Alicent Hightower: A Victim in Power?

Alicent Hightower is a deeply layered and tragic character in HBO's House of the Dragon. 'Victim' and 'power' are words that juxtapose and contradict but Alicent works within the confines of her own victimhood in order to gain power. This paradox is formed by Alicent's very position and circumstance: she is a Queen, yes, but also a woman oppressed by the men around her. Alicent's relationships with the male characters, Ser Criston Cole and Lord Larys Strong in particular, have dynamics that Alicent uses to her advantage.

All Images from House of the Dragon HBO

Criston Cole

To begin this deep dive with Criston Cole may seem odd. He is certainly a loyal ally and friend to the Queen when there are many men, including her father and husband, who oppress her. Yet, Ser Criston's devotion to Alicent is upheld by how he chooses to see her. Alicent saves Criston from execution and his attempt to take his own life when he feels he has no purpose. Alicent gives him a purpose. He becomes her sworn protector because he sees her as a saviour figure and puts her on a saintly pedestal. Furthermore, Ser Criston holds honour and duty in the highest regard. He comes to believe Alicent is the very embodiment of these values and therefore the opposite of Rhaenyra who broke his heart. Criston perceives Alicent as the good and pure Queen who deserves to be protected.

Thus, in order to have a protector as violently skilled as Ser Criston, Alicent must play the part of purity to keep him on side. Of course Alicent's character has loving and honourable traits, and she certainly shares Criston's value of duty, but Criston forgets to consider her as a whole-being more capable and cunning than he realises. For example, he is unaware of Alicent's meetings with Larys Strong. Knowing she cannot spoil Criston's saintly opinion of her, when Criston notices Larys staring at the Queen, she tells him 'It is only the look of pride Ser Criston, he is the new Lord of Harrenhal'. She purposefully hides the unfavourable dealings she has with Larys that cause him to stare. Alicent must maintain the parts of herself that are idyllic to Criston in order to have any physical protection from her enemies.

Alicent therefore strategically plays into this fantasy Criston has of her when she needs his help. This is clear in a scene where Alicent gets physically close to Criston. He tries to exercise professional restraint but he fails and leans in. Then, to get Criston to retrieve Aegon before her father does (affording her far more control and power than her father would like) Alicent tells Criston to use 'all the feelings you have for me... as your Queen...'. The way the line is structured is brilliantly calculated. Alicent begins by fanning the flames of his fondness for her, hinting at a potential reciprocation. She pauses to let Criston feel the weight of those words. The second half of the line simultaneously keeps his expectations of their relationship low, whilst also maintaining the reason he loves and respects Alicent in the first place, his belief that she is an honourable image of womanhood as his Queen. Towing this line pays off and he does what she asks with devotion.

It is also important to note here that a common theme in Alicent's story is that she cannot simply have a male ally without them wanting more than a political relationship or friendship from her. So she tries, and more often than not succeeds, to use this inequality to her advantage.
'...all the feelings you have for me... as your Queen...'

Alicent exists in a world where she is undermined and pigeon-holed into the role of a docile and well-behaved woman, a victimising definition that confines her to the mercy of men. Thus, in Criston's case she kindly manipulates and influences his romanticised infatuation of her to gain protection. Protection that grants her some power to manoeuvre against those that oppress her, especially her father. Whilst Alicent is clever enough to make this work - there is a price. To use her victimisation is to perpetuate it. However she knows this and does so anyway for the sake of her children. In fact, I would go as far to argue that Alicent as a character is a victim her entire life and therefore she lives in a suffering that is so familiar, she views it as an inevitable cost with every choice she makes.

Larys Strong

Alicent's relationship with Larys Strong sees her operate within her victimisation in a far more literal way. In order to have the vital information to survive in court and protect her children, Alicent needs Larys' help. Larys gives her this information in exploitative exchange for his own sadistic 'pleasure'.

Larys murders his family without a second thought, not only because it makes him Lord of Harrenhal as the only Strong left, but because Alicent once implied to him she disliked the the original Lord Harrenhal being Hand of the King. Teary-eyed, and seeing his true nature, she tells Larys what they both already know: 'Larys... I did not wish for this!' Larys says 'I feel certain you will reward me... in time', trapping the Queen in his pocket indefinitely.

'I feel certain you will reward me'

It is a sad truth then, that when plotting together Larys is the only person privy to Alicent's strategic mind and most honest self. She does not have to be the virtuous Queen around him as she does with others (especially Criston). As a result, before Larys begins implementing his blackmail and a perverted fee for the political aid she desperately needs, Alicent considers him a friend.

Larys was the only person she would let her guard down in front of. This is evident in her body language with him in their early scenes. She relaxes in his company, rests her face in her hands and allows herself to speak freely as they share meals together. He validates her feelings and seems to genuinely understand her. This ease she originally had with him was because Alicent identified with Larys' experiences as an 'outsider' to a certain extent and recognises their mutual intelligence.

But alas, when it becomes all too clear to her that their friendship actually has a sexual expectation and Larys' clever mind is that of a dark one, Alicent suffers twisted consequences for simply being herself with a man. Alicent still desperately needs Larys' powerful aid, spies, and skills, so she again has to be the victim to male desires in exchange for it.

To conclude, Alicent's biggest tragedy is that she must trade herself to receive loyalty and power. She performs a male idealisation of womanhood to afford Criston's physical defence. Then, in a depressing irony, trades her physical autonomy to afford Larys' aid in political offence.

This is surmised when Rhaenys says to Alicent: 'you toil still in service to men' and 'you have created a window in your own prison'. The window being the scraps of power Alicent is cleverly able to retrieve within her ultimate confinement. Rhaenys, however, states that this is Alicent's choice: 'you wish not to be free'. I would argue, because Alicent has only known a life of entrapment, she does not know how to set herself free. I would also say that it seems near impossible for her to be freed with the amount of men that keep her down. In addition, freedom for Alicent would isolate her from the system that her children remain within and she would no longer be there to see or protect them. Unfortunately, I feel the only way Alicent could have true freedom is by being killed in pursuit of it. Rhaenys whispers 'Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?' Alicent does not respond but rather looks shocked and actually saddened by the notion. I don't think she has ever pictured this for herself. Alicent cannot fathom a reality where she is in real and total power, not over others and certainly not over herself.

'Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?'