Alicent Hightower

Character
Name:	Alicent Hightower
Occupation:
Relationships:	Otto Hightower (father) Gwayne Hightower (brother) Viserys I Targyaren (husband) Aegon II Targaryen (son) Helaena Targaryen (daughter) Aemond Targaryen (son) Daeron Targaryen (son) Jaehaerys Targaryen (grandson) Jaehaera Targaryen (granddaughter) Maelor Targaryen and Aemond's unnamed son (grandsons; book) Rhaenyra Targaryen (stepdaughter)
Fandom:	Fire & Blood House of the Dragon
Other:
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Alicent Hightower is a character in Fire & Blood and its television adaptation House of the Dragon.

Fandom

Common Tropes

• Repressed sexuality / sexual desires - Heavily influenced by Alicent's portrayal in the TV series adaptation, there are two main approaches to Alicent being written as suppressing aspects of her sexuality or sexual expression in fanworks.
  • Sapphic sexuality - Alicent's most popular pairing on Archive of Our Own is with Rhaenyra Targaryen, where it is a fairly common story-line for her to be sapphic but experiencing either comphet or heteronormativity, leading to her denying her feelings for Rhaenyra, often temporarily. This is also heavily discussed by Alicent Hightower/Rhaenyra Targaryen shippers in meta.
  • Suppressing sexual desires - While storylines and meta with this focus also occur with the Alicent Hightower/Rhaenyra Targaryen ship, it is also a common aspect in Criston Cole/Alicent Hightower fanworks and meta.
• Anxiety / self-injury / mental health - Again influenced by the TV adaption, where Alicent displays both anxious traits and self-injurious behaviour in the form of tearing and biting at the skin around her fingers, Alicent's mental health and trauma she experiences is often explored in Alicent-focused fanworks.

Fannish Discourse

Views on Alicent's Agency

Alicent's character arc in Season 1 involves her entering into a political marriage with the much older Viserys I Targaryen at her father Otto's insistence. While some viewers hold this as evidence of passivity or weakness, others, particularly in the global south, see Alicent's story as reflecting real and continuing experiences of gendered oppression.

[fuckalicent]
saying alicent is for the white conservative tradwives is sooo insensitive when what she experiences is relatable for a majority of woc

#yeah forced marriages to older men may seem crazy and medieval to u but unfortunately these things r a reality for a lot of us
#her being gaslit by everyone around her and being treated like she’s insane simply because she won’t align with the status quo

[tell-them-the-north-remembers]
I live in the middle east. My grandmother was 15 when her father "exchanged" her for gold from her husband's family. She had no schooling beyond learning how to read and write and do basic math. Instead she was expected birth her husband's children, do housework and put up with the whims of her mother-in-law. My grandpa's father was the mayor of the village, they weren't allowed to do anything without his permission. My uncle caught a terrible fever when he was in elementary school, my grandma rushed to her husband to beg him to drive them to the nearest hospital, which was out of the village and in the city. My grandfather said that they couldn't go the hospital, his father was out of town and they needed his permission to go anywhere, frankly he found the fact that she would disrespect him like that very disappointing. He saw his son's state and refused to drive him to hospital. When she saw that my uncle was still burning up, my grandma finally snapped and picked him up, wearing her shoes and heading for the door quickly. My grandpa yelled after her, making threats, screaming about how she was being disrespectful and if she went out the door she would never see his face again. But she prevailed, wanting to save her child. She got on a bus heading to the hospital with my uncle still in her arms, then when she arrived she took him to the doctor all by herself and what did the doctor say? That if she hadn't come this soon and the symptoms had worsened her son could be permanently paralyzed, or even worse, dead. When she came back a huge fight erupted, but she still says she doesn't regret any of it, she did what she needed to save her child. This wasn't the medieval times, it was the fucking 80s.

[...]

[W]hen I watched Alicent desperately plead for justice for her maimed son to her husband, I saw my grandmother pleading for the life of her own son to her own husband. If your "feminism" only extends to a woman who is a #girlboss being given privileges that no other women are given because of her birth maybe you don't actually care about women at all.

[fuckalicent]
god THIS!! like this may be a 1500s problem for some people but this is a real 20 and 21st century problem for us. it is demeaning and dismissive to insult women who relate to and sympathise with alicent, accusing them of being tradwives/conservative sympathisers or whatever the fuck. we are real and so are our stories

#your grandmother sounds like an incredibly strong and resilient woman
#i feel so strongly about this topic because
#i was actually going to have an arranged marriage at 15. one i had to fight tooth and nail to get out of
#idk seeing alicent uncovered some deepset rage within me that i’ve been unable to shake (and i don’t think i want to)

Treatment of Oldest Son

Several scenes in Season 1 have prompted discourse in HotD fandom about Alicent's treatment of her son Aegon. In episode 6, she grips his chin suddenly and tightly to focus his eyes on her, shouting that Rhaenyra poses a dire threat to him. In episode 7, Alicent slaps him when he arrives after Aemond's maiming, accusing him of drinking and failing to protect his younger brother. In episode 8, she discovers that Aegon has raped a serving girl, and slaps him when she confronts him about it. (Alicent believes the girl's account and provides her with moon tea to prevent pregnancy).

