"Thank you father..." Bro Rhaenyra knew EXACTLY what button to push.

"Viserys, your son has lost an eye!" "The fuck are you talkin' about? Rhaenyra is not a boy!"

"Exhausting, isn't it? Hiding under the cloak of your own righteousness. Now they see you as you are" MAN WHAT A GREAT LINE edit: jeez, I kicked the hornet's nest. Chill guys, I was praising the writing not Rhaenyra LMAO

Gods, both Olivia and Emma’s acting in this scene is incredible and Emmy worthy.

“ I may hav lost an eye …But I gained the dragon” 🔥 Epitome of epicness

“When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” Both Viserys and Rhaenyra in full copium

I absolutely love the duality and contrast they have set up here. Rhaneyra is the princess, first born and HEIR. Her entire life should be like Alicents, a slave to duty and tradition, furthering the family line, etc. Instead, she refused all those Lords who wanted to marry her, refused to just be a woman on the sidelines, fought to be the heir, and then still flouted her duty by having premarital affairs, extramarital affairs and doing whatever she wanted. Alicent has been an obedient tool for her father and then husband her entire life. Yearning for the freedom Rhaneyra has. Alicent hates her own life and finds it unfair that she has done everything expected of her for her family while Rhaneyra gets to do whatever she wants without consequences. This was hinted at in episode 4 or 5 when they are talking and Rhaneyra says "I don't want to marry an old man, and be locked in a tower forced to birth sons until I die". It was quite obvious that line really hurt Alicent.

Everyone is focused at the real center of this scene, I really like how Corlys and Rhaenys instantly protect Jace and Luce behind them with Rhaena and Baela.

I love how they changed things slightly from Fire & Blood by making their friendship much closer than the book’s relationship. Makes this scene all the more tragic because of how irrevocably broken their relationship now is. IMO they’re both kind of repellent people but I sympathize with both

His son just lost an eye and all he cares about is who called his grandsons' bastards.

The moment the separate and you see Alicent alone and Rhenera being held by her father in law is when I realized Alicent would never win because she had no support.

I love the way Corlys and Rhaenyra looked up in unison..

The way she says "Thank you Father" gets me 😂😅

0:15 you can see the exact moment Alicent snaps. The moment she realises that no matter what Rhaenyra does (committing high treason by passing her bastards as legitimate sons, asking for her 10 years-old brother Aemond to be tortured after he just lost an eye, etc), Viserys will *always* have her back. You can see before that Alicent is paranoid, yes, but she doesn't make moves against Rhaenyra, doesn't train Aegon to be king, nothing. Part of her still hopes. But at this precise moment, she realise it's useless. Viserys will never protect the children she carried. Worse, he even calls her Aemma even though she took care of him all these years. He doesn't care about her, doesn't care about their children. So she *snaps*. She has a public breakdown, she acts in desperation, not in anger. She's terrified, you can see it. She begs Viserys to do something, lays down everything in front of Rhaenyra, basically begging her to realise that not everyone can be as free as her. But it's useless.

Olivia deserved an Emmy for this scene alone! It's disgusting that she and Paddy were robbed!

Aemon: "Mom, it's alright. You don't need to take someone's eye because I have a dragon." 😎

I honestly think rhayneryas mistake was her not taking her half brothers under her wing , if I was her I would have immediately gotten close the them since they were babies , and they would later come to support me when I take the throne

Funny how people blame Alicent for asking for Justice in a way that would be considered fairly legitimate at the time, while ignoring that Rhaenyra asked for her own 13 yo brother to be tortured for having told the truth just before that.

Fans going "sentence Alicent to death" "kill her" "touching the Princess is treason”. So we just gonna forget that child who got his eye popped out like a champagne cork is Viserys' own son too?! He’s a Prince too?! Viserys is gonna execute his wife for wanting justice for his own son?! Huh?? What kinda weak King does nothing while his own seed gets his eye poked out by a couple of bas-terds? He was more worried about protecting Rhaenyra’s illegitimacy than his son. Ppl really acting like if some kids did that to your 10yr old in the sandbox ya'll just gonna be like "oh word? Kenny's the middle child. So no biggie.” A mother’s rage, while unhinged, is totally understandable. The king shoulda handed out a more reasonable punishment before it even got to eye for an eye. But he was gonna do nothing due to his gross favoritism for his daughter, which justifiably infuriated Alicent. The king is spineless.

