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[Dr.Guru of Peru]

She literally says I want Aemond Targaryan after she returns after finding her son's remains. So she wanted Aemond when says son for a son and Alicent offers up Aemond to her telling her where he will be and when he will attack, and shes like nah I want Aegon. Besides, if the whole son for a son thing was real then surely they were even when Aegon's fucking 5 year old was beheaded alive in front of his mom.

it just doesnt make any sense. They spent the whole season with her NOT wanting to start a war going as far as to sneak into kings landing to hold peace talks with Alicent. What was her plan then? To have Alicent convince Aegon to let Rhynera kill him? What's changed now?

I wouldnt be surprised if they made up all these scenes because they simply dont make any sense whatsoever. I highly doubt George wouldve written this mess.

This ignores that a lot has changed since she first snuck into KL. Most importantly, the war she was trying to avoid has already broken out. Aegon abdicating his claim might have been sufficient prior to outright hostilities breaking out, but the price for ending the war is going to be much higher now that the Greens have raised a massive army that has killed allies and burned towns. Aegon has also proven that he is willing and able to go to war to pursue his claim to the throne. Even if he were to bend the knee, the prospect of restoring him would remain and the threat of renewed civil war would never go away.

Also, who says she doesn't want Aemond? Alicent gave up his plan right off the bat but also gave Rhaenyra a way to end the war. Rhaenyra wants both of their heads - Aemond as a blood payment, but Aegon's to end the war. Given what we've seen from her, it makes sense she would choose to end the war before going after a personal vendetta.

 

[jason10mm]

This ignores that a lot has changed since she first snuck into KL. Most importantly, the war she was trying to avoid has already broken out. Aegon abdicating his claim might have been sufficient prior to outright hostilities breaking out, but the price for ending the war is going to be much higher now that the Greens have raised a massive army that has killed allies and burned towns. Aegon has also proven that he is willing and able to go to war to pursue his claim to the throne. Even if he were to bend the knee, the prospect of restoring him would remain and the threat of renewed civil war would never go away.

Also, who says she doesn't want Aemond? Alicent gave up his plan right off the bat but also gave Rhaenyra a way to end the war. Rhaenyra wants both of their heads - Aemond as a blood payment, but Aegon's to end the war. Given what we've seen from her, it makes sense she would choose to end the war before going after a personal vendetta.

I would buy this if we hadn't just had AN ENTIRE SEASON of Rhaenyra preaching "delay, defer, deter, demure, denounce, demand, but NEVER STRIKE". She had to be FORCED to send Rhaenys out and that was a HUGE SCORE for her. Sure, she lost an aunt but she took a KING in that exchange and she has the dragons to win a war of attrition. Even in Ep 8 she was saying that she thought having 3 more dragonriders would be enough to "deter" the Blacks (deter from what is a bit nebulous) and her plan to swing out to hit Oldtown and Casterly Rock way over on the west coast is dubious at best. So for her to suddenly start throwing out "what about this, why don't you think about that" to Alicent WHILE SHE'S TRYING TO SURRENDER just seems like a "keep her a girl boss, guys" type moment in them writers room and not how she has been acting most of the season.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Her driving motivation is uniting the kingdom, but her preference would have been to do this with minimal blood shed. She's a young character who starts off as ideological but as the season went on began to understand realpolitik. As you said, just prior to the Alicent scene her hand was forced and she had announced they were going on the attack, having decided that the loss of lives in the battle would be outweighed by those saved from uniting the kingdom. She's shown a few times that she is not averse to spilling blood if it was necessary. Treating with Alicent allows her to avoid this the collateral damage altogether, but it doesn't work if Aegon is kept alive because the threat of future civil war and division in the kingdom will always loom. The head of her traitor half brother versus the thousands of lives that may be lost in an ongoing civil war seems like a fair trade to achieve her goals.

 

[jason10mm]

Her driving motivation is uniting the kingdom, but her preference would have been to do this with minimal blood shed. She's a young character who starts off as ideological but as the season went on began to understand realpolitik. As you said, just prior to the Alicent scene her hand was forced and she had announced they were going on the attack, having decided that the loss of lives in the battle would be outweighed by those saved from uniting the kingdom. She's shown a few times that she is not averse to spilling blood if it was necessary. Treating with Alicent allows her to avoid this the collateral damage altogether, but it doesn't work if Aegon is kept alive because the threat of future civil war and division in the kingdom will always loom. The head of her traitor half brother versus the thousands of lives that may be lost in an ongoing civil war seems like a fair trade to achieve her goals.

Hang on, a fair trade for who exactly? Alicent gives up both her sons and her only grandson so Rhaenyra won't have to fight? What does Rhaenyra give up in this deal? Alicent got no promises to keep the Hightowers or Lannisters (if she cares about them) as lords, no concessions for her granddaughter to marry, no suggestions to send Aegon to the Wall instead of execution (or a conciliatory promise by Rhaenyra to spare him and send him to the Wall). Alicent came with NOTHING, she left with NOTHING, essentially she could have just flown off with Heleana and a couple bags of gold and ended up in the same position (assuming she isn't trying to lure Rhaenyra in).

It was a lame 'negotiation', basically 2 chicks who know nothing, don't know what they are doing, and they ended up with a hollow deal that can't even be made to work (like the Goldcloaks would just throw open the gates to Rhaenyra because Alicent says so). Perfect illustration of "girl boss" writing.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

I was writing from Rhaenyra's perspective. She's negotiating from a position of strength and isn't the one that showed up in the middle of night to sue for peace. As for Alicent, she didn't arrive intending to give up Aegon but the whole point is that she's broken and desperate. She sees that Rhaneyra has the stronger hand, that a Green loss is likely, and that thousands (including Helaenya and Daeron, not to mention her remaining grandchildren) will die in a futile war. Assuming she intends to sacrifice Aegon, she still gets to live the rest of her life in land not ravaged by war knowing that she ensured the safety her daughter and grandchildren.

Halaenya is the queen regent. I'm sure she can convince the Gold Cloaks to open the gates when she explains to them that they're outnumbered six or seven dragons to one, and that she has no intention of using her one.

 

[winjer]

 

[jason10mm]

Cool work those guys do, too bad the directors have NO INTEREST in lingering on swords or armor so the viewer could appreciate the details

Hope he does a video about the fight choreography with the CGI sword tips. IIRC they pioneered that technique with The Witcher and it really should elevate how aggressive and vicious they can be.

 

[SlimySnake]

I just watched Persumed Innocent on Apple TV+. Also an 8 episode season. Absolutely riveting from start to finish. Great acting. No filler episodes. Maybe 2 filler scenes total. Every scene pushes the plot forward. Great direction keeping almost every episode tightly paced and interesting.

The complete opposite of House of Dragon's season 2. Seriously fuck this show.