{"id":59457,"date":"2022-08-29T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T07:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/a-third-house-of-the-dragon-character-just-joined-the-game-of-thrones\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T07:00:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T07:00:15","slug":"a-third-house-of-the-dragon-character-just-joined-the-game-of-thrones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/a-third-house-of-the-dragon-character-just-joined-the-game-of-thrones\/","title":{"rendered":"A Third ‘House of the Dragon’ Character Just Joined the Game of Thrones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the game of thrones, Alicent Hightower.<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon<\/em> might have a different name, but HBO’s new flagship series has the same focus as its predecessor: the once-titular game of thrones. Dragon<\/em>‘s first episode introduced two players in the contest: Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s brother and daughter, respectively, who each see themselves as Viserys’s heir. In Sunday’s second episode, the game added a third contestant: Lady Alicent Hightower.<\/p>\n

Lady Alicent, daughter of the king’s hand and best friend of the king’s daughter, drew even closer to Viserys, effectively conniving, at her father’s urging, to marry the widowed ruler. The episode ends with a wedding announcement\u2014and, already, a potential schism in the realm. If she births a son, the Seven Kingdoms would have a new prospective successor.<\/p>\n

Once a supporting character on the periphery of power, concerned more with books than crowns, Alicent is now poised to enter the political fray\u2014whether of her own volition or not. Her rise began in \u201cThe Heirs of the Dragon,\u201d when her scheming father, Otto, ordered her to comfort the king after the death of his first wife. \u201cYou might wear one of your mother’s dresses,\u201d Otto said.<\/p>\n

In the second episode, \u201cThe Rogue Prince,\u201d which takes place six months after the first, Alicent has taken that instruction much further. By now, she and King Viserys have regular private conversations. She wears heavy makeup and displays more prominent jewelry. In a pivotal moment, she smiles when she says she enjoys the king’s company, then wins his favor with a sentimental gift as she repairs a broken dragon figurine\u2014what a symbol! \u2014From his scale model of Old Valyria.<\/p>\n

This successful wooing sets the stage for a delicious human drama, as Rhaenyra storms out of the Small Council meeting when Viserys announces his upcoming nuptials. My best friend is marrying my dad; what do I do?<\/em> sounds more like an Ask Amy petition than a relatable dilemma\u2014yet it also centers a more grounded interpersonal drama amid lofty considerations of dynasty, succession, and the fact that \u201cDad,\u201d in this case, is the king.<\/p>\n

George RR Martin often cites as inspiration William Faulkner’s famous aphorism, \u201cThe only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.\u201d What was the thorn in Viserys’s side in \u201cThe Heirs of the Dragon\u201d \u2014having to choose between his brother and daughter\u2014if not the human heart at conflict with itself? What is Alicent’s choice now, in retaining friendship or pursuing power at her own father’s behest? What is Rhaenyra’s quandary, in choosing whether to forgive her best friend? <\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not mention our talks to Rhaenyra, do you?\u201d the worried king asks Alicent early in the episode. \u201cI just fear that she wouldn’t understand them.\u201d If Rhaenyra\u2014played in her youth by a magnificent Milly Alcock\u2014 she might not understand their talks<\/em>what might she think about their betrothal<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Moreover, in the best game of Thrones<\/em> tradition, this cliffhanger ending produces compelling character moments in addition to plot mechanics. As the rare non-Targaryen at the center of the story, Alicent in particular intrigues\u2014even for readers of Dragon<\/em>‘s source material, because Fire & Blood<\/em> offers very little exploration of her internal life.<\/p>\n

The queen-to-be is described as \u201cclever and lovely\u201d in one spot in the text, \u201cpretty\u201d in another, and \u201cslender and graceful\u201d even as she ages in a third. Yet personality-wise, she is much more of a blank slate.<\/p>\n

Even by an objective measure, Alicent is more of a mystery than the story’s other main characters. the Wiki of Ice and Fire<\/em>‘s \u201cAppearance and Character\u201d section for Rhaenyra, which summarizes the information revealed in the text, is 191 words long; for Viserys, it’s 153 words; for Daemon, 150. Yet Alicent’s corresponding description includes only 33 words.<\/p>\n

F&B<\/em> is not a \u201ctrue,\u201d objective record of Targaryen history, but rather a flawed and incomplete account written from the perspective of an in-universe character named Archmaester Gyldayn, whose own biases frame the narrative he weaves. That quirk helps explain the lack of depth to Alicent’s on-page character, and perhaps the largely unsympathetic portrait that does appear. \u201cThere’s a preconceived notion that she’s [always] scheming,\u201d Emily Carey, who plays young Alicent in the show, told Entertainment Weekly<\/em> before the season began. <\/p>\n