Did you guys notice the blade when Alicent attacs Rhaenyra? It was in front of the fire and no letters appeared. This was the moment when Rhaenyra realised for sure that the Prince that was promised will not be born from Alicent's bloodline. And now she knows that the throne must be hers no matter what.

Alicent made a very good point. She has done everything expected of her as a wife, daughter, queen and mother. Rhaenyra birthed bastard sons and flaunted it because her father saw her as an exception to the rule. And their friendship suffered because of it. Neither are innocent in how things have played out leading into the Dance of Dragons but that one decision Rhaenyra made to out Otto forever changed the course of a relationship that becomes the catalyst for everything else that followed.

Gods, Olivia Cook really sold Alicent's madness! You could see her on the brink of losing her mind before she just snapped!

I kind of love that it's Corlys who catches Rhaenyra and holds her protectively. Like, mans just lost his daughter and has that 'dad-protector' vibe here. Also, little Luke screaming breaks my heart 😭

I like the brief detail at 0:49 when Rhaenyra took a second to look at the knife and the flashback to it in front of the fire.

I'm on no ones side, I think that's the point the creator's want us to be. We are the third party watching all this mess. Both sides have their rights and wrongs, and as a third party we see how tragic this ends. If only they had the balls to talk instead of fight and plot.

Damn! These ladies just ruled whole scene .. Love the emotion and intensity both of them bring to together .. These two ladies going carry this show rest are just side characters ..

If someone had just watched the kids none of this would have happened

Alicent had every right to lose her shit. Her son was just permanently mutilated and the only comfort she can find is from that said son who is traumatized in his own right. However since his mother was the only one in the room standing up for him, he put his trauma on the back burner to protect her.

Corlys is such a chad. I love him.

If I was Aemond I would've hugged an told his mother how much I loved her for taking it this far in order to protect me

This scene hurts so much and I don't blame either women. Alicent is obviously going to lose it because her son has been maimed and no one is supporting them. Rhaenyra is in protective mode because she doesn't want her kids' secret to come out. The problem (as usual) is Viserys. He lacks tact and compassion to handle such a delicate situation where kids from BOTH SIDES should have been shown love and care. But then again the man murdered his own wife during childbirth and then groomed and r@ped a teenager again and again to have kids so like what do we expect even?

It's interesting how all of you are harping on Alicent for touching royal blood but absolutely ignore how before this scene Rhaenyra demanded that Aemond, you know her severely wounded younger brother, should be tortured for a "rumor" that is an open secret. That is more disturbing to me than Alicent snapping because she learned how her children are in fucking danger because of individuals like Rhaenyra and Viserys. They drew the first line and now Alicent has no choice to protect her own.

I hate Viserys in this scene, He acts like a totally biased asshole towards Rhaenyra. He could've at least give a punishment for Luke like forbids him to have a dragon or something.

I might not be team "Green" but Alicent tried to do the thing that Viserys didn't - to ask for justice about her son

incredible acting.. I'm getting so addicted to this show

Give Emma and Olivia an Emmy for this scene

Alicent was wrong in expecting an eye for aemonds actions. But she was absolutely right to be infuriated at being second to rhaenyra after her negligence in contributing to her family. I follow the heir as i followed stannis but rhaenyra brought the dance of dragons on their doorstep as did viserys.

