No but... No one LOVES Viserys more than Daemon and Rhaenyra...

Helping him sit up...

devastated Daemon seeing his brother suffer...

wanting to inform him about what's happening behind his back... but at the same time not wanting to make him fee worse :"(

^ introducing him to his grandkids, having named one of his grandsons VISERYS in his honour :")

devastated Daemon again... unable to digest the pain his brother's in, the state he's in...

^ helping him to his medicine, no one else's there to help, Viserys seems to be lonely most of the time...

checking the contents of what is given to Viserys, worryng about his condition and potential harm caused by those surrounding him...

talking about Viserys, worrying about him...

Letting it known that they do not like the way Viserys is treated or changing the decorations he's always loved..

Daemon helping him get up to the throne and putting his crown on him, "Come on.." :"(

Watching him, caring about his well being during dinner

Being very worried when they see him be carried away by the guards due to his bad state.... :"(

These two are the ONLY ONES that genuinely loved him, and they loved him so much :"( ...it's heartbreaking :"(

Had Viserys noticed this LOVE all those years ago... he would have made Daemon his Hand, give him Rhaenyra to take to wife, wed them in the tradition of their house, and together they would turn House of the Dragon to its proper glory, make it GREAT AGAIN.

They had all it took, Daemon and Rhaenyra loved Viserys, and they loved each other. They would've been a force no one would dare stand against... :"(

This is so heartbreaking... Viserys was so good... loving... but ultimately blind and easily manipulated... should've trusted his loved ones despite the fact neither Daemon nor Rhaenyra were perfect. But both of them saw right through Otto and the council RIGHT AWAY and wanted to help Viserys not be fooled or misguided. And they had what others surrounding Viserys never had: the undying and deep love for Viserys :"(

deep diving into the episode three line from rhaenyra, “no one is here for me,” and how if the takeaway from that scene is that rhaenyra is a selfish brat you aren’t proficient enough to do anything past surface-level reading.

in episode one rhaenyra expresses to alicent that she hopes her father gets his son, “for as long as i can recall it’s all he’s wanted.” which leads us (the audience) to understand that while rhaenyra loves both of her parents she feels ostracized from her father (and mayhaps even her mother, to some extent, because of her constant pregnancies) due to his ‘need’ for a son to continue the targaryen dynasty. she is a daughter, only seen as valuable for her womb, which is evidenced that she knows about when talking to her mother. rhaenyra wishes to be a knight and ride off to battle and glory, with aemma giving her a gentle reality check on her lot in life. she does not want to serve the same purpose as her mother.

aemma dies near the end of the episode, with viserys ordering her butchered for the chance that his long-awaited male heir might live. this is a violent and gruesome scene, followed by rhaenyra not even being given the privilege of hearing her mother’s death first. she is instead relegated to members of the small council being alerted, even corlys and rhaenys learning about this before her, she is a silent member on the sidelines. she does not know the extent of what has happened, but she knows that something is wrong.

we have to think about how she learns of her mother’s fate. did otto tell her? did rhaenys? did viserys? did she see her mother’s body ripped open? did she see the bloody sheets left at the scene? was she allowed to hold baby baelon, considering he didn’t die immediately? was she there when he took his last breath? maybe it would bring her some comfort, she didn’t get to say goodbye to her mom. maybe she held him until he passed. did her father offer any explanation? we’ll never know, but these are all such heavy questions in regards to what she experienced that day. she’s fourteen, has spent her entire life watching her mother grieve dead baby after dead baby, losing little bits of herself in the process. it’s no wonder this was a traumatizing period for her, fueling her want (her need) to not be shackled down by marriage and childbirth.

