‘Home of the Dragon’ Season 2, episode 7: What is the cope with that Alicent lake scene?

Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) is having the worst time.

Her daughter Helaena (Phia Saban) is traumatized from Jaehaerys’ loss of life. Her son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) almost died due to her different son Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) fratricidal urges. She’s fled a life-threatening riot, been undermined at and kicked out of the Small Council, and even began a disastrous situationship with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Oh, and he or she realized that each one of those tragedies occurred as a result of she misunderstood Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) dying phrases.

In Home of the Dragon Season 2, episode 7, the cumulative weight of those occasions lastly proves an excessive amount of to bear for Alicent, and he or she decides to make a journey to the Kingswood. This tour marks the primary time we have seen Alicent depart King’s Touchdown since Viserys’ hunt in Season 1, episode 3. Right here, although, there isn’t a nice retinue tending to the Dowager Queen. By her request, she’s solely accompanied by Ser Rickard Thorne (Vincent Regan), and he or she even rejects his firm after a time.

Alicent’s solo wandering via the Kingswood brings her to a lake. She wades in and floats within the water for an prolonged time period. It is a uncommon second of peace for Alicent — and for Home of the Dragon usually — and it might trace at an enormous change forward for her.

What does Alicent’s lake scene imply?

Earlier than leaving King’s Touchdown in episode 7, Alicent laments, “Nothing is clean here.” The water of the lake, then, gives a chance for cleaning — and for rebirth. As she floats, she’s washed clear of all of the ache she bears. You possibly can nearly see that fear and anguish from her time within the Crimson Maintain seep from her face the longer she stays within the lake.

However Alicent’s time within the water is not the one facet of the lake scene that creates a way of rebirth. In her stroll all the way down to the lake, she sheds her inexperienced cloak and costume till she’s sporting solely a easy white shift. Similar to that is Alicent’s first trip of King’s Touchdown in over a season, that is additionally the primary time we see her sporting a colour aside from inexperienced since she adopted it in Season 1, episode 5. The impact is destabilizing: That is Alicent with none of the iconography we affiliate her with. No inexperienced robes, no symbols of the Religion of the Seven on her particular person, no members of the Kingsguard shadowing her. It is as if we’re seeing Alicent in her easiest, purest state, an concept elevated by the white costume, which calls to thoughts a clean canvas, a brand new begin.

The lack of Alicent’s inexperienced clothes can be notable within the context of the present. By this level, Aemond has booted Alicent from the Small Council. She has misplaced any of the facility she fought so arduous to realize and keep. Each sacrifice she made, each time she caught steadfastly to her obligation — was all of it for nothing?

Alicent definitely appears to suppose so, telling Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan), “All my life I have endeavored to serve both my house and the realm, and somehow none of it matters. We are cast aside. Or hated.” Now that she’s been solid apart by her personal son, and now that she is aware of Aegon’s declare to the Iron Throne is all primarily based on lies, what’s tethering her to their trigger anymore?

With this in thoughts, Alicent leaving her inexperienced clothes behind suggests a lack of allegiance to Crew Inexperienced. Even the colours of the Kingswood level to Alicent ditching her household. She abandons the luxurious greenery of the forest in favor of the water. She should still be surrounded by inexperienced on all sides, however within the lake, she is much aside from it.

The sense of freedom from the Greens persists throughout Alicent’s time within the lake. We see her stare up at a chook wheeling alone via the sky. Within the water, she is its mirror picture, flapping her arms simply sufficient to maintain her afloat. Maybe, for the primary time, she feels as if she actually might be free as a chook and escape the programs of energy which have held her down for therefore lengthy. When she turns and retains swimming away from the shore, there’s an actual chance that she will not be coming again to Ser Rickard, that she plans to run as removed from King’s Touchdown as she will be able to.

So does this scene imply that Alicent will instantly pledge herself to Rhaenyra within the Season 2 finale? Not fully. Other than being an enormous change from George R.R. Martin’s Fireplace & Blood, an instantaneous alliance may not ring true after years of infighting and the deaths of members of the family. There stays a lot to reconcile between the 2 of them, and though their transient reunion in episode 3 proves they’ve love for one another, the highway to forgiveness and belief could also be lengthy and winding — thought not unattainable.

The finale of Home of the Dragon Season 2 airs Aug. 4 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.