That “where is duty, where is sacrifice” scene…Olivia Cooke doing some Dinklage level lifting there. The agony, the passion. That’s a Emmy nomination scene. Aegon “We Know Father. Everyone Knows”. That’s the “Prince will remember that little Lord” moment. Finally there's Otto “in time you and I together will prevail” and I’m the meme of Homer Simpson decked out in a green tee, sitting on green cushions, wearing a Hightower snapback, holding a Go Greens flag with a Alicent poster on the wall😂. Hill's Alive has a video saying GOATTO Hightower is Everything A Westerosi Man is Supposed to Be and that channel remains the most BASED GoT hot takes channel lol. Aemond taming Vhaegar, holding his own in a 1v4 makes him the real Bhad Bish. Only wholesome moment was our Prince resting his head on his mom’s shoulder to let her know she can depend on him. Meanwhile checking in on the Blacks: “What is honor compared to a woman’s uncle” - Maester Aemon

His son lost an eye and he doesn’t even care

It s hard hate Alicent when she is only spitting facts

"Its trampled under your pretty foot" interesting choice of words Alicent. 🤣

i can so see where alicent is coming from here. time and time again, viserys has ignored rhaenyra's wrong doings, and yet alicent has done everything right and has been treated as she has been. this is just her snapping. from viserys treating her kids like they aren't even his. i would've so wished for her to yell at viserys AKHFUJ

This reminds me of the Doctor's Speech: "BECAUSE IT'S NOT A GAME, KATE! This is a scale model of WAR! Every war ever fought right in front of you! When you fire that first shot, no matter how RIGHT you feel, you have NO IDEA who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to SCREAM AND BURN! How many hearts will be broken! How many LIVES shattered! How much blood will spill until everyone does what they're always going to do from the very beginning - SIT DOWN AND TALK!"

He only really loved Rhaenyra as his kid the others were his duty to the kingdom so they had spares

None of this would’ve happened if Otto wouldn’t stick his nose where it doesn’t belong and Alicent didn’t play along with it…

Gosh darn they cast such adorable kiddos for Luke and Jace!

Can we talk about how Rhaenys and Corlys protected their grandsons. And Rhaenys was hugging her 4 grandkids.

Hard to disagree with Alicent when she speaks nothing but straight facts

Alicent bared steel and attacked the family of the heir designate. Rhaenerya would have been within her rights to call for Alicent's head.

Daemon though ❤

It's crazy to me how no one in the comments section sees through Allicent's posturing (even if she is right) in this scene. It's been obvious since the time skip that she's doing this for HER. She reminds me of a female Walter White, where they keep saying their actions and behavior are for the good of their family. But in reality, they're doing it for themselves. If Allicent could get away with all the things Rhaenyra did, she wouldn't be talking about honor and duty and sacrifice. Allicent is envious that she can't have the life Rhaenyra has. And I understand why would that would make her snap.

Did anyone notice Criston was about to take Luke's eye out but Daemon saw that and stopped him? Plus he totally gave the control of the entire situation to Rhaenyra. After seeing to it that his daughters were safe with their grandparents, he shifted towards Rhaenyra to be with her and her kids.

That dagger has an amazing story.....it ends up being wielded by ARYA!

I seriously can't blame alicent for doing that

Emma Darcy expression are lit 🔥

This scene between rhaenyra and alicent is the best scene out of the whole series, an incredible job by Emma and Olivia

It doesn't mean anything to Viserys that his son lost his eye

“ I may hav lost an eye …But I gained the Dragon” If i was Viserys....i would make him the Heir right at the spot, F*ck Rhaenyra or Aegon

Just a few years ago Alicent was too scared to even ask about Rhaenyra's indiscretions Here she's ready to murder her on the spot

We all feel like a volcano when we explode with so much anger. But right after it cools down, we take a step back and realize "what have we done?"

