Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for episodes 1-5 of The House of the Dragon and Fire and Blood.When Dragon House began broadcasting, many fans of the source material Fire and blood was quick to point out key differences between the book and the series. While some of the changes were questioned, many of them made sense to adapt a story told from multiple perspectives and unreliable narrators. One of the key changes to the series was the addition of friendship between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Millie Alcock) and Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey). Their friendship has become the center of most of the conflicts since the beginning of the series. This addition added a backbone to the conflict between the two characters and added depth to the upcoming war between the two women.
AT Fire and blood, the story of the Targary civil war, also known as the Dance of the Dragons, is told through numerous accounts of events and uses fictional, unreliable narrators. Not said like Song of Ice and Fire through novels that alternate between the characters’ points of view, but instead act like a book that could exist in Westeros as a period piece. And so the show took a lot of liberties with regards to adapting the lyrics.
Changes in Alycent and Rainier’s relationship start from the very beginning
At the beginning of the series, Alycent and Reynira are two young girls from King’s Landing who grew up together in the Red Keep. This is where the first significant difference between the book and the series appears. Although Rainier and Alicent are the same age in the series, this is not the case in the book. When the show starts, both Reynira and Alicent are 14 years old, while in the book they not only have a nine year age difference, but Alicent is said to be 18 when she marries Viserys in the book, at that time how Rainier was only nine years old. years.
While the animosity between Alycente and Rhaenyra lies at the heart of a civil war that would lead to the near extinction of the Targaryen bloodline, it is never given a context other than “they don’t love each other”. The show takes a more exciting route and gives the writers plenty of options to prepare for the upcoming war. Having made two characters of the same age, Dragon House can cultivate this friendship among themselves, which was not in the novel.
Rayneera and Alicent were portrayed as best friends who just wanted to break out of their convention. The first episode made it clear that their connection is strong, they need each other and rely on each other in difficult times. There has been a lot of talk about the romantic undertones that the relationship had at the beginning of the series, and Emily Carey herself has spoken about it in an interview where she admits that while they intentionally played it this way, it’s more about the fact. that in this emerging age it can be difficult to understand the difference between romantic and platonic relationships.
The rupture of their friendship begins when Alicente marries Viserys.
But at its core, this relationship was also that of two young women who wanted to break out of their worlds and were torn apart by their fathers and their ambitions. The rupture of the friendship between Rainier and Alycent is a reaction to the environment. Her father, Otto HightowerRhys Ifans), makes Alicent visit Viserys (Patty Considine) after the death of his wife to form an emotional bond with him, and she has no real choice but to marry him and bear him children. By the end of the show, she may become a villain in the eyes of many, but at the beginning she is the product of her father’s ambition, a pawn with no say in what she wants.
On the other hand, you have Reynira, who never forgives Alicent - or her father to a lesser extent - not only in marriage, but also in a clear hint that her best friend hid the fact that she began a relationship with her. father. The moment Viserys announces that he will marry Alycent is the beginning of a break in their relationship based on the feeling of being betrayed by Rhaenyra.
Alicent breaks off their friendship when she arrives in her green dress.
With the reveal of Kriston Cole (Fabienne Frankel) romance with Rainier, Alicente becomes the person described in the book. The idea is that Reynira may have slept with someone before marriage and lied to Alicent about it keeping them apart. The moment Alycent shows up at the wedding in green at her father’s house, she chooses her side and completely destroys any friendship that might have been maintained between her and Reynira.
Arriving in a green dress - to what some call the Green Wedding - is part of two factions. The Greens, those who would support Alycente’s son Aegon for the throne, and the Blacks, those who would support Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne.
Creating this friendship and talking about what will happen after the ten year time jump in Episode 6, Dragon House reinforces the animosity between Alicente and Rainier. While Alicent may still be perceived as a villain, there is context. Earlier in the book, Alicente was nothing more than a power-hungry woman who wanted to put her son on the throne. Alicente is more specific and is the product of her father’s ambition; she doesn’t just want power, there’s so much more out there.
And this is where the idea of what could become a romantic relationship — or be perceived as such — is fascinating. As the actions of both Alicente and the Rhaenyrs would begin the fall of their bloodline or Targaryen dynasty, the two young women were separated and reacted in the only way they knew how. Although there is a lot going on in the series, and many other actions are related to the upcoming civil war, one thing is clear. The broken friendship of two teenage girls is at the heart of everything, at the beginning of everything, because if Viserys just does what many think is right and marries Laena Velaryon, then perhaps the Doom of Dragons will never end. happened.
Source: Collider