even at her mother and brother’s funeral she isn’t allowed to just grieve, to just be. she has to hold her head high, she has to comfort her father, she has to order their corpses burned. was her father happy for the few hours he had a son? she wouldn’t know, she never will be that for him. how long does he spend wallowing is his self pity? he reprimands daemon for not being there for his niece, but where was he, her father? he banishes daemon, takes comfort from his daughter’s best friend. he finally comes to her, tells her of a great danger rising from the north; from my blood comes the prince that was promised, his will be the song of ice and fire. she hasn’t heard from him in days, a targaryen must be seated on the iron throne to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. her mother is dead, and he has wasted the years since she was born wanting a son. she is now enough, her mother never was.

it has now been six months since her mother's death (murder), and she has been heir the *entire* time. her father won't talk to her, she is still the cupbearer for the small council. lord corlys is angry about a war he says has cost him, the crown will not help. she suggests they use dragons, a show of force against their enemies. her father admonishes her, "it isn't that simple, rhaenyra." he allows the lords at the table to belittle her efforts. the only one appreciative is corlys, "at least the princess has a plan." otto says there are better uses for her talents, she has been heir to the iron throne for six months. she's been given the chance to choose a future kingsguard, she wants one with actual combat experience. the hand is exacerbated, she is firm in her decision. ser criston cole will be the replacement for ser ryam redwyne.

alicent has been visiting her father in his private chambers secretly, corlys wants his daughter to be the next queen. viserys begins openly courting lady laena of house velaryon. rhaenyra and alicent visit the sept, she expresses her worry, her mother has only dead for half a year. the lords seek to replace her, alicent convinces her that she cannot worry about the plots of lords and men, she is the heir, however. why shouldn't she worry? she misses her mother.

she meets with her father, he reassures her, "i loved your mother very much." she apologizes for speaking out of turn at the small council meeting, he tells her she will learn (will he be the one to teach her, though?) daemon has taken a dragon's egg and seized dragonstone, bringing news of his future marriage to lady mysaria. the king means to go himself to stop him, otto will not let him. daemon took baelon's egg. rhaenyra is angry. she reaches dragonstone just after otto's party, she knows they were about to come to blows. she confronts daemon, she is the reason he was disinherited. if he kills her, he'd be done with all this bother. daemon scoffs, walking away from her. he throws the egg whilst still retreating. rhaenyra smiles and leaves. her father is mad once he learns what she's done. she left without his permission, but she retrieved the egg and prevented bloodshed, he should be pleased with her efforts. otto would never have been able to accomplish what she did, he relents.

rhaenys lectures her about the order of things. the realm will never accept a woman ascending the iron throne, but it's different for her. her father is the king, rhaenys' father dies as a prince. her father made the lords of the realm swear obeisance to her, rhaenys never had such a thing. the lords chose viserys over rhaenys at the great council, viserys has not given them a choice. rhaenys is the the queen who never was, rhaenyra is the queen to be. when she is queen she will create a new order, rhaenys warns there will be war (unfortunately she is right).

another meeting takes place between father and daughter. he must take a new wife, someone to help propagate the targaryen line. they are vulerable, to easily ended. rhaenyra understands, it is his duty as king. obviously he will marry laena, the daughter of one of the most powerful houses in the realm and of pure valyrian stock, it is a fine match. alicent is still visiting her father in secret.

her father calls a small council meeting, he means to announce his next wife. rhaenyra is ready, she gave him her blessing (why is alicent here? she never has been before.) her father starts speaking, "i intend to marry... the lady alicent hightower." corlys is enraged, otto is pleased, alicent is anxious. rhaenyra was ready, it has all fallen apart. alicent is her best friend, that friendship dies before her very eyes. she runs from the room.

it has been two years. viserys and alicent are married, and they have a son, with one more baby on the way. the boy's name is aegon, it is his second birthday. he has past his infancy, the lords believe it is only a matter of time until the king names him heir, rhaenyra is well aware of this. the queen visits the godswood where rhaenyra sits. she overrides rhaenyra's authority, commanding the singer to leave. she states the king wishes for her to join them, he wants them to have fun as a family. they do not need her to celebrate his long-awaited son. it is the king's command, she leaves unhappily. alicent wishes for things to be different, rhaenyra knows they never can be.

together they all sit, traveling towards the kingswood. rhaenyra asks after alicent's well-being, viserys reminds her that she will be in this position sooner than late (the same position that killed her mother). "it isn't so bad, the days are long but aegon came quickly and without fuss." the queen states. rhaenyra is hurt, she tries not to show it. the king reminds her she has duties, rhaenyra retorts sarcastically. how long will these duties last, once her father names alicent's son as heir over her? her life will be forfeit before long. no one is here for her.

