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I have to disagree with your with your criticism about HOTD's Oedipal Complex with Aemond. As much as it's disgusting it also makes absolute sense. Even in the book, the fact that Aemond grown closes to a woman that looks to be his mother's age and the similarity between the names Alys/Alicent is certainly not a coincidence. The plot itself might be a little convoluted but sometimes art it's meant to unnerve us. Accusing Ryan Condal of having a mommy fetish is also quite disgusting. What does that make of GRRM? He wrote pretty disturbing scenes in his books. What does tha make of you? You're literally writing incest fanfics. I don't think it reflects on the person you are.

Respectfully, because I love your work.

I think you're misunderstanding the criticism.

First, let's address the book stuff.

Alys Rivers was at least forty years of age during the Dance of the Dragons, that much is known; Mushroom makes her even older. All agree that she looked younger than her years, but whether this was simple happenstance, or achieved through her practice of the dark arts, men continue to dispute.

GRRM, F&B

In the books, Alys was said to look younger than she actually was. We get tacit hints that she's probably a witch, and that she may have been using glamours to conceal her age, and possibly work the men around her.

Whatever her powers, it would seem Daemon Targaryen was immune to them.

GRRM, F&B

So again, potential hint that she tried her game on Daemon, failed, and then moved on to a younger, more vulnerable target which she could more easily control. Which opens up the possibility that Aemond didn't go for her purely cause she was an older 'milf', but because she was directly playing him. and using her magic to reinforce her control. (You can make parallels to Melisandre/Stannis)

Like this guy became utterly obsessed with her, to the point where he refused to leave Harrenhal when Criston suggested it, and potentially even married her, despite her bastard status and despite him already being betrothed.

#questions and answers #asoiaf #hotd s3 #hotd s1 #hotd s2 #house of the dragon #aemond targaryen #show aemond #aemond one eye #alicent hightower #show alicent #book alicent #alys rivers #anti hotd #anti ryan condal #hotd essay

A Character Study: Aemond from House of the Dragon

Almost 4k words. My thoughts on Aemond Targaryen. This is me trying to make sense of his character and guessing his motivations. I'm focusing mainly on the show so I did not mention Daeron.

To the greens, Aemond was the spare. To the blacks, he was even less than that.

In the show, he was born after The Green Dress stunt at Rhaenyra's wedding, when Alicent got rid of her Targaryen red and black dresses in favor of Hightower green, signaling her true allegiance. Sides are declared. The die is cast. In the book, Alicent's stunt wouldn't be pulled until a year after Aemond was born, but I like the show's timing better.

I like the idea of Alicent being in full-on war mode while she was pregnant with him. It would be fitting, knowing she would give birth to a baby boy with a choleric temperament. The boy who would one day grow up to be the young man whose actions started the Dance of the Dragons.

Aemond as might as well pull an Athena and come out of the womb fully dressed in armor and ready for war.

From the time Aemond was old enough to understand, the tension between his mother and half-sister had been so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

In the show, Aemond and Jace are roughly the same age, so Jace was probably born not long after Aemond (I'm guessing their age difference is a year max). Then Rhaenyra churns out two more bastard kids throughout the duration of Aemond's youth. Growing up, this boy would’ve been mighty familiar with hearing questions about his nephews' legitimacy as more and more rumors of Rhaenyra's trysts with Harwin Strong spread throughout King's Landing.

To properly understand Aemond's childhood, we need to talk about Aemond's momma, Alicent Hightower. Mommy dearest.

Alicent was literally a teen mom who had been forced to grow up too quickly. After Viserys fired Otto and her friendship with Rhaenyra disintegrated, she had almost zero allies in court. She was scared, paranoid, and bitter. Alicent was nowhere near prepared for the motherhood and queenship that was thrust upon her. I'm pretty sure that she often found herself needing someone to vent to, and I think Aemond would've been that someone for her (My Son is My Therapist).

Alicent was, by definition, an emotionally immature parent. In this scenario, it’s common for parents to turn to their children for emotional support. She couldn’t turn to Viserys, Aegon was rowdy and does his own shit, and she and Helaena never quite connected. That left Aemond, who strikes me as a naturally attentive and observant child.

This is just a theory, but I don’t see why it couldn’t have happened given the circumstances. It would certainly explain why Aemond and his mom are so close. (And why Aemond gives "older sibling who acts like a parent" vibes.)

I mean, have you seen this scene? The softness they have for each other? How in tune they are with each other’s emotions? They act more like equals than Mother and Son.

With Viserys being a shitty father who'd rather play with his legos than pay attention to his son, Alicent would also be the only person Aemond would look to for guidance, to make sense of the world.

I'm imagining Alicent ranting about Rhaenyra's irresponsibility while a young Aemond listens, absorbing every word.

Here I am, upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while she flouts it all to do as she pleases.

The audacity of her to name her common-faced bastards as heirs while you and Aegon are pushed further down the line of succession.

Where is duty? Where is honor? Where is sacrifice?

It’s a wonder to me that her sons’ eggs ever hatched. We all know what they really are.

Aemond takes Alicent's words to heart and he treats them with a level of seriousness that is rare for most children his age. He strikes me as a very precocious kid. I see him as an overthinker, which would mean he has a tendency to mull over things for long periods of time and find deeper meanings where most would fail to. (A trait that would serve him but ultimately destroy him in the end.)

Like the good student he is, Aemond takes in everything that Alicent has to say. And if my My Son is My Therapist theory is correct, then out of all of Alicent’s children, Aemond would be the one most privy to her thoughts. It would explain why he's so similar to her in beliefs and personality. Everything he knew, he learned from Alicent.

Helaemond shippers like to point at this scene and say Aemond had a crush on Helaena and idk about you but it sounds like he's just echoing his mother. This is a 10-year-old boy.

Thanks to Alicent, Aemond would see the world as being split into two groups: the “worthy” and the “unworthy”. The worthy are the ones who uphold honor and duty. The unworthy are the ones who do not.

His sense of worth would be directly tied to this metric. Aemond has a strong desire to prove himself worthy by being the perfect prince, the perfect son. He cares deeply about how others views him, and he becomes a perfectionist.

Aegon being a useless drunkard and Rhaenyra being a lawbreaker would only motivate him further. (Yes, Rhaenyra naming her bastards as heirs is literally illegal. It's high treason. It's an offense that would result in being disinherited and even executed, I can't stress this enough.) I can do better, Aemond thinks.

