In Defense of Alicent Hightower | Character Analysis (Part 1) | House of the Dragon Season 1

House of the Dragon Season 1 introduces Alicent Hightower. Alicent is a good, well-intended character who fell victim to circumstance. I think she deserves some sympathy. I hope you enjoy my first Game of Thrones Character analysis.

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⚖️ Images and videos from HOTD and GOT are used under fair use.
#houseofthedragon #hotd #gameofthrones
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📚CHAPTERS
00:00 Alicent Hightower
01:00 S1E01 - Early Life at Court Era
03:33 S1E02 - Alicent and the King
06:33 S1E03 - Young Wife Era
10:29 S1E04 - Alicent's Unfair Life
12:25 S1E05 - Alicent Takes Control
16:33 Recap
18:38 Conclusion
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🎵 MUSIC

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Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

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Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

[gaffgarion]

The core issue is Alicent does everything expected of her and gets neglected while Rhaenyra does whatever she wants and gets covered for by her father because she's the favorite.

The whole reason Viserys marries her is to have a Male heir, but by the time Alicent gives him that several times over he's changed his mind and decided he does want Rhaenyra as his successor.

This basically makes Alicents entire struggle not only pointless, but also dangerous because Rhaenyra will always see her children as a threat, now whether or not she'd actually kills them is speculative.

But once she has the throne and Viserys is dead there is nothing that would stop her as she already hates Alicent, her father and her children.

At the end of the day Alicent is fighting for recognition and survival, something that Rhaenyra does not have to worry about.

Rhaenyra wants the throne because she believes it's her right but Alicent wants it for Aegon to give her life meaning and to ensure hers children's survival.

[LilaCerullos]

I'm paraphrasing here, but i agree with the "everyone loves complex characters until said characters are women" statement. They love to hate on Alicent for even breathing but they also stan Daemon targaryen like 🙄

[amber]

people make excuses liking daemon as all characters are 'morally grey', but as soon as someone defends alicent they/re at your throats. its just misogyny lmao

[maylynbayani]

I actually feels for her so much. She doesnt have a dragon that could save her skin. She learned and grew up.

[morjana]

I had the same feeling when watching the show. I thought Alicent will be so hated yet she's one of the most realistic characters (juts like Sansa), lot of women of her time would have acted the same way.

[meliastamps]

THANK you for pointing out the isolation Alicent faces after Otto is dismissed. So many people seemed to think she was just angry because Rhaenyra broke decency. Really, it was Rhaenyra LYING and costing Alicent her only family. And it was a lie that she told with no thought to Alicent, meanwhile she has always worked to benefit Rhaenyra. It was justified anger. Rhaenyra demanded Otto be dismissed just over an insult with no consideration of her friend.

[teambaby]

I feel like both Alicent and Raenyra have flaws and have made mistakes but everyone loves Rae and hate Alicent 😢 also thanks for this video I had been looking for something like this for a while!

[stormveils]

As someone who loves both Alicent and Rhaenyra, in all of their complex glory, this video was excellently done! Alicent isn't perfect, no, but a lot of her choices are understandable and I feel like the show has done a fantastic job of taking her beyond the mere "evil step-mother" archetype she embodies in the book. I really enjoyed your breakdown of her character and am very much looking forward to the second part!

[randomgirl]

I think the biggest problem I have with Alicent hate has to do with I think a huge flaw in how people are consuming this show. This idea that we must place all of our modern ideas aside and accept the laws of the universe and while that is true to some extent (dragons, ice zombies, magic), Westerosi society and its system is not exactly included in that. It makes me extremely uncomfortable to see weaponizing real victim blaming rhetoric against a 14 year old child when a man old enough to be her father decides to marry and sleep with her. (IE. The idea that she seduced the king to become queen) Even if she is fictional, that kind of logic is used to blame real girls everyday. Just because child marriage is common in Westeros, George has never painted it in a purely positive light and the same goes to the Targaryen incest. I love Alicent. I think for all she is flawed, she has also had moments that have really endeared me to her and I feel a lot of sympathy for her. (Same goes for Rhaenrya, I love her too.) I think the most important thing in the show when it comes to her character is her lack of agency from the very start, if you don’t get that, I feel like there’s a lot you’re missing in the show. That’s just my opinion, though. Hypocrisy, jealousy, paranoia those are all character flaws, and to me, those only humanize her more. I never saw her as evil.

[gardenofwords]

Alicent has a bit of Stannis in her in the sense that they are both very dutiful but are never rewarded directly or recognized for their sacrificed nor asked if they are suffering and need help as person going through it and when characters who do wrong or perceived wrong, those characters are rewarded when they shouldn't whereas Stannis and Alicent almost always choose to do what is right or what seems as the right decision at that time and are almost if ever rewarded for their choices.

[StormbornDragon]

everyone loves complex characters in hotd until it comes to alicent who imo is one of the MOST complex characters. she starts sympathetic then gains some power and goes a bit crazy w it (the knife) but overall wants peace for the realm and between her and rhaenyra

[michaelsnow]

Alicent is the sole reason I have sympathy for the Green faction. There are so many factors beyond her control that she is facing blame for and it's incredibly unfair. She's also significantly more interesting and impactful than her book counterpart, much like Viserys.

[marti]

Alicent is, hands down, my favorite character from the show

[stinap]

I actually love Alicent so much it's stupid, she's so interesting and sympathetic to me and I don't really feel the same for Rhaenyra. So I'd love a similar video on her, even if she might not need any defense, as everyone else seem to love her

[natzbarney]

Alicent is my favorite character of the show. She has the most interesting character arc of the season in my opinion.

[MariaG]

Alicent always puts the realm and the people first.

[camille]

She’s actually my favorite character so far

[yuvalnai]

I never understood why people hate Alicent. She's much more relatable than Rhaenyra and her reasons are much more understandable to me... I've been on team green since the beginning only because of Alicent

[jenniferafanadorpulgarin]

They will never make me hate you, Alicent. 💚

[asiamarques]

Thank you for this analysis! You've expressed it eloquently. Truthfully, I feel Alicent (on the show) is such an underrated character and doesn't deserve the hate she gets. I feel she's deeply flawed and complex yet that's what makes her so relatable and fascinating to me.

I feel Emily did such a wonderful job making her sympathetic and fleshed her out. Whereas Olivia gave her more of a darker edge yet still has humanity and vulnerability to her. Both actresses have brought so much life to this character. I don't necessarily see Alicent as a villain but more of a grey character.

As everything you've pointed out, Alicent was a child bride. She was only 14 when her father used her as a pawn and sold her off to King Viserys to further his political ambitions. All she's known is duty and made so many sacrifices. She's been isolated and alone, since she and Rhaenyra sadly were torn apart due to the patriarchy system. It's hard to not feel sympathy for her as character. #AlicentDeservesBetter