"no one is here for me." translates to "no one has been here for me. i’ve been alone and angry and terrified for years. i am my father’s heir, but what does that mean? what will it cost? you put me here. daemon put me here. alicent put me here. you have a son now, he outlived baelon and my other siblings. how long until i am cast aside again? made to be some petty lord's wife, made to be a broodmare until it kills me? i don't want to end up like my mother. this heirship is all i have. it will soon no longer be mine. i'm only seventeen. no one is here for me."

rhaenyra is never shown the same amount of grace as alicent for her strifes and anguish in life, for the fact that she too was a child from episodes one through five. rhaenyra might not have been a child bride, but she still spent her life being told she was never enough. she was not a boy, she could not be the heir, her father needed an heir. he kills her mother for it, he ignores her unless she can benefit him. he makes her believe that he will marry laena, only to blindside her by marrying alicent. she realizes alicent has been lying to her for months. her father continues to undermine her throughout the years. he names her heir to spite daemon, which she admits she knows about in episode two. he allows the lords to ignore her. it takes him two years to reassure her he won't replace her. rhaenyra is an angsty teen who has seemingly lost everything and has no support to counter that. she is not upset that no one showed up to a two-year-olds birthday party with her in mind, she is upset that her father continuously overlooks her, that he takes and takes and takes everything from her. he took her mother, he took daemon, he took alicent, he had a son. she has not been able to catch a break due to her father's selfishness. in all honesty, she should have acted out worse, maybe burn everything to the ground. viserys would deserve it, she was far too lenient with him.

My darling Daemon,

we have written so many letters to each other through the years and yet I never thought I would ever have to write this one. When you read this, I will no longer be here. I hope I got many more years with my little girl than they predicted, but at the time I am putting this together, my chances are bleak. Is it cruel that all I can think of is my sweet Nyra and not the baby I am carrying right now? I don’t think I could ever love another child like her, because she is ours. She has always been the best of both of us and the idea of leaving her a motherless child, just like I was one, is the worst. It comforts me to know that she will always have you. Viserys has never been a bad father to her, but he will always put duty before his children and Nyra will need someone to just love her. Please, my love, take care of our girl. She is still so young and will be hurting, but you know how much you mean to her. If anyone can console her, it is you. I wish there would have been enough time to sit down with her and tell her who you truly are to her, but she is not old enough to understand. Maybe one day you will find it in your heart to be honest to her, when the right time has come and she is not so little anymore. I am sorry that I will not be there to have that conversation with the both of you.

There is so much left unsaid between us, but the most important thing I need you to know  you were my biggest regret in life. Not in the way it sounds, but choosing my family’s honor and financial stability over my own happiness in life was the biggest mistake I ever made. They were never worth it. None of my siblings have spoken to me in years. Neither one of them even called or came to see me after the diagnosis. Had I known at 16 what I know now, I would have run away with you. I would have raised our girl with you and never looked back. I am sorry I didn’t choose you. I am sorry I was a weak fool, who was too scared of the repercussions to do what would have made both of us happy. I am sorry that my decision ensured that Nyra did not grow up with you as her father, but her uncle instead. I am sorry I was the reason you withdrew from us through the years. I am sorry for so many things, but not choosing you is and will always be my biggest regret. I never stopped loving you. I was never happy in the life I chose, unless you were around. You are still everything to me and I take my love for you wherever I go next, to whatever comes after this life. Maybe somewhere, somewhen we’ll get it right. Maybe in another life we’ll be together. 

