'House of the Dragon': Fans Have Noticed A New Parallel Between Alicent and Rhaenyra

WARNING! SPOILERS for House of the Dragon 2x06, 'Smallfolk'.

One of the major running plot points of 'Smallfolk', the sixth episode of House of the Dragon's second season, involves increasing unrest among the smallfolk of King's Landing as they suffer through a food shortage. The situation comes to a head when Queen Rhaenyra secretly sends food to rally the support of her subjects, prompting them to riot in her name.

Dowager Queen Alicent and her daughter, Queen Helaena, become caught in the midst of said riot as they leave the Great Sept, having attended to light a candle for the injured King Aegon. During their escape, Alicent suffers a small but significant injury, mirroring a similar one suffered by Rhaenyra in season one, creating a new parallel between the two.

Greens vs Blacks, Alicent vs Rhaenyra

The core conflict of House of the Dragon is a disagreement between two factions, the Greens and the Blacks, over who should ascend the Iron Throne following the death of King Viserys I Targaryen. While the Blacks support the claim of Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys's eldest child and chosen heir, the Greens support Aegon II, Viserys's firstborn son with his second wife, Queen Alicent of House Hightower.

The TV series bumps up the drama by portraying Alicent and Rhaenyra as having been childhood friends, who fall out upon Alicent's marriage to Viserys, and the births of her children with him. They almost reconcile before Viserys's death, but this is destroyed by Alicent misunderstanding the King's final words, prompting her to go ahead with the plan to crown Aegon and usurp the throne from Rhaenyra.

While at surface value, the war is between Rhaenyra and Aegon, it is Alicent who represents Team Green in much of the show's promotional material, and Olivia Cooke and Emma Darcy, who play Alicent and Rhaenyra, are often paired up in interviews and photoshoots.

Mirror Injury

Back in 'Driftmark', the seventh episode of House of the Dragon's first season, the Black and Green factions somewhat reluctantly come together at Driftmark, for the funeral of Lady Laena Velaryon. Late on the night following the funeral, Alicent's second son, Prince Aemond Targaryen, sneaks out and claims Vhagar, the dragon previously ridden by Laena. This upsets Laena's daughter, Rhaena, who had planned to claim Vhagar for herself, and leads to a brawl between Aemond and Rhaenyra's sons, Jacaerys and Lucerys, during which Lucerys accidentally takes out Aemond's eye.

Alicent, angered by the injury to her son, demands Luke's eye in return, and when the demand is not met, steals Viserys's Valyrian Steel dagger to take revenge herself. Rhaenyra intercepts Alicent in order to protect her son, and in the ensuing struggle, Alicent leaves a jagged cut in Rhaenyra's wrist. Alicent carries some guilt over this injury, often seen glimpsing at the scar left behind.

Now, in 'Smallfolk', the sixth episode of season two, after she and Helaena escape the rioting peasants, Alicent notices that she had been cut during the chaos. Keen-eyed fans noticed that this cut appears to be on her wrist, in almost exactly the same spot as Alicent cut Rhaenyra in 'Driftmark'.

This was not the only parallell between the two in the episode. Both struggle to hold on to their place in Westeros's primarily male driven power structure, both face feelings of betrayal from the men in their lives, and both deal with the feeling of being underestimated/underappreciated by their sons.

The parallels serve as a reminder to the audience that House of the Dragon is, at it's core, Alicent and Rhaenyra's story. The seeds of the eventual war were sewn by the dissolution of their childhood friendship. While other characters come and go, live and die, around them, the Green and Black Queens are the faces of the conflict, two sides of a coin.

Time will tell which one, if either, will live to deal with the consequences of the war.