Billy Oduory on what the future holds for House of the Dragon’s Alicent Hightower…
“The war will be fought, many will die, and the winner will eventually ascend the throne.” These are Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) chilling words in the trailer of Season 2 of House of the Dragon. Everything about the trailer points at an explosive second season as Alicent Hightower’s feud with Rhaenyra escalates. Like Cersei, in Game of Thrones, Alicent is blamed for most of the carnage by many book characters, including the infamous court fool, Mushroom.
Alicent isn’t popular with most of the show’s fans either, as many only see her as the betrayer who orchestrated the Hightower coup. However, it is important to remember that she was once an innocent little girl who was used as a pawn by her father to elevate House Hightower to a position of power. As portrayed in the show, Alicent only gets involved in the Game of Thrones to fight for herself and her children when she feels betrayed by both Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Viserys (Paddy Considine).
Still, Alicent is one of the instigators of the war, and her fiery appearance in the season 2 trailer suggests that she will fully embrace the role of a villain in the show’s second season. The show’s giant fan base has since taken the Greens vs. Blacks battle online with many Rhaenyra supporters hoping that the Dowager Queen is among those who die first in House of the Dragon Season 2, but does that happen? Let’s look at what happens to Alicent Hightower in the books before predicting her fate in the show. Naturally, spoilers follow…
Alicent Hightower’s behavior explained
Alicent’s background
To understand Alicent’s behavior, it is important to understand where she is coming from. Born in Old Town, the seat of power of House Hightower and home of the Maesters, Alicent had a strict upbringing in an extremely religious setting because Old Town strongly believes in the Faith of the Seven. According to Emily Carey, who played the younger version of Alicent, the character’s mother played a big role in teaching her to uphold religion.
Alicent strongly observes the virtues of, Justice (The Father), Mercy (The Mother), chastity (The Maiden), and duty (The Warrior). While she comes off as too self-righteous, Alicent truly believes in these virtues, which is why she is so angry when she discovers that Rhaenyra broke her vows of chastity and then lied about it. According to Carey, Alicent was also in love with Cristone Cole before Rhaenyra slept with her, although this isn’t portrayed in the show.
Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower, was a second son and so stood no chance of inheriting anything, so he used his position as Hand of the King to scheme his way up the ranks. Rhaenyra was just a 13-year-old, but he turned her into his pawn to get his family into royalty immediately after arriving in the Red Keep, and sending her to comfort the old king by reading to him was just the beginning.
Why did Alicent betray Rhaenyra?
Alicent looked at Rhaenyra as a friend and a sister, which is why their relationship became complicated when she got married to Viserys I. Rhaenyra could never accept Alicent as a mother figure, and only saw her as the woman who took her mother’s place. However, in the early days of her marriage to Viserys, Alicent still sees Rhaenyra as family because, in the books, she calls her daughter. Alicent was also a dutiful wife and queen to Viserys I, even though she was unhappy in the marriage.
In the show, things change when she realizes that Rhaenyra is sleeping around with whoever she likes without facing any consequences and the king retains her as heir even when her children clearly don’t belong to her husband. As a mother, Alicent also grows increasingly jealous of Rhaenyra’s children because they appear like better-suited heirs than her sons and daughter who are wayward, to say the least.
Viserys doesn’t show any consideration for Alicent’s children as far as their place in the succession is concerned despite being his children too, and this hurts Alicent. The king even opposes Alicent’s proposal to wed Rhaenyra to Aegon to eliminate any potential succession conflict. When Viserys shows up to defend Lucerys’ claim to Driftmark despite his illness, Alicent realizes that her sons have no one to fight for them unless she does something about it, and that is when she starts supporting her father’s coup plot.
While Alicent doesn’t doubt Rhaenyra’s ability to rule simply because of her gender, her strong religious beliefs tell her that Rhaenyra’s “bastard” children have no right to the throne. Her opinion is also shared by many at court, which, coupled with the declaration of the council in 101 AC, that a woman cannot be named heir to the Iron Throne, gains the Greens a lot of support among the nobles.
Rhaenyra also makes the huge mistake of moving to Dragonestone as she allows Otto and Alicent to rule the Kingdom in her father’s name, which gives them sufficient time to win over the nobles and gain enough support in the small council for Aegon II’s claim to the throne.
What happens to Alicent in Fire and Blood
Fire and Blood is the compilation of the accounts of different people’s tales, and most of them are not kind towards Alicent. Mushroom, for example, claims that Alicent slept with old King Jaehaerys and also “welcomed his heir, King Viserys, into her bed” before his wife, Queen Aemma, died. However, most events in the books still align closely with the show.
SEE ALSO: House of the Dragon Season 2 Easter Eggs From the Teasers
The Dance of the Dragons
Just like in the show, Alicent helps Aegon usurp the throne in Fire and Blood. She then gives her crown to her daughter Helaena, calling her “my queen” during Aegon II’s coronation. As the dowager queen, she moves to the Tower of the Hand where her father resides. After Vhagar kills Lucerys Velaryon and Arrax Alicent is concerned as she knows Rhaenyra will come for revenge and encourages caution, but Aegon ignores her and throws a feast to celebrate Aemond’s actions.