Goodbye, my sweet, loyal Daemon. You will always own my heart. No one was ever like you. Please make sure our little girl is safe. 

I love you, now and always,

Aemma

@dastardlydaemon

House of the Dragon

This week’s episode had lots going on and a few parallels to the very first episode. When we first see Rhaenyra she’s soaring on her dragon loving life and when she goes to visit her pregnant mother, Aemma tells her that the birthing bed will be her battlefield while Rhaenyra would rather have adventures on her dragon. So our first scene with the new adult Rhaenyra is her giving birth to her third healthy son in contrast to her mothers many stillborns and death in childbirth.

The Princess and The Queen was very much Rhaenyra vs Alicent with each trying to dominate any situation they are in. Alicent as the Queen demands to see Rhaenyra’s baby the moment he is born, forcing her to walk through the castle and up flights of stairs knowing she’ll be in agony and leaving a trail of blood in her wake to humiliate her. Then the situation shifts to Rhaenyra’s favour when Viserys fawns over his daughter and new grandson, Laenor is there to support her and cradle the son that he named after his dead lover and Viserys coos that he has his fathers nose. Alicent is so done because it’s blatantly obvious that none of Rhaenyra’s sons are fathered by her husband (even Daemon who’s spent the last 10 years in Pentos knows they’re Ser Harwin’s). I’m glad they kept her iconic line from the book, “do keep trying, Ser Laenor sooner or late you might get one that looks like you.” Then we see that Alicent and Ser Criston are the founding members of the I Hate Rhaenyra club, he just sounds like a bitter ex boyfriend and even Alicent glares at him when he calls the princess a spoiled cunt. When it comes to the small council meeting both Rhaenyra and Alicent have a seat at the table and seem to be the ones in charge. Alicent calls out Daemon leaving the Stepstones undefended for 10 years and now the Triarchy have allied with the Martell’s to retake the region, Viserys laments the situation and hoped that it would all resolve itself, Rhaenyra says the crown should’ve defended the region, built outposts and ships to guard from pirates. Then the dispute in the riverlands, Alicent wants to let House Tully sort out the fighting with the Brackens and Blackwoods but Rhaenyra disagrees and the council sides with her “of course.” Alicent dismisses the council but Rhaenyra tells them to wait so they obey, she holds out an olive branch to Alicent apologising for the bad blood with their children, reminds her that they used to be friends and are all one family, proposes a betrothal between her eldest son Jace and Princess Helaena and offers Aemond a dragon egg since he’s the only Targaryen without a dragon. Instead of replying Alicent just points out that Rhaenyra is leaking breast milk and embarrasses her, Viserys is more receptive to the idea but as soon as they leave Alicent basically says over her dead body will her daughter marry Rhaenyra’s bastard. Rhaenyra herself seems to realise that she should just cut her losses in Kings Landing, after Ser Criston encouraged Prince Aegon to beat up his defenceless nephew when they were sparring and baited Ser Harwin into attacking him the whispers about her kids parentage started to get out of hand. Poor Harwin, you can see how much he loves his sons and acts like their father even though he has to pretend he’s just a friend of their mother, Jace seemed to know who he really is to them which made it so much sadder when Harwin got sent to Harrenhal and they had to say goodbye, “I’ll return, I promise.” “We’ll exchange letters by Raven. Won’t that be fun.” So sad for Rhaenyra, she’s not just losing her baby daddy but one of the few men she can rely on and who loves her and her children. When she decides to go to Dragonstone after ordering Laenor earlier that he had to remain in Kingslanding with her she tells him to bring his new lover with him “we’ll need every sword.” She knows that Alicent will start a war over the succession when Viserys dies and she’s preparing for it. It seems like that is Alicent’s endgame since she’s telling Aegon that Rhaenyra will kill him if she ascends the throne to make him want to be king and having Criston Cole bully Rhaenyra’s sons in the training yard, getting them to fight their uncle even though they’re both kids under 10 while Aegon is a teenager.

