In House of the Dragon episode 7, we found out that Queen Alicent Hightower wants to marry her eldest son Aegon II Targaryen to her daughter Helaena Targaryen instead. This was after Rhaenyra proposed marriage between Helaena and her eldest son Jacaerys Velaryon. Aegon is not very willing to go ahead with this idea because he supposedly finds Helaena to be an idiot. Additionally, they have nothing in common. However, Queen Alicent has already made up her mind and is insistent that they get married. But why is she so adamant about this match? Here are the reasons that we think are plausible.
Strengthen Aegon’s claim to the Iron Throne
When Aegon was complaining about having to marry Helaena, Aemond seemed to be the smarter one. Aemond himself says that the marriage would strengthen Aegon II Targaryen’s claim to the Iron Throne. After all, having two Targaryens getting married and producing children would strengthen their Valyrian blood even further. However, this reason has now been undermined by Rhaenyra and Daemon. With Princess Rhaenyra marrying Daemon, she has strengthened her claim even further. This is keeping in mind Daemon’s military experience, his victory in the Stepstones and the reputation that precedes him. Moreover, the children of Rhaenyra and Daemon would be even purer in blood than the children of Aegon and Helaena.
Prevent the marriage proposal of Helaena and Jacaerys
During House of the Dragon episode 6, Rhaenyra proposed a marriage between her eldest son Jacaerys and Alicent’s daughter Helaena. This was an attempt to mend the broken relationship between her and Alicent and bury the hatchet. However, it was also a calculated play made by Rhaenyra to try and prevent any opposition to her claim. After all, Jacaerys was her heir which would make Helaena the Princess consort. This would have at least reduced the tension between the greens and the blacks.
Not only did Queen Alicent not want this but she also did not want any sort of union between her and Rhaenyra. She refused to bury the hatchet and her hatred for Rhaenyra would not give way. Another reason she refused this proposal because of the questionable parentage of Jacaerys Targaryen. So the only way to stop such a proposal from ever coming up again was to marry off Helaena to one of her sons.
Ensure Aegon and Helaena’s offspring will have Targaryen and Valyrian features of silver hair
The last reason was that Alicent Hightower wanted to ensure that Aegon’s son would have the signature Valyrian features of silver platinum hair. Alicent had seen how the dark hair of Rhaenyra’s children had significantly threatened her claim to the Iron Throne. She wanted to prevent any such mishaps with her children, especially Aegon who would hopefully sit on the throne one day. Moreover, there was a good chance that Aegon would pass on his mother’s genes to his children typical to House Hightower. These genes would result in darker brown hair. However, if Aegon were to marry Helaena, the union of their blood would have a much higher chance of producing pure Valyrian offspring with silver hair.
Helaena may be a dragon dreamer
While Alicent does not seem to be very aware of the fact that Helaena Targaryen is a dragon dreamer, she could have some idea. Having a dragon dreamer on the side of the greens would be a great advantage for Alicent and would help further Aegon’s claim. However, this reason is not foolproof as Helaena herself does not know that she makes prophecies. If she knew, she probably would have warned Aemond about losing his eye while claiming Vhagar.
