Ashes of Valyria

hotd & akotsk analysis blog

[khaleesiact]

Alicent's personality shift is one of the most confusing things in the show

We're talking about the same woman who, in the first season, drew a dagger to avenge Aemond's lost eye. The same mother who spent years raising her children under the constant paranoia that Rhaenyra would one day kill them. Alicent fueled this rivalry for years, creating a deep rift between the two families. She was the one who repeatedly told Aegon that he would be king, but never actually prepared him to rule. Aegon grew up believing that this destiny was inevitable, never having been molded to bear the weight of the crown.

Then we arrive at the second season.

Suddenly, this same Alicent claims she would open the gates of King's Landing for Rhaenyra to enter as conqueror. More than that: she accepts the possibility of Aegon being executed. This directly conflicts with everything we've seen before.

After losing his own son, Aegon seeks out Alicent wanting to do more for the war. He asks what he can do to help, finally trying to assume the role he's always been told is his. Her answer? That he simply do what is expected of him: nothing. No guidance, no real support.

At the same time, Alicent considers surrendering the city to Rhaenyra, even knowing that this could mean not only Aegon's execution, but also putting her entire family at risk: her father, her brother Gwayne, and even Aemond and Daeron, who would continue to be threats to Rhaenyra's throne.

In other words, she spends years convincing her sons that they need to fight to survive. She tells them that Rhaenyra's ascension would mean their deaths, creating an atmosphere of fear and rivalry that inevitably leads to war. But when the consequences finally arrive, when her sons fight for the very survival she always said was at stake, Alicent condemns them for it. She criticizes Aegon and Aemond for defending the throne and protecting their own lives… in a war that exists, in large part, because of the beliefs and fears she herself instilled in them.

The result is a character who seems to contradict herself. The mother who once drew a dagger to defend a son is now the same one who seems willing to hand another over to the enemies and possibly her entire family in the name of a peace she herself helped to make impossible.

[khaleesiact]

When they say that “Kiera was lucky to marry Valarr and then Daeron”, it seems like they ignore the entire tragedy of her story.

Kiera truly loved Valarr. They weren't just an arranged marriage — there was affection, partnership, and she probably would have been his queen one day. But fate was cruel: she suffered several miscarriages and, shortly after, lost Valarr to Great Spring Sickness.

The marriage to Daeron came later, but was clearly political. It was not born of love. They only had one daughter, which reinforces that that union existed more out of duty than choice. And there's one detail that says a lot: Kiera named her only daughter Vaella — a name that echoes Valarr's, like a silent tribute to the man she truly loved.

Daeron's own death also makes this even more evident. He ended up contracting an illness from a prostitute, which shows that their marriage was far from being a relationship based on love or fidelity.

So no. Kiera was not “lucky”.

She was a woman who loved deeply, lost everything too soon and spent the rest of her life carrying the consequences of those losses.