I love rhaenyra but the audaticy she has that her kids blind another kid and then she declares "highest of treasons" because the kid spoke facts about them being bastards lmao, and that high treason is basically death sentence so the fact she tried to pin that on that little boy instead of owning up to the fact that her kids are in fact bastards lmao, alicent is crazy but she had a point in this argument tbh

This scene bring back the memory of joffery and Aya fight

0 Accountability for Rhaenyra

Seeing all the debates in the comments about 'questioned sharply', it is interesting to note that the show actually reverses the order in which Rhaenyra and Alicent make shitty demands. In the book Alicent is the one to first demand Luke's eye, and Rhaenyra responds with the suggestion to question where Aemond heard her sons were bastards. Basically, "HMM since you want to cut my son's eye out ALICENT, I WONDER WHO told Aemond my children were bastards, maybe we should question him sharply, what do you think ALICENT". It's an example of the show taking a line from the book without considering the context - Rhaenyra was reacting to Alicent threatening her child. Alicent, to be fair to her, was reacting to her son's injury, but she didn't need a second threat to react to. It does give the scene a more dramatic escalation, but its not really fair to Rhaenyra - it makes her the aggressor in a situation where she was just reacting defensively in the book. Even in the context of the show scene however, Rhaenyra was still reacting to a threat. If Aemond is calling her children bastards, that means Alicent is raising her children to coup. Aemond casually mentions that Helaena will be Aegon's queen on day in this episode, so we know this is the case. Since the rumour is now being spoken aloud, it is politically savvy to take control of the narrative and get her father to publicly solidify his support for her sons legitimacy, while backing Alicent into a corner. Again, the reversed dynamics make Rhaenyra come across as more aggressive, but it is a rumour that could threaten her children's lives (remember how Otto's first coup proposal is 'kill Rhaenyra and her entire family'). Complain that the rumour is true all you like, but the truth isn't a virtue in of itself if it gets innocent children killed. And to those who say "well she should have thought of that before she had bastards" - what parent in the world would go "welp fair enough, my bad, guess I'll just roll over and let them endanger my kids"? What exactly do you expect her to do? Plus, she didn't ask to be forcibly married to a gay man. In the book she argued against it because she knew it was going to be a problem when it came to producing heirs, and only agreed because Viserys threatened to displace her as heir. In the show, the marriage is a consequence of her having consensual premarital sex - something Viserys and Daemon got away with all the time when they were her age without consequence (and Aegon gets away with much worse). She still does her duty, marries the man her father commands (she never had a pick-your-consort option at all in the book by the way), she produces heirs to the best of her ability in the situation her father put her in, and she faces her fear of childbirth (which killed both her mother and grandmother). So there's the duty and sacrifice. Finding happiness with Harwin doesn't negate that.

TWO EMMYS COMING RIGHT UP

Such an intense moment in House of the dragon so far

All rhenera did was enjoy her life without being limited to rules. And alicent took that personally.

By far the best episode of the season. This whole scene was incredible and intense!

Beautiful performance

and now it begins

Did anyone notice Viserys on the ground on the stairs and Otto helping him up in 0:40? So basically he either fell trying to get to Alicent or she pushed him when she went for the dagger

Love how Daemon stops Ser Criston

Viserys was a great father to Rhaenyra but terrible for the rest of the Targaryens, he should’ve punished Luke and Jace in some way (maybe cutting one of Luke’s fingertips). By not doing so he not only showed clear favouritism but also made it clear that a Targaryen can harm another Targaryen unpunished, breaking the taboo established by Jaehaerys. I’m not on the green side myself, Aemond had it coming, but Viserys should’ve been fair (gouging out Luke’s eyeball is too extreme, but SOME punishment). Notice how Viserys and Rhaenys even though both had claims on the throne, never crossed their minds to kill or go to war against eachother and still loved themselves as a family. I’m aware is mostly Alicent’s and Otto’s fault, but Viserys failed miserably in not teaching his family the value of filial love (the exact same value his grandparents, Jaehaerys and Alysanne taught all their direct descendant, Viserys and Rhaenys included).

Such a great scene

Daemon is so gonna get revenge for that block

Aemond lost an eye but Rhaenyra's arm is dramatized at the end of the scene, lol. Alicent is right to be angry...

Kudos to Olivia Cooke best episode so far bring on the Emmys does anyone have the full complete scene of this it was the best part

It seems as if Ser Harrold Westerling never really liked Ser Criston Cole. He wasn't very much pleased when Cole was chosen by Rhaenyra to be on the Kingsguard. Westerling and Cole clashed on TV series on 2 occassions that I can think of. One is during small council after the death of King Viserys I Targaryen, and one is in this scene. 0:40 " Stay your hand Cole"

MASTERPIECE

The moment when the knife was in Alicent's hand and she stabbed Rhaenerya, it joined her bloodline. She was the true heir for the iron throne and with Daemon at her side she was invincible.

