House Of The Dragon: Celebrities attend UK premiere in London

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House of the Dragon immersed viewers back into the world of Westeros albeit in a very different era with a Targaryen firmly installed on the Iron Throne and a plentiful supply of dragons. The Seven Kingdoms was a homogenous realm with much prosperity and war an unfamiliar concept to many. However, power play and politicking was still very much the order of the day as King Viserys Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine) found himself struggling to appoint a successor.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from House of the Dragon episode 1 and future spoilers from House of the Dragon

Did Alicent Hightower sleep with Viserys Targaryen?

The honourable king was surrounded by questionable allies all around, including his own brother Daemon (Matt Smith), who liked nothing better than a brothel and a battle.

One supposedly faithful advisor was Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), who on the surface had the king’s best interests at heart.

However, behind closed doors, Otto was something completely different and just as power-hungry as his fellow members on the small council.

Following the death of Queen Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke) in childbirth, Otto told his young daughter Alicent (Emma Carey) to “comfort” the king in his hour of need.

Before Alicent visited the king’s chambers, Otto told his daughter to wear one of his late wife’s dresses for Viserys.

The insinuation was clear, Otto was essentially trying to throw Alicent into the king’s path when he was at his most emotionally vulnerable in the hopes of earning a place in Viserys’ affections.

Otto appeared to be just as conniving as Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who gained further power after he married Cersei (Lena Headey) to Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy).

Alicent arrived at Viserys’ bed chamber but the pair just spoke about their respective grief with the king showing the teen his model of King’s Landing.

Although nothing salacious took place on screen between the pair, it was clear Otto was trying to instigate a union between Alicent and Viserys for his own ends.

In the Targaryen history book Fire and Blood – which House of the Dragon is based on – Alicent (Olivia Cooke) later marries Viserys.

Her marriage puts her at odds with Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), who is Viserys’ named heir, because Alicent wants her children to sit on the Iron Throne.

But it is all Otto and Alicent’s ambitions and hunger for power which makes her choose to marry Viserys rather than any genuine feelings for the king.

Viserys is advised by his small council to marry someone else but he chooses Alicent, amid “whispers of people who believed that the Hand had risen above himself”.

Again, this suggests Otto had a hand into pushing together Viserys and Alicent for status and power.

There’s another twist in the tale with Otto with apparently scheming long before Viserys was sat on the throne.

According to A Wiki of Ice and Fire, “Some doubted Alicent’s virtue, as rumors [sic] began circling that she had given her maidenhead to Prince Daemon, and had later even slept with King Viserys while Queen Aemma was still alive. The notorious Mushroom suggested that Alicent had been more than an aide to the late Jaehaerys.”

Other reports suggest Otto and Daemon fell out after the prince deflowered Alicent but again this is wrapped in the hearsay of Westeros’ mythology.

Even if Alicent didn’t sleep with Viserys in the opening episode, it’s clear the pair will become better acquainted over time with a sexual relationship following at some point.

If House of the Dragon follows the slow-burn pace of Game of Thrones, viewers will see more of Otto and Alicent’s machinations over time.

Like Cersei and Melisandre (Carice van Houten), Alicent is using her sexuality to gain power and it appears to be working.

House of the Dragon airs on HBO on Sundays and Sky Atlantic on Mondays and streams on NOW 

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