Alicent’s friendship with Larys the clubfoot took a dark turn. They’ve obviously shared many meals together over the years and he provides a sympathetic ear while she rages about the injustice of Rhaenyra getting to do whatever she wants, flaunting her illegitimate children at court, and everyone turning a blind eye to it while she wishes her father was Hand of the King since at least someone in authority would be on her side. Larys takes her words and spins a web of courtly intrigue by getting a group of prisoners from the black cells that are due to be executed, commuting their sentence if they agree to have their tongues cut out and set fire to Harrenhal, thereby killing his father and brother, making him Lord of Harrenhal, getting rid of Rhaenyra’s lover, creating a vacancy for Otto Hightower to return as Hand of the King and having the Queen in his debt. Fair play to Alicent she hasn’t went full villain yet since she was horrified with what the Clubfoot did even though he pointed out she got what she wanted she didn’t want anyone killed. This will be her walking a fine line with the “honour and decency” she spoke to Criston about earlier.

When it comes to the children, Alicent’s aren’t perfect compared to Rhaneryra’s: Aegon is a bully who doesn’t care about being king and would be at home in the street of silk, Aemond is an angry mama’s boy obsessed with claiming a dragon and Helaena is an adorable weird kid fascinated by insects. There really is no mother/daughter bond with Alicent and Helaena, you could see when she was a baby that Alicent couldn’t be bothered with her and always sent her off with the nannies whereas she’s very motherly and comforting to Aemond when he comes in after running through the dragon pit and upset about the prank Aegon and the boys pulled on him. This causes Alicent to complain to Viserys about Jace and Luce being beasts and bullies but Viserys rightfully guesses that it was Aegon’s idea even though he blames it on his nephews.

Then we get to Daemon who has been living in Essos with his wife Lady Laena and their twin daughters, enjoying being an honoured guests of the prince of Pentos who offers Daemon and his family a mansion, lands and livestock if they and their dragons will fight the triacrhy for him. Laena wants to go back home to Driftmark, see her family, give birth to her next child there and die the death of a dragon rider. She knows that Daemon is not happy there he’s just hiding from all his family troubles back home but he refuses to acknowledge it. We also get a glimpse of Daemon’s daughters, Baela is already a dragon rider and her father is teaching her to speak Valyrian whereas Rhaena fells left out because she only has an egg and Daemon ignores her, Laena comforts her by telling her she didn’t have a dragon until she was 15 and now she rides the oldest and biggest one of all: Vhagar. In a throwback to the first episode Daemon is put in the same position as Viserys, his wife is in labour but the baby won’t come out, the maester could cut it out but the mother wouldn’t live. Daemon’s main concern was his wife over the child but Laena made the choice herself, she staggered out to the yard with Daemon chasing after her and knelt at her dragons feet screaming “dracharys.” Vhagar knew what Laena was doing and was reluctant to obey but when they locked eyes it was like a moment of understanding between the two and Laena got to die by dragon fire instead of lying in the birthing bed. Such a bittersweet ending to a character we hardly got the time to know.

All the pieces are moving in the game now and they’ll all be together for Laena’s funeral. Daemon and his daughters will be back in Westeros putting him and Rhaenyra together again for the first time in over a decade but both as matured adults with children of their own. Viserys with his children, angry queen and failing health. The Sea Snake with his wife and their grief for their daughter, and war in the stepstones about to break out again.

I'm loving all this great discussion you've got going on about Rhaenyra Targaryen. How would you have preferred GRRM to have written her? What could have given her greater nuance and made her less "total hot mess" and more "nuanced and possibly tragic antiheroine"? Thanks for your generosity in answering all of these questions!

