Oh, the Dearon x Alicent parallels ATE in this episode. What if they were both taken away and grew up in castles that were never really homes. What if the adults around them called it an honor which was a prettier word for captivity. They both have red hair and soft hands and gentleness mistaken for weakness. They both believe that kindness is strength, mercy is strength, justice is strength. They both pray and believe the gods reward sacrifice. They both believe that if they are good enough, dutiful enough, obedient enough, the people they look up to will finally look at them with something that resembles love. They are instead rewarded with more duty, more sacrifice, more expectations. Alicent exists to preserve Otto's vision of the realm. Daeron exists to restore Ormund's vision of the past. Neither is asked who they want to become. Neither is allowed to want anything at all, because clay does not choose the shape of the potter's hands. And they let themselves be molded because children believe the people raising them know better, because children mistake control for care. Because if your father tells you that your purpose is larger than yourself, isn't refusing him the same as refusing your family, refusing your gods, refusing your duty? What if Alicent's greatest flaw was that she loved Otto too much. What if Daeron's greatest flaw was that he loved Ormund too much. What if neither of them ever realized they were being loved only insofar as they were useful. Two red-haired children who wanted fathers. They wanted someone to say "you are enough exactly as you are." Instead, they were told "you will be enough once you become what I need you to be". And somewhere along the way, the kind little girl disappeared, somewhere along the way, the kind little boy disappeared. They traded themselves for approval that never came. What if the tragedy of Alicent was that the son she wanted to save from herself became like herself. What if the tragedy of Daeron was that he inherited his mother's face and fate to become a pawn in House Hightower's hands.
