La princesse et la reine

Cela fait seulement une semaine depuis que nous avons vu la princesse Rhaenyra, héritière du trône de fer, épouser Laenor Velaryon pour renforcer les deux maisons et son futur règne. Mais pour Rhaenyra, le roi Viserys, la reine Alicent et tous les autres Maison du Dragoncela fait 10 longues années depuis lors – et c’est presque impressionnant de voir à quel point les choses se sont aggravées sans jamais réussir à finalement éclater en une guerre totale.

Alors oui, “La princesse et la reine” commence par le saut dans le temps que nous savions tous arriver, et Emma D’Arcy et Olivia Cooke sont enfin entrées dans leurs rôles respectifs. Rhaenyra est plus sage, plus pragmatique et très irritée qu’Alicent essaie tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour la discréditer. Alicent a pris tout son sens, dirigeant parfois Viserys (Paddy Considine) en toute impunité, le dorlotant comme un vieil homme gâteux et se fâchant de plus en plus contre les gens qui ne détestent pas Rhaenyra autant qu’elle. (Ce qui signifie que Criston Cole, qui déteste Rhaenyra, toujours joué par Fabien Frankel, est son meilleur ami actuel.)

Il y avait du classiqueJeu des trônes– des intrigues de style et des intrigues politiques – même un assassinat ou deux ! Le problème, ce sont les enfants. UN parcelle des enfants sont nés au cours de la dernière décennie à Westeros et bien avant que Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) ne demande rhétoriquement : « Qu’est-ce que les enfants sinon une faiblesse ? Maison du Dragon a révélé qu’ils peuvent être beaucoup de choses : Pions. Des menaces. Victimes. Passifs. Bizarres. Fonctions. Héritiers des rancunes de leurs parents. Et ils peuvent aussi être des tueurs.

Par souci de simplicité, permettez-moi d’énumérer la prochaine génération de Targaryen, car ils ont déjà été entraînés dans la guerre à venir par la simple vertu d’exister.

• Queen Alicent and King Viserys have three children: Aegon (Ty Tennant) is the eldest, and looks to be shaping up into a pretty fine swordsman and a teen who likes masturbating out of windows. His younger sister Helaena (Evie Allen) is next, and it appears she’s into very gross bugs and being weird. Finally, there’s Aemond (Leo Ashton), an unlikable, sullen boy who gets made fun of by Rhaenyra’s kids.

• Rhaenyra and ostensibly Laenor Velaryon (now played by John MacMillan) have two sons, both younger than Alicent’s kids. There’s Jacaerys (Leo Hart), Lucerys (Harvey Sadler), and Joffrey, who is born in the opening minutes of the episode.

• Meanwhile, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has had two daughters with his new wife Laena Velaryon (now played by Nanna Blondell), Laenor’s sister. They’re named Baela (Eva Ossei-Gerning) and Rhaena (Shani Smethhurst), and Laena has another baby on the way.

There’s something powerful and heartbreaking when Emma D’Arcy’s adult Rhaenyra is introduced screaming in pain as she’s giving birth to Joffrey. Even before we know this is her third child, Rhaenyra has fallen into the same, inevitable trap Alicent did—she’s now “popping out heirs” and worrying each new pregnancy will kill her like it eventually killed her mother. She may be the declared heir to the Iron Throne, and soon to be the most powerful woman in Westeros, but she had no more chance to avoid this fate than Alicent did (or Laena, for that matter).

Of course, Alicent is still dead set on making sure Rhaenyra never gets her chance to become Queen. Part of this is because she’s worried that Rhaenyra will have her children killed to eliminate their claims, as her father Otto Hightower told her, but most of her hate for the princess is just… hate. She’s still furious she was lied to, that Rhaenyra ever enjoyed a taste of freedom while she was having miserable sex with the increasingly gross Viserys. Rhaenyra is still enjoying that freedom, to a degree, and it’s driving Alicent mad.

Remember how I mentioned Rhaenyra’s kids are “ostensibly” Rhaenor’s? It’s a funny thing, because none of the three have the white-gold hair of the Targaryens or the white locks of the Velaryons. Instead, they all have black-brown hair, much like Rhaenyra’s close friend and captain of the city watch, Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). While I assume Laenor tried to do his royal duties, at least on occasion, pretty much everyone in King’s Landing assumes Strong is the real father. Rhaenyra outright denies it, even to Rhaenor, but it’s hard to believe her when we eventually check in with Daemon and Laena in Lys, and their daughters are unquestionably a product of the two Valyrian houses joined together.

