House of the Dragon features a host of characters much like its predecessor Game of Thrones, but instead of kings vying for the Iron Throne and plotting to have their rivals killed, the prequel story centers around two female heroines as they square off against one another in the unrelentingly brutal world of the Seven Kingdoms.
One is Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, proclaimed heir to Viserys I, who has to maneuver herself to a place of power in a world that doesn’t accept female rulers. The other is Alicent Hightower, Rhaenyra’s best friend and the only child of Otto Hightower, Hand of the King, who has no forbearance when it comes to using his daughter as a means to realize his ambitions.
When House of the Dragon started, Alicent and Rhaenyra were best friends. By last Sunday’s seventh episode, the two were literally at each other’s throats, a dynamic that their respective children also share with one another. If we know Westeros, that just isn’t going to end well for either party, but where did this rivalry start and why does Alicent hate Rhaenyra so much?
A matter of responsibility and free will
When Rhaenyra came of age, Viserys decided to marry her into a powerful house, but with the death of his heir and Daemon entertaining ambitious ideas of his own, the king raised Rhaenyra to be the realm’s next ruler on the occasion of his death. That didn’t necessarily take care of the marriage issue, as Viserys still pressed the heir apparent to choose a match. Rhaenyra, on the other hand, insisted to choose her own husband, something that the king eventually complied with because of his fatherly love.
Meanwhile, the young Alicent — who had ever been seeking her father’s approval — was bludgeoned to sway Viserys to her side, never to be given the same choice to pick her husband. Whereas Alicent did her duty to her house and her father, Rhaenyra scorned responsibility and chose her own path, which ultimately created this dissentious situation in the first place.
When all is said and done, Alicent may not even hate Rhaenyra, but she has certainly felt envy for her. Now that her sons are also in a precarious position because Rhaenyra is to succeed Viserys as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, and Rhaenyra’s own legitimacy has come under question due to the controversial matter of her children’s real father, Alicent is preparing for war.
The rivalry may prove an end to the reign of fire and blood yet, but we’ll have to wait and see if there’ll be any reconciliation for Alicent and Rhaenyra themselves as the trumpets of civil war rise to a deafening crescendo.