So, being the only boy in the family without a dragon would do monumental damage to his self-esteem.

I'm imagining him listening to Alicent rant about how Jacaerys and Lucerys are unworthy of having their dragon eggs hatch. Being the over-analytical little shit he is, Aemond would've come to the conclusion that the eggs only hatch for true Targaryens. And suddenly he's worried because what if I'm not worthy of my name?

Even my idiot older brother and my bastard nephews have dragons. What does that make me? He thinks. Aemond would've felt so small.

As if it wasn't bad enough to know that he was only the spare to Aegon's heir, to watch his father neglect him while pouring affection to his half-sister and her kids, to know that he was the least important member of the family. (Knowing you're not the favorite child hurts even for normal people; imagine growing up in a family system where every child is ranked from most important to least.)

It sure didn't help that Aegon, Jace, and Lucerys took advantage of his biggest insecurity to bully him.

Now, we don't know exactly when this bullying started or how long it had been going on, but the Pink Dread incident was nowhere near the first time. To find a pig and to attach wigs on it takes a bit more effort than your average taunts. There's a lot that has to build up for that to happen. I'm guessing the bullying had been going for a few years.

But the pig was definitely the crescendo. With each taunt and sneer the boys had thrown at him, Aemond's self-esteem had gotten worse and worse. When the Pink Dread happens, something in Aemond snaps.

It was more than just a pig with wings. It was utter humiliation. It was telling him no matter how perfect you try to be, you will always be lesser.

Knowing this and all the pent-up anger that Aemond would have towards his brother and the Velaryon/Strong boys, it probably took him a lot of self-control to not explode right there and then.

In Fire and Blood, Aemond is described as being a feisty kid.

"Aemond was said to be half the size of his elder brother but twice as fierce."

In the show, he's more chill, but I don't think the book is wrong. F&B is written like a history book, and history only remembers what was notable. Aemond has this sort of vibe that says "I'm chill on the outside but I'm screaming on the inside." Like his mother, he holds in all his feelings for the sake of appearances but you can bet that during the times when he does let it out, this boy would have an anger that burns hotter than the seven hells. And it would be enough to give him a reputation.

Aemond tries to be on his best behavior and bottles up his emotions... until he can't anymore. Being a perfectionist, he has a do-or-die mentality. This aspect of him was ever so apparent when he sees Vhagar at Laena's funeral.

The oldest, largest, and most dangerous dragon in the world... out in the open, without a rider. And one desperate boy who has had enough of feeling weak and inferior.

Hell, it was like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit.

This is my one and only chance, Aemond thinks. My brother and my nephews want to laugh at me? Fine, I'm going to claim a dragon that'll make theirs look like a pig.

At this point, Aemond could care less about the dangers. Give me the biggest dragon in the world or give me death.

Vhagar sees Aemond and goes, "This little shit has balls... I like it. But let's see how he does in the air." She tests him by flying like an absolute maniac but when she realizes that Aemond has persevered regardless, she deems him worthy of being her rider. Vhagar likes her riders strong-willed and courageous. Aemond didn't claim Vhagar, Vhagar claimed Aemond.

And that validation from Grandma Dragon was all Aemond needed to go on a freaking power trip. This lonely boy — who had been bullied for years, whose only "friend" was his mother — was suddenly given the highest level of approval from an ancient war dragon who people write songs about. Becoming Vhagar's rider gives him newfound confidence and Aemond feels on top of the world. He's still riding that high when the Strong boys and Daemon's daughters attack him.

It's this same rush of power that makes him utter the forbidden word.

Bastards.

I don't think Aemond actually hates Rhaenyra's boys for being bastards. I mean, look at this scene where he goes up to Jace during Laena's funeral. The look of sympathy. He wants to say something to offer condolences about Ser Harwin's death, but he knows he shouldn't. And the future love of his life is literally a bastard of House Strong.

During the fight, Aemond calls Jace and Luke bastards as a way to get back at them for making him feel weak. He's saying, look who's the inferior one now.

Then Lucerys stabs him in the eye and all the euphoria he felt a few minutes ago goes down the drain.

It only got worse from there.

Instead of giving him sympathy, his half-sister politicizes his trauma, makes the entire thing about her and her sons, and accuses him of treason. His father is angrier over the fact that he called his nephews bastards than the fact that he was maimed. The little shit who took out his eye doesn't even apologize.

And where had his useless older brother been all this time? Drunk beyond repair.

The only one who seems to care is his mother, and Aemond watches as she gets excessively gaslit for wanting justice on his behalf.

He's sitting there in the armchair while all this goes down, one of his eyes is literally gone, and his injury is probably so painful that his head feels like it's going to burst.

I let my feelings get ahead of me one time and this is what happens, Aemond thinks.

Any other kid in his position would've felt entitled to act out, but Aemond swallows down his emotions and puts on a brave face. He protects his mother from his father's wrath and even steps in to defuse the situation by placating her. Mommy's little therapist.

This ten-year-old boy was forced to take on the role of an adult while his eye had been freshly slashed from his skull. The trauma of that night would stay with him for years afterward.

Three things were certain in Aemond's mind:

He can't count on his father to defend him.

He can't count on his older brother to defend him.

His half-sister cares more about the throne than his safety and most likely his life.

When the family returns to Kings Landing the next day, Aemond leaves his childhood behind at Driftmark.

He develops hyper-independence and spends the next several years trying to compensate for his disability while preparing for the Targaryen Hunger Games that will come one day. Aemond would be the first one up at dawn, already in the training yard, and he'd be the last one to retreat to his chambers at night, reading page after page in the library and sometimes even falling asleep there.

Well, okay, maybe he's not exactly the last one to bed.

I'm imagining pre-teen Aemond coming out of the library at the hour of the owl, only to bump into a staggering teenage Aegon who was just sneaking back into the Red Keep after a late-night rendezvous, high as a kite.

This is the idiot who is to be king, Aemond thinks. (Rhaenyra's gang can delude themselves as much as they'd like but Aemond knows the precedent set by the Great Council of 101 AC, the primogeniture, was bigger than the wishes of a dying king and an entitled princess.)

No matter how hard he tries, his clown of a brother would always get what Aemond had always been more qualified for.

Because Aemond was only the second son.

Worse, a second son with just one eye.