The only other person in Westeros who refuses to admit the truth is Viserys, who won’t hear of any accusation of Rhaenyra’s infidelity, even from his wife. But things come to a head when Harwin observes Criston teaching Alicent’s two boys to fight while ignoring Rhaenyra’s kids. Criston, who has become an even bigger asshole over the last decade, has Aegon attack the much smaller Jacaerys, giving him implicit instructions on how to maul the child, including beating him while he’s laying on the ground. Harwin pulls Aegon off and helps Jacaerys to his feet, which allows Criston to comment about how caring Harwin seems of his charge… almost as if the prince were his own son.

Harwin very satisfyingly beats the hell out of Criston for the insult until four knights pull him off, but Criston is nothing but pleased. Harwin Strong is expelled from the City Watch, and his father Lyonel (Gavin Spokes) tries to resign as Hand of the King but is unwilling to expose Rhaenyra’s not-so-secret secret. So Viserys does not accept the resignation and tells his Hand to get Harwin instated at Harrenhal and come back. Rhaenyra leaves too, but to take her family to the Targaryen’s ancestral home of Dragonstone, where everyone won’t be whispering behind their backs.

Alicent complains bitterly that Lyonel didn’t have the courage to tell the king the scandalous truth, which is when Larys Strong—the obvious schemer—takes matters into his own hands, and by “own hands” I mean he finds a bunch of criminals about to be executed, offers them freedom, cuts out their tongues, and has them set Harrenhal on fire to kill Larys’ brother and father. Thus, he paves the way for Alicent to call her father Otto Hightower, former Hand of the King and a man who will tell Viserys harsh truths (as we have seen), back to King’s Landing. Alicent has the decency to be somewhat horrified that Larys murdered his own family to help her, but not nearly horrified enough to not take the opportunity.

What made “The Princess and the Queen” so tense for me was how clearly all of these kids are being dragged into a fight that will blow up their lives and engulf the entirety of Westeros. And it’s primarily Alicent’s hate that’s doing it. She hates Rhaenyra so much she hates Rhaenyra’s children. She tells Aegon that his life and his siblings’ lives will basically be forfeit if Rhaenyra takes the throne, all to sow distrust and hate between the two groups of kids. Criston Cole hates Rhaenyra so much he wants her children physically harmed. It’s awful, and what makes it worse is that if you know anything about historical wars of succession or just watched Game of Thrones, you know some of these children will die. Not as children, hopefully, but not all of them will survive the inevitable civil war. They will hate and fear each other and try to kill the others and some of them will probably succeed.

“What are children but a weakness?” Larys asks the queen. “A folly, a futility. Through them you imagine you cheat the great darkness of its victim, that you’ll persist forever in some form or another, as if they would keep you from the dust. But for them, you surrender what you do not. You may know the right thing to be done but love stays the hand. Love is a downfall.”

So is hate, and it will be the downfall of so many of these children, sooner or later.

Assorted Musings:

• I have of course not mentioned Laena, who has the same immensely difficult, painful birth that Aemma suffered in le premier épisode, et encore une fois c’est l’homme qui décide d’effectuer ou non une césarienne médiévale qui peut sauver le bébé mais tuera certainement la mère. Mais Laena choisit son propre destin. Elle titube à l’agonie vers son dragon Vhagar et lui ordonne d’expulser son souffle de feu et de mettre fin à ses souffrances. Le dragon est réticent à détruire son cavalier bien-aimé, mais Laena supplie d’être mise hors de sa misère. Daemon arrive juste à temps pour voir sa femme engloutie par les flammes. C’est absolument dégoûtant à regarder, et cela m’a rendu anxieux rétroactivement à propos de la scène d’accouchement de Rhaenyra au début de l’épisode.
• Daemon semble avoir eu une relation saine avec sa femme et ses enfants avant la tragédie, peut-être ? Il semble avoir une véritable affection pour chacun d’eux, et il semble vouloir rester à l’écart de tout le drame royal de Westeros en restant à Lys à Essos.
• Alicent convoquant Rhaenyra immédiatement après qu’elle ait accouché – je veux dire immédiatementle cordon ombilical n’avait même pas encore été coupé – est-ce un tel mouvement de secousse avant même que Rhaenyra ne traverse péniblement le donjon, dans une douleur intense, seulement pour qu’Alicent dise immédiatement : “Oh, tu devrais te reposer !”
• La plupart de ces enfants finiront par grandir et seront également joués par d’autres acteurs, soit dit en passant.
• Je n’avais vraiment pas besoin de voir un adolescent nu se branler par la fenêtre, mais j’ai ri quand Alicent a dit: “Je dois croire que l’honneur et la décence prévaudront!” se référant à son fils Aegon prenant le trône, seulement pour entrer instantanément sur ce fils en train de se branler par une fenêtre.

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