Me Encanta Mas Rhaenyra Que Alicent - Tumblr Posts

(Post i made months ago, from the drafts. Sorry it’s so long…)

One of the main reasons i’m a book purist is because the books were more feminist than the show. The entire message behind the dance was far more nuanced than the topic of misogyny.

Meanwhile with the show, the messages are incredibly lukewarm and shallow. It feels like an insult to my intelligence and i genuinely question how anyone can think it’s a great representation of feminism.

To clarify:

In the books, the claim of the greens is without a doubt sexist. But by law: women may not inherit over trueborn sons or other male relatives if they are present. Meaning that once aegon was born, rhaenyra’s claim could no longer surpass his.

Viserys himself, despite being king, had no right to change or challenge it since that law is the very reason he became king in the first place. Simply overriding an observed customary law was a sure fire way to sew the seeds of rebellion.

Rhaenyra was made heir as a place holder and to keep daemon from inheriting the throne. She was not meant to keep it once viserys had a son. If he never remarried and had a son, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Him having a son and keeping her as his heir, was when it became an issue.

Moreover:

Book rhaenyra was not fighting for women’s rights nor was she interested in them. She was fighting because she considered herself an exception to the sexist law and described herself as such after she got the throne. She never set out to change any of the sexist laws or traditions like alysanne (the actual feminist queen) did. She was self-centered, power hungry and felt entitled to the throne because her father said so.

She was no better than the greens, but they based their desire around the andal law. Basing it on the law, made their argument and aegons claim stronger. Add rhaenyra’s continued fuck ups (3 obviously illegitimate children for example) and boom, they were able to take the throne with no pushback.

Point being:

Neither side cared about sexism or misogyny because it benefited them in some ways. Alicent didn’t because it suited her interests, i.e making her son king. Rhaenyra didn’t care when it came to potentially changing the laws to benefit other women. The entire point is both sides are motivated by self interest and cared about nothing but acquiring power for themselves, even at the expense of innocent lives.

Condal and hess trying to turn it into a feminist story really doesn’t work. By inserting modern ideals, they took away the intersectional aspects of womenhood by going with the “women good, men bad” route. This route is far more sexist and misogynistic than anything.

Women can be just as power hungry, violent and inclined to war as men are. Alicent and rhaenyra were both powerful women who wanted more power. Both had active roles and involvement in the war, both were self serving and both gave no fucks about anything but what they wanted.

This show did a great disservice to them by changing it around. Alicent is constantly disrespected and humiliated whilst rhaenyra is always the winner or the victim. They have no clear desires, goals or wants for themselves. They’re just passive players instead of strong women with who know what they want and will fight to get what they want.

It’s depressing really.