Editor’s note, June 17, 2024: This part explains the back story of the Green and Black in the division of House Targaryen. It was first published as part of our coverage of the first season in 2022 House of the Dragon. For a more general rundown game of thrones prequelCheck out this refresher.
as far as House of the Dragon Taught us that among the Targaryens, family is always political and sex is always political. In this week’s episode, “We Light the Way,” we learned that fashion is always political.
As with other episodes so far, the name of the game is quiet but important political strategy. Not counting the two explosive and bloody deaths that make up the book of the episode, most of the plot concerns Rahenara’s marriage to her childhood friend Lenore Velarion. It’s a good match, except that they’re both in love with other people. As the credits roll, both of these romances are doomed and we’re reminded that this is Westeros, where love and loyalty usually die a quick death.
But most of all the throne-An chess move has nothing to do with the violence of the event and its symbolic political shenanigans. so far, House of the DragonIts final key player, Alicent (Emily Carey), has yet to take on her role and start playing on the board. In the last episode, we saw Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) begin to take her first aggressive steps; In this episode, Alicent finally doesn’t make her own power play but instead one-ups Rahenira in a big way with lasting consequences: she wears a green dress to her stepdaughter’s wedding.
If you are a the throne Stupid, it’s a total “Oh, shit!” Allow us to explain the moment.
Early in this episode, we finally see a glimmer of humanity from the newly fired Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). As she leaves her daughter alone and friendless in King’s Landing, she urges Alicent to wake up and prepare to fight for her firstborn son, Aegon’s claim to the throne. Up until now, Otto has given us nothing but cold ambition, but here we see glimpses of genuine concern and heartache for Alicent.
If she tries to support Rhynaira, he warns her, she will go down with him — and Rhynaira will go down. With this ominous advice and absolutely zero tips on how to deal with cheating, she makes her exit.
Otto’s conviction that no one would inherit Rhaenyra draws on centuries of Targaryen tradition where only a male heir can ascend to the throne. And while the lords of the realm clearly swore the knee to Rainer, we see that the populist view favors Aegon, simply because he was born male and given a royal name. Rainaira largely rejects this argument, promising only to change the status quo once he becomes ruler.
Elicent, however, now realizes for the first time how futile a pipe dream is, as well as how precarious her situation is. It doesn’t help that she learns that Renaira lied to her about still being a virgin, which seems to destroy all of her personal loyalty and love for her best friend-turned-stepdaughter. In her newfound sense of jealousy, bitterness, and self-preservation, Alicent makes a huge decision: she decides to take her father’s advice and secretly begins advancing Aegon’s claim to the throne of Rhaenyra. To do this, he turns to that old method: color symbolism.
The vibrant emerald gown Alicent wears to the wedding feast — arriving late so she can really make an impression — signals to discerning members of the king’s court that she is ready and willing to fight for the throne on Aegon’s behalf. Green is the color of House Hightower and a reference to the color of the beacon atop the tall tower of his family’s seat in the ancient southern port city of Oldtown.
The Hightowers are named after the structure, which served as a secure seaside fortress and a lighthouse. The tower gives the family its crest and its motto: “We Light the Way,” aka the episode’s title. And, crucially, when House Hightower needs to call his soldiers and bannermen to arms in his name, it summons them by changing the flame above Hightower to green.
The message is clear to all who see it: Alicent is summoning his supporters to battle.
Since Rhaenyra’s marriage and marriage to the high-powered House of Velarion is meant as a strengthening of her claim to succession, Alicent’s fashion statement may not further the king’s agenda. As they focus on the wedding feast, King Viserys and Raina do not understand the message the queen is sending. But many in the crowd do, and by nightfall, some of them have clearly offered Alicent their support. He even goes a step further, enlisting Ser Christon Cole (Fabien Frankel), Rahenara’s sworn protector, into his service at his weakest moment, knowing he’s just secured a powerful ally.
What we have just seen is the birth of the state’s primary opposing political forces in the Civil War: the Greens and the Blacks. The Greens are Alicent’s and ultimately Aegon’s supporters. Black refers to Rahena’s supporters, as black and red are the traditional colors of House Targaryen. This renegade group may seem small now, but we already know that support for Aegon is widespread across the kingdom.
The Greens and the Blacks isn’t just about which of the king’s children is the more popular ruler – remember, Aegon is a toddler, so no one knows what kind of king he’ll be. Support for her was based purely on the widespread populist belief that women could not inherit the crown. By accepting her claim to the throne, Alicent had to align herself with profoundly misogynistic thinking. In contrast, aligning with Raina and supporting her claim to the throne is inherently a sign of support for women’s equality. In other words, at a basic level, the Greens and Blacks are Westeros’ version of the Red Kingdom and the Blue Kingdom, their political expressions more likely to influence who joins them and what they want than direct support for the two women. At the center of their movement.
As for their true historical analogue, some fans have argued that Dance of Dragons appears to be based on a lesser-known period of British history.”anarchy“In which King Henry I named as his heir the powerful warrior empress Matilda, commonly known as “Maud”. Maud was a direct descendant of William the Conqueror and the king’s only direct heir. Because she was a woman, however, the court rejected her claim and her Cousin Stephen originally placed him on the throne and refused to give it up.
This conflict plunged England into 19 years of civil war. (Fun fact: The current official website of the British Royal Family by force that “anarchy never spreads throughout the land.” Nice try, royals, but it’s called “anarchy,” we know what’s up!) The war eventually resolves itself, when Stephen adopts Maud’s son Henry and agrees to give him the throne after Stephen’s own death. Henry II became one of England’s most famous rulers, and Maud died peacefully of old age.
Alas, if you know anything about the Targaryens and Westeros, you know that things cannot be resolved so amicably for any of our key players. So what is Alicent’s green dress? really Signal is a signal to the audience: this is going to be a bumpy, bloody ride.
