Tragic Truth Behind House of the Dragon's Most Hated Character
You can hate him, but you can't deny he was also wronged.
When House of the Dragon premiered on HBO, viewers were once again forced to divide themselves into teams.
With the trauma of the Game of Thrones finale still fresh in their minds, fans weren't ready to invest in the story right away, but sooner or later, every viewer found themselves sympathizing with Team Black or Team Green.
Although one of them undeniably got more supporters than the other.
A major object of hatred towards Team Green is the new king himself, Aegon II, portrayed in the series by Tom Glynn-Carney.
The son of Alicent Hightower and Viserys I, he's considered the rightful king by the commoners, but a usurper by half the noble houses in the realm.
The first season of the show gave viewers a backstory of everything that led up to the war for the throne.
And even though Aegon was portrayed as a weak and almost always drunk sexual predator, viewers couldn't help but notice what led up to it.
The truth is even more obvious to book readers: Aegon was never truly loved or accepted. Every child he surrounded himself with was someone's favorite.
While Rhaenyra was willing to protect all of her children, just like her own father, who clearly favored her over his children with Alicent, Alicent himself did not show such devotion to all of his children.
Based on both the books and the movie, Alicent had her favorite, who was Aemond. Otto, the grandfather of all the Hightower children, seemed to favor Helaena, as did her own brother Aemond.
Daeron, who has not been seen in the series but may appear in season 2 at an older age, has been described as Alicent's favorite son, loved by many.
Not only did Aegon II never want to be King of the Realm, he was never prepared for the task, having been ignored by his family over the years.
There is no justification for the sexual assaults and violence he participated in during his adult years, but you can definitely see and understand where the trauma came from in the first place.
While House of the Dragon season 2 is still in the early production stages, you can rewatch the first one on MAX. Keep an eye out to not miss the official release date!