of Westeros themselves. You can argue that Alicent wasn't the nicest stepmother, yet you can't look me in the face and tell me a woman in the middle ages married to a KING to whom she had given THREE SONS wouldn't complain when the king dismisses all of them and their claims in favor of his firstborn daughter.
Otto may have manipulated Alicent, but that was just how a Lord was supposed to act in that situation: have her marry the best candidate (the king), have her birth at least a son (she did) and make sure those children are first in line for the throne (as it should be, by the laws).
Viserys shouldn't have remarried if he already had his heir, period.
At the same time, Rhaenyra had every reason to fight for her claim and try and go against the actual laws of Westeros, but it was inevitable that many would've seen badly her attempt at claiming what was Aegon's birthright.
Lucerys was an asshole for mutilating Aemond and never showed remorse, quite the opposite. Aemond was an asshole who shouldn't have had all the power he had, plus I hardly believe his and Alys relationship was really consensual so there's that..
In the end, they all had their rights and wrongs, but that doesn't matter at all. The only point about the Dance is the fact that a pointless conflict led to the downfall of one of the strongest families in Westeros history.
4. Rhaegar didn't love Lyanna
I hate the series for making them marry. Like, seriously, have D&D ever read the books? Have they not read what happened between Maegor and the Faith when he took another wife??
Never, not even in the most twisted of universes, would the faith let Rhaegar kidnap and marry a Stark girl while he was still married to Elia. That just wouldn't be plausible.
And I also don't think he'd just fall in love at first sight with a random girl at a tournament. She was a beautiful soul and had many qualities, but she had nothing that could truly make a man throw away his whole life to pursue her.
He needed another child. The dragon has three heads. He had Rhaenys and Aegon, but Visenya was missing (I just made up the name for the third possible child considering he was naming them after the three conquerors lmao). He needed Lyanna to have that third child, and he knew how to get her to get what he wanted.
Perhaps we'll find out this isn't true. Perhaps Rhaegar really was head over heels for Lyanna, but I honestly really really doubt it.
5. There is no certainty on who the Prince that was Promised is
No matter what the show wants us to see, we still don't know who it is. It could be Daenerys, it could be Jon, it could even be Stannis and we're not gonna know it until Martin reveals it.
I honestly think Daenerys is Azor Ahai, but I'm still curious to see why we would need to revive Jon then. And considering Stannis' sword possibly being Azor Ahai's sword, is it a fake one made by Melisandre to get what she wanted from him, or does he actually possess the original sword?
Well, these are the first theories and opinions I could think of right now, I might post more in the future. Again, please don't slander me in the comments, these are just my personal opinions and I respect all others.
Gasped when I saw this. If you dug a whole in my brain this is what you’d find istg
house of the dragon // flowers in the attic: the origin
when someone asks why I do not trust men
I'm just gonna post this here and wait for some writer to give the people this modern Au we all need.
Like big sis Rhae taking care of her young siblings bc their parents died or something, and then drop me rhaenyra's bestie Ali helping her with the kids.
Pd: I found this on Pinterest so if someone knows the owner please let me know.
https://pin.it/1KqrHbmoA
A summary of Alicent and Aegon discussing him becoming king.
Just give it up woman. Your wanking out a window son is NOT fit to be king.
way too proud of my rhaenicent shuffle to not share it here:
please tell me you guys see my vision
like its the same, theyre the same
i mean it even works this way, cause you know silver/grey, same same but different.
House of the Dragon
the funeral (a grotesque display of two queens’ grief, forced on them against their will) being interjected by images of aegon beating blood into a bloody ruin says something about how women’s grief is exploited and paraded around as a virtue while male grief is only allowed to exist in conjunction with violence.
female sorrow is expected to be public, dignified, and even noble, it serves as a symbol of quiet strength and resilience. otto uses it as a tool to gain sympathy for their cause. notice how he forced alicent and helaena into it, while he allowed aegon not to participate. wouldn‘t the king being at the funeral send a powerful message? yes, it would. but otto looks at aegon with contempt, the other councilmen and alicent do not know what to do with his tears. the realm cannot be allowed to see the king grieve. not like this.
male grief is denied its own space and validity unless it manifests in aggressive or destructive acts. aegon realizes this to some degree too— he lashes out publicly by killing the rat catchers. he shows his grief by being violent, by spilling blood.
the toxicity of it all is very effectively shown at the end when aegon is crying by himself. did he retreat there to be alone and finally let it all out? his mother is either letting him have that moment alone or she’s deeply uncomfortable with it and chooses to leave. no matter what motivated alicent in acting the way she did— the moment still reveals how male vulnerability is something people fear. it shows that even the most human expressions of pain are not acceptable for some.
