Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Episodes 1-6 of House of the Dragon.
In the most recent episode of House of the Dragon, "The Princess and the Queen," the story made the largest jump we've seen since the series started. We are now a full decade in the future. Rhaenyra is now played by Emma D’Arcy, Alicent is now played by Olivia Cooke, and both women are mothers to a gaggle of kids; some of them have grown into young adults. But, while time may heal all wounds, 10 years certainly wasn't enough time for Alicent's wounds to heal over being lied to by Rhaenyra. 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 it is a serious thing for Alicent that Rhaenyra had sex with a man before marriage, the more painful slight was she lied right to her friend's face, and that lie lead her to advocate for her own father's firing (well, technically Alicent was asking about Daemon, but still).
Episode 6 opens with Rhaenyra giving birth to her third son, Joffrey. Childbirth and motherhood have been major motifs in this season. In the first episode, we saw Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) get painfully cut open by surgeons to give birth to Viserys' (Paddy Considine) son, leaving her dead, only for the infant to die not long after the queen. We saw Alicent pregnant and with children in the previous episodes, and in most of her scenes, she is holding a screaming baby in the Red Keep looking miserable. In this episode, not only does Rhaenyra give birth, but Laena Velaryon (Nova Foueillis-Mose) struggles to birth a child just like Aemma, only to meet a different but equally gruesome fate.
The Fact That Rhaenyra's Children Are Illegitimate Is an Open Secret
It's emphasized time and time again that for women in Westeros, their duty is to give birth to children. They must continue the line of succession, they must create heirs. The birthing bed is their battlefield, as Aemma once told Rhaenyra. But, after successfully giving birth to a third (and healthy) baby boy, Rhaenyra is not even given time to be with her son before she is told by a servant that the queen demands to see the baby. Still bleeding, having not even delivered the afterbirth, Rhaenyra stands to get dressed, refusing to simply send her son along to Alicent alone. As she struggles to walk to Alicent's quarters, Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan) meets her and helps her up the stairs. When they arrive, Alicent's judgment is blatant.
She takes one look at Joffrey, and it is very clear that this child is not the biological son of Ser Laenor. She shoots a barb at Laenor, saying, "Do keep trying, Ser Laenor. Sooner or later you maybe get one that looks like you." But, when Viserys arrives, he happily greets the new baby boy and ignores Alicent's protests later on when she says that Rhaenyra's children are an insult "to the throne, to you, to House Velaryon, and to the match you battled so hard to make for her. Not to mention decency itself." But, is it really decency or honor that makes Alicent so doggedly opposed to Rhaenyra?
It is quickly confirmed that Alicent is right, however. Rhaenyra's sons are bastards. They're the illegitimate children of Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). The issue of the children's legitimacy is an open secret at court, with people turning a blind eye because the king does. "She flaunts the privilege of her inheritance without shame, she expects everyone in the Red Keep to deny the truth our eyes can all plainly see," says Alicent to Ser Criston. To her, Rhaenyra should be living in shame and feel shameful of her children. It is only because she is the heir that these children are allowed to masquerade as legitimate. Ser Criston likens her to a spider who stings and sucks her prey dry, calling her relentless and brazen, among other awful things.
But the question is, does it really matter? Should she feel shame for the parentage of her sons? Should it matter?
Parentage Shouldn't Matter Because Rhaenyra Is a Woman
If Rhaenyra was a man, it actually would. It makes sense why the question of paternity is tossed around when it comes to a man sitting on the Iron Throne or a male heir. There is actually no guarantee that the baby is the biological child of the heir if the consort is rumored to have relations with another man. But finishing "The Princess and the Queen," I couldn't help but agree with Rhaenyra when her son asks her if Ser Harwin is his real father and if he's a bastard. He's a Targaryen. That's all that matters. If men could give birth, would there really be any issue with making bastards heirs? Westeros has seen plenty of lords legitimize their bastards and make them the heir to their seat. Wouldn't it be easier to do that if men could guarantee that they were the father to that bastard?
As a woman, there is really no actual fear that her son is not a Targaryen. They, obviously, all are because we just watched her give birth to one of them. Why does it matter who the father of Rhaenyra’s kids is? The father could be Laenor, Harwin, Daemon (Matt Smith), or even the sanctimonious and vile Ser Criston Cole. But we all know why it matters in Westeros. It's the patriarchy, simply put. We saw this in Episode 4, "King of the Narrow Sea," when Rhaenyra's virtue comes into question. She tells her father, "Were I born a man, I could bed whomever I wanted. I could father a dozen bastards, and no one in your court would blink an eye." Which Viserys admits is true — but, the fact is, she is a woman.
The legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children is not what offends critics like Alicent or Ser Criston. It's the audacity that Rhaenyra would dare have children with another man. Alicent bitterly comments that she's surprised dragon eggs hatched for Rhaenyra's sons at all as if they don't have the blood of the dragon in them. Rhaenyra married Ser Laenor and so her children should be Ser Laenor's children, according to Alicent. But we know exactly why those kids aren't Ser Laenor's, and it's not exactly subtle to the rest of the court. In fact, Ser Criston knows with certainty that Laenor is a gay man. Rhaenyra has no desire to sleep with Laenor if he doesn't want to be with her, and forcing him or her to do that would be atrocious. She's content to let him indulge himself as long as he stands by her side. We do not see any protest in this episode from the Velaryons, and even Laena simply laughs away Daemon's comment of Joffrey looking nothing like Laenor and looking like Harwin. They know Laenor's true nature, and so does Rhaenyra.
Alicent Regards Rhaenyra's Sons as Outsiders Even Though They Are Targaryen
The resentment over Rhaenyra's sons' legitimacy likely stems from the same resentment that some in the kingdom hold for Rhaenyra's position as the heir. Although she's grown up inside her father's small council room, although she's been around politics and the court her whole life, she is unfit and feeble to the masses and to the likes of Alicent and Criston. The queen clearly tells her son Aegon (Ty Tennant), "You are the king's firstborn son, and what they know, what everyone in the realm knows in their blood and in their bones, is that one day, you will be our king." In this patriarchal society, this is not far from the truth. In many people's minds, it's only a matter of time before Aegon supplants Rhaenyra's claim to the throne and takes his rightful place. Even though he's spoiled, cruel, and a creep, they'd rather have an unfit boy than an experienced woman.
When Rhaenyra offers Alicent an olive branch, suggesting they unite their two sides by marrying Alicent's daughter Helaena (Evie Allen) to Rhaenyra's firstborn son Jacaerys Targaryen (Leo Hart) so they can rule together, additionally offering one of Syrax's dragon egg to Aemond (Leo Ashton) – Alicent's only child to not have a dragon – Alicent pushes the offer aside. She derisively calls Rhaenyra's sons "plain-featured," and treats the children as if they are outsiders and not members of House Targaryen. This trickles down to how Ser Criston treats the two boys. By all rights, Jacaerys is the future heir to the throne. His training should take precedence, but Criston instructs Aegon and Aemond, and when questioned by Harwin, he pits Jace against Aegon, telling Aegon to use cruelty and dishonor to defeat the younger boy.
But even taking into account that the kids are bastards, Ser Harwin is a knight and the commander of the city watch (until this episode), the eldest son of Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes). He is the heir to Harrenhal much like the way Laenor is the heir to Driftmark. His pedigree is certainly not a question. And the kids have been raised in the castle alongside Alicent's children, primed to understand the ins and outs of court life not raised on a farm far from King's Landing. As Rhaenyra puts it, they are one house, though the show reiterates the opposite by constantly putting Alicent's children in green clothing.
Rhaenyra Admitting Her Sons Are Bastards Could Mean Exile or Death for Them
Viserys welcomes the idea of finally having peace, but Alicent looks down on it. In her eyes, Rhaenyra is flaunting her illegitimate children in her face. Is there some bitterness in Alicent that over all these years, Rhaenyra has experienced love and pleasure with multiple men of her own choosing, while Alicent has only ever had a miserable sex life with Viserys? Maybe. Rhaenyra lives exactly as a man would in this situation. She married as a political arrangement, but beyond that, she is free to do as she wishes.
Alicent's pride and indignation make her look down on the princess and the wounds of her past lies only seem to have festered. She resents Rhaenyra and likely blames her lie for ultimately leading to her father's sacking. As Alicent complains later to Larys, she admits that her father would not be any more unbiased than Lyonel but at least he would be biased toward her. She cannot see why Viserys won't acknowledge the children as bastards, even as Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) reminds her that that would result in exile or death for the children as well as Rhaenyra.
At the end of the episode, we hear Larys speaking to Alicent, saying that children are a weakness. They give the illusion of immortality because they carry on your legacy. Because of that, people will ignore the transgressions of their children, instead of doing the right thing, they will choose to love their children regardless of their wrongs. But what is right and wrong for Larys is very different from what we might consider right and wrong. Would it be right of Viserys to doom his daughter and grandchildren? Are Rhaenyra's children her transgressions? Hearing those words from Larys, while ringing true in one sense, there is a clear perversion of the sentiment considering the man speaking the words.
So, no, it doesn't really matter who Rhaenyra's baby daddy is — at least, it shouldn't, because they are Targaryens at the end of the day. But, it also wouldn't matter even if they were legitimate, because people like Alicent and Criston have already christened Rhaenyra as their villain and would find another reason to question and delegitimize her claim to the Iron Throne. To Alicent, her legitimate children belong on the throne, and Rhaenyra's children, whether they're bastards or legitimate, do not.