Hotd s3x02
Rhaenyra
We are shown Rhaenyra’s suffering and her grief over her son's death, framing her readiness to seek "noble" vengeance, kill dragons, and slaughter her own siblings as justified. She believes she lost her child unfairly, even though Jacaerys essentially walked into his own demise, and she had previously demanded the heads of her brothers. How is she any better?
For some reason, the show portrays her as righteous, which is far from the truth. She is deeply hypocritical. Lest we forget, the TB were the first to draw blood when they cut out Aemond’s eye. And she wanted him tortured just to find out how he learned her sons were bastards, when it was practically written all over their faces.
Instead of resolving the conflict, Rhaenyra did nothing - there wasn't even an apology. Yet, had Lucerys lost an eye, she would have absolutely demanded Aemond’s eye in return. She demanded a son for a son even after Jaehaerys was already dead. She is bloodthirsty, yet she hides behind a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing persona. And, of course, Rhaenyra will never be cut by the Iron Throne. The showrunners simply cannot depict that, otherwise their propaganda wouldn't fly with the audience.
Helaena
Helaena lost Jaehaerys - a son who was entirely innocent, who never embarked on a suicidal mission, and who never maimed anyone. Yet, she simply accepted the death of her child and seemingly forgot all about him. She shows no desire for maternal justice, no resentment toward Rhaenyra and her faction, no accusations - nothing at all. We are shown a Helaena who doesn't even grieve for her son's death. She reacted to the tragedy as if looking at a broken teacup, only to toss it away. The show portrays her as entirely failing her royal duties, with Alicent always speaking on her behalf.
Helaena is unwilling to kill the TB' dragons. She maintains this stance despite knowing that Aemond and Daemon are bound to clash, that Aemond and Daeron are actively fighting, and that Aegon has fled and is also in grave danger. There is a massive line between kindness, mercy, and outright stupidity. I just want to shake her until she finally realizes that they murdered her son, and they will murder her, Jaehaera, and her brothers next! I thought the show was finally beginning to depict Helaena as someone who cares for her brothers and is willing to speak the harsh truth for their own good. But no! And this is entirely the show’s stupidity, not the book's.
"Her sons were always kind" - yet another line written by Condal and Hess, delivered through Helaena. When exactly were they "good"? Was it when they relentlessly bullied Aemond, beat him up, and ultimately cut out his eye? Why don't they throw in a few more compliments, because clearly, the audience still hasn't figured out who the forced "good guys" and "bad guys" are supposed to be. Meanwhile, Helaena has peacefully forgotten that Rhaenys was ready to burn them all alive, while Aemond stood right beside her, shielding her.
Daemon
Remember Daemon crying over Jaehaerys’s death? Did everyone really think that it changed him? Haha, not even close. Now he wants to kill Daeron, who has done absolutely nothing wrong other than simply being born. Daemon supposedly loved Viserys so much, yet he is ready to slaughter all of his brother's children.
And Daemon’s hypocrisy goes even further - remember when he murdered Vaemond for merely speaking the truth? Daemon fiercely backs Rhaenyra’s bastards and wants to put them on the throne, yet he turns around and tells Alys that she is a bastard with no rights to Harrenhal. How convenient it is to twist the laws however you please. In one instance, an unwed bastard woman has no right to inherit anything at all. In another instance, a woman who gave birth to bastards can absolutely inherit, simply because she is my wife and I am about to become King. This is top-tier cringe.
Alys Rivers
Didn't your weirwood trees whisper to you that you're not getting the castle? Couldn't you just seize it yourself using magic? Aren't you supposed to be above all this worldly vanity?
After all, the show portrayed her as a proponent of the exact philosophy Helaena voiced later on: "It's all just a story, and you are but a part of it," blah blah blah. You're supposedly centuries old, yet you're throwing a tantrum because you aren't being handed a castle. Is your loyalty to Rhaenyra bought with real estate? Aren't you supposed to be serving the prophecy and ensuring it comes to pass? This whole prophecy business is total nonsense anyway. The Night King was killed by Arya, not Daenerys. Daenerys ended up dead, and Drogon was left as the sole surviving dragon.
Alicent
She continues to treat Helaena like a clueless, helpless little girl, making choices for her and now bossing people around not just on Aemond’s behalf, but on Helaena’s too. Alicent constantly clips her own children's wings. Honestly, I’m just waiting for someone to put her in a straitjacket and lock her up in an asylum.
This brainless fool started this whole game herself and built the Green faction while Otto wasn’t even at the castle, so the showrunners can't just shift the blame onto him. Had she wanted to, she easily could have made peace with Rhaenyra. Instead, she kept raising her children as weapons, grooming them for war, only to sell out their heads in the end. She could have easily sent Aemond away to Oldtown with Daeron. He was a second son and wasn't needed at court. But she kept him around solely for her own convenience - she needed a reliable child to babysit her eldest son while he was on a nonstop drinking binge.Alicent's hypocrisy is off the charts: she acts all worried about how the knights and Criston are faring, yet she literally condemned every single loyal member of her faction to certain death, ruthlessly trading away their lives.
Jasper Wylde
They just keep forcing the narrative that the Green faction consists of nothing but rapists, traitors, and moral degenerates. How convenient to invent things that never even existed in the source material. And in the midst of it all, Alicent is framed as the victim yet again.
