With another six-year-long time jump House of the Dragon has entered its Dance of the Dragons era. Episode 8, “Lord of the Tides,” had its tender moments as well as controversial ones (RIP Lord Vaemond) though the tides have changed, we see the older generation at least being sincere while toasting each other during the supper, it’s the younger generation that has inherited their conflict. In a new interview with Hollywood Reporter director, Geeta Patel talks about Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) intentions and the former’s misunderstanding of Viserys’ final words.
As mentioned during the series the Seven Kingdoms have seen a long period of peace thanks to the reign of Jaehaerys I and Viserys (Paddy Considine). Even in the latest episode, we see some understanding between Alicent and Rhaenyra when Viserys laid his health condition bare in front of his family during supper. Patel tells that while toasting each other both the Queen and the Princess “were sincere, but they were still themselves. The goal was to get to that scene and understand how lonely each of them was and how they both missed each other in some way.” She further notes that she and showrunners, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, “talked for a year about how we’ve got to earn that moment.” Revealing that the idea was “we would feel it coming earlier in the throne room when they both see Viserys was so vulnerable. Rhaenyra realized Alicent wasn’t lying to her, and she was telling the truth that Viserys was suffering and that Alicent really loved him.”
So, while Rhaenyra praised Alicent for being a rock to her father, the latter in turn toasts her for becoming a “fine Queen” in the future. While Drfitmarks’ matter of succession has been settled, with King Viserys dying in the final moments of the latest episode soon the succession of the Iron Throne will come to the forefront. In his final moments, the King is reminiscing Aegon, the Conqueror’s prophecy of Ice and Fire and Alicent misunderstands it. Patel explains that the “intention was that she genuinely thought he was telling her that her son was going to be the heir.”
Given the same names or the human tendency of hearing what you want to hear, Alicent misinterprets his words; moreso, because it’s a prophecy that’s only passed down from King to the heir, no one else would have truly understood what his final words meant. The director tells, “the only way to get even close to achieving that was to feel the vulnerability and innocence in Alicent. We had to feel less of the conniving and more of the girl that we grew up with in episode one.” And Cooke did justice to that feeling with her performance, as she storms out of the King’s chambers with an expression of utmost urgency. So, rather than any scheming or plotting, Alicent now truly believes that his husband’s last wish was to see his first-born son Aegon on the Iron Throne, not Rhaenyra and that fuels her motivations further.
New episode of House of the Dragon airs every Sunday, meanwhile, you can check out the new teaser below:
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