Thank you so much! I hope I’m not annoying people with my constant complaints about Fire and Blood haha.  Just as a whole I think Fire & Blood would have benefitted as being a series of interwoven novellas, not a mock-medieval-history of the past 300 years of Westeros. GRRM’s greatest talent as a writer, imo, is in how he develops characters as nuanced and realistic people with understandable ambitions and fears through their own perspectives. That’s lost out on in F&B. Occasionally it breaks into more ‘novel-like’ scene descriptions, but overall it’s supposed to read as a dry historical text, only it’s an often contradictory, absurdly biased, all over the place, relying on shock value dry historical text. I get that part of the whole idea was to present various viewpoints of certain characters and events and ‘leave it up to the reader to decide’ who they were inclined to believe, but really it’s just more of a vehicle for misogyny than anything else, since we exclusively get the viewpoints of a couple of very sexist maesters and... Mushroom. Yay.  Okay for example if I was going to handle Rhaenyra’s character while still hitting the basic plot points of her story (and this is not me saying I think I’m a better writer than GRRM or that I ‘know his characters better’, it’s just my personal interpretation), I think my goal would be to humanize her to the audience of readers while not shying away from her darker moments. She’s supposed to be controversial and provocative. However that doesn’t mean she has to be totally 2-dimensional or such a hot mess. I think I would start by emphasizing Rhaenyra’s position for the first 10 years of her life. She is the coddled, cossetted, and beloved only child of Viserys and his adored wife Aemma. She has never had a sibling, she’s never had to share any attention, her parents dote on her, as does all the court. Of course she is going to be spoilt, high-maintenance, proud, and temperamental when she doesn’t get her way. However, Rhaenyra is not just a bratty princess stereotype (or, she doesn’t have to be). She is also an extremely brave and determined little girl. She is extroverted; she likes socializing and being around people, she’s confident and assertive and used to having her voice heard. At the age of seven, she single-handedly tames and bonds with a young dragon. That is an extremely impressive feat for a child. You can’t argue, bully, or demand your way into riding a dragon, a wild beast. Rhaenyra had to show some serious grit and tenacity to do that at such a young age, so she’s not just this puffed up little fragile flower who wails when she doesn’t get her way. Rhaenyra also has a great relationship with her father. He doesn’t seem to hold the fact that she is his only child and a daughter against her; he praises and shows her off in front of his court, he makes sure she is always by his side. Rhaenyra is used to being honored before everyone. She is her father’s cupbearer, she is present while he holds court, she is exposed to a high level of adult political interactions and basic courtesies. She’s probably pretty bright for her age, and has a keen understanding of who is who and what everyone at court’s relations to one another are. She’s not been kept locked up in a nursery playing with toys, she is seen as an active member of court and her father’s little shadow. She also likely has a very good relationship with her mother Aemma. Rhaenyra is Aemma’s pride and joy, her sole surviving child after the trauma of a very young marriage and multiple miscarriages and stillbirths. Aemma has no close siblings of her own, and never knew her own mother Daella; no doubt she prizes her relationship with Rhaenyra and hopes Rhaenyra does not experience what she did as a little girl, growing up without a mother and only much-older half siblings in the Vale.  Then there is her Uncle Daemon. Daemon is the ‘fun’ relative little kids adore. He doesn’t treat Rhaenyra like a child, he doesn’t condescend to her, he brings her back all sorts of exciting and interesting toys and gifts, he takes time out of his day to spend with her, he takes her on outings and makes her feel special and loved. He’s not always busy with the mundane aspects of ruling that her father likely is, he’s not caught up with his own wife and children, he has all sorts of wild tales of adventure and mystery. It’s easy to see why Rhaenyra loves him so.  Then Aemma dies. No doubt this is a horrible shock to Rhaenyra. She’s a little girl, just eight years old. She’s not necessarily that familiar with the harsh realities of pregnancy and childbirth, she just knew she was getting a little brother or sister, and now her mother is gone, just like that. Aemma died during the birth. Rhaenyra never got to say goodbye, and her little brother dies a day later, compounding the grief and horror. Her father is heartbroken and reeling, and her favorite uncle is out drinking and whoring.  