Alicent’s Crucial House of the Dragon Season 1 Callback Revealed

You Might’ve Missed Alicent’s ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 1 Callback

While this week’s House of the Dragon episode is once again light on bloody action, the latest installment of showrunner Ryan Condal’s prequel series treats audiences to several crucial moments that set up even more dramatic developments to come. The Game of Thrones prequel series’ sophomore outing has so far not shied away from utilizing old connections, relying on various Season 1 cameos to haunt Daemon (Matt Smith) at Harrenhal, but Episode 6 instead opts to antagonize the Dowager Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) by including a subtle reference to one of the character’s most desperate moments from House of the Dragon Season 1.

This connection unfolds towards the end of House of the Dragon Episode 6, “Smallfolk.” After Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Mysaria’s (Sonoya Mizuno) plot to send food to the starving commoners in King’s Landing results in throngs of the episode’s namesake flooding the streets, the city devolves into a mob scene that interrupts Alicent’s usual pilgrimage to the Great Sept with Queen Helaena (Phia Saban). Members of the Kingsguard and City Watch hurriedly attempt to usher both to safety, but in a scene reminiscent of Game of Thrones’ own smallfolk protests against King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), neither queen can escape the mob unscathed. While Helaena is left only visibly shaken by the traumatic incident, Alicent receives a deep cut on her left forearm during the melee, paying back the same wound she gave Rhaenyra during the incident on Driftmark in Season 1.

House of the Dragon Episode 6 Calls Back to a Dramatic Moment From Season 1

For those who don’t remember, Alicent first gave Rhaenyra her own injury in House of the Dragon Season 1, Episode 7, “Driftmark.” Following Aemond’s claiming of Vhagar, the fight that ensues between Alicent and Rhaenyra’s children results in the House of the Dragon’s current regent losing his eye. When the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s heirs is mentioned, however, King Viserys (Paddy Considine) enrages Alicent by attempting to put the matter to rest peacefully, prompting her to steal his dagger and charge Rhaenyra’s family. With Alicent’s own identical wound in House of the Dragon Season 2, however, Condal’s series demonstrates how the dynamic between both characters has been effectively reversed.

While Alicent and the Greens were capable of playing offense in Season 1, consolidating power in King’s Landing before Rhaenyra even knew of her father’s death, Rhaenyra’s actions in Season 2, Episode 6 force the dowager queen into a vulnerable position. Since Rhaenyra’s actions incited the mob, their wrath acts as an extension of her will, demonstrating how she can directly hurt Alicent in the same way Alicent hurt her. Moreover, while Alicent’s knife attack in Season 1 only wounded Rhaenyra because the latter stepped in to protect Lucerys (Harvey Sadler) from Alicent taking his eye as retribution, Rhaenyra’s mob forces Alicent to expose herself to protect Helaena. This reversal not only demonstrates both mothers’ willingness to put themselves in harm’s way for their loved ones, but House of the Dragon also raises the stakes for Alicent in her rapidly crumbling corner of power.

Alicent’s Wound Has a Deeper Meaning in House of the Dragon Season 2

The need to protect their children aside, the incident on Driftmark in House of the Dragon Season 1 is about more than an eye for an eye. As soon as Rhaenyra grabs Alicent’s arm to stop the blade from reaching her son, Alicent launches into an intense criticism of her former friend, revealing her own character motivations in the process. Asking what Rhaenyra has ever sacrificed for the sense of duty that has dictated Alicent’s life, she bitterly derides Rhaenyra’s unchecked freedom and lack of responsibility for her son’s true heritage. House of the Dragon Season 2 doubles down on examining the tension in the pair’s relationship by allowing Rhaenyra to confront Alicent during Season 2, Episode 3, but more tragically, Season 2 has so far focused on making Alicent pay for this misplaced sense of duty.

Aside from being humiliated during last week’s small council meeting, Alicent’s luck only worsens in this week’s installment of House of the Dragon. As if the embarrassment of her previous rejection wasn’t enough, Alicent is dismissed from the small council entirely by Aemond, cast aside by the same son she was attempting to avenge on Driftmark. Not only does this betrayal underscore the lack of appreciation Alicent is shown for carrying out her duties as a mother, but Alicent’s fall from grace also betrays the true cost of her past actions. After fighting Rhaenyra and betraying Viserys’ memory out of duty to her father and the alleged stability of the realm, House of the Dragon’s latest episode proves all she has to show for her efforts are the same bloodied sleeve she once gave Rhaenyra when Alicent still thought she could ever be taken seriously by the Greens.

House of the Dragon Makes Alicent a Victim of Her Class

As House of the Dragon demonstrated throughout its first season, part of what makes Alicent’s sense of duty so tragic is the fact that her duties were never hers to choose. As a young girl growing up in the feudal, patriarchal aristocracy of Westerosi society, Alicent was expected to obey her father’s lawful will, even if that same will forced Alicent to marry a Westerosi king more than twice her age. Alicent’s inevitable marriage to Viserys naturally drove a wedge between her and Rhaenyra, demonstrating how Alicent’s personal life was upended by the rules of her class, but with this week’s popular unrest, House of the Dragon Season 2 doubles down on the dangers of Alicent’s highborn status by exposing her to the smallfolk’s wrath.

Although Rhaenyra didn’t incite King’s Landing’s unrest specifically to target Alicent, the mob scene in Season 2, Episode 6 exposes Alicent to the physical threat posed by her subjects regardless. While the dowager queen’s highborn birth has previously threatened her with its misogynistic expectations, Alicent’s near-death experience in this week’s House of the Dragon marks the character’s first time contending with the consequences of her family’s high-minded, self-serving attitudes at the hands of the people. Moreover, despite her brother, Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), consoling Alicent about her success as a mother, the smallfolk threat to the Greens shows no signs of abating. With House of the Dragon’s Dyana (Maddie Evans) reappearing over the last few episodes in the company of Mysaria’s agents, another lowborn thread from Alicent’s dutiful past threatens to unravel all she has attempted to accomplish.

Taken together, Alicent’s demotion and the smallfolks’ contempt only serve to isolate the dowager queen further in House of the Dragon Season 2, strengthening the odds against which Alicent must fight to survive. More than a mere flesh wound, her injury while fleeing the mob underscores the perils of Alicent’s current situation by calling back to her attack against Rhaenyra on Driftmark, thematically connecting both episodes by demonstrating the toll that Alicent’s duties have taken on her personal and political lives. With her social standing inviting new threats from every direction and the small council contemplating her marriage prospects, the ground is rapidly falling out from under Alicent’s feet, proving that she is running out of time to preserve the influence she has fought to achieve since the beginning of the series.