Alicent's super secret bedmate

legitimized bastard born 282 ac cursed to first love a ghost of a milf haunting the red keep from 116 ac #rhaella saves rhaenys in this timeline #eliamartell #deathtocanon

[enby-axels]

i really like the way hotd s3 is currently developing rhaenyra's character and it just makes me love her more. like yes please keep morally complicating her, keep challenging the reactionary assumptions underlying her entire arc! bring out her entitledness, her recklessness, her hypocrisy! challenge the idea that she'd make a "good" ruler! challenge the idea of a victory made glorious by violence! and emma d'arcy is doing a phenomenal job, this season has solidified their rhaenyra as my personal favorite hotd performance. they got soooo much material to chew on and they absolutely devoured, that emmy better be theirs istg

on the flip side, you can tell that this season is afraid to be similarly as unflinching with alicent due to the audience reaction to her, and it makes her writing frustrating to me. there are still ghosts of a more complicated and engaging character, like when she says helaena might be her redemption or when she tries to pressure helaena to get an abortion. but there are other times when common sense just contorts itself to handhold the audience's lowest common denominator into sympathizing with her. im not a fan, imo it's cowardly writing that sacrifices quality for legibility

other impressions: criston cole's arc is really hitting it out of the park. daemon is fantastic, matt smith just oozes charisma and makes a great devil on rhaenyra's shoulder. despite everything, the show got me to think wow these two awful men are great and compelling characters. mysaria doesnt have as much of a central focus, but sonoya mizuno's little facial expressions in her relatively limited screen time absolutely deliver her humanity. i find myself wishing for more mysaria, more rhaesaria, their dynamic is just so good. i also find myself really liking rhaena. phoebe campbell has a bright future imo, they were able to perfectly embody her desperation, especially in s3e1, and that was able to make rhaena's arc land for me despite all my initial misgivings

[insatiablewit]

I am really liking all of this above, and also alicents character (self proclaimed lover of her in all her forms)

I see the critique of her character and i can agree to alot of the points,

But when i see her this season, shes finally handling what it means to be without any powers ptotecting her. Maybe she is a foil to the creatures of her own faith(theory im working on) but she is just trying her best to protect the child, the daughter, she has left. Its not perfect, not the smartest, but most of the tools she has have been taken from her. I think her character is fractured because withoit thebtrapppings and her authority, she doesnt know whos she is. Its been fascinating to watch.

[marysblo0d]

I inherited her pain

[greenqueenhightower]

The more I think about it, the more I find that all the Targtower kids got one substitute father each to fill the gaping hole of the father figure they couldn’t find in Viserys:

-Aegon found a substitute father in Larys, who’s a “cripple” just like him. Ever since Rooks Rest, Larys is constantly by his side, providing encouragement and moral support, teaching him to accept himself, telling him he “survived dragonfire” and that his resurrection will be the stuff of “songs and legends”

-Aemond found a substitute father in Cole, with whom he spent hours sword training and countless evenings discussing politics and making plans. The bond they forged was so strong that Criston repeatedly refuses to believe that Aemond has abandoned him and his army. Criston has faith in Aemond, just as a father ought to have faith in the son whom he raised

-Daeron thinks he has found a substitute father in Ormund, who raised him since infancy and who’s molded him to hate his real father and his Targaryen blood. In Ormund, Daeron sees an ideal he strives hard to reach himself. He idolizes him and tries hard to please him to get whatever crumbs of approval and affection Ormund has to spare

-Helaena is an interesting case, but I’d say that Gwayne is her substitute father. Remember what he told Cole last episode: “our Queens are both in chains.” Our Queens. That includes Helaena. Gwayne, even from a distance, feels some sort of fondness towards Helaena, who perhaps reminds him of his sister in her youth and is a symbol of all that is pure and fair and just in his world of chivalry and ideals. Had they spent more time together, I’m sure that Helaena too, who remembered Jace & Luke’s kindness with fondness, would have come to appreciate Gwayne’s kindness as well

[nicostiel]

He's doing so well

[reticent-vampire]

[rogers-carter]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3.04 -  Tumbleton

[visenyaisthebest]

Rhaena has no arc in books.

I like this. I really do.

Daemon being a good father. I loved it too 🤩

[mynerathemystic]

the writers having daemon say "you were meant to accompany my sons to pentos" instead of "you were meant to accompany your brothers" is nasty work.

[wolfienation]

the thing that really sells rhaenyra giving alicent otto's ring is the timing. she hasn't had luck finding out anything about ormund's machinations, corlys is flat out refusing to act as her foremost advisor, ulf is parading around the city, someone is writing queen of bastards on the walls, daemon has presented her with the head of jace's supposed killer and denied her the right of her own revenge for the act. she's spiraling, control is slipping. but the ring, the ring is something she can do. the ring is proof she managed to complete this one simple task that was asked of her. in this long list of failures rhaenyra arranges for otto's remains to be sent home and she hands alicent his ring and lingers in her room and in that moment she has succeeded. yes everything else is imploding around her but she did this. and that counts for something to her

[9everwhere]

My children ❤️

3 out of 11 are already dead, how many more will I lose?!?😭💔

[seaworthee]

rhaenyra's administration rooting out the six literate people in flea bottom. she's inventing fascism for the medieval age

[kigieri]

Aegon himself says Sunfyre is not dead. He is not even marginally as decayed as Meleys. He is not really decayed at all, he does not seem to smell, his scales have not sunken in, even though his wounds have not healed.

I think it would be an interesting concept to have him rise once more and Aegon with him. It will take time. Aegon will have an arc at Rooks Rest, but I would enjoy it greatly if one day, either while Aegon is in peril or otherwise, Sunfyre rises again and Aegon can reclaim his identity as king, or reforge it moreso.

Both of them, together, coming back from the dead. Stronger than before.

[depsidase]

[lazywriterinthedark]

[tooies]

reblog and put in the tags what your childhood password that you just stuck with is!

[apyr-the-struggler]

[queensinchains]

Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022– ) 3.03 | Rhaenyra Triumphant

[wandas-darling]

since alicent is learning how to style her hair on her own, i like to think that she is the one who braided helaena's hair for practice and that's why they're matching

[frankensteinshouse]

Wow I’m actually severely irritated now

[swordmaid]

when the root of the tragedy was love.

[kibumkim]

The patriarchy won lmao

[disgracedmilfman]

Evergreen