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the funeral (a grotesque display of two queens’ grief, forced on them against their will) being interjected by images of aegon beating blood into a bloody ruin says something about how women’s grief is exploited and paraded around as a virtue while male grief is only allowed to exist in conjunction with violence.
female sorrow is expected to be public, dignified, and even noble, it serves as a symbol of quiet strength and resilience. otto uses it as a tool to gain sympathy for their cause. notice how he forced alicent and helaena into it, while he allowed aegon not to participate. wouldn‘t the king being at the funeral send a powerful message? yes, it would. but otto looks at aegon with contempt, the other councilmen and alicent do not know what to do with his tears. the realm cannot be allowed to see the king grieve. not like this.
male grief is denied its own space and validity unless it manifests in aggressive or destructive acts. aegon realizes this to some degree too— he lashes out publicly by killing the rat catchers. he shows his grief by being violent, by spilling blood.
the toxicity of it all is very effectively shown at the end when aegon is crying by himself. did he retreat there to be alone and finally let it all out? his mother is either letting him have that moment alone or she’s deeply uncomfortable with it and chooses to leave. no matter what motivated alicent in acting the way she did— the moment still reveals how male vulnerability is something people fear. it shows that even the most human expressions of pain are not acceptable for some.
(note i love both characters very much and i stan both rhaenyra and alicent, just to let you know before you jump on this short little thread and spout hate bc i love their characters and find them both fascinating).
i think there's a very interesting conversation to be had about alicent and rhaenyra BOTH representing facets of 'white feminism' because i see team green stans an team black stans accusing the other of being white feminists. just as a disclaimer neither of them are are ultimately feminists because feminism simply does not exist in medieval times and both of them do not really fight for women as a whole, they are working for their own goals and achievements, but they aren't working for the rights of other women (especially smallfolk women, the most oppressed on the hierarchy).
starting with alicent, i really think she represents the kind of white feminism of using the patriarchy to oppress other women. she becomes embittered with the injustice being done to her and she sees how no one feels sorry for her, so she comes to embrace the system that had made her a victim to oppress other women and strip away their rights (as seen in her silencing dyana or arguing for aegon's right to the iron throne over rhaenyra). many white feminists use the patriarchy as a tool in order to oppress other people all the while focusing on their rights and distancing themselves from their victimization by becoming representations of the patriarchy themselves. alicent is a victim of marital rape, a child bride, a victim of her father's abuse and she sees a way of escaping her victimization by utilizing the very same system that had nearly destroyed her to assert her power over women and making it 'fair.' because if she has to suffer other women must suffer with her, they're not allowed to escape their consequences, they have to follow the order like she did, they have to sacrifice like she did, and they have to follow their duties like she did. and so i really think she is emblematic of the aspect of white feminism of using the patriarchy to oppress other women.
rhaenyra is emblematic of 'white feminism' because she fights for herself and herself alone. of course she wants what's best for her stepdaughters and will protect them, but she doesn't care about the rights of the smallfolk women, because she's content to keep that same system in place so long as she is ruling. she is fighting for her rights as a female heir in the face of men, but that doesn't necessarily extend to other women who have been oppressed and which i think is a key aspect to white feminism, they don't fight for anyone but themselves, it's not intersectional, it's only aligned in their own interests. rhaenyra herself does not pursue oppression of other women like alicent does but she's certainly not helping other women either, she's helping herself and focuses on what will benefit herself and her family.
a very very short but concise analysis because rhaenyra and alicent are two very different characters and they have been oppressed in different ways and so they react differently, they are resilient in their own ways (alicent by embracing the patriarchy/religion that had victimized her in the first place and feeling the need to exact her vengeance on other women. rhaenyra by fighting for her rights and her rights only against the system that she believes has stolen from her). and perhaps 'white feminism' isn't the correct term to use because feminism simply does not exist in these medieval times, but both of them are very emblematic of the term that the greens and the blacks throw at one another because nuance is simply gone and we have to reduce characters to buzzwords and hate them because they defy what we think look like good characters.
The tragedy of Daemon Targaryen is this: the only language he knows for love is violence.
In “King of the Narrow Sea,” we learn that Viserys believes Daemon was their mother’s favorite. Daemon was always sneaking off to win tournaments. Daemon was the great warrior, and Viserys wasn’t. That difference between the boys earned him the larger share of Alyssa’s love, though Daemon demurs, uncharacteristically, when Viserys tells this story.
Daemon often feels pushed aside by those who should love him, chiefly Viserys. But he learned young that love is earned by skill. Love is a boon granted because of what you can do. Daemon is a weapon that he has forged himself. He makes himself the sword.
I’ll purge the city of criminals for you. I’ll go to war for you, and win that war without your help. I’ll kill my wife for you. I’ll defend you. I’ll cut down those who aim to smear you. I will put myself between you and yours and the danger that lurks outside. I will strike the first blow so the harm I fear will befall you never comes. I will only barely be reined in, and only by your word.
(And yes, some of it is pride, some of it is glory. But what is glory if not the admiration of others? What is pride if not the love you set aside for yourself?)
There is love in Daemon Targaryen. Like most characters of his ilk, he appears to feel all of his emotions very strongly, and love is no exception. It is sometimes in gestures, it is hardly in words. It is all in action, action, action.
In the end, Daemon dies fighting.