Alicent Hightower, as she currently stands, is not a character I feel particularly inclined to explain or justify the actions of. The whole selling out her family for the greater good and all that. But! I will always, and I mean always, defend that she as a character has been way too humiliated for a show that prides itself in portraying women's struggles without reducing them to items of violence. I could argue that it fails for a bunch of reasons, but the most glaring one is how it prioritises the morality of one woman's pain in detriment to it's other female characters'. And the main victim of this is Alicent, because not only is she secondary to Rhaenyra by the show's own design, she is also an anti-Rhaenyra in a way. That in itself frames her (and encourages the audience to see her) as the main person to blame for all the bad things that happen not only to Rhaenyra, but the rest of Westeros during the war.
Except now she's had a change of heart, she's only ever wanted peace, and she must repent for her sins, have a taste of the patriarchy she's served. To imply that Alicent ever believed herself to be some excession to the rule is ludicrous and a bad faith interpretation of her character at the very least. She as a lady and later queen born and raised in such patriarchical feudal society knows exactly what is expected of her, and that most of the time women in her position can fall from grace (see king Jaehaerys' daughters) if they refuse to fufill these roles. By the end of season 1 she hasn't done anything that any other lady wouldn't do in her situation. Meaning that she's not exceptionally bad or evil. But now because she's expected to somehow abandon all but two members of her family to death and serve Rhaenyra on her way out of the continent, the layer of sexual humiliation on top of the personal betrayal feels like a revenge fantasy.
Lets see what she's been through:
- Fetishized by one of her allies and exchanged sexual favours for information and support
- Caught in the act by her distraught daughter because she was having sex with the lord commander of the kingsguard when her grandson was murdered in his cradle
- Kissed by her son because she didn't love him right but also because he's sick in the head but also she was manipulating him but also he's a Targaryen man so of course he wants to kiss his mommy
And now the actress herself has said many more humiliations are to come, and while I don't think all of them are going to be inherently sexual, I just know that's how they'll frame it.
Not even Cersei was victim of this treatment.
So no. I don't think "evil stepmother" is worse than degraded doll. I'd rather they poorly interpret her as a one dimensional villain than whatever the hell they're currently dragging her through.
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