On House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra Targaryen became her own worst enemy. She went from the sweet, timid girl we met in episode one to a woman willing to burn down the entirety of Westeros to settle a grudge against her former best friend. Though she claims to be interested in upending Westeros’ political systems, the first season of HOTD traces Rhaenyra’s path from an idealistic young woman to a canny operator, willing to undermine her principles in order to retain a hold on power.
Transcript
How did Rhaenyra Targaryen go from the spunky little girl we met in episode one to a woman willing to go to war against her former best friend? Though House of the Dragon follows several members of the extended Targaryen family, the show’s main protagonist is Rhaenyra – the first woman to be named heir to the Iron Throne.And though she claims to be interested in upending Westeros’ political systems, the first season of House of the Dragon traces Rhaenyra’s path from an idealistic young woman to a canny operator, willing to undermine her principles in order to establish and retain her power. Here’s our take on how Rhaenyra became the very thing she hated most.
Rhaenyra: “I’m Queen Rhaenyra now”
Season 1, Episode 10
Rhaenyra’s Ideals
It’s made clear from the beginning that Rhaenyra doesn’t really want power in the same way that everyone else in King’s Landing does. What Rhaenyra wants most is to be left alone.
But thanks to her royal fate, she’s placed in a highly visible position of authority – one that comes with big demands and responsibilities. Despite this, at every turn, she tries her hardest to be free and live according to her own desires, ignoring what she is quote-unquote “supposed” to do because of who her father is. And though Rhaenyra has a few opportunities to pretend to be someone else—especially when she visits the underbelly of King’s Landing with Daemon—she ultimately has to return to being Rhaenyra Targaryen, with everything that name entails. Without the opportunity to live the life she wants, she instead becomes focused on the power she will gain once Viserys dies. Because if she can’t be truly free, then she wants to fundamentally remake the government of Westeros in her image – a different kind of freedom she can settle for.
Rhaenyra: “When I’m queen, I will create a new order.”
Season 1, Episode 2
In particular, young Rhaenyra wants to both live in and create a Westeros that is kinder to women. She spends much of her adolescence resisting her father Viserys’ demand that she marry and begin having children. After all, her own mother died in childbirth – in a particularly gruesome fashion that we got to see in the first episode.It’s no wonder that Rhaenyra above all wants to avoid having children.
Rhaenyra: “My mother was made to produce heirs until it killed her. I won’t subject myself to the same fate.”
Season 1, Episode 4
Rhaenyra also pursues her own sexual agency with Ser Criston – deciding to live for what she wants. This is what makes Rhaenyra’s character so appealing – we love a rebel – and she staunchly opposes the archaic traditions of Westeros’ ruling class.
Rhaenyra: “ I do not wish to get married.”
Viserys: “Even I do not exist above tradition and duty, Rhaenyra.”
Season 1, Episode 3
This is all in sharp contrast to Alicent, who accepts those traditions and duties throughout her life without pushback. When her father suggests that she ingratiate herself with the king, she does it. She marries the much-older Viserys without complaint, and though she doesn’t enjoy having his children, she still makes an effort to embody the role of queen.
Alicent: “A true queen counts the cost to her people”
Season 1, Episode 2
The tension between Rhaenyra’s birthright and her own desires find their fullest expression in her relationship with her father. Even though Viserys named her heir, she lives with the knowledge that he would have preferred a son—and in fact, hastened her mother’s death in the pursuit of a male heir and the whispers throughout Westeros doubting Viserys’ decision definitely don’t help.
An Adult Reality
As House of the Dragon jumps forward in time, we start to see a more adult Rhaenyra making a series of choices that would have horrified her younger self. For most of her childhood, Rhaenyra steadfastly opposes all of her father’s attempts to arrange a wedding for her––but then she actively rejects a possible opportunity to actually gain the freedom she claims to want. After she sleeps with Ser Criston, he offers to marry her and run away to Essos, where they could be anonymous and free of their duties. Rhaenyra turns him down—because ultimately she needs the comforts and privileges that her position provides to her. Instead, Rhaenyra tries to convince Ser Criston to continue to break his oath of chastity as her secret lover, an arrangement that would work well for her while forcing him to live in shame. Rhaenyra’s once “rebellious attitude” starts to be portrayed as an inherent selfishness. She wants all of the benefits of her role, without the less glamorous responsibilities. To the point where, when she does eventually get married – she and her husband Laenor agree to have an open marriage – something she knows could ultimately create a crisis for their family and complicate their bloodline.