But Rhaenyra is named her father’s heir. Her mom might be gone, but her dad still loves her, and he loves her so much, in her eyes, that he is willing to buck the precedent that set him on the throne (passing over Rhaenys) in order to name her his heir. She’s Princess of Dragonstone; a whole island! Despite her grief and rage over her mother being ripped away from her, this is probably thrilling for a little girl. She’s going to be queen one day. Everyone loves her and wants her to be happy. She’s going to be the first Targaryen queen in her own right. Doesn’t that make her special and chosen? Then a year later her father remarries. Rhaenyra likely isn’t happy about this; her mother has only been dead a year!- but she is willing to try to get along with her new stepmother, Alicent, who probably seems like less of a mother and more of an older sister figure, just a teenaged girl of 18. Alicent is smart and pretty and Rhaenyra remembers her from court as a very small girl. Her father is Rhaenyra’s father’s Hand, someone Rhaenyra probably knows well, maybe even considers almost family, having grown up seeing him all the time, exchanging gifts at holidays and birthdays, attending tourneys with his family, etc. Then Alicent gets pregnant, something 9 year old Rhaenyra probably wasn’t really thinking about. She has a son, and people are saying he will be king, that her claim doesn’t matter. Then Alicent has another son. She doesn’t have time for Rhaenyra anymore. She’s not Rhaenyra’s mother. She has her own sons, and Aegon will be king, even though it’s not fair, even though Father promised she would be queen, even though Mother is dead and never coming back.  These are three major events happening in short succession in the life of a precocious little girl.  Rhaenyra likely feels hurt and confused and angry. Sure, her father hasn’t officially declared Aegon as his heir, but Alicent and her father are pushing it, people Rhaenyra thought she could trust. Who is she supposed to rely on now? Well, there’s Uncle Daemon, who suddenly seems like less of the fun uncle, almost like a big brother, and more of.. something else. He doesn’t treat her like a little girl anymore, he calls her beautiful and encourages her to show off her good looks and charm, assures her that regardless of what her father says or does, he will always care for her. She can count on him! And Ser Criston Cole, her longtime crush- well, he just sees her as that spoilt little girl. She’s growing up! She’s not a child anymore but he just doesn’t get it. She’s certain he feels the same way about her, that he loves her back, but his vows and white cloak are in the way, and he won’t stop seeing her as the little princess, not a girl of sixteen, a woman grown! She doesn’t have a mom to talk to this stuff about, but there is Uncle Daemon, and he knows pretty much everything about love and seduction; that’s why there’s all those wild tales about him. If she asks him to help her show Criston that she’s a woman now and wants to be treated as such, he wouldn’t turn her down, would he? Besides, he treats her like a grownup. He thinks she’d be an amazing queen. Father and him fight all the time, but Father’s blinded by his love for Alicent- she’s manipulating him! Uncle Daemon gives her advice, and she tries to impress Criston, but it backfires. He leaves her feeling humiliated and rejected. It’s not fair, she’s the princess, she’s supposed to be good at everything, but he acted like she was wrong to try to show him how much she cares and wants to be with him! Now he won’t talk to her anymore, and Father is sending Uncle Daemon, who seems like her one true friend, away from court because of some stupid rumors that he ‘deflowered her’. Alicent is saying she should be married to Aegon, her half-brother who she can’t stand; he’s a spoilt little creep, always groping servant girls and kissing up to their father. Dragonstone seems like the escape she needs from all of this, but Father is threatening to strip it from her unless she marries Laenor- Laenor who she knows isn’t even into women! They’re not even close friends. He doesn’t want to marry her anymore than she wants to marry him, only their fathers are insisting on it. Daemon’s gone and she has no idea when he’s coming back, and Harwin is sweet and says he loves her, but he would have never been accepted as her husband. Still, at least he’ll never leave her or turn on her, the way everyone else has. And that is basically how I would cover Rhaenyra’s childhood and adolescence in a way that I think at least gives her some understandable motivations, some nuance, and some real emotion beyond ‘she threw a fit when she didn’t get her way’.