Aemond's quite insecure about his looks; I'm sure he thinks his scar looks ugly and horrifying. It's canon that he wears the eyepatch to not frighten the ladies. The sapphire is there so he looks cool when he does want to frighten them.

I don't think he would've had a lot of crushes. Not because he doesn't care about romance or sex, I think it would be because he's scared of getting rejected. He hears the court calling him Aemond One-Eye and people whispering about his fiery temper behind his back. As a side effect of that traumatic day in Driftmark, I think Aemond would now anger quite easily, as trauma survivors often do. And when he isn't angry, he's putting on a stone mask of confidence to seem indestructible. It would definitely come off quite cold to others, but after all the helplessness he had felt, Aemond adopts the "I'd rather be feared than loved" mentality.

He knows he's not crush-worthy material (don't fight me on this, it's different for fandom girlies because we know his story, but imagine if you didn't and you met him in real life, only knowing him based on the rumors? and, while I think ewan mitchell is handsome af, he's not conventionally pretty.).

I have other things to do than think about girls, he tells himself.

Then Aegon takes him to a brothel on the Streets of Silk on his thirteenth birthday. His older brother basically rapes him by proxy via a woman who is twice Aemond's age. (We don't know if this trauma did anything to affect Aemond's sexual preferences but we do know that teenage Aemond would never look at girls his own age. He falls in love with Alys Rivers... who's like 40. Aemond also has mommy issues so there's that.)

When Aegon marries Helaena, Aemond does his best to protect his sister from his brother's abuse because he knows what it's like. Both being victims of Aegon, he forms a special bond with Helaena and takes on the role of being her protector. This protectiveness he feels is extended down to Helaena's children.

A few years go by and Aemond settles into a routine that consists of him picking up after his brother, taking care of his sister and her children, being a confidant to his mother, and essentially taking the position of the family patriarch. On top of this, he has a rigorous training regimen and he's studying everything he can about history and political philosophy so that at least someone will know shit about ruling when Aegon becomes king.

This boy had so much on his plate.

Eventually, the matter of Driftmark's succession brings Rhaenyra's clan back to court. Bro definitely had flashbacks when he heard the news that they were coming. During the petitions scene, he's tense and on guard. He's trying to act like seeing Rhaenyra and her kids doesn't bother him, but his hands are clasped high behind his back as if he's trying to keep it all in.

At this point, it was about more than the loss of his eye. It was about more than just that night. More than the pain of the injury, and more than the phantom pain that he probably still feels occasionally in the place where his eye had been.

(Edited: I found this amazing post explaining that Aemond most likely had chronic pain resulting from nerve damage. So he probably had more than phantom pain. Which makes his trauma ten times worse.)

No, this boy has been hurt mind, body, and soul. He looks at the blacks and he sees all the years of helplessness, loneliness, resentment, anger, and insecurity that he had been through as a result of their actions. (I've said before that Aemond is a ruminator, and ruminators are often the best grudge-holders.)

Daemon beheads Vaemond for saying the same thing he did when he lost his eye, showing absolutely no mercy. Then, during dinner, the little shit who took out his eye had the audacity to laugh at him when he saw a pig.

Aemond's like, y'know what, I've been acting cordial all day for the sake of being respectful but these people don't deserve it. Fuck it.

After Vizzy T dies and Aegon runs off, Aemond volunteers to find the fool. He prides himself in being dutiful and loyal, it's literally his entire sense of identity, and if it means tracking down his idiot of a brother just so the fool could be crowned — so be it.

That doesn't mean he has to be happy about it though. Aemond finds himself alone in the streets of Flea Bottom with Ser Crispy — the man who taught him how to fight, the man who has been there for his family ever since he was born — and decides to take the opportunity to vent and grant himself some much-needed catharsis, if only for a few seconds.

I think all the resentment that he had felt during the last few days finally boiled over when he saw Luke at Storm's End.

There he was, selling himself up for marriage, trying to do what's expected of him even though he probably feels like a puppet on a string — just so Eggy gets to keep his crown. And this boy, this boy who took his eye out, who bullied him, who laughed and never apologized, waltzes in. The same boy who, a few days ago, was named heir to Driftmark, even though he was a bastard and a second son.

Aemond is triggered. He's a trauma victim; his mind immediately reverts back to the state it was in that fateful night in Driftmark. Mentally, he's no longer the dutiful young adult. The helpless little boy in him comes out and he sees red.

"I want you to put out your eye."

My theory is that Aemond had been dreaming about taking Luke's eye as retribution for years. It's pretty common for victims of violence to fantasize about attacking their abusers — it's a defense mechanism to prepare them for violence to come, and in Aemond's case, violence was guaranteed to come. My dude has probably been suffering from intrusive homicidal ideations for while.

The show told the tale from Luke's POV so we see the boy running out the hall after Borros ends the conversation, only for a mean nasty Aemond to chase him on Vhagar. In the book, however, another secondborn decides to stir shit up after Luke leaves the room.

And there it might have ended, but for the girl Maris. The secondborn daughter of Lord Borros, less comely than her sisters, she was angry with Aemond for preferring them to her. "Was it one of your eyes he took, or one of your balls?" Maris asked the prince, in tones sweet as honey. "I am so glad you chose my sister, I want a husband with all his parts."

So what I'm thinking is that Aemond did try to drop his anger when Luke took his leave. But then the girl picks at his insecurity (bro doesn't know shit about girls and he takes everything so seriously, there's no way he could've seen that she was just jealous).

And that was the final straw. The boy who has tried so hard to be perfect loses control. Honestly, this moment has been a long time coming.

Aemond chases Luke on Vhagar to scare him. He wants to make Luke feel as helpless as he did when they were younger. It makes him feel powerful, and after feeling stepped on for so long, he's letting himself enjoy it while giggling like a maniac in the pouring rain.

Vhagar, however, had other plans. I think she sensed his anger and madness, just like Arrax sensed Luke's fear and anxiety. Aemond might've been playing around, but Vhagar had a mind of her own.

Aemond's only friend (who doesn't also double as a mom or a training teacher) is his geriatric dragon, so of course he would be a tad overconfident in their bond. He definitely wasn't planning for Vhagar to dive in for a little snack.

And that's the story of how the lonely boy who tried and tried and tried to be the perfect son went down in history as a kinslayer.

