Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of House of the Dragon.
On Sunday night’s explosive finale of House of the Dragon, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) presents Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) with an olive branch in the form of a torn page from a history book. In Episode 1, a young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) tore out the page as a gift to young Alicent (Emily Carey). The gesture from Alicent evokes immediate, genuine emotion from Rhaenyra, seemingly catapulting her back to the pure and loving bond they once had. The scene illuminates the true conflict that remains simmering beneath the war over the Iron Throne, the dissolution of a close friendship between two women who still have a palpable love for each other. Their turn from friends to enemies is a consequence of existing as women in the confines of the patriarchy’s stringent and suffocating traditions. While Rhaenyra’s father King Viserys (Paddy Considine) believed tradition could evolve and a woman could rule, Alicent’s father Otto remains a firm traditionalist, and their influences guided their young daughters toward opposing mindsets about the inherent sexism of tradition.
The series spends the first half of the season with Alicent and Rhaenyra as children, a creative decision that gives an invaluable understanding of who their characters were before growing estranged and plants the seeds for their friendship’s demise. While young Alicent is a rule follower and obedient to a fault, young Rhaenyra is rebellious and free-spirited. This is undoubtedly a result of conflicting upbringings, with Otto abiding strictly by patriarchal traditions and Viserys putting his love for his daughter and his wish for her to be happy first and foremost. Otto’s influence on Alicent drives the primary wedge between them, using his daughter as a pawn in his selfish pursuit for power. In Episode 2, Rhaenyra makes it clear that she sees men like Otto for who they are and knows she must plot to secure her claim to the throne, but Alicent tells her they “cannot worry of the matters of lords and kings.” This early exchange reveals how differently they see their place in the world. Alicent obeys the laws of men, while Rhaenyra sees through the patriarchal walls men have built for their selfish gain.
A Fatherly Influence
Even Alicent’s time spent courting the King was an act of obedience to her father’s commands, and her eventual betrothal to Viserys is a direct consequence of the traditions of the patriarchal order. Viserys was under immense pressure to remarry quickly to produce a male heir, and Otto seized the opportunity to manipulate him in his state of grief, sending Alicent to his chambers immediately after Aemma’s (Sian Brooke) death. While Alicent was dutifully following her father’s orders to comfort the King, Rhaenyra feels profoundly and rightfully betrayed by her. Finding out your best friend has been courting your father behind your back is obvious grounds for an immense amount of hurt, and this causes the first blow of many to their relationship. Otto repeatedly plants seeds in Alicent’s mind that her firstborn son is the true and rightful heir to the throne. In Episode 5, he threatens that she must follow the ways of tradition or she and her children will be in danger. This strikes visible fear in Alicent, his words further conditioning her to follow tradition or face deadly consequences.
A recurring theme in the series is a comparison between abiding by the patriarchal order and being imprisoned. This idea is first brought up by Rhaenyra to Alicent in Episode 4. Alicent tells Rhaenyra it’s romantic to have so many men pining for her hand in marriage, and Raenyra sarcastically quips: “how romantic it must be to get imprisoned in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs.” The close-up of Alicent’s face in response reveals her sincere hurt by this remark, as this is the very path she has chosen to walk dutifully and believes is the right one. Years later in the season’s penultimate episode, Rhaenys (Eve Best) makes a powerful attempt to get through to older Alicent (Olivia Cooke), telling her she’s not seeing beyond the prison bars of the patriarchy, only believing she can make a window in the wall of her metaphorical prison cell. Once again, it is apparent in her facial expression that this sentiment weighs heavily on her. She seems to seriously contemplate Rhaenys’ words, but she still believes that women belong on the periphery trying to influence rulers rather than rule themselves.
Beyond the Prison Bars of Patriarchy
Due to years of conditioning by her father to abide by the framework of patriarchal traditions, it is ultimately at no fault to Alicent that she does not see beyond the prison bars of the patriarchy in the way Rhaenyra does. In Episode 4, we follow both young Rhaenyra and Alicent’s nights of intimacy, a sequence that illuminates the sharp contrast in how they are navigating the world as women. Rhaenyra’s sexual awakening is intercut with Alicent’s miserable intercourse with the King, illustrating the uncomfortable sacrifice that comes with her duties as Queen. Rhaenyra lies to Alicent about losing her virtue that same night, causing another significant, damaging rift in their relationship. Rhaenyra has to lie about her doings behind closed doors to maintain her honor and legitimacy as heir, although, as she states to her father, men in her position could father a dozen bastards and no one would blink an eye. This sharp and unjust difference further drives a wedge between them. While Rhaenyra has rebelled against tradition, Alicent believes in falling in line with the patriarchal order.
Their conflict is put most plainly in their tense confrontation in Episode 7. Alicent’s words make it clear she harbors immense anger toward Rhaenyra for living freely and loving who she pleases. Rhaenyra has married for duty, but she has had children with her lover Ser Harwin (Ryan Corr) and claimed them as her rightful heirs. With her blade at Rhaenyra’s throat, Alicent asks her: “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?” Alicent believes that women must abide by these man-made traditions, and in her eyes, Rhaenyra has stomped on this notion. Rhaenyra has challenged the only way of life Alicent knows, charting a rebellious path seen as deeply immoral and unbecoming through the patriarchal lens through which Alicent sees the world. Rhaenyra understands that who she sleeps with bears nothing to do with her ability to rule, still fulfilling her duty to produce heirs. Alicent sees her as a traitor who scoffs at the sanctity of tradition, and the sequence reveals a deep-seated resentment fueled by their opposing ways of navigating the patriarchy’s rules.
As demonstrated by their actions in the final episodes of the season, they are still more alike than different, proving they are far more sensible and rational leaders than the men surrounding them who lust for power and try to use them as pawns in their quests for the throne. When the Greens usurp the throne, Otto urges Alicent to kill Rhaenyra while Daemon (Matt Smith) threatens Rhaenyra to attack King’s Landing, but neither woman wishes for bloodshed. In the penultimate episode of the season, Alicent feverishly tries to influence Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) to spare Rhaenyra’s life, a move that reminds us that, in their evolution from friends to enemies, a love for each other remains buried beneath the hate. Rhaenyra’s reaction to her wish for peace and the torn page of the history book reminds us of the bond that remains despite the patriarchal factors that have pitted them against one another. While war is to come, the flickering embers of a genuine friendship have not burned out just yet.