It was always going to be hard to adapt a story that ends with the gendered killing of a woman by her relative, a rival male claimant, after the end of GOTânotably Jon stabbing Dany before the Iron Throne because she âwent madââwas so poorly received. But it seems that the way out of this HOTD is trying to use is, âshowing us that Rhaenyra being killed is justifiedâ. The lesson they took was that Danyâs madness and cruelty werenât believable, and so her stabbing was not seen as deserved, so people didnât like it; in response they have written, or tried to write, Rhaenyra descending into a more believable cruelty and darkness. They have followed the âif theyâd foreshadowed mad!Dany properly it would have worked!â criticisms*
You can think what you like but I donât think it works. Where this falls apart is that what happened to Rhaenyraâbeginning with being targeted in her own home by Alicent, and being usurped, which leads to the war and her deathâwas unjustified and driven by misogyny. Iâm not interested in a story about how THIS woman, this time, DID deserve her fate, and we did legwork to show you why so youâll agree. I would find it far more progressive (and more satisfying) to see a story about a woman being mistreated and then killed and the narrative framing it as horrifying, and gendered, rather than her being put down like a bad dog by someone whoâin Ryan Condalâs own words!âis now âmore suited to the throneâ, since Rhaenyra has been âcontortedâ by power
*I donât really think they even managed to do this properly. The characterisation this season has been terrible
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