I can't wait to see him in season 2, absolutely wrecked with guilt. And who's going to believe that mean ole Aemond One-Eye never meant to kill Lucerys? Kinslaying is a serious offense in Westeros. Aemond fucks up one time and now he's going to be ostracized for the rest of his life (which isn't too long 💀).

I can't wait to see how his dynamic with Alicent is going to change since he's no longer this golden boy.

I can't wait to see him become absolutely deranged when Blood and Cheese happens. Aemond thinks he knows what guilt feels like? Think again. The guilt of killing Lucerys was only the prologue. With Blood and Cheese, Aemond wouldn't just be losing a nephew, he'd lose his sister too. Helaena becomes a ghost of a person, and Aegon... I think Egg would be so mad at Aemond. The roles between the brothers would suddenly reverse.

Also, I can't wait to see how they'll portray his relationship with Alys Rivers. (I will sue if they make Alys a skinny, young cottage-core girl. Give me an actual middle-aged woman and make her a witchy girlboss with a fire that matches Aemond's. Give me Katie McGrath.) I want to see him meet Alys and be like "Fuck the Baratheon girl, I'm going to hell anyway so I as might as well enjoy life while I can." I want to see the dutiful side of him unravel as his desires get the best of him. I want to see him drunk with power when he becomes Aegon's regent.

#aemond targaryen #hotd essay #hotd thoughts #house of the dragon #team green #hotd aemond #hotd meta #hotd analysis

HOTD's Alicent, and Why Letting Female Characters be Villainous Matters

I've already ranted about Aegon and Rhaenys here and here, using their characters to highlight how HOTD's writing suffers from inconsistency. And Alicent too, is a victim of this, especially in s1. However, Alicent's spotty characterization isn't just a symptom of poor writing, but the mishandling of the show's themes in service to a predetermined coninclusion.

In light of that, lets tackle the beast that is Show Alicent.

Warning: This is gonna be hella long, so strap in.

EDIT: future me, and holy shit this is more than hella long. To whomever has the stomach to get through this, I salute you.

#house of the dragon #asoiaf #alicent hightower analysis #show alicent #alicent hightower #anti ryan condal #anti hotd #hotd critical #hotd essay #hotd season 1 #hotd season 2 #house of the dragon season 1 #house of the dragon season 2

i wanted to share my thoughts on show rhaenyra. I hate to say it but show rhaenyra is just so vanilla and im saying it in the nicest possible way. where is her anger? her fury? her rage? her grief? she mentions luke only once & forgets visenya (her only daughter btw). she goes to meet alicent aka the enemy in the middle of war like she's going to a neighbor's house for dinner.....to talk about peace💀like what peace girl? also her lines "do you remember the tourney held on the day my mother died...we sat next to each other" idgaf if they were besties or that they were "secretly pinning for each other" or whatever bs rhaencients spew. ALICENT AND HER SIDE STILL USURPED YOU SIS WAKE UPPPPP MY GAWD!! alicent didn't think of yall friendship when she put that crown on her son's head, she didn't think of yall friendship when you were forced to walk all that way to her room carrying ur newborn 5 mins after you gave birth & she certainly didn't care about yall friendship when she wore that green dress on the day of ur wedding.

speaking of alicent...ofc they make her support the usurpation because of some misunderstanding and not because she actually wanted to see her son on the throne. what's so wrong in making her evil or give her agency? it would have been more interesting to see alicent evolve from this child bride forced into an unhappy marriage to a cruel, cold & shrewd woman who would move heavens and earth to get her boy on the throne even if it means getting blood on her hands. we see a glimpse of that in ep 6-7 of s1 and then nothing she goes back to being this passive uwu doe-eyed crybaby who can do nothing wrong. in ep 8 of s2, she hops on a ferry to dragonstone in hopes of reuniting with her long lost love rhaenyra & there she goes "ykw? my sons suck i only like my daughter. can we go on an adventure across the narrow sea?" which is just bizarre considering she was the one who browbeat aegon into being king and now she wants to just....escape the consequences??

with all these dogshit plot lines i can already imagine the show's ending. it will be alicent herself poisoning aegon's wine because he killed rhaenyra(and in extension his own sister) giving reasons like "he's gone too far" "I don't recognize you anymore my son, did I really give birth to a monster? " or sumn like that. and then we see a final shot of aegon iii & jaehaera getting married with alicent smiling in the distance or towards the end of her life when she gets the fever she hallucinate about rhaenyra and as she takes her last breath, she says "i hope it is not too late to accept your invitation about riding syrax and go across the narrow sea" with a tears streaming down her face.

Yep, this is what we call, benevolent sexism. The show thinks it's doing something, writing a story about female struggle in a feudal, patriarchal society. Except they forget one crucial thing—to write women as people.

Women are not the moral arbiters of the world. We're flawed, messy, inconsistent. We sometimes don't want to rise above, or be the better person; we want revenge, feel anger, jealousy, have ambition and hunger for power and status, same as any man. And most importantly, we're shaped by our social conditioning and the time we live in.

Book Rhaenyra, and Book Alicent aren't all that complex— especially book Alicent, who might as well be an evil Disney stepmom. But that's mostly because F&B is written as an in-universe history book instead of a POV rendition of the dance. We get to see third party accounts of these people, instead of their own voices, personalities, memories, experiences. And yet, despite this, you rarely, if ever have trouble understanding why these women act the way they do.

Book Alicent is a noble lady, raised in a patriarchal culture that drills into women that their only worth comes from marrying well, and birthing sons. They don't get power, or the same freedoms as men—but the tradeoff is that they might get their blood to inherit wealth and status, which in turn, gives them some sliver of respect and power.

Of course she's then going to feel upset that Viserys broke this unspoken social contract and decided to name a daughter over a son. Of course she's going to do whatever she can to claw back that power, feel jealousy, aggrieved entitlement and spite toward a woman who she thinks has it better than her. And most importantly, of course she's going to believe her children will be in danger if Rhaenyra ascends. Because in this worldview, women are lesser beings who exist below men in the hierarchy. Disrupting that order, and elevating a woman over a man is not going to be received well—especially not by men who rely on this system to stay in power.

Same with Rhaenyra. A Princess who has spent her life as an only child, initially derided for not being a son, only to then become the exception to the rule—a female heir, prized above all others, including the thing she's felt inferior to her whole childhood: a son. You combine that with years of Targaryen exceptionalism, and her being raised at the height of peace-time and Targaryen power and you get a spoiled, entitled person who is obviously going to tie her self-worth to being the heir.

