Investigating “The Red Dragon and the Gold” [House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4]

[@jessicawang6206]

In Aegon's defense, Aemond revealed that he and Cole were planning a battle behind his back, using almost the exact battle plan that Aegon suggested the episode before, when he got shot down by Aemond and Criston. I think we, as the audience, shouldn't necessarily buy into the narrative presented by his council, that Aegon is the big problem here. They put him on the throne, and he's been cooperative so far, but there's only so much you can expect a person to be undermined and shat upon before he snaps. Although the show has moved on from it pretty quickly, he's just lost a child and no one cares (Aemond caused the death of said child but is still smirking all over the place??). They put him down because they don't want him to feel empowered, they want a puppet, but he's the king, planning a battle behind his back is treason, and he's correct that he should have been informed. Do we remember Otto warning Cole and Aemond against this very thing? And do we remember Viserys and Daemon having a two year long falling out because Daemon went to war in the Stepstones without Viserys' permission. At the very least, if Aemond and Vhagar, who Aegon was told needed to stay behind to defend the city, are going to battle, Aegon needs to know. And Aegon's ideas are not inherently bad, his family is just determined to sideline him, and it's not actually helpful (I'm going to point out, taking Harrenhal back from Daemon is not a bad idea. If they want to "draw out a dragon," there is a dragon right there in Harrenhal, and Daemon has not mustered a force yet. Harrenhal is strategically important, and you cannot "cut off Dragonstone by land," by taking Rook's Rest, as Aemond said, it's a damned island). Sorry, I just get kind of heated at the wholesale acceptance of the framing of Aegon as the big problem on the green council. Maybe the big problem is making someone king against his will, getting his child killed, using his child's death for political propaganda, mocking him, denying him the opportunity for personal revenge (fine for Aemond to kill Luke over his eye, but Aegon wants heads for his child, and noooo Aegon bad), and belittling him at every turn. It's honestly, as a book fan first, really exhausting and kind of upsetting to watch, and it's surprising to me that people seem to think Aegon had it coming. Did he really? Aegon has been a pretty easy king for them to work with so far, but Aemond's big ego just cannot let him have a single win (and remember, Aegon is the one who put him on the council in the first place! Alicent tried to send him away, and Aegon said no my brother stays!), he's an insufferable prick and it's only because Aegon is so needy for approval that he hasn't been banished the way Viserys did Daemon, which is SAD, but I guess Aemond is cool and badass so there's that. When it comes down to it, Aegon flying into battle is what he is supposed to do as a medieval king. In the book it is one major points in his favor, and he did not fly out unexpectedly, it was always part of the plan. One of the major issues people have with Rhaenyra is that she does not fight her own battles, or even let her children fight her battles (notice she denies Jace even patrol duty, and gives it to Baela instead). As you pointed out, Bobby B. is a battle king, and people respect that. While Aegon might have done it in a bit of a self destructive spiral due to Alicent telling him he's worthless, he was doing what he was meant to do. Y'all don't give Aegon enough credit either, he clearly flew out there with a bit of a reckless death wish. If you notice, when Aegon sees his troops being burned, he tells Sunfyre to go faster, and he heads straight for Meleys. If you've lost everything, everyone is shitting on you, your mother has called you worthless, these people forced you to be king and are now telling you they never actually wanted you anyway, they just wanted a figurehead, plus your child is dead because of it, would you not also go on a semi suicidal drunken ride to battle? It's not as if Aegon isn't self destructive, we've seen it repeatedly. But he isn't a coward, and the troops were indeed rallied, and when Aegon sees Aemond joined, he's actually happy and relieved thinking they can work together. Then Aemond roasts him and smooshes the troops with his dragon. Great. Like, I know this show works pretty tirelessly to frame Aegon as completely worthless to Aemond's ultra competent cool guy but maybe we don't have to accept that completely uncritically. It's a bit of a monkey's paw moment for the greens. Alicent said she needs Aegon to do nothing, and he's going to be doing a whole lot of nothing now, to everyone's detriment. Can't wait for the people who think Aemond would be the better king between the two to see how his regency era pans out.

[@KayLee-lw5iv]

For Cole, rhaenyra was the death of magic. He was ambitious before her, he made for the kings guard with no house, believing wholly his honor and skill would carry the issue. He couldn't have said no to her, and she spurned him when he returned her enthusiasm with passion and devotion. He is bitter, maybe understandably, because she didn't choose to give up one of the most powerful seats in the world so they could be viewed as a legitimate couple, after she stole his legitimacy from him. I think Daemon might be that for Rhaenyra. He still views her as the child he liked, fiery, passionate, commanding beyond all the right she's given as a woman because of her privileged position, so he struggles to see her authority as legitimate. He's desperately trying to treat her like leana, disregarding her concerns to her detriment, but Rae will not ever let that happen without telling him that he is betraying her.