Why Is Alicent Attacking Rhaenyra With Aegon’s Dagger?

Exploring why Queen Alicent is attacking Princess Rhaenyra with Aegon’s dagger in House of the Dragon trailer after Aemond lost his eye.

By Chandraboli Majumdar
September 25,2022
Featured Image

The relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra has drastically worsened over the 10-year time jump. During the trailer for House of the Dragon episode 6, we see them butt heads during a small council meeting. You could literally cut the tension with a knife. Alicent is also trying to antagonize Viserys against Rhaenyra by getting him to believe the rumor regarding the children of Princess Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon. Due to their dark-coloured hair, it’s been rumored that Ser Harwin Strong is the actual father of the three children. So it isn’t a surprise that Alicent wants Rhaenyra out of the way. But a clip in the trailer shows her taking a much more drastic move and it has something to do with Aemond Targaryen.

Queen Alicent attacks Princess Rhaenyra in the House of the Dragon trailer

Queen Alicent attacks Princess Rhaenyra with Aegon's dagger
Queen Alicent attacks Princess Rhaenyra with Aegon’s dagger

Alicent is seen attacking Princess Rhaenyra with Aegon’s catspaw dagger despite being surrounded by a bunch of people. Rhaenyra manages to stop her right in time and hold her back. Meanwhile, Ser Criston Cole stands back and lets it happen without even trying to intervene. We knew Criston would switch sides but this is quite the turn his character has taken. It’s the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Harrold who comes to her rescue and rushes over. Even Daemon can be seen wanting to help Rhaenyra. However, he is stopped by three Kingsguards. So why exactly is Alicent attacking Rhaenyra in the first place? Well, there might be a sort of justifiable reason behind it.

Why is she attacking Rhaenyra with the catspaw dagger?

Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon
Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon

If you have seen brief shots of Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon teasers and trailer then you have probably noticed his eye patch. Well, there’s quite the story behind it. The whole royal family including King Viserys, Rhaenyra and her three children and Queen Alicent and her sons Aegon and Aemond went to Driftmark to attend the funeral of Laenor Velaryon. Here, Aemond wanted to claim a dragon to prove himself to his father. So he chose Vaghar, the eldest and strongest dragon. Aemond sneaked away from the rest of the family and tried to climb upon Vaghar. However, Rhaenyra’s youngest son, Prince Joffrey noticed him and started screaming. Aemond retaliated by slapping the 3-year-old and pushing him into dragon droppings.

Aemond at the Three Strong Boys feast
Aemond at the Three Strong Boys feast

Naturally, Joffrey went to his older brother Lucerys and Jacaerys and narrated the happenings. The four boys ended up in a fight with their wooden training swords. However, things really took a turn for the worse when Aemond referred to them as “Strong boys” which was obviously a dig at the three boys and Rhaenyra. This was a reference to the rumor that Rhaenyra had conceived her three boys with Ser Harwin Strong and not her husband Laenor Velaryon. The comment agitated Jacaerys who lunged at Aemond. However, Aemond was a remarkable fighter and combatant even when he was just a young boy. He quickly managed to gain the upper hand over Jacaerys and started to beat him black and blue. This is when Lucerys intervened to help his brother. He threw his dagger at Aemond and slashed out his eye.

An eye for an eye 

Alicent attacking Rhaenyra
Alicent attacking Rhaenyra

Queen Alicent was expectedly enraged by the situation. She told Viserys that Lucerys should also lose one of his eyes in return. However, Viserys being a kind man torn between his sons and grandsons, denied this request. This is when the clip in the trailer comes into the picture. Queen Alicent is attacking Rhaenyra out of pure rage and heartache for her son. However, it could also be that Alicent actually ran to attack Lucerys and slash out his eye which was prevented by Rhaenyra. This would make her actions absolutely unjustifiable.

Furthermore, Rhaenyra made the King probe further into the matter of how Aemond came to hear of the rumor regarding her and Harwin Strong and wanted the source to be reprimanded. Unfortunately, the source was none other than Aemond’s older brother Aegon. This probably spurred on Alicent even more. House of the Dragon is about to get even crazier!