Wild Theory Will Change How You See Alicent and Rhaenyra's Rivalry Completely
Like Game of Thrones – and like many well-crafted stories in general – House of the Dragon is packed with symbolism that showrunners are casually leaving in plain sight.
Also, like so many popular shows, it is packed with pretexts for shipping characters with each other. Well, in case of Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra "pretext" might be too weak a word.
It is believed that Miguel Sapochnik (Executive Producer/Showrunner), Milly Alcock (young Rhaenyra), and Emily Carey (young Alicent) were all aware and complicit in effectuating a romantic subtext in Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship,
And one TikTok user points out how cleverly the showrunners used symbolism to create said subtext.
As it happens, Alicent and Rhaenyra have been performing incomplete weddings (or twisted versions of them) based on fictional religions in George R.R. Martin's Westeros.
For starters, a part of the wedding ceremony of the dominant religion of Westeros, Faith of the Seven, involves a "cloaking" where the groom removes his bride's cloak of protection (a symbol of her House) and replaces it with his own cloak of protection (a symbol of his oath to protect her no matter the cost.)
But in Season 1 there is a scene where Alicent and Rhaenrya each place a cloak over the other's shoulders; in Episode 1, The Heirs of the Dragon, where Alicent helps Rhaenyra prepare for the ceremony where the Westerosi nobles are going to swear fealty to Rhaenyra as the King's heir.
Deleted scene images, released by series director, Greg Yaitanes, feature another scene of cloak exchange, where Rhaenyra helps Alicent prepare for her wedding to King Viserys Targaryen.
The second important religion in Westeros is the faith of the Old Gods. Its wedding ceremony is generally shorter, and does not require a priest. Its most distinguishing feature is bride and groom clasping hands, with a white cloth wrapped around them. And their vows go "I am yours and you are mine…"
Alicent and Rhaenyra's "Old Gods' wedding ceremony" occurs in House of the Dragon Episode 4, where Alicent questions Rhaenyra's virtue. The sequence involves one girl walking towards the other waiting by the Weirwood tree, an accusation followed by a fight, and then reconciliation where they both reaffirm their bond by swearing to tell each other the truth. (There is also a similar deleted scene as well.)
Too bad that Rhaenyra does not tell the truth there, and thus the meaning of the ceremony is inverted – in fact, her lie before the weeping heart tree becomes the exact point where their relationship goes sour permanently.
And there is even more to the wedding theory than that! So, by no means all that symbolism can be unintentional.