I hate the half baked narrative that haters have about Alicent, which is that she was sPreAdIng rUmOurs aBouT Rhaenyra.!
These people need to open a book fr because it was not Alicent who was spreading rumours, it was Rhaenyra's fool Mushroom who was rumour mongering in Fire & Blood and one of his victims was a 15 year old Alicent herself.
Whether she was taking care of 70 y.o. sick king, or rumours about her relationship with Viserys, or linkup with Daemon which was probably spread by Daemon supporters to get back at Otto, most of the rumour mongering was the work of the fool Mushroom, a dear supporter of Rhaenyra.
If Alicent calling out Rhaenyra and Viserys for turning blind eye to Strong boys is sPreAdiNg ruMouRs then bitch so is saying water is wet. Because it is the truth, not a rumour. Rumours are, by definition, falsehoods and exaggerations to besmirch someone. Mushroom spreading lies about Alicent sleeping with Jaehaerys is a rumour; Alicent questioning Strongs parentage based on the striking differences in appearance is not a rumour. It is plain truth.
Even if Alicent did not question their Strong appearance, somebody else in Kings Landing would have. In fact DID. Velaryon relatives of Corlys, for example. Those who did not question, were all TB supporters but otherwise people had eyes and could literally SEE the difference. It was an open secret.
Its real frustrating because some people just want a reason to hate Alicent but haters need to pick a valid reason, at least. Old ones are stupid asf and getting booring.
Check this post about the idea that Alicent is the one “spreading rumors” about Rhaenyra with Criston Cole or Daemon.
Book!Alicent didn’t need to loudly accuse Rhaenyra’s sons of being bastards. The rumors practically spread themselves.
Rhaenyra’s children don’t resemble either her or Laenor in the way people expected, but they do resemble Harwin Strong, a man who was constantly around her. People aren’t blind or stupid. If Cersei’s children had looked unmistakably Stark or Dornish, everyone would have questioned their parentage too. The reason Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella escaped scrutiny for so long is because they looked like Cersei, and Jaime was her twin. Likewise, Catelyn’s children largely resemble her, and nobody doubts they’re Ned’s. Even Arya looking like Ned doesn’t make people question the others.
The point is that Alicent didn’t have to say the rumor. The rumor existed because people had eyes. In the show after the birth of Rhaenyra’s third son, Alicent tells Laenor, “Do keep trying, Ser Laenor. Sooner or later, you may get one who looks like you.” That didn’t happened bc it was said by mushroom. As you said, the one who was spreading the rumours is Mushroom, not Alicent. But ofc Alicent being blamed for the men’s actions for the hundredth time. This again reminds me of those Rhaenyra stans who blamed Alicent for Daemon grooming Rhaenyra too.
Again why would bk!Alicent need to say anything? Septons whisper. Lords whisper. Ladies whisper. Servants whisper. Guards whisper. Rhaenyra and Viserys know the rumors are true. The court knows the rumors. Even Daemon, living all the way in Pentos, is aware of them. Even if you completely remove Alicent from the story, do Team Black stans seriously think the rumors wouldn’t spread? Also, Jace was born in the same year as Rhaenyra and Laenor’s marriage. That alone was always going to attract attention. Laenor spent significant amounts of time away, and even before Jace’s birth there were already whispers about whether the marriage had truly been consummated.
The rumors weren’t appearing in a vacuum. They emerged from the circumstances themselves. You have a politically important marriage, questions about whether the couple are actually sleeping together, a husband known to prefer male partners, a man constantly in Rhaenyra’s company who strongly resembles the children, and sons who are expected to inherit both the Iron Throne and Driftmark.
You don’t need Alicent to connect those dots. Most people at court would. That’s why the idea that Alicent somehow invented the entire controversy has never made sense to me. The real question isn’t why people suspected the boys were Harwin’s. The real question is why anyone expects a feudal aristocracy obsessed with legitimacy, and inheritance not to speculate under those circumstances. Even Viserys’s constant insistence that no one discuss the matter suggests how widespread the rumors already were. If nobody believed it, there would be nothing to suppress.
“In fact DID. Velaryon relatives of Corlys, for example. Those who did not question, were all TB supporters but otherwise people had eyes and could literally SEE the difference. It was an open secret.”
You do realize Corlys never actually wanted Luke or Joffrey to inherit Driftmark, right? And you do realize Team Black misogynistic stans blame Alicent for the entire Driftmark succession crisis ? As if she personally created the rumors out of thin air. Instead of blaming Corlys, Rhaenyra, Viserys they blame Alicent.
Once Laenor dies, Corlys refused to name luke or anyone as his heir. Check this post. Corlys did not seem particularly enthusiastic about Luke as his heir.
“the Sea Snake was stricken by a sudden fever. As he took to his bed, surrounded by maesters, the issue arose as to who should succeed him as Lord of the Tides and Master of Driftmark should the sickness claim him. With both his trueborn children dead, by law his lands and titles should pass to his eldest grandson, Jacaerys...but since Jace would presumably ascend the Iron Throne after his mother, Princess Rhaenyra urged her good- father to name instead her second son, Lucerys. Lord Corlys also had half a dozen nephews, however, and the eldest of them, ser Vaemond.”
Nowhere does the text actually say that Corlys named Luke his heir from the start. What we do see is that Rhaenyra is arguing Corlys to name her son as heir and actively pushing the issue and that she was willing to use punishment, and severe consequences against challenges to her sons’ legitimacy. Corlys may have accepted Luke as the practical solution partly because Luke was already betrothed to Rhaena, meaning Velaryon blood would eventually return to Driftmark through the next generation.
But later developments complicate the idea that Corlys fully supported Luke/Joffrey as uncomplicated heirs. Once Luke dies, Joffrey becomes the expected heir to Driftmark while Jace remains heir to the Iron Throne. Yet Corlys is already maneuvering toward placing someone of his own blood in the succession. Joffrey is betrothed to a Manderly girl, and noble betrothals are not casually dissolved, so the “just marry him to Rhaena” solution is no longer simple.
That context matters when Corlys later chooses Addam Velaryon someone he explicitly recognizes as his blood. Fire & Blood is also interesting in how it makes the matter linguistically. Luke is not mentioned or called as heir of driftmark in the text in the same heir-language used for other Driftmark heirs, which may reflect that the arrangement was politically accepted but not necessarily emotionally or ideologically uncomplicated for Corlys himself.
Because if Corlys truly did not care about biological descent or bastardy in this context, there would be much less reason for Addam to be heir instead of Joffrey.
The funniest part is how much agency this interpretation gives Alicent. Apparently she is simultaneously a powerless, irrelevant npc woman who accomplished nothing and also the mastermind behind every succession crisis, every rumor, and every political conflict in the realm.
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