House of the Dragon fans have turned on Alicent, branding her “evil” after her “disgusting” scene with Dyana – but others think there’s a good reason for it.
Alicent Hightower has been on quite the journey. Not only have we seen Olivia Cooke take over from Emily Carey, but the character is on one of the most significant arcs in the show.
In eight episodes, she’s become a major player in Westeros: the Queen Consort, with her father as Hand of the King, with a child set to contend the Iron Throne against Rhaenyra Targaryen.
If there’s one scene that shows how depressingly savvy she’s become, it’s her conversation with Dyana in Episode 8.
Alicent’s scene with Dyana in House of the Dragon Episode 8
Alicent is informed of a problem involving one of the princes. In her chambers, she finds a young maid named Dyana who’s extremely upset, and it quickly becomes clear she was raped by Aegon II.
Dyana isn’t just distressed because she was assaulted, though – she’s afraid of the consequences of disclosing such behavior from the prince, and whether she’ll be punished or even killed.
Alicent gives her a hug and tries to comfort her, telling Dyana she believes her – but then the conversation flips, and Alicent tells her others in King’s Landing may not be so convinced.
She hands Dyana a bag of gold “for her troubles” and a contraceptive tea, perhaps the same drink Rhaenyra was given following her trip to the pleasure house with Daemon earlier in the season.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Geeta Patel explained how this scene was the “big challenge” of the episode.
“So coming into this episode, we needed to love her. We needed to feel her point of view. My feeling was: let’s make this like a day in the life of a working mom. You see everything she’s dealing with.
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“So that scene had always worried me because I wanted so desperately for us to understand Alicent, but the words she’s saying and actions she’s taking are all quite harsh and in line with a villain. So a lot of the prep of those scenes like, cinematically, how do we walk through the door and be with her?”
House of the Dragon fans react to Alicent’s scene with Dyana
If you glance over Twitter, many House of the Dragon fans have criticized Alicent for her actions. “I want this b*tch Alicent head for how she covered up for her predator son and the way she treated Dyana. I want her BLOOD and her sons,” one wrote.
“Okay but what Alicent did to Dyana was SO disgusting. Poor girl is traumatized from being raped by Alicent’s own son and Alicent’s first instinct is to protect her son from any consequences,” another tweeted.
“The most heartbreaking scene for me in the latest episode of #HouseOfTheDragon is Dyana crying and struggling to breath through the trauma of her rape only to have Alicent gaslight her to silence. Poor girl. Sh*t was painful to watch!” a third wrote.
However, some have defended Alicent – not for her exact actions, but her possible reasons. “I think Alicent saw herself in the cup bearer Dyana – she too was forced into a non consensual relationship as a teenager by those in power,” one wrote.
we did not watch the same show…alicent is a victim of rape and she was sympathetic to dyana’s situation but knew she had to protect aegon (and helaena) as heir and then proceeded to beat his ass for making her do that pic.twitter.com/O2tc3gDfUv
— emmadex diaries lockdown (@everlarksmalina) October 10, 2022
“We did not watch the same show…Alicent is a victim of rape and she was sympathetic to Dyana’s situation but knew she had to protect Aegon (and Helaena) as heir and then proceeded to beat his ass for making her do that,” a second tweeted.
“All I can say about that scene with Alicent and the Maid, y’all rly want to make her a demon, while she’s forced by her son to relive the most traumatizing moments of her youth bc she has no control over him,” a third wrote.
House of the Dragon Episode 9 will be available to watch on October 16 in the US and October 17 in the UK.
