House of the Dragon: What Do Alicent’s GREEN Dress Mean and Importance of The GREEN Color

Having a Quiet Wedding in Westeros is virtually impossible. After the last episode of House of the Dragon we are more than sure but beware of spoilers! The latest installment of the Game of Thrones spin-off left us with a huge question: is King Viserys dead? But before Viserys collapsed to the ground, in the long-awaited marriage between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon (the central theme of the episode), everything happened: Daemon appears uninvited and tries to take the bride, the ceremony ends with the murder of Joffrey Lonmouth (Laenor’s lover) by Criston Cole (Rhaenyra’s lover) and, amid all this commotion, lies a detail that may have escaped you.

In the episode we see Alicent saying goodbye to his father, Otto Hightower, after being fired from his position as Hand of the King. During a meeting between them, Otto tells his daughter that when King Viserys dies, he will have to choose which side to take to support his son, the king’s eldest son, or ally with House Targaryen by trusting Rhaneyra as heir to the Iron Throne. The queen, as we saw in the previous episode in the embarrassing sex scene with King Viserys, is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her role in her court. Additionally, she learns from Ser Criston Cole that he and the princess slept together and that the king made abortive tea for Rhaenyra because he didn’t trust his daughter. Between that and her father’s warning, Alicent becomes more and more upset and everything explodes at her stepdaughter Rhaenyra’s wedding.

At the table that presides over the ceremony, there is an important absence, that of Alicent herself, which delays her arrival at the celebration, and when she finally arrives, she appears frowning. The queen surprises everyone present by wearing a green dress. But why? What does Alicent’s green dress mean and what does it mean for the future of House of the Dragon? The key is what Larys Strong whispers to her brother: “Do you know what color the Hightower lighthouse shines when he calls his banners to war?”. The answer, of course, is green. So, Alicent decides to reveal to those present that she has chosen the Hightower house for the Targaryens, whose colors are red and black.

So far, the woman had supported Rhaenyra, but everything seems to change due to the lack of trust between the two and the future narrated in A Dance with Dragons, the civil war that occurs in the books between Rhaenyra and Viserys and Alicent’s eldest son, Aegon, begins to make himself felt. In that very war, the faction of Aegon and his mother Alicent is known as “The Greens”, while supporters of Rhaenyra identify themselves as black. Therefore, the simple choice of color in a dress reveals everything that will come after this decisive episode, who will fight against whom, and which side has chosen Alicent.

House of the Dragon: Why is The Color GREEN Important?

Always according to the book Fire and Blood, whose reading is complemented with the material offered by The World of Ice and Fire; both texts authored by George RR Martin, GREEN has considerable weight in history. The importance of the tonality starts with the celebration of a tournament held in King’s Landing on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the marriage between King Viserys I Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower.

In the feast that complemented the revelry, the queen wore a green dress, while her counterpart Princess Rhaenyra wore a red and black dress, basically the shades used in the banner of the Targaryens. It was thus that the lords and the common people would adopt the custom of referring to “the Greens” and “the Blacks” when speaking of the supporters of the queen and those of the princess, respectively. As if they were powerful and antagonistic political movements, both sides grew in support, sustaining different tricks that would manipulate the future of the kingdom.

10 years later since the dilemma was established, another banquet was held in which King Viserys I forced his daughter Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent to attend with their respective children, with the idea of ​​appeasing the spirits and the enmity between the two. Mutual friendly gestures were recorded during the event, managing to reduce tension and please the regent. However, after the death of the king, the conflict became more acute mainly due to the dispute over the throne. Since Rhaenyra had always been Viserys’s heir, she had settled on Dragonstone, while Alicent remained in the Red Keep alongside her son Aegon II.

Then, Queen Alicent Hightower and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Criston Cole, defied the late regent’s will and conspired to crown Aegon, taking advantage of Rhaenyra being on the family island for the birth of her sixth child. Aegon II was crowned King at the Dragon Pit, triggering the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, as Rhaenyra decides to dispute the throne with her half-brother.

So the divisions deepened. The Greens is the name by which the House Targaryen faction and its supporters who supported the cause of Aegon II Targaryen became known. The main representatives were established as a privy council for the president, and among them were: Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King; Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; Ser Tyland Lannister, Naval Counselor; Lord Jasper Wylde, Councilor for Edicts; Lord Larys Strong, Counselor of Hearsay; and Grand Master Orwyle.

While Los Negros is the name given to the faction of House Targaryen and its allies that supported the cause of Rhaenyra Targaryen as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, whose private council was made up of Lord Corlys Velaryon, Master of Driftmark and Hand of the Queen; Lord Bartimos Celtigar, Lord of Isla Zarpa and Councilor of the Currency; Lord Staunton; Lord Gormon Massey, Lord of Ballarroca; Lord Bar Emmon; Lord Gunthor Darklyn; Grand Master Gerardys; and Mysaria, Counselor of Rumors (yes, Daemon’s prostitute and witch friend, who is by then Rhaenyra’s husband).