Queen Alicent Hightower

Queen Alicent Hightower is the daughter of Otto Hightower, Rhaenyra's closest friend before Viserys marries her, and the figurehead of the Greens. She is portrayed by Olivia Cooke and is identified with House Hightower.

The marriage is the fracture. Viserys chooses her and it shocks the court and strains the friendship she had with Rhaenyra, and from then on she occupies a position she did not choose and cannot leave. Where she once trusted the princess she begins to investigate her: she seeks the truth about Rhaenyra's virtue, presses the issue of the children's parentage directly with Viserys, and demands justice at Driftmark when her son Aemond loses an eye.

What turns her from a rival into a claimant is a misunderstanding. On his deathbed Viserys mistakes her for Rhaenyra and speaks of the prophecy, and Alicent hears a king naming their son Aegon as his successor. She acts on it, enlisting Ser Criston Cole and Aemond to find Aegon and crown him. The cost arrives quickly — she grows concerned that Aegon's Small Council is pushing toward all-out war rather than the measured response she wanted, and in the later seasons she is bargaining with the price of what she set in motion.

Queen Alicent Hightower enters the story as a fifteen-year-old companion to Princess Rhaenyra, daughter of Hand of the King Otto Hightower - and becomes, at her father's arranging, the second wife of a king twice her age. Her childhood friendship with Rhaenyra is the show's first casualty: turned lady-in-waiting to queen, serving a dying husband and bearing his children while her former best friend is named heir over her sons.

Her arc is the making of a faction. Alicent does not seize power the way men do; she performs duty so flawlessly that power collects around her. When she mishears the dying Viserys speak of the prince that was promised and believes he has finally named their son Aegon, her lifelong grievance acquires a holy justification - and the Greens have their queen.

She is the show's most human antagonist: not wicked but wounded, a woman who did everything the world asked of her and received only rivals for it. The war she crowns is not the war she wants, and by the time she understands the difference between her son and her cause, the dance has already begun.

• Political patience
• Dynastic conviction
• Dutiful to the point of self-erasure
• Sharp court instincts
• Prophecies taken literally

antagonist

Alicent's life is defined by the men who arrange it: her father Otto, whose ambition she executes; her husband Viserys, whom she tends with genuine if joyless devotion; her son Aegon, whom she crowns with misgivings; her daughter Helaena, whose strange wisdom she fails to hear; and Aemond, the child who gives her cause its teeth. Her bond with Rhaenyra - friendship, estrangement, rivalry - is the series' emotional axis. Criston Cole and Larys Strong are the loyalists her cause attracts, and Daemon Targaryen her oldest antagonist.

Allies

• Ser Criston Cole — Sworn shield and Green partisan
• Lord Larys Clubfoot Strong — Green courtier

Enemies

• Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen — Childhood friend turned rival claimant
• Prince Daemon Targaryen — Daemon Targaryen

Family

• FatherSer Otto Hightower
• Eldest sonKing Aegon Ii Targaryen
• DaughterQueen Helaena Targaryen
• SonPrince Aemond Targaryen

Affiliations

• House Hightower; The Greens

• Olivia Cooke — Adult Alicent Hightower
• Emily Carey — Young Alicent Hightower (Season 1 early episodes)

• Young Alicent Hightower - portrayed by Emily Carey (Season 1, early episodes)
• Adult Alicent Hightower - portrayed by Olivia Cooke (Season 1 later episodes onward)

No character media available yet. Photos and videos will be added in a later update.

• Official references count: 1
• Public references count: 2

• Title: Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms
• Status: Active
• Billing: Top-billed main character
• Role: main cast
• Shows: House of the Dragon
• Seasons: 4
• Episodes: 26

• The Rogue Prince — S1E2

  Viserys decides to marry her, a decision that shocks the court and strains her friendship with Rhaenyra.

• We Light the Way — S1E5

  She seeks the truth about the princess, investigating rather than trusting.

• The Princess and the Queen — S1E6

  She presses the issue of the children's parentage and demands that Viserys address it.

• Driftmark — S1E7

  She demands justice for Aemond as Viserys appeals for peace.

• The Lord of the Tides — S1E8

  Viserys mistakes her for Rhaenyra on his deathbed and she hears a dying wish for their son.