It makes sense these women would be petty. It makes sense they'd jump into war, because they're feudal nobility, who grew up thinking their divine right to rule trumps the lives of worthless peasants. They'd want to be cruel and vicious, because this society expects them to be weak and pathetic, meaning they have to prove themselves competent three times over.

They are people, products of their time, and upbringing, and despite being selfish and *gasp* unlikable, doesn't make them any less deserving of sympathy.

The show doesn't seem to think that. They were of the belief that the audience could never sympathize with Rhaenyra if she unabashedly fought for the throne cause she wanted to. They thought we wouldn't be capable of loving a cunning, ambitious Queen who is convinced her values are correct and wants her son to receive what she thinks he's owed. And I sort of get their POV. Show Dany is a lot like book Rhaenyra (proud, stubborn, singularly focused on getting her crown and unapologetic about it), and the backlash her character received post S8 (and even before this) was rabid.

So ofc they thought toning both Alicent and Rhaenyra down and making their motivations be something other than personal ambition would help. But by doing this, they inadvertently jumped into the trap of benevolent sexism.

Neither of these women have any 'wants' of their own. Show Rhaenyra fights for the crown cause it's her 'duty', ie an ancient prophecy told her so. She disregards normal motherly grief and rage in favor of being a self sacrificing arbiter of peace who somehow feels no entitlement to rule, despite her environment, and the knowledge of her being the promised hero. All because she, as a woman, is more noble than that. I hope I don't have to tell you why this is sexist.

It's the same old gender essentialism that pegs women into the 'mother box'—she's the meek, passive voice of peace, there to manage the warmongering men and steer them toward a 'gentler' course. Its funny, cause Alicent and Rhaenys have a conversation about this in s1ep9, and Rhaenys rightfully points out how Alicent advocating for her son is her just making a wall in the window of her prison. And we as the audience are supposed to agree with Rhaenys, to see the hypocrisy of Alicent's reasoning. Except the show ends up vindicating that belief by having every single woman be like that.

Alicent is the same, doe-eyed child bride she was at 15. She has no agency of her own even as an adult 30+yo woman, and is always being forced to do stuff by her Father, or her sons. She feels no grief over the death of her grandson, is willing to sacrifice her own children simply cause 'war bad, Rhaenyra good.'

Despite arguably starting the war, the narrative wants to present her choice of surrendering to Rhaenyra as 'morally righteous'. Because by choosing the 'good side', she is atoning for her actions, and once again putting personal grievances aside for the sake of the greater good. Its asinine and doesn't work, because the choice makes her seem like an evil, callous hypocrite (she's legit offering up her sons for slaughter–including the one who was entirely uninvolved in this mess). Plus, it comes off as disingenuous, because the narrative has given her and Rhaenyra every fucking reason under the sun to hate each other and want the other dead.

But, because they're the noble, Angels in the House they are obligated to put aside all grievances and make peace. And if they do have any grievances, they are morally justified (like Rhaenyra taking out Aegon and Aemond, because both of them are just soooooo evil. Nvm that the son for a son justification doesn't work because Jaehaerys was killed. But oh, right, we can't have anyone be angry over that, so look away kids!)

And this pattern doesn't apply just to them—but to almost all the female characters in the show. In s1 Rhaenys tells Rhaenyra:

"Men would sooner put the realm to the torch, than see a woman on the Iron Throne."

The line not only reveals Rhaenys's bitterness over being passed over, but the innate understanding of the patriarchal culture they live in. The succession will always be challenged, because Rhaenyra is viewed as inherently inferior, because of her sex. And as a result, she will have to fight, tooth and nail, to not only be taken seriously, but keep her place.

Then, fast forward to s2, and what is Rhaenys telling her? Stop fighting, be passive, seek peace even while being attacked and undermined and hope the men will give you the crown because you asked nicely. It's bullshit. Nevermind that her reasons for supporting Rhaenyra make no sense either. Because she wants to keep the peace? Barely a few episodes ago, Rhaenys was convinced Rhaenyra and Daemon had her son killed. And instead of feeling resentment over it, feeling trapped and obligated to support Rhaenyra because Baela and Rhaena are Daemon's daughters and thus, intrinsically tied to the black cause... she gets over it. She sets aside righteous anger and suspicion over Laenor, to support Rhaenyra because 'she's fighting for the greater good'.

Baela too, has no ambition of her own. Neither she, nor Rhaena have any opinions on the Driftmark inheritance, nor are they allowed to feel resentment over the fact Daemon and Rhaenyra married before their Mom's body was even cold. Baela exists just to hype Rhaenyra up, and manage Jace's feelings for him, while Rhaena is there to cosplay Aemond's s1 arc, except make it worse.

Even Alys fucking Rivers and Mysaria were made the 'protectors of the innocent'. In the books, Mysaria is a female Varys, a cunning and ambitious woman who has no issue helping Daemon orchestrate the death of a child. She latches herself to power to secure benefits for herself, and if you believe the theory, may have been responsible for Rhaenyra's downfall, because she stoked her paranoia about Daemon and Nettles' affair. But on the show, she's the champion of the people, who supports Rhaenyra cause she's 'helping the smallfolk'.

Alys is fascinating. A baseborn witch who starts out as a victim of a 19yo dragonriding Prince who annihilates her entire family and takes her as a sex slave. But then, she flips the script on him, and gets him so obsessed with her, he disregards his own army, to the point that they get destroyed, all so he can stay with her. Depending on your reading, she maybe lets him to die as a possible sacrifice to make her child living, or he just dies on accident because she misinterpreted her vision of the Gods eye.

Regardless, she's adamant about being his widow and Queen post war, and is eager to launch a rebellion to conquer the throne on her son's behalf—by any means necessary, including exploding her enemies' heads and putting death curses on those who bad mouth her. And why does she do all this? Because she wants to. Maybe she has some greater, esoteric motivation, like book Euron, or maybe she's just ambitious. However you look at it, her goal is ultimately selfish because it seeks to destabilize a kingdom that is fresh off a brutal civil war, on behalf of a possibly illegitimate child and his witch mother.

