Warning: Contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1, episode 5, and the book Fire & Blood.Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) wears a green dress in Game of Thrones' weddings were almost always massive, game-changing affairs, and House of the Dragon continues in that brutal tradition.
Alongside the increasingly bad illness of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), the very bloody murder of Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) at the hands of Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and the tease of romance between Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Laena Velaryon (Savannah Steyn), one of the most attention-grabbing moments is something that's less obviously dramatic: Alicent's entrance. Or, more specifically, Alicent's entrance in a green dress. The Queen isn't at the feast to begin with, instead arriving fashionably late, with the emphasis placed squarely on the fashionable element of that as her dress turns heads and starts countless whispers and murmurings across the room, but just why is it so important?
Alicent Hightower's Green Dress Explained
As well as interrupting Viserys' speech, Alicent's green-dress-wearing arrival at Rhaenyra and Laenor's wedding is so shocking because of the color of her attire. As Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) says to his brother: "The beacon on the Hightower. Do you know what color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war?" The response, of course, is green, which is precisely why Alicent's dress is such a loaded choice.
In an episode that takes its title from the words of House Hightower, this costume represents her making a choice: Hightower over Targaryen, after she had previously been seen in the more typical reds and blacks of the house of the dragon. Rhaenyra's actions with Daemon and Criston, as well as her own disillusionment within her marriage to Viserys, and her father's warnings about her sons' futures, have all combined to put Alicent on this path, and she decides to make a stance in the most powerful way she can. But this isn't just her choosing House Hightower or a fashion statement, but a choice that will have ramifications that define the rest of House of the Dragon's story.
What Alicent's Green Dress Means In The Book (& Why HOTD Changes It)
Alicent's green dress moment in House of the Dragon comes differently to how it plays out in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood book. There, rather than Rhaenyra and Laenor's wedding, it takes place at a tourney celebrating the 5th anniversary of Alicent and Viserys' marriage. At a feast, Alicent wore a green dress, while Rhaenyra wore black and red, the colors of House Targaryen; thus, there was a more clear and simultaneous delineation between the pair that led to their different ers being referred to as either "the greens" (Alicent/Aegon) or "the blacks," (Rhaenyra) whereas House of the Dragon puts the onus of the breakaway more firmly on Alicent.
House of the Dragon amalgamates a lot of events surrounding this: in the book, it's at the tourney where Criston gives his favor to Rhaenyra, and later her marriage to Laenor is where that relationship dissolves. This makes sense with its broader timeline and character changes, including Alicent and Rhaenyra being true friends for a long time (unlike the books, where Alicent is a decade older than Rhaenyra) and how it's shaping the story, with the divide being quite gradual and Alicent having the information, that Rhaenyra believes to be a secret, leading to her breaking away.
How Alicent's Green Dress Sets Up The Dance Of The Dragons
Alicent's green dress in House of the Dragon helps to set up its civil war, the Dance of the Dragons, not least by properly introducing one of its foundational elements: the green faction, which will surely be swiftly followed by the introduction of the blacks. Ultimately, the Dance will divide Westeros along those lines, and so Alicent is already making her position very clear. But what's most important is what her choice represents. This is not just her choosing House Hightower, but is her picking her son, Aegon, over Rhaenyra. So far, Alicent has ed Rhaenyra as Viserys' heir, despite protestations from her father, Otto. But by wearing the green dress, Alicent makes it clear that will no longer be the case, and that ultimately she'll be putting herself and her children first, which will eventually lead to - as the green of Hightower s - war.
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