House of the Dragon: How Alicent weaponizes the belief in the Seven

• Alicent and the Greens are taking over King’s Landing in House of the Dragon.
• You can clearly see from the many stars hanging in the castle that Alicent is a follower of the seven.
• However, how seriously does she take her faith and how does she even use it?

Daemon seems to be a lot more silent in “House of the Dragon” – a clever move. Meanwhile, Helaena murmurs new prophetic visions, and the death of Vaemond Velaryon could have looked a lot worse, as the book suggests. You can find out that and more at Netzwelt!

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When Rhaenyra arrives back in King’s Landing with Daemon and her children in episode 8 of “House of the Dragon”, they must find the Red Keep much changed. Since King Viserys is seriously ill and bedridden, Otto and Alicent Hohenturm took over the reigns in his place. The queen used this time and incorporated her faith into the new design of the keep.

The Seven in Westeros

Belief in the Seven is the dominant religion in Westeros. After the Andals landed on the continent from Essos, they spread their religion fanatically, almost eradicating belief in the Old Gods. Only in the north and a few houses in the south is there still praying at weirwood trees.

In septas, the followers of the seven gather and pray to the One God in his seven aspects. These would be: The father, the mother, the blacksmith, the warrior, the maiden, the crone and the stranger. Each of them embodies certain virtues and values ​​that one must adhere to according to the Book of Faith of the Seven-Pointed Star.

In earlier days there was much strife and even open war of faith against the Targaryens, as their practices of incest were against the mores of the church. Under King Aenys I and Jaehaerys I Targaryen this dispute was settled. Despite this, there are still followers of the faith who see the Targaryens as a violation of nature and all good.

The High Towers as a bastion of faith

The ancient center of the belief in the Seven in Westeros (before it became the Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing) is Oldtown. The seat of the High Towers is the largest city on the continent next to King’s Landing and is home to many monuments of the faith in addition to the Maester Academy.

The Hohenturms were always considered the strongest supporters and followers of the faith. However, income from the many pilgrims who come to the city to see the Star Sept and the Seven Shrines certainly has something to do with this circumstance.

When Alicent and Otto come to King’s Landing alongside Viserys I, they bring their traditions with them. Alicent soon expands it further, much to the Targaryens’ displeasure.

Alicent and Faith – Means to an End or True Spirituality?

Since several episodes of “House of the Dragon” we have seen Alicent always dressed in symbolically green clothes and a seven-pointed star as a necklace. Already in her youth, she was shown as a devout woman, which also took offense at Rhaenyra’s sex scandal with Daemon/Ser Kriston.

After she and her father took over the reins of government in King’s Landing, she had many of the insignia of House Targaryen exchanged for tokens of faith. The whole castle now appears cooler, more colorless and simpler, in keeping with the teachings of the faith. But is this all just a clever move by Alicent to show off her power, or is she really such a fanatical supporter of the Seven?

A false prophetess

From what we know about Alicent, her belief may indeed be true. Nonetheless, it is also an expression of their hypocrisy. As Rhaenyra correctly recognized, she uses this “mantle of righteousness” at will to believe she is on the right side, on the side of “good”.

She prays, wears the Seven-Pointed Star, spreads its teachings, and redecorate the castle “in the style of faith,” but this does not deter her from intrigue, murder, and manipulation. At her ambiguous request, Larys murdered his brother Harwin and father Lyonel Kraft. She also keeps another assassin, Ser Kriston Kraut, in her service as her sworn knight.

She seems to do just as little against the rapes of maids committed by her son Aegon as against the disregard for the succession. But the greatest injustice and hypocrisy is probably the fact that she married her children Aegon and Helaena in the old Targaryen tradition, but before that she found offense at the relationship between Rhaenyra and Daemon.

While Alicent definitely believes in the seven somewhere, she doesn’t act in that spirit. She plays the game of thrones with every means at her disposal and that includes faith, which gives her a certain grandeur and protection.

But the facade is easy to see through. Thus, the hanging stars in the Red Keep cannot be seen charged with any religious meaning, but rather as her personal symbol of power and dominance of her and her house.

In the trailer you can see that riots in the city are the result. The Hightowers seem to want to crown Aegon II as king as soon as possible. We will find out whether they will succeed on Monday, October 17, 2022. Then episode 9 of “House of the Dragon” will appear on Sky Atlantic on pay TV and in the stream on Wow.