el

here is the repeated image of the lover destroyed.

web weave from an excerpt of this short story by filmnoirsbian.

i think it's really easy to fall into this pattern of thinking as the show centers rhaenyra, who is, and i really can't express this enough; the woman with the singular most independence and power outside of men in likely the entirety of westeros in the show thus far. it's a violently misogynistic climate and denying one's father -especially for noblewomen - is the social equivalent of telling your boss to go fuck himself if your boss has been your boss your entire life, and also was the reason you had any power to begin with. do you understand that if alicent had, at any point in time, shown she would defend rhaenyra over otto's plans, he would have had her removed from power in some way or another? do you understand that every single structure of power in place is meant singularly to keep men in power and reduce that of women?

the only reason she's able to rule in viserys' ill health is because *otto* is there to do it with her. do you think a woman would have been allowed to rule the seven kingdoms in proxy of her husband without challenge? no, she wouldn't. otto - and his connections to the reach, oldtown, etc are the reasons they are able to take over for viserys.

yes, alicent does xyz. this is because the most important, most god-like figure in her life has manipulated, commanded, and groomed her to act as such. she literally tells us this in the season two finale. "i knew not what i wanted. i knew only what was expected of me." because in westeros, in alicent's position, there is no wanting. there is no alternate universe where alicent denies her father's wishes and promises to support rhaenyra because she'd be fucking shipped off to oldtown to rot somewhere the second that happened, and because she has been taught her entire life that she is intrinsically not a person. she does not have wishes or goals. she has duties. she's essentially been programmed like a cult member to only respect the wishes of her father and believe whatever he says.

rhaenyra targaryen and her father;

otto does not see alicent as his daughter. not in the sense that inspires any sort of parental obligation, or protection. rather, alicent is treated like a partner in crime who otto has authority over. he forces her into a marriage with a man twice her age. otto's desire for power is projected onto her & she is MANIPULATED (yes, alicent is manipulated, fight me) into believing rhaenyra is a threat to her children's lives.

alicent & otto hightower.

Don'ts for Girls: A Manual of Mistakes by Minna Antrim (1902)