Queen Alicent Hightower
Pregnant with her fourth and last child, Prince Daeron
Queen Alicent Hightower
Pregnant with her fourth and last child, Prince Daeron
Please draw young Alicent before she became queen. Please please please
Okie!!
Lady Alicent Hightower (13) arrival to KingsLanding
The last recorded portrait of Queen Alicent Hightower
“She does not even have enough shame to wear black.” Rhaenyra thought.
Instead, the queen wore dark green velvet with long sleeves, richly decorated with golden thread and cloth of gold. Her dark hair was pulled up in the style of the capital, and jewels glowed on her ears, neck, and hands. She smiled as she saw Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra gave her no more than an empty stare.
The Blacks and The Greens by @sweetestpopcorn
QUEEN ALICENT HIGHTOWER
So here's an unfinished Alicent, that i probably will never finish🙃. Probably when Jaehaerys and Jaehaera are presented to the court after their birth. She would be 35 here. She has dark blue eyes with a beautiful aquiline nose. I used the beautiful Nur as her face claim.
(BOOK ONLY) Since some stupid people have come into this fandom, everything you hear makes you think whether they are just stupid or pretending to be stupid.
"Alicent did everything for 20 years while Rhaenyra was vacationing on Dragonstone"
The princess of Dragonstone living in dragonstone!??? Oh the misery😱😮 Are you hearing yourself? Like be serious right now.
It is the seat of the heir, the Prince/Princess of DRAGONSTONE. Dragonstone is her seat, where she rules. Until she becomes Queen where the seat will pass on to her hair and the next after that. As Prince of Dragonstone Rhaegar along with his family lived on Dragonstone.
She ruled on Dragonstone. After being heir and cupbearer before her marriage for years. And no she wasn't simply sitting on her ass and having sex and fun and vacationing as some of you put it. She had duties to be done, holding courts, hosting guests and visitors. It wasn't just some small island with no island either, it was an overlord to, House Velaryon, House Celtigar, House Bar Emmon, and House Sunglass(what a name). And she had to host those who were guests coming to pay respects and hear their problems and what not. And none of these mean that she was simply gone from Kingslanding either, it takes an hour? on dragon back to get there. We do know she was there present in some ways, the rivalry between her sons and Alicent's, her and Maester Gerardys coming to heal Viserys.
"And in these 20 years, Aegon bettered himself to rule."
Girl where? We know nothing of him from ages 6-12?. Afterwards, all we know of this time is he was fondling maids, fucking servantmaids and whore, getting drunk and spending his time in the streets of silk and that he was having bastards even after being married to a princess and having children. They literally found him in a brothel with a whore, while bringing him news of his father's death.
Personally, I've always perceived Rhaenyra as an entitled brat. That was sort of how she was portrayed in the book. Daemon was pretty nasty as well, as he groomed Rhaenyra. He was teaching her "how best to touch a man to bring him pleasure," if Mushroom is to be believed.
I am inclined to believe Mushroom.
I think most of Rhaenyra's behaviors at Daemon's fault, but I do think that Rhaenyra is mad as she wanted to torture her little brother for calling her bastard children 'bastards'. That isn't sane behavior, and nothing really excuses it. Aemond really was defending himself.
Alicent should have asked for Rhaenyra's boys to be swatted on the hands wooden spoon a good few times, not an eye. (Lucerys should not have had a dagger. Why would a child need a dagger?)
I don't think anyone thought Rhaenyra was still heir after Aegon was born. Viserys literally broke the laws of the entire realm for her.
War was inevitable, and there was nothing Rhaenyra could have done aside from marrying her infant brother.
I don't know if you've been asked something like this before. I also have no idea if the background to my question makes sense, but do you think there was any way Rhaenyra could have become Queen without breaking laws, murdering kin, and or bloodshed?
Who started breaking laws? —The Greens
Who started murdering kin?—The Greens
Who started bloodshed?— The Greens
In a monarchy, which Westeros is and has been for THOUSANDS of years the king's words is the law. Not that of his predecessors, but of the present ruling monarch.
Viserys named his 8 year old daughter as his heir, he varied from custom yes, but never broke law. HE IS THE LAW.
Viserys also broke custom by marrying Alicent, a daughter of a second son and not a ruling lord. A woman that could not give him anything of importance, not money, not a fleet, not any great allegiance. He married her simply because loved her. Being the second time he broke CUSTOM for a woman he loved. Rhaenyra and Alicent.