Some fans regard Alicent's actions as abusive and unjustified while understanding they have been shaped by her circumstances.

[NeatAccomplished625]
I don't think many defend - meaning justify to make it totally ok - Alicent's behavior as a mother. Yes, by our standards, she's abusive towards Aegon and does not seem to enjoy motherhood very much. This isn't justifying her abuse, but trying to understand it and why it's mostly against Aegon. She's undeniably a bad mother to him, even though she loves him.

As a very young mom, she didn't seem to enjoy being a baby maker. You can see on young Alicent's face when she's holding baby Aegon or baby Heleana that she feels trapped and very uneasy, despite loving her children. It wouldn't surprise me that she would be suffering from post-natal depression. She seems to view herself as a baby maker machine, nothing more than "The Queen" as she says so in ep 4, not Alicent anymore, and that everyone around forgot who she was as an individual.

As for the abuse against Aegon, imo it comes the from the fact that he's supposed to be the first born son, and she puts a lot of expectations on him, less than Heleana and Aemond who seem to not suffer from her abuse. She transfers her deep fear to Aegon that he might be killed as the obvious other claimant, as her father said to her. She's also frustrated that her son doesn't see why he's in danger, despite telling him. It's a cycle because while Aegon's actions are his own and should not be overlooked, his depravity, lack of empathy and self loathing does come from his father ignorance and lack of care for him and his mother's abuse.

I think that she's truly afraid about her children's safety (and she's not that wrong there seeing how Viserys always takes Rhaenyra's side even when her other son is maimed, she's always been put in second place), but has turned that fear into abuse.

It's bad mothering, yes, but I understand it while not agreeing with it. Might be reaching too much but that's why I interpret it.

[Nibo89]
It bothers me how no one seems to understand that a big part of the reason Aegon ended up the way he did was because he was neglected and abused. Physically AND mentally, to the point where he became a promiscuous alcoholic at 13. If a middle schooler in modern times was getting black out drunk and being sexually inappropriate, no one would question whether or not he had a toxic home life.

People like to use the excuse that Alicent didn't abuse her other kids. She didn't have expectations for them like she did for Aegon. It's not uncommon for abusers to single out one target for their abuse and treat the other kids well.

[horizon-verizon]
The abused often perform abuse against their close friends and family in both subtle and overt ways, with much unconscious and conscious manipulation to make the people around them feel responsible for them or suppress protests against the behavior. And emotional abuse (the abuser claiming their abused is treating them harshly, violent use of words, tone, body movements and some “light" violence like squeezing the arms suddenly) is just as insidious and damaging as physical abuse. And it gets worse the more stressed out and paranoid abusers are. I've myself experienced it from both my mother and father, but my mother would often criticize the way I dressed "masculine" and how I should not present myself as a "bad girl". I was often told to acquiesce to my brothers' laziness and refusals to engage in housework as well as how my tone was disrespectful. Once my mother squeezed my arms and yelled in my face about how I was getting too fat.

Show!Alicent is clearly more like Cersei in this last aspect, when episode 6 shows us Alicent grabbing Aegon's face and yelling into it about him being the challenge to Rhaenyra's claim and how Rhaenyra will definitely kill him if he doesn't work with/stand untied with Aemond against Rhaenyra's children. Alicent wants Aegon to consider Rhaenyra a bigger threat than she is, and when he doesn’t she lashes out against him. Mainly because she doesn't feel that he is taking what she's taking seriously, seriously.

Some fans see a double standard in singling out Alicent for things other characters have done and blaming her for Aegon's choices.

[the-daily-dreamer]
Where is the accountability on the deadbeat dad? Everyone keep blaming Alicent for how awful Aegon is. But nobody utters a word on how the other parent in this situation has done absolutely nothing. Viserys is also Aegon's father (though this may be a shock to even Viserys himself seeing how neglectful and abusive he is to his children by Alicent). Viserys is the king. He has the power to implement whatever he wants but sits back and does nothing. But sure, Alicent is to blame because she's actually involved and therefor her son being ruined is only her fault.

Alicent does her best at parenting Aegon and dealing with the shit he generates. What exactly could Alicent do to Aegon, a prince of the realm, to rectify the situation? Y'all are never happy when she does anything. When she disciplines Aegon, you scream she's "abusive". When she tries to compensate and fix the situation to the best of her ability, you scream that she's enabling and covering up crimes. She will never win. And btw, she didn't cover up for Aegon. Alicent listened to Dyana and tried to compensate for the pain. There’s literally nothing else she could do.

