People Compare House of the Dragon's Alicent to Cersei, But They Are Not The Same
Alicent does have a similar vibe, but the two are still very different, according to fans.
Warning: the following article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 6
In episode 6, both Rhaenyra and Alicent are aged ten years, and their relationship seems be growing out of their childhood friendship. From the start of the episode, Alicent seems to be petty and mean towards Rhaenyra and her family. First, she would summon her right after she gave birth only to "innocently" point out that the child does not look like her husband Laenor.
Then, she happens to imply that she would be happy if her father, Otto Hightower, returned to the king's court if only something would put House Strong out of the way. This "something" turns out to be Ser Harwin's own brother, Larys, who goes as far as to kill his brother and father in the fire only to suck up to Alicent.
The events of the sixth episode have prompted comparisons between Alicent and Queen Cersei from Game of Thrones — another strong female character who would not think twice when she needed to get rid of her enemies.
However, that is exactly where the difference between the two lies, according to fans who believe Alicent lacks the stamina that Cersei had.
"I'm going to respectfully ask people to stop comparing Alicent to Cersei. Cersei was a lot of things, but she was always true to her nature, unlike little Ms. Holier than thou and all her self-righteous hypocrisy," Twitter user _finalgirlx argued.
The way the two characters are hate-worthy is also different, fans say.
"Anyway Alicent is intimately aware of how Westerosi patriarchy works and weaponizes it against low born and high born women alike for the sake of her personal ambitions and societal biases. Her internalized misogyny and self-hatred is much different from Cersei's." – @libraIogy
Others, on the contrary, argued that Alicent is not as bad as Cersei... yet.
"Yall draggin it. Cersei killed her husband, had kids with her brother, tormented a little girl, blew up a church and had a nun r***** to death. Alicent deplorable and a hater, but she ain't that," Twitter user YallDoIASFWrong insisted.
After some people suggested that Cersei would idolize Alicent, many people begged to differ.
"Why would Cersei, a woman that wants to be the queen and is sick of the men that are blocking her way, idolise Alicent who did everything in her power to prevent a woman from ruling?? She's a Rhaenyra stan she told me herself." – @padmeidala
Internalized misogyny and the painful impact of patriarchy on society is one of the core topics of House of the Dragon, according to the creative team behind the show. We will get to see even more repercussions of it in the next four episodes. House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering on Sundays.