Warning: This put up comprises spoilers for Home of the Dragon.
It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it second within the Season 1 finale of Home of the Dragon, however Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey, then Olivia Cooke) items Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock, then Emma D’Arcy) a web page from a guide that the 2 erstwhile pals mentioned manner again in Episode 1 of the present.
Alicent’s father Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) travels to Dragonstone to supply Rhaenyra phrases of peace. If Rhaenyra bends the knee to Alicent’s son Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), Aegon will let Rhaenyra maintain Dragonstone. Otto additionally fingers Rhaenyra an envelope. Rhaenyra opens it and pulls out a folded-up web page torn from a guide.
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If that web page seems to be acquainted, it’s as a result of Alicent learn it to Rhaenyra originally of the season whereas the 2 sat below a tree in King’s Touchdown. The passage within the historical past guide pertained to Princess Nymeria—who, sure, is the namesake of Arya’s direwolf in Recreation of Thrones and is an all-around fairly badass girl.
Rhaenyra seems to be paying little consideration to the lesson, however when Alicent grows fed up and walks away, Rhaenyra begins rattling off info about Princess Nymeria. Princess Nymeria of Rhoyne led 10,000 ships throughout the Slim Sea to flee Valyrian enemies. She married Mors Martell of Dorne and burned her fleet to show to her people who they’d now not be on the run.
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Rhaenyra tears the web page out of the guide and fingers it to Alicent “so she’ll keep in mind it.” On its face, Alicent’s choice to ship that web page again to Rhaenyra indicators that she does keep in mind a time when the 2 had been pals.
But when solely Alicent had learn up extra on Nymeria, she would possibly perceive the irony of her personal actions. Although Rhaenyra doesn’t say so in that scene below the tree, Nymeria’s home, after years of conquest, took over Dorne, and Nymeria dominated as Princess of Dorne for extra twenty years. She survived over a dozen assassination makes an attempt, quelled two totally different rebellions, and drove again a few invasions. She abolished gender-based succession in Dorne, and her eldest daughter succeeded her.
It’s a bit of wealthy for Alicent to ship Rhaenyra a historical past of a ruler who abolished gender-based succession—after main a coup to put her son on the throne based mostly on the premise that his elder sister shouldn’t inherit the crown. (It was equally eye roll inducing when Alicent informed the Queen Who By no means Was, Rhaenys, final week that she was higher suited to rule than Viserys whereas concurrently lobbying Rhaenys to help her drunken son Aegon II’s clain to the Iron Throne.)
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As Rhaenys observers, Alicent appears incapable of imagining herself throwing off the shackles of the patriarchy and would favor to easily create a window in her jail. If solely she learn extra of that historical past guide about Nymeria for inspiration.
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