I miss the missed opportunity of how badass and cunty both Alicent and Rhaenyra could have been. “Bastard blood shed at war” and putting bounty on children who are your own nephew and niece, Alicent putting her son on the throne after hiding her spineless husband's rotting corpse for days, Rhaenyra ambiguously being part of Blood and Cheese, Rhaenyra ambiguously committing brothel queen, Alicent trying to force baby Jaehaera to maim her child husband, Rhaenyra cutting herself on the Iron Throne...

More than Daemon and Aegon II, it's the women of the dance who are defanged and character-assassinated. I mourn the potential Cersei vs Catelyn 2.0 feud between Rhaenyra and Alicent. I don't even mind the show making them childhood best friends and potential lovers. I just rage against the missed opportunity of them becoming an actually toxic yuri couple.

I deeply yearn for the entitled bitchy Rhaenyra, not the poor, misunderstood fawn we got. She’s my favorite character in F&B, and I usually keep that to myself because I don’t want to be mistaken for someone in the “Rhaenyra did nothing wrong” camp. She did do things wrong. She did a lot wrong, and that’s exactly why I love her.

The same goes for Alicent in my eyes, another character I have a great deal of respect for.

I think when we over moralize everyone’s stances with an irl filter, we lose a lot of what actually makes the story compelling.

It’s also wildly oversimplified to frame the conflict as one side being pro-feminism and the other not. One woman has the power to fight for her voice and chooses to do so despite resistance, while the other never truly had a chance to have a voice at all. There is an undeniable power imbalance. Reality, and Westeros, is far more nuanced than fandoms tend to allow.

Aegon II was named heir despite Viserys’ words because convention mattered to some, people are uncomfortable with change, and monarchical societies place their (literal) faith in paternal lines. Rhaenyra was promised and groomed for something she didn’t receive, and she decided to take it anyway. That would not be the first throne seized by force, and it certainly would not be the last.

It’s both far simpler and ten times more complex than people make it.

I hate feeling like I’m expected to choose between Alicent and Rhaenyra when I simply won’t. I can acknowledge that Alicent had no real power in this situation and rightfully wanted what was best for her sons, while also believing that Rhaenyra had every right to challenge the Greens, just because.

War is Westeros. Westeros is war. George's most interesting moments in Westeros are born of that fact.

Tldr: I'm team neutral and people never like that lolololol