The GOT prequel- House of the Dragon that has been amazing so far just released its penultimate episode leading up to the big season finale. After 8th episode setting up the stage for the Dance of the Dragons to kick off, episode 9 pushed the narrative down a cliff straight into anarchy. Episode 9 begins with Viserys’ death and how everyone reacts to it. After a brief moment of sorrow everyone goes to back to their interests and plots against everyone. The entire episode is focused on King’s Landing and the Greens’ efforts to seize the throne unfairly. The episode is mainly focused on one thing- find Aegon and make him King as soon as possible. The Greens all lines of morality and decency in this episode, something that Alicent once believed in.
Misinterpreting Viserys’ last words and seizing the Iron Throne and not Rhaenyra who has been the official heir for over 15 years now, has led to this entire charade of betrayal. The episode wasn’t as great as the previous few episodes but it still a valued addition to the prequel. The episode felt like it lacked a strong second act. Even after crowning Aegon II, the Hightowers cannot rejoice as Rhaenys crashed the crowning ceremony with her dragon Meleys. She is about to smoke all the Greens but refrains from burning as she sees Alicent standing to pretect Aegon II. There were two major moments in the episode. The conversation between Rhaenys and Alicent and the other is an extremely conspicuous exchange between Lord Larys and Alicent. Let’s talk about the latter.
The scene sees Alicent asking Larys about all the updates and Larys reveals things one by one. Now, if it was only limited to this then there would be no problem. However, everytime Alicent wishes to know more about the thing they’re talking about and Larys is revealing chunks of information, Alicent undresses her feet slowly. Until her bare feet are visible to Larys as he drops the final piece of information. Once he is done, Alicent displays her feet to him and turns away while Larys reaches out to his crotch and starts masturbating while masturbating as he is aroused by Alicent’s feet. This was a disturbing and horrifying scene for many years. This was a real WTF moment which no one understands fully. So, let’s talk about it and figure out what this new alliance all about.
House of the Dragon Episode 9: Larys’ Foot Fetish Explained!
House of the Dragon Episode 9 showed us the true colors of the Greens, which is ultimately green- the color of betrayal. Now, about the scene between Larys and Alicent. It was shocking for the most part because we didn’t expect for anything like this to be shown. The last interaction between Alicent and Larys was at the end episode 7 where Alicent told Larys that his efforts and loyalty will be rewarded. Is this the reward she was talking about? Well, nothing is explicitly said out loud but this is my interpretation of it.
Larys’ obsession with Alicent’s feet can be traced down to his physical disability. He was born a clubfoot and ergo his sexual arousal by seeing a perfect and beautiful leg. In this way, Larys Strong only has to trade secrets, knowledge, and crimes in exchange for his pleasures, and he knows Alicent won’t tell anyone out of her own personal shame. As to why Alicent agrees to this, well she is aware that this is the only way she can accomplish what she wants as a woman in power under the patriarchal system.
She needs Larys’ skills and information to have an advantage over her father, Hand of the King Otto Hightower. As we know that Otto is extremely cunning and often Alicent and Otto don’t agree, as she says in the episode, “Our hearts were never the same.” Now you might ask that why doesn’t Alicent reward Larys in some other way, well… Alicent has brought Larys up to many new positions. He is already the Lord Confessor and he’ll soon be the Master of Whispers. There are no more positions to trade, so Alicent has nothing but herself to trade.
This House of the Dragon episode doesn’t fail to imply that this is embarrassing for Alicent. So, for her it is more like a duty that she has to pet this necessary evil so as to keep her advantage over her father. Also, she might’ve taken the deal as it doesn’t involve her touching or getting intimate with Larys. She simply has to display her feet and let him do the rest to himself for pleasure. If you take Alicent as a character, sex for her has always been about duty, which was quite adequately shown in Episode 4’s sex scene with Viserys.
This scene also highlights the hypocrisy in Alicent Hightower as she has constantly held Rhaenyra accountable for having illegitimate relations with men but when it comes to her she can do it as she cloaks it under the hood of duty. The hypocrisy was also shown when Alicent tolerates every single sexual crime committed by Aegon II in the premises of the Red Keep and outside. If it is benefitting her then she’ll permit them, she’ll stay quiet, but will simultaneously use Rhaenyra’s affair with Harwin Strong to vilify her.
There’s nothing essentially wrong with Alicent willingly agreeing a deal with Larys; the only issue is that she’s hypocritical for putting a stamp on others doing the same thing as immoral or depraved. Alicent’s devotion and self-righteousness in public is a veil for her own shame, which is another example of Alicent sadly vindicating the patriarchal system that disparages her for what men can do freely and unabashedly. This is where the her hypocrisy turns extremely problematic.
House of the Dragon has an incredible ensemble cast that includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Along with the main cast, the supporting cast of the show includes- Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, Savannah Steyn, and more.
The first nine episodes of HOTD are currently streaming on HBO Max or Disney+. New episodes will debut on every Sunday or Monday on HBO and HBO Max or Disney+ Hotstar depending on the region you live in, at 9 pm or 6.30 am.
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