Olivia Cooke, who will play an older version of the character, added, \u201cYou can understand why. The woman whispering into a powerful man’s ear has never been positively written about. So the fun was to try to find the nuance.\u201d<\/p>\n

(I’m reminded of another woman whispering into a powerful man’s ear: the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, who is often depicted unflatteringly as a seductress. Yet in the West, Cleopatra’s story was shaped by Roman historians who saw her as \u201ca useful scapegoat for the disasters of the [Roman civil] wars,\u201d writes classics professor Mary Beard.)<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon<\/em> has not only the freedom to explore the internal life that Archmaester Gyldayn ignores; it has the imperative<\/em> to do so, given Alicent’s clear importance to the story and the necessity of rounding her into a fully three-dimensional figure. <\/p>\n

Dragon<\/em> is off to an impressive start in this regard. Alicent’s anxious mannerisms and bleeding fingers are newly invented character quirks imbued with thematic resonance. Her ambivalent obedience toward her controlling father\u2014who \u201cdoes not know the language of girls,\u201d she confides in Rhaenyra\u2014adds layers of complexity. And although their friendship began because Alicent followed Otto’s wishes, she seems genuinely fond of the king after six months; at the very least, she looks more comfortable in Viserys’s presence in \u201cThe Rogue Prince\u201d than when she shares the screen with others.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear at this point whether that companionship meant she wanted<\/em> to win his hand in marriage, or what further ambitions she might harbor. Thus far, she’s displayed sufficient skill and poise of her own, even if not the same sort of bravado that characterizes her best friend atop a dragon. After all, Alicent, with no Valyrian blood and less political standing, managed to overcome the many logistical advantages of Laena Velaryon, the uncomfortably young candidate for queen whom Rhaenys and Corlys push in this episode.<\/p>\n

(To be clear, Viserys and Alicent’s betrothal is still quite creepy! But it’s not nearly as creepy as if the king had chosen to obey his advisers and marry Laena, who looks\u2014and work<\/em>\u2014positively juvenile next to him during their brief walk together.)<\/p>\n

No matter what is coming for her character, however, Alicent is perhaps not perfectly innocent. Through two episodes, she appears to be Dragon<\/em>‘s version of Sansa Stark\u2014yet when asked about similarities between Alicent and Cersei Lannister, another daughter of the king’s hand who pursues a queenship, Cooke told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u201cI fucking love that comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the throne room drama takes center stage, \u201cThe Rogue Prince\u201d also suggests that this show is not only<\/em> about the Iron Throne. Daemon’s paramour, Mysaria, speaks for the common man and woman after a tense confrontation between Daemon and the king’s forces on Dragonstone, when she tells him, \u201cYou are a Targaryen. You can afford to play your stupid games with the king, but I cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of Martin’s ASOIAF<\/em> series focuses on the high lords and ladies\u2014on, as Tyrion quips in Thrones<\/em>, \u201cgreat conversations in elegant rooms\u201d\u2014but he also takes time to represent their decisions’ deleterious effect on the proletariat. Jorah Mormont’s explanation that \u201cthe common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. \u2026 It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace\u201d is one such example; so too is Septon Meribald’s haunting \u201cBroken Man\u201d speech, which was reappropriated for Brother Ray on Season 6 of Thrones<\/em>. With more devastating warfare to come in Dragon<\/em>Mysaria’s comment might set the stage for further exploration of the trickle-down consequences.<\/p>\n

Yet that’s possibly a morsel for later; in the present, the high lords and ladies who play their game of thrones still dominate the screen. Alicent’s surprise selection as queen could upend the line of succession, tarnish a friendship, and destroy the long alliance between Targaryen dragon power and Velaryon sea strength. She might not want to be, but ready or not, Alicent is in the great game now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the game of thrones, Alicent Hightower. House of the Dragon might have a different name, but HBO’s new flagship series has the same focus as its predecessor: the once-titular game of thrones. Dragon‘s first episode introduced two players in the contest: Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s brother and daughter, respectively, who each …<\/p>\n

A Third ‘House of the Dragon’ Character Just Joined the Game of Thrones<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52270,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/everything-you-need-to-know-to-watch-house-of-the-dragon\/","url_meta":{"origin":59457,"position":0},"title":"Everything you need to know to watch ‘House of the Dragon’","date":"August 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"So, you're ready to return to Westeros, but you need to get your bearings. 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