Meanwhile, her show self is not only implied to be a Three Eyed Raven-like figure, but exists solely as the arbiter of fate. She's seemingly there to work out Daemon's feelings for him, mom him into stopping his war crimes and accepting his Queen. Her sole motivation—for now—seems to be the prophecy, and protecting the innocents; which is absurd, if you know her and Aemond's cannon relationship. So, in s3, its likely they'll just have her mom him like she did with Daemon, fail to stop his warcrimes, and then reluctantly send him to die at the God's eye to preserve the greater good. Which once again, would do nothing to dispel the benevolent sexism narrative, because she would only exist as an accessory to his villain arc; the sad woman who failed to redeem the bad man.

And you may ask, why is this a bad thing? Why shouldn't the media portray women as inherently better? Well, simple. Because it puts undo burden on women. It enforces the bullshit gender binary, that pidgeonholes women into passive, nurturing roles. It forces women to be perfect, to be the pinnacles of moral virture. And should they ever fail to live up to the standard, they get punished for it.

I already used this quote from Foz Meadows' essay "Gender, Orphan Black & The Meta Of Meta" but I have to use it again, because it so perfectly captures the core issue of why this trope is harmful:

We think of men as antiheroes, as capable of occupying an intense and fascinating moral grey area; of being able to fall, and rise, and fall again, but still be worthy of love on some fundamental level, because if it was the world and its failings that broke them, then we surely must owe them some sympathy. But women aren’t allowed to be broken by the world; or if we are, it’s the breaking that makes us villains. Wronged women turn into avenging furies, inhuman and monstrous: once we cross to the dark side, we become adversaries to be defeated, not lost souls in need of mending.

Which is what happens, when you let benevolent sexism invest you in the idea that women are humanity’s moral guardians and men its native renegades: because if female goodness is only ever an inherent quality – something we’re born both with and to be – then once lost, it must necessarily be lost forever, a severed limb we can’t regrow. Whereas male goodness, by virtue of being an acquired quality – something bestowed through the kindness of women, earned through right action or learned through struggle – can just as necessarily be gained and lost multiple times without being tarnished, like a jewel we might pawn in hardship, and later reclaim.

To conclude this rant, the show fucked all its female characters bad, and has suffered as a result. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go drown my sorrow in fanfic and chant to the Spaghetti Monster to make George finish those fucking books.

HOTD's Aemond and How Not to do Villain Arcs

Back at it again with my rants (Pt1, Pt2, Pt3 and Pt4 here. Damn, I need to make a dedicated post for this stuff, cause it's getting LONG). I want to tackle the art of writing a villain and how HOTD failed miserably at it.

So let's discuss Ao3's fave bf (yes, guilty as charged 💋 fanfics and cannon are two different things, so enjoy whatever floats your boat!)

Enjoy!

#house of the dragon #hotd season 2 #hotd season 1 #aemond #aemond targaryen analysis #aemond targaryen #aemond the kinslayer #prince aemond #anti hotd #anti ryan condal #hotd essay #fire and blood #house targaryen

HOTD and the War on Character Development

Continuing my rants from earlier (pt1 and pt2 are here), I want to tackle something people have complained about when it comes to the show, which also contributed to it sucking ass: timeskips.

Now, on their own, timeskips are fine, and can work if they are incorporated into the narrative well. But the issue is, HOTD didn't do them well. For the most part, s1 was made well enough for the audience to passively accept the timeskips, and headcanon away any issues that arose as a result (characters changing motivations and personalities are more easily explained as them maturing off screen over the years).

But, I'm here to posit that all the timeskips did was hide writing inconsistencies that were always there. And you can easily see that in s2—the plot has slowed down, and we are following events in real time. And the characters still act in ways that don't match up with their environment and the events that have transpired.

Let me explain.

#house of the dragon #asoiaf #hotd season 2 #hotd season 1 #hotd critical #anti ryan condal #anti hotd #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen analysis #hotd essay #fire and blood #hotd

The Problem with Show Rhaenys

Inspired by a recent bullet point breakdown of HOTD's flaws (here it is) I wanted to do my own lil breakdown of why this show sucked, even in season 1. Because yes, compared to s2, s1 was gold, but that's not saying much. Especially when you realize those cracks from s1 directly contributed to s2 sucking ass so much.

So let me point out the biggest flaw in this show by analyzing the one character that is arguably the biggest victim (aside from the main female protagonists): Rhaenys Targaryen.

#house of the dragon #hotd analysis #anti hotd #hotd critical #rhaenys targaryen #rhaenys targaryen analysis #hotd essay #team black #fictional characters

A Character Study: Aegon II from House of the Dragon

3k+ words. Just a compilation of my thoughts concerning the character of Aegon Targaryen II. I'm not trying to debate or prove a point, I just wanted to pen down my views of him. Also, I did not mention Daeron because I wanted to focus on the TV show.

Beware, spoilers.

Aegon is a product of abandonment — by his father, mother, and his elder sister — and his personality holds all the signs of it. Viserys, for all his dreams of having a male heir, neglects the boy when he finally is born. The king instead showers all his affection on Rhaenyra, the only surviving child born out of the marriage with the true love his life, the late Queen Aemma.

Rhaenyra sees Aegon only as a rival and threat to her claim on the Iron Throne. In the book, the only reason she even agreed to marry Laenor Velaryon after the infamous Daemon scandal was because Viserys threatened to replace Aegon as his heir if she didn’t comply. Aegon's her competitor and nothing more. Rhaenyra makes it obvious when she makes a point to address him only as half-brother (she addresses all of Alicent’s children as half-siblings, for that matter).

As for Alicent, Otto Hightower was removed as Hand of the King shortly after Aegon’s birth — an event that Alicent blames Rhaenyra for. She’s now left in a court full of schemers; she has zero allies save for Ser Criston Cole and Larys Strong (the latter who she treats with trepidation because, let’s face it, he’s a creepy guy and his job as professional torturer doesn’t help). Her new position as Queen only isolates her further. To top it off, her husband blatantly favors her step-daughter over both her and her new baby boy, which only fuels the belief that Aegon’s life would be at risk should Rhaenyra succeed him.

Alicent is now feeling more alone than ever. I also think a part of her saw Aegon as the final event that ended her childhood once and for all. He represents a time of significant losses to her — loss of her maidenhood, loss of her father, loss of her bond with her childhood friend. She feels deeply betrayed by everyone she had been close to. By Rhaenyra, who lied to her about Daemon/Criston despite swearing on Aemma’s grave (which holds so much weight for Alicent because both her and Rhaenyra bonded over the deaths of their mothers). By Viserys, who married her when his heart still belonged to Aemma. By Otto, who had a hand in making her marriage with Viserys happen and then left her to raise her son — his grandson — all on her own.