And when it becomes politically expedient years later, Rhaenyra unflinchingly arranges marriages for her own children, in order to strengthen her alliance with Rhaenys and House Velaryon. And even later when Rhaenyra does choose her own spouse, it’s ultimately for political reasons. Rather than spurring progress and bringing modernity to the system like she once swore she would – she ends up relying on ancient Targaryen traditions when she marries Daemon as a way of benefiting her own position.
Rhaenyra: “With you as my husband and prince consort, my claim would not be so easily challenged.”
Season 1, Episode 7
Of course, the biggest betrayal of Rhaenyra’s younger self is the fact that she had children at all. Though she feared and hated the idea of childbirth, she eventually goes out of her way to have a child with Daemon—again, as a way of strengthening her own hold on power. And while she originally wanted to find her own path in life and sought total freedom, some of Rhaenyra’s biggest setbacks come because of her concern for her sons—especially after Lucerys wounds Aemond’s eye. While Rhaenyra tries to maintain a tentative peace with Alicent, she decides to fully commit to war only after her son Lucerys is killed. Her conflict may have initially been defined by her own agenda, but she’s slowly become defined by motherhood.
Rhaenyra: “My father looked after me and helped to prepare me for my duties. Your mother will do the same for you.”
Season 1, Episode 10
So what causes Rhaenyra’s change, and is she really betraying her own ideals? Consider the changes in her friendship, rivalry, and eventual outright hostility with Alicent. At first, Alicent is actually the kinder and more empathetic of the two girls. Rhaenyra, on the other hand, claims to want to live outside of the royal family, but still shows some early signs of enjoying her power over others.But Alicent’s kindness eventually becomes muddied with ulterior motives—especially in her relationship with Viserys. Despite being blindsided – Rhaenyra tacitly agrees to Alicent and Viserys’ marriage as a way of avoiding another, potentially more dangerous choice– and their union fundamentally changes the nature of their friendship. Alicent is now the queen and legally Rhaenyra’s stepmother, meaning that she’s in a position of power above Rhaenyra—at least while Viserys is still alive. Rhaenyra loses her best friend and closest confidant at a pivotal time in her life. Alicent may have gained a husband and a queenship, but she also lost a friendship. The young women drift apart – the trajectories of their lives permanently altered. And as Alicent gives Viserys children, more importantly, a son – Rhaenyra’s former best friend becomes the mother of the very thing that could threaten her claim to the throne.
Alicent: “I find I have few friends lately. All anyone sees when they look at me now is the queen.”
Season 1, Episode 4
The contrast deepens in their respective relationships with their fathers. Other than her marriage, Viserys has been pretty hands-off with Rhaenyra. She already has power and simply wants her father to respect and admire her the way he would have seen a firstborn son.
Whereas, since childhood, Alicent has been used by her father for his own political gain. Both Rhaenyra and Alicent eventually come to see tradition and hierarchy as a weapon, albeit from fundamentally different perspectives. Where Rhaenyra struggles against the traditions that would bind her to the subservient role of women in Westerosi society, Alicent begrudgingly accepts them – and then uses them to her advantage. She learned from her father that she must work to advance her position – and to cloak her ambitions under the guise of duty.
As time passes, Alicent’s resentment and jealousy of Rhaenyra grows—both because of the way Rhaenyra does as she pleases and because Alicent isn’t afforded that same freedom.
Alicent: “What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law.”
Season 1, Episode 7
Rhaenyra and Alicent’s hostilities come to a head in the wake of their sons’ fight, which both leaves Aemond without an eye and threatens to bring Rhaenyra’s indiscretions out into the open. By now, Alicent has become used to power, and demands a literal eye for an eye. On the other hand, Rhaenyra is able to contain herself – and rely on the privileges that she previously scorned— the line of succession is the most important thing, and shields both her and her children from her own infidelity.
Rhaenyra: “My sons are in line to inherit the Iron Throne, Your Grace. This is the highest of treasons.”
Season 1, Episode 8
Both Rhaenyra and Alicent have suffered as a result of the system they may not like but were ultimately born into – forced to play the game put in front of them as the Targaryen empire begins to crumble. And both of them end up investing their hopes and dreams into their children being the ones to continue that system, rather than breaking it.
Conclusion
On one hand, Rhaenyra gives in to many of the worst and most damning instincts of the Targaryen family, and of Westeros’ political system. But on the other hand, her thirst for power makes sense—the only way for her to have the freedom she craves is to actually be the person who holds all of the power. So, in many ways, she’s still the confident, often defiant girl we saw in episode one.
As rebellious as Rhaenyra is or was, she didn’t want it to come to war, but soon realizes that it must. With the show teeing up a bloody second season, we’ll see just how far Rhaenyra will go to claim what’s rightfully hers.
Rhaenyra: “I thought I wanted it, but the burden is a heavy one.”
Season 1, Episode 8