In multiple interviews, Milly Alcock and Emily Carey, who portray Rhaenyra and Alicent in the first five episodes of the season, have confirmed that they played their characters as having a romantic connection, not just a close, platonic one.
Cooke said that she and D'Arcy” have “definitely” talked about Alicent and Rhaenyra being “each other's first love,” although by this point “too much has happened and too much time has passed to probably even recognize those fledgling feelings.”
After a time jump of three years, things have not improved between Alicent and Rhaenyra. Now they are stepmother and stepdaughter, and their daily lives include the tension between them.
In the fifth episode of the prequel "Game of Thrones" series, Criston (Fabien Frankel) reveals to queen Alicent that he slept with her friend and stepdaughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock).
According to the accounts of Septon Eustace, prior to her turning sixteen, Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle, Prince Daemon, after he seduced her.
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally had sex on House of the Dragon. After teasing their deep connection for weeks, making out in a brothel, and flirting their way through King's Landing, uncle and niece at long last did the dirty.
We last saw her find out the truth in "We Light the Way" that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
While House Of The Dragon episode 4 showed Daemon was able to seduce Rhaenyra by kissing and undressing her, he couldn't fulfill the act due to impotence.
In the book, she's nine years older than Princess Rhaenyra, but in Dragon they're meant to be around the same age: 15 years old as of episode 1, then roughly 17 or 18 during episodes 3-5. Emily Carey, the actress who plays young Alicent, is 19 years old.
"House of the Dragon" actor Emily Carey said that Alicent Hightower was originally "in love" with Ser Criston Cole. In the fifth episode of the prequel "Game of Thrones" series, Criston (Fabien Frankel) reveals to queen Alicent that he slept with her friend and stepdaughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock).
However, their words of regret turned out to be sincere, revealing the love that teenage Alicent and Rhaenyra had shared as best friends was still there deep down. Alicent and Rhaenyra forgiving one another in House of the Dragon episode 8 also implies that the entire war had the potential to be avoided.
Alicent hates Rhaenyra because she's in love with Criston Cole and believes the princess betrayed her by having an affair with him. This has never been explicitly stated on the show but was confirmed by Emily Carey, who played the younger Queen Alicent.
In Fire & Blood, however, Rhaenyra is in love with Daemon from a young age. Things change after she meets Criston Cole. Nevertheless, George R. R. Martin's books show that Rhaenyra's first love was Daemon, whereas House of the Dragon has a slower build-up between the two.
Rhaenyra's first notable relationship is with Ser Criston Cole, her sworn shield and a member of the Kingsguard, making any relationship between them utterly forbidden.
Turns out, Rhaenyra and Daemon are endgame, meaning they have a sexually tense relationship, eventually hook up, and get married—which is pretty significant from a power play perspective considering (1) they both want the throne and (2) their Targaryen union is almost sure to guarantee that happens—even though Alicent ...
Her next child whom she's now pregnant with, however, will be a different story. In House of the Dragon episode 8, Rhaenyra Targaryen is pregnant with her daughter Visenya. Despite Rhaenyra and Daemon's excitement over having another child, their daughter will tragically never take a breath of air.
That's right, during the Oct. 2 episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) stopped fighting their feelings for one another and finally got together. However, this was more than just an illicit liaison, as Rhaenyra and Daemon got married at the end of the episode.
A sordid and controversial story began to spread that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle Daemon at age 16. No one knows if that is true. But Targaryens had long married within the family to keep their bloodlines pure. And King Viserys did exile his brother shortly after.
Rhaenyra has been pregnant with her daughter Visenya since House of the Dragon's latest and last time jump, and it is heartbreaking to see her deal with this loss. The way in which the scene plays out makes it especially disturbing. RELATED: House of the Dragon: Which Dragon is Daemon Singing To?
When finally did give birth to the baby, it is said that the child had a hole where her heart should have been, a tail, and scales for skin—a monster, as her mother had cursed her to be. Upon her death, Rhaenyra swore yet another vow. “She was my only daughter, and they killed her.
While we conjectured that something inside forced Daemon to stop before he took Rhaenyra's virginity, a recent HBO-approved “Inside the Episode” installment revealed that something was literally impotence. He literally couldn't get it up.
Aegon III, aka Aegon the Younger: Rhaenyra and Daemon's first child together.
As a youth, Rhaenyra was considered the most beautiful woman in the land, but Martin has repeatedly stated that at the time of her father's death, “[S]he was a pudgy girl and a stout woman, with a thick waist and a very large bosom.
Rhaenyra's children are bastards, and Vaemond finally let everyone know in Episode 8, as loudly as he possibly could. For that, he lost his head, though Daemon let him keep his tongue.