Daemon’s assassins, Blood and Cheese, later take advantage of the weak security in the Tower of the Hand to infiltrate Alicent’s chambers and kill Aegon’s eldest son as the children come to visit their grandmother every evening. We believe these events will be part of the first episode of the second season as depicted in the trailer. The horror of the killing causes Helaena to descend into depression, forcing Alicent to take up the role of the mother to Aegon’s youngest son Maelor, and daughter Jaehaera.
Alicent’s role in Aegon’s rule then diminishes in the books after Jaehaera’s assassination as she seems to have lost control of Aegon. The books still mention how she unsuccessfully tries to dissuade Aegon from replacing her father, Otto with Ser Criston Cole, as the Hand of the King after Aegon accuses Otto of being weak for failing to lift the Velaryon blockade of the Narrow Sea.
There is no mention of Alicent’s involvement in Criston Cole’s heavy-handed clampdown on Rhaenyra supporters in the Crownlands and the Riverlands. The only mention of her comes after the Battle of Rook’s Rest when she orders the Gates of King’s Landing shut to prevent the Smallfolk from leaving the city en masse. By this time, Aegon is badly injured and the capital is in turmoil as people fear that Rhaenyra will burn the city with dragon fire.
The Fall of King’s Landing
Alicent yields the Red Keep to Rhaenyra after the Fall of King’s Landing, and Rhaenyra spares her life but beheads Otto Hightower and other Greens. Alicent later urges Rhaenyra to end the war by diving the Seven Kingdoms but Rhaenyra refuses, saying her brothers lost that right when they usurped her throne and killed her sons. Alicent retorts that only bastard blood was spilled, a comment that nearly gets her beheaded. This event will likely not make it to the 8-episode-long Season 2 of House of the Dragon though as we believe it culminates in the Battle at Rook’s Rest.
Alicent regains her freedom shortly after the Storming of the Dragon Pit when Rhaenyra is forced to flee King’s Landing. She then negotiates Aegon II’s betrothal to Cassandra Baratheon with Borros Baratheon, the last powerful Green commander, and also arranges safe passage for her granddaughter, Jaehaera to Storm’s End.
Final days and death
Alicent eventually outlives Rhaenyra, who gets killed by Aegon II during the Fall of Dragonstone, but her last days are miserable. When Aegon returns to King’s Landing, his rule doesn’t last long as he has lost control of the Realm and the Blacks continue to advance on the Capital. Alicent encourages her son to stay in power, saying that the Blacks can’t storm the Red Keep while Aegon keeps Rhaenyra’s son, Aegon hostage.
Unfortunately, Aegon is later poisoned, allowing the Blacks, led by Cregan Stark storm the capital and install Rhaenyra’s son as Aegon III Targaryen. Alicent is then forced to betroth her granddaughter Jaehaera to Aegon III, but she hates it and even advises Jaehaera to cut Aegon’s throat while he sleeps. However, Jaehaera doesn’t kill Aegon, and Rhaenyra is imprisoned in her chambers, spending her final days in solitude.
According to the books, she had no company in her chambers except her septa and the guards. She also goes into depression and seemingly goes insane as she constantly mourns the deaths of her children and grandchildren. The dowager queen later dies during the Winter Fever in 133AC aged just 45 years old.
It is not clear whether the show will follow the same sequence of events as the books. The show has a lot of room to play around with the characters because the events in Fire and Blood are not written in stone. The show’s version of Alicent also feels more lively, resonating better with the audience, which is why we believe she will play a bigger role in Westerosi politics than she does in the books.
What will happen to Alicent in House of the Dragon Season 2
The plot details for House of the Dragon Season 2 haven’t been released, but from the trailer, it is clear that Alicent still has a big role to play in the Dance of the Dragons. Despite the books showing a diminished role for Alicent in Aegon II’s rule, we believe that Alicent and her father Otto will still be in control of the Greens’ military strategy in the show, at least until Otto is removed as the Hand of the King.
The trailer shows a more politically savvy version of Alicent, clearly determined to do anything to protect herself and her children. There is also little coverage of Alicent’s contribution to Aegon II’s rule in the books, which gives the creators more flexibility to use Olivia Cooke’s character.
Both Aegon and Rhaenyra will become extremely antagonistic towards Rhaenyra after Blood and Cheese because Jaehaerys’ death will eliminate any hope of peace as it happens in the books. Alicent’s partnership with Larys Strong will also play a huge role in securing support for The Greens in the Riverlands since Larys is, essentially, the lord of Harrenhal.
The second season will also bring Alicent closer to Game of Thrones’s Cersei Lannister as she fights fiercely for the survival of her children. However, just like Cersei lost control of Joffrey and Tommen, Alicent will see her control over her sons slip away, and things spin out of control. We believe the second season culminates in the battle of Rook’s Rest, and while the Greens are still in power at the time, Things are totally out of Alicent’s control.
SEE ALSO: House of the Dragon: All the Important Houses in Season 2 and Who They Fight for Explained
House of the Dragon features a cast that includes the returning Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Rhys Ifans, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall and Matthew Needham, along with new additions Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew as Hugh, Tom Bennett as Ulf, Tom Taylor as Lord Cregan Stark, Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne, Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong.