re: House of the Dragon S1E8: “Lord of the Tides”--Official Thread

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If she poisoned her then they need to show her dead from The poison otherwise it does nothing for us the viewers We know that’s Plan B tea. If we’re supposed to think Alicent is ruthless for this then it need to be explicit. It can be secretive to the characters in that world, but not the viewer or else it does nothing. I think It’s plan B and a payoff to show how routine this is.

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Correct. This scene was meant to show compassion. She felt for the young girl but still had to protect her family. The girl was not harmed.

You cannot be this dumb? Can you?

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Alicent threatened her with what would happen if she told anyone else, gave her a morning after tea, and paid her to go away (the bag she handed to the servant girl).

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Alicent already aluded to the fact that if she didn't tell another soul in the world she has already told too many people. These household servants are disposable to royal families. That's a lot of the undercurrent in the story is that no matter who sits the throne the common people are always in struggle. Less so when the kindoms aren't at war with each other but still struggling nonetheless.

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Adult Aemond looks like a complete psychopath. I almost expected him to kill one of the Strong kids at dinner 

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Its impossible to not at least sorta like him, that eye patch gives him a badass distinguishing trait. I bet even GRRM didn't expect him to look that great. I wanna see the sapphire eye at some point too.

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Are Alicent and Otto acting in Viserys' stead

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I mean more like using his incapacitation to try and undue his commands and position their House upon his death.

In theory she would take over, but it would seem the Hightower's are going to do everything in their power to prevent that.

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Are Alicent and Otto acting in Viserys' stead just while he is/was incapacitated? And then Rhaenyra (in theory) will take over now that Viserys has died?

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I think this accurate. It looked like they were having small council meetings without the king. I believe that the Hand of the King (Otto) is essentially the highest ranking political figure aside from the King. Not all too different from when Ned Stark was heading up the small council meetings when he was Hand, and Robert would not show up.

Rhaenyra should now be crowned since Viserys named her heir, but therein lies the conflict. Cleary some, including Otto and Alicent, want Aegon to become King, being the firstborn son of Viserys and all.

ETA: Agree with Bronc. Otto and Alicent are definitely acting more in their own self interest as opposed to aligning with the will of the King.

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I could be the only one who thought this, but several times when Rhaenyra was alone with Viserys, I thought she was going to smother him with a pillow or something.

A) to put him out of his misery, B) to expedite his death so she could take over and call the shots

And then at the end of the episode, I thought Alicent was going to do it.

Basically half the episode I thought someone was about to kill Viserys

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Nah, man, you aren't the only one. I thought Alicent was going to that

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I could be the only one who thought this, but several times when Rhaenyra was alone with Viserys, I thought she was going to smother him with a pillow or something.

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You are not alone. I totally thought this was a possibility since it would immediately give her power. I feel better about her as a character that she did not!

I figured if Alicent was going to do it, she would have already.

I don't really care for the part where Viserys thinks hes talking to Rhaeynra but instead tells Alicient about the prophecy.

It seems like they want us to think Alicient and Rhaenyra made up and will be friends again, but now Alicient will betray her out of a duty to protect the realm from the long night. It's like they're trying to justify Alicient's actions but it doesn't quite hold water in my opinion. Is she really going to go to war over something an old man drugged up full of milk of the poppy told her while essentially sleep talking? He didn't give her much detail or proof or anything to go off of. Plus if that scene never happens and Rhaenyra dies in the war then it could make sense that the prophecy is forgotten until Rhaegar re-discovers it years later

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Is she really going to go to war over something an old man drugged up full of milk of the poppy told her while essentially sleep talking?

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She's likely going to do with it what she has done with all the dirt/info that has agency to her: weaponize it and/or use it as a rationalization to justify the actions she wants to take in service of her own self-serving pursuits and ambitions. Same as if she never heard it. But now that she has, she has the so called "kings dying words" on her side to justify whatever nonsense she attempts to pull next.