Even if Viserys allowed his 16 year old daughter to be wed to her 6 year old brother, you think that would prevent war? You people are simply stupid if you think so. Aegon (Otto & Alicent) could easily imprison Rhaenyra and simply put it out as she died, or simply even just end her life. And obviously with their children being young(if they had any, very unlikely) Aegon could crown himself as king rather than prince consort. And do you really think Alicent would let her precious son be king consort to a wanton woman? We see this with Jaehaerys' children Daenerys and Aemon.
I don't think anyone thought Rhaenyra was still heir after Aegon was born. Viserys literally broke the laws of the entire realm for her.
The Blacks? Literally many at court more than even the Greens supported Rhaenyra as heir. Even afterwards, during the war Rhaenyra had much more supporters than Aegon, even after her death.
Rhaenyra is mad as she wanted to torture her little brother for calling her bastard children 'bastards'. That isn't sane behavior, and nothing really excuses it. Aemond really was defending himself. Alicent should have asked for Rhaenyra's boys to be swatted on the hands wooden spoon a good few times, not an eye.
Right, Rhaenyra insisting for Aemond to be questioned sharply is mad but Alicent asking for a five year old's eye to be cut out is perfectly sane behaviour, yes? Be serious right now. Do you really think Viserys out of all people would let his son be tortured? Rhaenyra knew of that, she wanted Aemond to admit that his mother, Alicent has been spreading rumours abt easy as that.
It wasn't just for the insults either, Luke's nose was broken, Jace was hit in the head. And Joff was thrown into dragon droppings.
Afraid that the boy would raise the alarm, Prince Aemond shouted at him to be quiet, then shoved him backward into a pile of dragon droppings.
Aemond fought back, breaking Luke’s nose with a punch, then wrenching the sword from Joff’s hands and cracking it across the back of Jace’s head, driving him to his knees. As the younger boys scrambled back away from him, bloody and bruised, the prince began to mock them, laughing and calling them “the Strongs.”
Jace at least was old enough to grasp the insult. He flew at Aemond once again, but the older boy began pummeling him savagely…until Luke, coming to the rescue of his brother, drew his dagger and slashed Aemond across the face, taking out his right eye.
Aemond was TEN. Jace was SIX, Luke FIVE, Joff only THREE.
A 10 year old Pummeling (= boxing, repeatedly puching) and 6 year old is a perfectly good thing to do.
Lucerys should not have had a dagger. Why would a child need a dagger?
Because this child, is a prince? Almost everyone had daggers at that time, Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, Ladies, Lords, Commonborn, every one had daggers. They carried it for personal protection, even Lucerys.
Не was teaching her "how best to touch a man to bring him pleasure," if Mushroom is to be believed. I am inclined to believe Mushroom.
Even then, if Rhaenyra is such an 'entitled brat' why would she want to please the son of a steward of a Lord. And that too, not even a major Lord. Why would she want to please a no-one that became a someone because of HER.
Personally, I've always perceived Rhaenyra as an entitled brat. That was sort of how she was portrayed in the book.
She was portrayed as spoiled, yes. How could she not be? She came after many miscarriages and stillbirth, many other losses in the family. To her parents she was their first daughter, both of them motherless on their own. To Baelon, she was his first granddaughter after the loss of this wife, son, aemon and the rest of his siblings. To Jaehaerys and Alysanne, she was probably the first great-grandchild they met, she came after they lost most of their children (+Jocelyn who was as good as daughter, Rhaenys and probably never met her children till the feast and tourney of 98). She was a light in a time where her family was sinking from the inside.
I don't know how fighting for something that is yours, and have been for over TWENTY YEARS is seen as entitlement rather advocating and defending her own right?
There is someone who is portrayed as entitled, however. Alicent Hightower. Who thought simply because she popped out the King's son, means he should become a king. And this son who thought simply because he was a man with a cock, he was more fit to rule than a daughter without a cock.
Why should I explain the basic of things to strangers as if they're 5 and lack comprehension? Lol😭
Alicent had her children didn't ask to be in this inbred snakepit.
So Alicent Hightower fell in love and married an inbred man, fucked him and had four inbred children. Two of them went on to get married to each other and had three inbred children of their own, Alicent's grandchildren. These inbred grandchildren would've been married to each other had they lived too. But again, I'm making all of these up, right? None of these happened? Just in my delusional mind, right? Dude be fucking serious right now.
Also it was a dragonpit, it only became a snakepit once Alicent came in.
Alicent is a political mastermind whether you like her or not. Her keeping the peace after visits died is why Rhaenyra lived as long as she did
Lol, which part of her character screams political mastermind to you? The part where she was having petty grudges against a pre-teen? Or the part where she spread unnecessary rumours abt the said 12/13 year old? Or the part where she publicly hated the same child? Or the last where she wanted a 5 year old's eye to be put out? Or the part where her 19 and 15 year old sons remained unwed, instead of creating an allegiance?
