Look, in the first season of House of the Dragon everything was clearly designed for a love triangle between Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), Rhaenyra Targaryen (Millie Alcock), and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), but it was not explored.
Today Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is married to her uncle, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) after having been Ser Harwin Strong’s (Ryan Corr) lover for over 10 years, she barely thinks about Ser Criston, but he has never forgotten his rejection and is Queen Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) greatest ally. This almost intimate relationship remained platonic, even though many doubted their mutual chastity. According to the leaks of the second season, we will have a new (secret) and official couple. That’s right, guys: #colecent or #cristalicent, I still don’t know what they’re calling it. Are we going to see the impact of this change in the narrative?
Envy and jealousy: the source of hatred and passion
When they were young, Alicent was already obedient and introverted and Rhaenyra was impulsive and reckless, but they were friends and confidants. In this brief moment, the two do not have a true perspective of what could happen, they just know that one day they will marry someone of power, according to their parents’ choice, but that is the maximum they can hope for.
In the first episode, the two are enchanted by the exoticism of the mysterious knight of Dorne who wins the duel with Daemon Targaryen and then joins the royal guard, taking care of the crown princess. The writers’ observations say that when Daemon asks Alicent to be his lady, Rhaenyra becomes jealous. But when the two see Cole, the situation is reversed as he chooses Rhaenyra. Alicent secretly resents being in her friend’s shadow.
Social rules only destroy this initially sincere friendship between the future enemies, with Alicent, who is not a princess, being the first casualty. Her father plants her in the life of King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) to seduce and marry him. As actress Emily Carey assessed in 2022 for Variety magazine: “Marrying Viserys is a choice. But it was never her choice. The choice was made by the men around her. The amount of misogyny Rhaenyra faces, Alicent receives the same amount. What’s so heartbreaking about this whole situation are these two young women, neither of them is in control at any point. Their lives are basically being dictated by their parents,” she explained.
Rhaenyra considers it a betrayal when she discovers that her best friend will be her stepmother and their relationship is never the same again.
Some believe in #rhaenicent as the problem
There is a strong current that argues that the real drama is the forbidden and unconsummated love between Alicent and Rhaenyra, especially fueled by the leader of the Greens. Neither Millie nor Emily ruled out the possibility, leaving fans to decide. “We weren’t ‘making them gay’ or ‘queerbaiting’ or anything like that. It’s just that if you want to read it and see it like that, do it. If you want to see them as more than friends, do that. If not, then don’t do it,” followed Emily. “They are 14-year-old girls, they don’t know the difference between platonic and romantic. They don’t even know what words mean, much less what feelings mean.”
And going back to the script of the first episode, as the showrunner made clear in the notes, Alicent has a crush on Ser Criston, but she is married to a man 30 years older than her, in a loving relationship but without sexual ardor. As Queen, she could never risk cheating on her husband and she ends up sublimating the sex of her life. The consequence of all this is that she starts to expect everyone to follow the rules as she does. Her existential crisis will come when only she has to be correct.
Who lied to whom first?
In the first years of marriage, Alicent tried to be a good stepmother to her friend, ignoring her father’s venom regarding the princess and encouraging Viserys to keep her as heir, as well as being influential in letting her friend choose her husband, something she couldn’t do herself. All in vain for an angry Rhaenyra.
The scene in which the future Targaryen Queen confronts her (former) friend for marrying her father was cut from Season 1, but we know that she felt deeply hurt when she discovered that Alicent was meeting Viserys in secret. Isolated and resentful, she began to count on Ser Criston’s company and trust. The route for the collision was set.
By taking a stand in favor of Rhaenyra, Alicent made her father more vulnerable and transparent in his strategy for Power, something she did not intend and tried to avoid in vain. Until then, young Alicent believed in the connection she had with Rhaenyra and the fact that they were both motherless also united them. But when Alicent discovers that not only did Rhaenyra lie to her, but that Viserys also covered up the truth, everything changes radically. In addition to being considered a fool by both of them, Alicent was not even a confidant to either of them. For her, only her father was punished for telling the truth and therefore stripped of his title. The hypocrisy was stunning and the last straw came with the revelation of who actually slept with Rhaneyra: precisely Alicent’s secret crush.
The green queen discovers the truth when she confronts Ser Criston to confirm whether Daemon has slept with his niece. She didn’t expect to hear that her friend had seduced her bodyguard and that she was about to marry someone else.
“She goes through so many emotions at once – a cocktail of all those feelings,” Emily commented to Variety. “Firstly, there is the betrayal of ‘You lied to me’. Then it’s the betrayal of ‘Wait, you slept with him and I’m in love with him, and you know it. That’s not fair.’ Alicent is all about duty, through and through. It’s always duty versus heart with her… I’m glad I showed how she became this angry woman. And I think that scene is a turning point,” the actress explained.
The turnaround created a bond between the despised duo. A fatal combination for Rhaenyra.
The hate of a rejected man
Ser Criston Cole closely followed Rhaenyra’s life without romantic hopes, after all, she was a princess and he swore an oath not to have a wife or children. However, when she seduces him, he believes that it is love and she will abandon everything to live with him. When she realizes that was never Rhaenyra’s plan, he feels used, prostituted, and scorned.
Alicent “saves” him by both keeping the secret and forgiving him for her deviation. She becomes the only person to share her hurt opinion of Rhaenyra: an inconsequential, irresponsible, and inept woman to be Queen. He hates Rhaenyra, her children, and her husbands. Everything that represents order, respect, loyalty, and honor are the Hightowers, and, in particular, Alicent.
The fact that the leaks suggest that now that she is a widow – finally – Alicent will seek out at least one night of carnal pleasure, is ultra-relevant and important. Sleeping with Cole is a possibility to be free and irresponsible like never before. Let’s agree that she deserves it?
If the leaked scene is true, Alicent will feel abandoned by her Faith and will invite Cole to her room. Unlike the insecurity he felt with Rhaenyra, both he and Alicent will be determined. “Was it like that when you spoiled your vows for the first time?”, the Queen will ask to hear an affirmative from him.
There are more details in the script, but the point is that – if it’s true – the confusion will be even greater. It makes perfect sense to me that the hypocrisy they both so fiercely condemn is part of their lives. And the best part? Rhaenyra doesn’t mind that for a second. 10 days left!
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