It’s not even funny anymore. What was the point of that scene with Jasper Wylde anyway? Maybe the writers should stop baselessly accusing every single male character of sexual assault. The way things are going in this show, it seems like every man is a predator. It’s such a lazy way to alienate the audience - turning one faction into a circus of monsters while making the other look like flawless saints. Aren't they sick of such blatant, heavy-handed propaganda? Frankly, I find it offensive how they casually toss around such serious, painful issues, using them as cheap triggers for emotional manipulation rather than actually exploring the horror of abuse. Why didn't they show an aging Viserys practically grooming and taking advantage of a teenage Alicent? Oh, right, because that’s different! He can’t be vilified - after all, he’s Rhaenyra’s beloved father who named her heir to the throne.
Vhagar
My conqueror: "Who was singing those offensive little songs about my boy?! Burn them all!"
I love you, my bab! ❤️
Aemond
How else can you make a character look even more "evil and wicked"? Show him murdering an old man who didn't even attack.But let’s be real, Simon Strong is a staunch supporter of Daemon and Rhaenyra. At the first opportunity, he would have either poisoned Aemond or sent a raven straight to the Blacks. Trusting fools are the first to die in Westeros, so his execution was completely inevitable.
The showrunners just made it look as repulsive as possible for the normies, trying to paint Aemond as a generic anime villain once again. He’s definitely straight out of the Uchiha clan (if you know, you know).A few more words: okay, now I actually believe that Aemond is just an 18 year old kid. How could anyone stupidly expose their back like that? Sure, the guy is missing an eye, so it's expected that he didn't see it coming in his blind spot. But at the same time, shouldn't you be constantly calculating that factor during a fight? And then, some pathetic blade pierces his armor made of cardboard - oh, sorry, made of "Valyrian steel."
His meeting with Alice. He's literally crawling. What? That is so stupid. How else do the writers plan to humiliate this character?
Well, I suppose they will definitely form an alliance based on their shared hatred for Daemon. But while Aemond has a solid reason to hate him, what is Alys’s motive? Is it over the castle again? Isn't a mystical witch supposed to be above such worldly nonsense? I’m not an alys🤡mond shipper, but the way I see it, she’s just going to use Aemond for her own agenda.
Finally, Aemond definitely should have executed Grand Maester Orwyle. He was never truly loyal to the Greens, which the finale clearly proved. Lest we forget, at the very beginning of the season, Aemond suspected that Orwyle might have finished Aegon off - he never even imagined that his broken brother was actually capable of escaping.
Otto
I don't quite understand how he even ended up in prison. Aemond definitely wouldn't have locked him away. Alicent could have, but how exactly? I genuinely don't recall the show ever explaining or showing how this happened. In the book, he was never thrown into a dungeon.
The writers' logic is just mind-blowing:The Greens chop off heads = bad and cruel.Rhaenyra chops off heads = good and justified.And then everyone gathered around to gawk at it, as if the entire royal court had been against Aegon from the very beginning… What a load of nonsense.
What I want to see next and my theories.
I know I can screw myself with my wishes, because the show will just keep milking Rhaenyra, Alicent, Daemon. But I want to voice them anyway.
1. A flashback of Daeron leaving the Red Keep. This could be shown either through Aemond's visions in Harrenhal or as a proper cold open at the beginning of an episode. We know for a fact that Aemond had a good relationship with Daeron (as proven by his line: "I was hoping my younger brother might have joined you..." How does he fare?). I would love to see a heartbreaking goodbye scene showing that Aemond wanted to go with his brother because he loved him, knowing that staying behind in the Red Keep meant being entirely alone and subjected to constant bullying from Aegon and the nephews. Furthermore, Daeron doesn't view Aemond as a monster either. I'm convinced Aemond wrote to his brother and might have privately confided that he never intended to kill Luke.
2. Daeron dyeing his hair or wearing a wig. Otherwise, the entirety of Westeros would have immediately clocked the fact that Alicent's third son has ginger hair. Otherwise, how would Daemon have fallen for the prince-swapping trick?
3. Aemond's flashbacks to the brothel at age 13. This could unpack his deep-seated trauma from the day Aegon dragged him there. Alternatively, this could be Aegon’s own guilt-ridden nightmare that finally brings him to a harsh realization: his lifelong torment of his younger brother is exactly what caused this disastrous outcome.
4. A profound breakthrough in Aegon and Aemond's relationship. Aegon needs to realize what a terrible brother he has been, while Aemond must recognize that to burn his own brother alive was a horrific mistake. They need a proper heart-to-heart meeting and total reconciliation. Perhaps Helaena’s tragic death will be the catalyst that unites them. In that moment, Aemond could reassure Aegon that he will become King once again. (I certainly don’t think Aegon’s the best king, but I absolutely despise Rhaenyra. Talk about picking between two. Aemond would have been a great option if he weren't so deeply traumatized, and if he had just left with Daeron to get away from that toxic environment. Honestly, Daeron is basically a version of Aemond who grew up without the trauma, abuse, and constant bullying.)
5. A reunion of the three brothers - Aemond, Daeron, and Aegon. Their ultimate bonding and a complete, unanimous disowning of their traitorous mother. A powerful moment where they finally realize that they are the only ones they have left in this world.