Y'all will blame Alicent for all the actions of the men in her life. Why not hold Aegon, the actual rapist, accountable for the situation. Not Alicent for trying to fix it. Because guess who's not on the fucking list…AEGON. How will you penalize Alicent for trying to help fix the situation her son caused, but not penalize the man who actually committed the sexual crime? It reeks of sexism.

[dulcewrites]
I think the most ironic thing about how Alicent's motherhood gets used against her is that the logic that everything wrong with the targtowers is somehow her fault, completely goes out of the window when people talk about Rhaenyra's parenting. Everything they do is a reflection of how terrible, awful, and disgusting Alicent is as a mother. But jace and luke's behavior/actions somehow aren't reflections of the pitfalls Rhaenyra has as a mother.

Aegon being a rapist is just Alicent fault. Aemond's anger and resentment is just Alicent's fault (some people even blame Alicent for him losing his eye yes I’ve seen it). Helaena's adversion to touch (despite the fact it's clear phia made an acting choice to play Helaena as neurodivergent plus we literally get scenes of Helaena letting Alicent touch her) is all Alicent's fault. The rotting, neglectful rapist they all have for a father has absolutely nothing to do with that. And then the goalpost moving. If Alicent doesn't admonish and totally hate Aegon for being said rapist, she's a rape apologist who doesn’t want any woman to have rights (a crazy thing to say about a literal victim of rape herself btw). But if she slaps him, she’s an abusive cunt.

[Pierogizzz]

ASOIAF fans when Tyrion slaps Joffery: 😁🤩

ASOIAF fans when Cersei slaps Joffery: 😁🤩

ASOIAF fans when Sansa slaps Robin: 😁🤩

ASOIAF fans when Alicent slaps Aegon: 🤬🤬

Others hold that it is unfair or fallacious to assess Alicent's actions by (largely Western) twenty-first century parenting standards.

[witheredoffherwitch]
“Alicent constantly abuses Aegon by resorting to slapping him at any opportunity”

Bruh, some of y'all are as white as a sheet of paper and it’s painfully obvious! If it were up to you, every immigrant woman would be labelled a “bad mother” 😭

[girl-intrigued]
I am desi and can ensure if your mother hitting you was bad then entire India would be cancelled and yes my mother hit me too when I was a kid and still does

[notbloodraven]
Litreally you can tell who is the white people in this fandom by their reaction to Aegon and Alicent lol

[mejcinta]
African moms have entered the chat.

[deleted account]
The behaviour of Otto and Alicent towards Aegon is perfect for the time they are living in. Aegon is supposed to be the heir of the king and the future king if Andal law is followed and due to that, he must set an example to his siblings and must behave as a Prince. Him being drunk all the time and not acting like a Prince is wrong and is damaging his reputation and she and Otto are trying to toughen him up.

As for her slapping him when Aemond lost his eye, that is a genuine reaction from most mothers as they always punish the older brother if the younger one gets into some shit as the older one was supposed to look after him and protect him.

That is exactly how one is prepared for kingship of one is like Aegon as drunk people aren't going to try and learn anything unless they stop drinking and I don't think the concept of depression exists in Westeros or if it does, it isn't for men there

[DesSantorinaiou]
Everything needs its context. Alicent DID abuse Aegon. That said, she was scared shitless that he and Aemond would end up getting killed unless they were dutiful, skilled and had each other's backs. From her perspective Aegon is risking himself and his brother too by only caring for pleasure and having no regard of the bigger picture and of consequences. The idea of 'slapping some sense into someone' in a medieval-based world is not strange at all, especially with Alicent's neurotic fearfulness and her lack of any support mechanisms in mind. It is also a good way to show Alicent's failings as a mother while acting out of love and to establish the juxtaposition between those and the very different quality of Rhaenyra's failings as a mother while being very soft and loving with her sons. For all of the show's faults, this was well done.

[Veszerin]
That is putting modern morality into it. It's only in the last few decades that research in child psychology has shown the long-term negative effects that corporal punishment of children can have and experts have been advising against it. It was a common accepted practice both for parents and for the child's schools.

As recently as a 2006 survey, 80% of parents in England supported parents smacking their child as discipline as a necessary part of child rearing.

In the US, a survey in 2004 found 61% of respondents felt regular spanking was an acceptable form of punishment.

Example Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Art Gallery

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  Alicent Hightower by karmavirtanen

Resources & Links

• Alicent Hightower, Queen Alicent, and Alicent tags and on Tumblr
• Alicent Hightower at Archive of Our Own