Let House of the Dragon’s Women Be Evil

2 days ago 3

By Nate Jones, a Vulture elder writer covering movies and popular culture

The radical we conscionable successful House of the Dragon’s root material, Fire & Blood, are not characters successful the accepted sense. The publication takes the signifier of a humanities substance told done aggregate superior sources, each biased successful their ain way. The astir fleshed-out figures are fortunate if they get a azygous defining trait, the others are small much than cardboard cutouts with hard-to-spell names. This affords the writers and performers of House of the Dragon great leeway erstwhile it comes to characterization. From large players similar eternally on-edge Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) to insignificant roles specified arsenic Simon Russell Beale’s bone-dry Simon Strong, the show’s renderings are acold much interesting, acold much human, than their publication counterparts.

However, 1 facet of House of the Dragon’s coloring extracurricular the lines of the archetypal substance has fallen abbreviated of the show’s different high standards: These women aren’t evil enough!

From the off, the amusement has labored to soften the depictions of dueling royal ladies Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. Fire & Blood’s versions are meant to beryllium work arsenic misogynist propaganda, tribunal gossip hardened into humanities legend. Alicent is presented arsenic a sexually manipulative schemer, Rhaenyra a vengeful harpy. The adaptation purports to amusement the nonsubjective truth, which necessitates a much nuanced approach: Each is present granted sympathetic shadings with Alicent and Rhaenyra, alongside the latter’s state Princess Rhaenys, portrayed arsenic the uncommon Westerosi leaders sensible capable to foresee the devastation of a dragon-on-dragon war. While the men astir them rage for battle, these women are the past ones holding retired the anticipation of peace.

On a thematic level, this was undoubtedly the close move. But connected a plotting level, it’s liable for House of the Dragon’s biggest groaners. As my workfellow Roxana Hadadi notes, the show’s timidity astir making immoderate quality excessively villainous ensures large crippled points hinge connected misunderstandings and coincidence. This happens with the babygirls successful the antheral cast: Aemond ne'er meant to termination Jacaerys, and Daemon ne'er explicitly told assassins to execution a toddler; some kinda conscionable happened. But it’s particularly notable for the women, with the writers’ impulse to soften the story’s harshest elements leaving galore of these characters strangely lacking agency. Alicent’s determination to backmost the Green coup comes not from coldhearted ambition, arsenic it did successful the books, but from her mistaking 1 Aegon for another, a mix-up Jen Chaney correctly pegs arsenic much due for a sitcom. This distancing effect tin besides beryllium seen successful play two’s attack to Rhaenyra’s Mistress of Whisperers, Mysaria. In Fire & Blood, she was a afloat subordinate successful the Blood and Cheese affair, portion the amusement establishes her arsenic a important go-between who is nevertheless wholly disconnected the hook morally. Swerve hard from 1 acceptable of stereotypes and you often upwind up with different — successful this case, a chiseled sex essentialism successful which women are uniformly benevolent but besides a small spot naïve.

In its hesitance to let women to explicit antagonistic emotion, House of the Dragon leaves them feeling curiously detached. Rhaenyra’s lad was killed successful acold humor at the extremity of play one, but the amusement hasn’t treated it arsenic the breaking constituent it was successful the books. This Rhaenyra has the forbearance of a Buddha, and portion the amusement is intelligibly drafting a opposition betwixt her patience and the impetuousness of Aegon II, it besides means its main quality has spent 3 episodes (almost fractional the season) not doing overmuch of anything. Alicent has undergone a akin alteration. While I find her matter with Criston Cole deliciously tacky, her shame astatine being caught in flagrante the nighttime of Blood and Cheese has overshadowed immoderate benignant of choler implicit the information that her young grandson was brutally slain successful her ain house. In Sunday’s episode, “The Burning Mill,” she went truthful acold arsenic to brushwood disconnected Jaehaerys’s death, saying she cared little for him than for her grieving daughter. Alicent channeling the calamity into self-hatred is an absorbing note, but I can’t assistance wondering however the realm coiled up with 2 leaders who hardly clasp a grudge implicit matters of infanticide.

House of the Dragon’s penchant for patchwork solutions to the occupation of pistillate aggression reaches highest silliness successful “The Burning Mill.” The books archer america Rhaenyra “prepared for war” aft the coronation of Aegon II, but the amusement pits her against a bevy of foolish antheral advisers who effort to sideline her portion ignoring her penchant for peace. She’s right, of course, that a warfare volition destruct the kingdom, but the mode the writers person chosen to dramatize this makes her look daffy. Rhaenyra’s maestro program turns retired to beryllium sneaking into King’s Landing dressed arsenic a septa successful an effort to person Alicent to unilaterally extremity hostilities — a country much suited to a telenovela than a bid with prestige aspirations. (Most likely, this was HOTD bowing to TV logic that says you’ve simply got to enactment your strongest actors onscreen together, crippled beryllium damned.) The speech went nowhere, due to the fact that determination was obscurity for it to go. House of the Dragon’s Rhaenyra “prefers diplomacy” arsenic a quality trait, but she can’t really do diplomacy. In the words of our recapper Amanda Whiting, “This is Rhaenyra’s 1 past stab astatine keeping her father’s bid and his throne each astatine the aforesaid time, but she’s not really prepared to springiness thing up.”

I’ve seen speculation from fans that HOTD sanding down Rhaenyra’s little sympathetic sides could beryllium a absorption to the backlash implicit Game of Thrones’s ending. Viewers already revolted erstwhile 1 dragon-riding girlboss broke bad, the reasoning goes, and present the writers are disquieted astir coating different Targaryen queen successful excessively antagonistic a light. We should get a trial of that soon. With each alternatives to warfare exhausted, the Dance of the Dragons volition ramp up majorly successful the coming weeks. A batch of characters are astir to clasp their worst selves — and it volition beryllium to everyone’s payment if Rhaenyra and Alicent are among them.