But now they see you as you are…… Dam great story writing love this series. 🎉

I love that Daemon stopped Cole and didnt try to protect Rhaenyra first, he knew she had it. Thats what I like. Respect and trust that she can handle crazy female, he is just there to stop idiot approaching, support, respect, trust. No need to be saving hero when your niece is capable on her own and you know it.

the fact Rhaenyra is such a hypocrite in this scene, Allicent has sacrificed everything while Rhaenyra has everything handed to her on a silver plater and is never punished despite having commited treason and the fact her son himself has commited treason against the king's own son.

Ah yes such a peaceful Thanksgiving get together. 😌

Are excellent child actors just so common in game of thrones/house of the dragon? I never get tired of such a performance. (I haven't started HOTD yet.)

Alicent was a fool. Why would viserys ever pick her side over his heir and only daughter of his beloved wife? She overestimated her station and position in his life.

Alicent is not doing it for her son in that moment she’s doing it for herself because she’s jealous that Rhaenyra is choosing to live her life the way she wants.

that blade is so beautiful

Lol remember when we thought the Joffrey Arya fight outcome was bad

Can someone explain to me why on earth no one intervened in this? Alicent was literally trying to take the eye the son of the heir to the throne and was trying to hack up the actual heir to the throne. So many people could have been injured or killed in this scene (including Alicent), so I'm legitimately curious as to why no one got in the middle and separated them.

Aemonds child actor is really good.

Alicent’s mistake was trying an over hand attack, those tend to be easy to stop. She should’ve went with a lunging thrust which has the force of the whole body behind it (making it harder to stop, and easier to parry. But there wouldn’t have been space to parry). Since Rhaenyra was in such tight quarters surrounded by the Sea Snake and his men, and no one was able to stop Alicent before her attack. It’s safe to assume that a thrust would hit its mark. And the whole war between green and black houses could’ve been avoided. Yeah Alicent would’ve been sentenced to death, but the king is too weak of will to have his children with Alicent killed. Once Rhaenyra is gone, Alicent’s eldest would’ve become next in line. And yeah I know killing Rhaenyra would bring trouble from the Sea Snake, but the king has more dragons and Daemon. So they might have gone to war, but the Sea Snake would ultimately lose that war.

I am somewhat reminded of the scene when Cersi wanted one of the direwolves been put down for her son being an AH and getting what he deserved,but You can never compare Joffrey with Aemond.The kids here are so far well behaved and are only being pushed into this mess by their parents and grandparents. It was more of Alicent and Otto while Rhaenyra so far lives in ignorance hoping her father will protect her

While I don't agree with Alicent wanting a child's eye, I am more on her side on this one. Her son gets blinded after he defends himself from 4 kids attacking him and states the obvious, that Rhaenyra's sons are bastards, and Rhaenyra has the audacity to demand answers from Aemond as he's committed "the highest of treasons" knowing full well that her sons are in fact bastards just because she knows she can get away with anything since daddy will come to her rescue. I would've respected Rhaenyra more in this if she just kept her mouth shut or offered some peace or at least scolded her kid

Poor aemond

This is the only time I agreed with Alicent “ no you belong to me”

This scene was powerful perfect execution from both Actresses!! This scene shows how each of them raised their son’s…Rhae raised her son’s to have respect and honor and defend and when they stepped out of line Rhae would punish them…while Alicent let her son’s do anything they want without punishment, Alicent never prepared either of her son’s for role of king or duty while we see Rhae prepares both Luce and Jace for their roles.

If I was king, Alicent would have been executed for harming my daughter. Unacceptable behavior even if her accusations were true.

I never realized that you kind of see regret in Alicent’s eyes for a second

That is when she went really overprotective mother mode