She is smart and cunning and ambitious but not in the most political way.
Her marriage was the utmost political move on her part. Through this marriage, she became queen, one of the most powerful titles, had four princelings and three to follow after them.
I do think the Rhaenyra & Alicent mostly animosity mostly began after Otto was sent away(109)/Aemond was born(110), which would put Alicent(21/22) displaying public dislike towards Rhaenyra(12/13). Everyone and their mothers in the court knew abt their 'animosity' towards each other even before the tourney of 111 AC, blacks and greens were formed. Alicent was 23 and Rhaenyra was 14.
“Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” Queen Alicent asked one day at court. Such a political movie on Alicent's part🤦♀️
Taking in Lord Commander of the Kingsgaurd Criston, was a power gaining move on her past however. But then again, a man she alleged of being a pedo when she had a silver haired daughter herself. So, again, who knows.
Aegon and Helaena marriage was arranged by Viserys, so it would calm down Aegon a bit (from whoring and drinking). She as a mother did not stop Aegon from whoring or excessive drinking, even though she wanted him to be king. She did not prepare him to rule or have someone do it, just let him sire bastards and destroy his reputation. Just because he was a son, he was the better choice, even with nothing to back it.
Queen Alicent demanded that one of Lucerys Velaryon’s eyes should be put out, for the eye he had cost Aemond. Luke was FIVE when this happened, Alicent was a grown 32 year old woman, a mother to 4 children. Though this can easily be passed as her mother's grief talking. So moving on.
Aemond(19) and Daeron(15) remained unwed. Marriage is the best way of allegiance (ex. Rhaenyra and Velaryons). Aemond could've been easily married by then, maybe to Cassandra Baratheon, where he could've been her consort (ex. Daemon and Rhea). Daeron could've been married too, but even a Betrothal would've been fine, maybe to some Tyrell. Yet it didn't happen.
By (visits=Viserys?) 'Rhaenyra living as long as she did', I think you mean the peace treaty? Even an idiot knows you offer a peace treaty at the beginning of a war, so you can be seen as peaceful and better than the other. It wasn't even just her either, Otto and Helaena both pushed for it. The offer was also a hostageship for Rhaenyra and her whole family.
Also Rhaenyra is the one who kept Alicent alive not the other way around. “for the sake of our father, who loved you once.”
Well if they didn't have ambitions all the Hightowers and their targaryen children would've all been dead. Alicent's ambition is the only thing that kept her children alive. Hope this helps.
Right...... Which one of her children did she keep alive again? Lol you people truly do say whatever comes to your mind huh. Viserys kept them alive. She killed her children, is the sentence you should've typed out. But then again, with her political inexpertise and incompetence no one can blame her.
'All the Hightowers would've been dead', girl they're an irrelevant house, no one gives a shit abt them:).
Rhaenyra wasn't usurped because she was a woman, she was usurped because she was a stupid woman. If she had kept her leg closed and didn't have BASTARDS she wouldn't have been so opposed throughout the Realm
Saying she wasn't usurped because of misogyny while spewing misogyny is quite funny.
It was never abt her having bastards to begin with. It is and was always abt her being a woman and not having a sausage between her legs.
In the many many drafts of the dance, in one she married a lannister and had no children, but still got usurped. In an other, rhaenyra was married to a lyonel strong, and she still got usurped.
The problem is not her children, or whether she kept her legs close, but that she is a woman.
And let us say it was about bastards, do you really think Daemon would let them live? Let his sons that he has waited for years get passed down. Daemon did love Rhaenyra, but he had his own ambitions and motives. I don't think he would do it publicly simply because of his love for Rhaenyra. But a simple fall, accidental drowning, an assassin, it's all very possible.
It was abt the Hightowers and Alicent's ambitions.
Hope this helps🙂
Titles given to a special someone🫣 because 'The Queen in Chains' is not cool enough.
• THE MOTHER OF DRAGONS. She ofcourse gave life to four dragons. (Man wh0re, The side character, The kinslayer, The murderer 😍)
• THE GOOD QUEEN ALICENT. Yasssss girl, causing an usurpation, THE greatest thing ever. 🙌🧎(Please tell me this is a joke, some sort of spelling mistake and that you meant Alysanne, I beg of you)
• THE LITTLE QUEEN. Yes, an 18 year old adult little queen.👶
• THE BLACK BRIDE. No comment.
• THE DRAGON QUEEN. She who rides a dragon💪💪💪
• THE PEOPLE'S QUEEN. ??????
Feel free to add more, if I've missed any.