So Aegon had an absent father, an unfriendly older sister, and a mother who feels paranoid and isolated. Aegon may have only been a toddler but I don’t think he was clueless to the woes of his mother and tensions happening in court. Children always pick up on emotions.

It was the perfect recipe for creating the irresponsible young man he would grow up to be.

Now we’re going to be stepping into headcannon land, but bear with me. I’m imagining Aegon as a young boy in the throne room. He’s hiding behind Alicent’s skirts because I think young Aegon would’ve been a scared little kid. Growing up in court amidst all the animosity would have him both confused and anxious all the time. He’d blame himself for his father’s neglect and his mother’s worried eyes and frown lines. His older sister also hates him for apparently no reason too, at least according to Aegon. His mother whispers to him that the Iron Throne would be his one day, but soon he notices the cuts that his father gets from sitting on the damned chair. Cuts that always fester and that the maesters would eventually have to leech. He sees Viserys getting weaker and weaker each time he sits the throne.

That’s when Aegon decides that he doesn’t want the throne. He doesn’t want that fate. I think Aegon is smarter than people give him credit for. He sees the Iron Throne for what it really is: a decoration and a cutting hazard. More importantly, he sees it as an extension of Viserys. The Iron Throne = the king = Viserys = the father who doesn’t care for him.

Well, fuck that, young Aegon thinks. I won’t care about you either. Fuck you and everything you stand for.

So he lets all his inhibitions run wild. I think it would start with small childhood acts of defiance — like boisterously interrupting important meetings around the Red Keep and playing rude pranks on lords and servants alike. Eventually he’d discover the secret passageways and he’d sneak off to Flea Bottom, pick fights with the locals just because he can, and get high at the Ale houses when he’s supposed to be studying.

What started as just a fun little drink to loosen up becomes his lifeline. Being sober opens up the path for analytical thought, and Aegon doesn’t want that, not with all the constant anxiety he feels. He wants to be far away from his reality, from his father, from his Targaryen heritage and everything it meant.

So he drowns himself in cup after cup. One addiction leads to another, and pretty soon he finds pleasure and fighting rings added to his list of addictions too. This boy is an adrenaline junkie, and he chases high after high — be it from wine, from flesh, or from violence — just to keep his mind off the fact that he's a firstborn Targaryen prince.

And if Alicent yells at him, what of it? All the slaps to his face only meant that she cares about him. Isn’t that the most important thing? Aegon thinks. The more debauched his activities became, the more she cared. (Aegon adopts the "Red Means I Love You" mentality).

I also think Aegon is jealous of Rhaenyra, sort of like how Aemond is jealous of him. Rhaenyra's irresponsibility is swept under the rug. Aegon, on the other hand, is treated as the family disappointment. No matter how many bastards she births, Viserys continues to dote upon her. No matter how many rumors circulate around King's Landing of her and her paramour, Harwin Strong, Viserys' love for Rhaenyra is unconditional. In other words, she easily receives what Aegon had always coveted.

As for his relationship with Jace and Luke — Aegon couldn’t care less that they were Rhaenyra’s bastards. Status and symbols mean nothing to him; he’s far happier in the taverns of Flea Bottom with the common people than he ever was with the stuffy nobles in the Red Keep. He has no quarrel with them, and they laugh along to his jokes and pranks. At least they know how to have fun, he thinks. Better Jace and Luke than shy, quiet Aemond who keeps to his studies (the fucking nerd) and weird Helaena who only talks about bugs.

Remember, Aegon feels awfully detached from his family. Aemond and Helaena definitely felt detached also; they too were neglected by Viserys. Each of them coped by withdrewing — Aegon to his brothels and alehouses, Aemond to the library, and Helaena to her interest in insects.

But Rhaenyra’s side has never quite felt like “family” to him — Jace and Luke look nothing like him, while with Aemond and Helaena, Aegon sees his own silver hair and purple eyes staring right back at him, symbols of his Targaryen heritage. I think he truly did consider Jace and Luke as “friends”, or at the very least, playmates for a time. He teams up with them to bully Aemond, whom he could not feel more distant from, despite being closer in blood to Aemond than he with Jace and Luke.

Aemond's a twat, Aegon justifies. Helaena's a twat too. They both represent family and duty to him, especially Helaena, who is a constant reminder of the duties he must perform as prince and firstborn son. Aegon just wants to love and be loved, and he knows he can't give that to Helaena, nor she to him. "We don't have anything in common" is the excuse he uses for not wanting to marry her, if only to lie to himself that they have everything in common. They have the same last name, the same hair and eyes, the same blood of the dragon running through their veins. And they will be stuck in the same loveless marriage together.

So when Alicent scolds him (Rhaenyra’s sons won’t be your play things forever…We are family… out there, we protect our own), the full weight of what she’s saying doesn’t hit him, not immediately…

Until Lucerys takes out Aemond's eye.

Aegon’s not stupid — he knows how Viserys gives Rhaenyra and her children free passes for everything. But I don’t think he realized that it also meant the blacks would get away with maiming his brother, the king’s own son, too. The moment Viserys was more angry over the fact that his grandsons were called bastards than his son losing an eye was when Alicent’s words truly cemented into his mind. We are family. We protect our own.

(Jace and Luke never seemed sorry for their actions too. Were these the boys I sided with against my own brother? Aegon asks himself.)

Aegon would be good at hiding it, but he’d feel immense guilt for not being there to protect his little brother. Viserys had proved to be undependable, so as the eldest son, it was now his job to protect his family.

He's relunctant, he admits. He can't connect with Aemond — his little brother was duty this, responsibility that, and frankly, it was annoying. He had never really understood Helaena (she's autistic coded). But Aegon is mad terrified of Viserys now. If his own father had threatened to cut out the tongue of anyone — noble or otherwise — who speaks a word against the blacks, and had refused to take justice for a Targaryen prince... then is anyone in his fraction truly safe?

