When King Viserys removed Otto Hightower from the position of the Hand of the King, he is shown leaving the red keep on his horse when he is interrupted by his daughter, Alicent. Otto then reveals his sinister plans to go against King Viserys’ wish for Rhaenyra to be his heir and place his grandson Aegon II Targaryen on the iron throne. Alicent looks shocked to hear this; however, now that she has completely misunderstood Viserys’s last words, she is on team Otto (or Aegon).

Rhaenyra, on the other hand, has married Daemon, who may have an eye for the thrones himself. We know this as when Rhaenyra first meets Daemon, he is shown to be sitting on the iron throne; coupled with his smirk when King Viserys’ says in his council meeting that Daemon does not seek the throne, gives away his longing for it. Hence, Rhaenyra may be left alone if she loses Daemon’s support when the Hightowers conspire to make Aegon king.

Otto Hightower Started The Conspiracy Long Ago

Rhaenyra is Viserys’s only living offspring, and Otto knows this. This is why shortly after King Viserys’s wife’s death, Otto sends his daughter, Alicent, to Viserys’s chambers to ‘keep him company.’ Viserys later ends up marrying Alicent, and viewers cannot miss Otto’s smiling face when he announces their marriage in that scene. Also, when Prince Aegon was born to Viserys and Alicent, Otto suggested that the king marry Rhaenyra to Aegon. This way, Otto would have been closer to power with his grandson’s wife to Queen Rhaenyra. If all of this was not enough, when Viserys was slowly dying, Otto was keen on giving him the milk of the poppy, a pain-relief drug that makes the mind cloudy. He intentionally wanted this as Otto would speak on Viserys’ behalf as Hand of the King.

No Alicent, Viserys is Talking About Aegon the Conqueror

Right before dying, Viserys talked to Alicent Hightower about the dream that Aegon the Conqueror had. He had dreamt about the threat of the white walkers and the army of the dead that would march south whenever winter would come. The prince who was promised will have to use the cat’s paw dagger to kill the Night King, as we saw in season eight, episode three of Game of Thrones, when Arya kills him using the same dagger. In a dying state, he could not say his full name and only ‘Aegon,’ which made Alicent believe that Viserys wanted Alicent to place their son Aegon II Targaryen on the throne.

This will prove to be extremely problematic for Rhaenyra, as Viserys is dead and will not be able to strengthen her claim to the throne. Also, she is a female offspring, whereas Aegon is the trueborn son of the late King Viserys, so the people are more likely to support him.

Who Will Take Rhaenyra’s Side?

The Velaryons have always been friends of the Targaryens. However, Daemon killed Lord Corlys’s brother Vaemond Velaryon publicly because of the recent family disputes between the two houses. Lord Corlys was mad at King Viserys for not marrying his daughter. If that wasn’t enough, Rhaenyra bred bastard sons with Ser Harwin Strong while being married to Laenor Velaryon, Corlys’s son. This is a clear indication of disrespect shown by Viserys, Rhaenyra, and Daemon, so it is obvious that the Velaryons may choose to side with the crown, especially now that Viserys has a male heir.

Rhaenyra is pretty much left alone with her sons, their dragons, and her own dragon Syrax. This is because Daemon may choose to walk his own road in the future, but if he doesn’t, Rhaenyra still has a chance.