So Aegon stops bullying Aemond. Not that he had any cause left to bully Aemond with. The little boy had claimed the meanest, baddest dragon in the world and Aemond reminded everyone of this fact whenever he got the chance. But Aegon starts keeping his jesting to a minimum, and he decides to leave Aemond in peace. At least, for most of the time. Except for when he took it upon himself to teach Aemond "how to be a man" — Aegon's version of sex education — something that Alicent would scorn if she ever found out but Aemond will eventually marry and someone needs to prepare him, Aegon thinks. Plus, it wouldn't hurt if my brother loosens up. He's all work and no play.

(And when Aemond turns 13, Aegon takes him to a brothel on the Streets of Silk. Aegon thinks he's doing his little bro a favor. Aemond would never forgive him for it — but that's a story for another time.)

Aegon also gives in and marries Helaena. Better me than Jacaerys, he thinks. If Helaena married into the blacks, Rhaenyra would always take Jace's side. The blacks didn't have a sense of justice and Aegon wouldn't subject his sister to that. I'm sure that deep down, he feels protective of her in a brotherly way, although he doesn't show it. He continues his debauchery despite knowing that it could harm her reputation but wine and women is where Aegon draws the line. I'll do what mother asks but I can't give up this.

(Aegon may think he would protect Helaena from the world but he fails to see that Helaena may need protection from him. Aemond sees this and steps up for the job.)

Aegon is also holding onto the hope that people would stop seeing him as heir if he acts unworthy enough. But in the attempt to distance himself from Viserys, Aegon turns out like his father in the process. He becomes an absent father to his children with Helaena. Good thing Uncle Aemond is there to help with the kids tho.

In spite of it all, things had started to fall into rhythm in the Red Keep for the Green kids. Aegon does his duty while still continuing his depravities, Helaena dedicates her time to her needlework and her babies, Aemond studies and trains with all his might to compensate for his lack of an eye. All is well, or as well as it could ever be.

Until the matter of Driftmark's succession brings Rhaenyra’s clan back to the Red Keep.

While the petitions were being held, Aegon was indifferent to it all. To be clear, he didn't want Luke — the bastard who maimed his brother — to get Driftmark, but he wouldn't complain if Luke did, because it would only strengthen Rhaenyra's claim to the throne, thus making his own claim less valid. Aegon attends the ceremony and treats it with the morbid amusement of a man who had nothing more to lose.

Then Daemon beheads Vaemond. That's when Aegon is reminded of who he is really dealing with. The blacks are no longer just Rhaenyra and her children — Prince Daemon, the notorious Rogue Prince, was now added to their list of foes. It was clear to everyone: the price for challenging Rhaenyra was immediate death. No trial, no mercy, no justice.

When Jace asks Helaena for a dance during dinner, Aegon’s protectiveness kicks in. He looks at Aemond, like, are you seeing this shit bro?

This bastard thinks his family can get away with maiming my brother and he wants to dance with my wife as if nothing happened?

When the fight breaks out between Jace and Aemond, Aegon sees Luke rushing to Jace's side before stepping in to stop the boy from reaching Aemond. We protect our own.

I think that afterwards, Aegon was hit with the overwhelming reality that he had, more or less, managed to ignore for the past few years. It was easier to ignore the danger he was in with Rhaenyra gone. But now that she was back... and after witnessing Daemon's recklessness in the throne room...

He sees his own head in the place of Vaemond’s. This could be my future, he thinks. Aegon wants to save himself before it was too late.

To Aegon, running away probably seemed like a win-win situation. Rhaenyra gets the crown she wants, and Aegon gets his freedom. It’s better for everyone this way, he reasons.

“I will find a ship and sail away, never to be found,” he pleads Aemond, grasping his brother’s face with both hands. He’s desperate, and he’s hoping that his brother would understand. It’s not until Ser Crispy Cream arrives that Aegon ultimately gives in and abandons his plans.

“The queen awaits,” the knight says.

In the book, Criston Cole and Aegon spend time exchanging a few more words.

“What kind of a brother steals his sister’s birthright?” Aegon protests.

It’s not until Ser Criston explains to him that the lives of his mother, brother, wife, and children will be in danger that Aegon finally relents. The book made Aegon’s motivations behind his acceptance of his fate much clearer than the show, but I thought the series incorporated a cleverer, show-not-tell way to explain Aegon’s compliance.

Think of it like this: Aegon’s holding on to the face of the brother whom he failed to protect seven years ago. Then his mother’s sworn protector — the knight who had been more attentive to him than his own father had, the man who watched him grow up — approaches him, putting an arm around his shoulder, saying “the queen awaits”.

At the mention of his mother, Aegon comes to his senses again. We are family, we protect our own.

If Aegon fled, he would be leaving his family to the wrath of Daemon and Rhaenyra. The only way he can ensure their protection is to stay and become king. It’s the Targaryen Hunger Games. Neither will live while the other survives.

Aegon decides that he would not make the mistake that he made seven years ago at Driftmark. He lets go of his brother and follows Ser Criston.

In stories, heroes separate themselves from villains by being the ones who act out of love instead of ambition. Aegon’s morals are questionable, and he certainly is no saint, but his last act in HOTD season one — the one that would change the course of history — was done out of love.

Why else would he ask “Do you love me?” while Alicent is lecturing him in the carriage on the way to his coronation. He’s saying Look at me mother. I don’t care about the politics, I am doing this just because I love you and I need to know, I’m desperate to know, if you love me too.

I can’t wait to see the route that the show writers would take his character in the later seasons. Aegon is an attention whore, and judging by how he commanded the crowd during the coronation scene, I’m excited to see him in his role as king. I think he’d absolutely have fun pulling rank. I’m the king now so I as might as well milk this position for all it’s worth.

I want to see Unhinged Aegon when Blood and Cheese happens. I want them to show Aegon letting out the most feral scream that even Aemond would stand frozen in shock. I want Aegon promising Helaena that he’s going to kill the ones who murdered their son and swearing that he’d do anything to protect them all from this day onward. (Fate heard him say that they don’t have anything in common and decided to take it up as a challenge.)

I want them to show Aegon and Helaena coping with the death of their son in their own ways — I want them to show Aegon killing every rat-catcher and Helaena locking herself in her own chamber. I want Aegon to have such a rage and thirst for revenge that Aemond seems almost harmless in comparison. Blood and Cheese awakens a monster in Aegon. Aemond’s mind unravels due to his guilt (Jaehaerys wouldn't be dead if he hadn't killed Luke) and Helaena drowns in her grief. Alicent can do nothing but watch as her daughter becomes a shell of a person and her sons become deranged.