House of the Dragon season 2 has been out for only two episodes to-date, yet it’s already a pretty much promising start, despite all the criticism the premiere episode ended up with.
The show now seems to be trying to get more supporters for the Greens as its up-front leaders aren’t the same villainous land conquerors we’ve all known them as since season 1.
Apart from Alicent who surely blew many fans away (just like she did with me), her pretty much controversial father now also appears to be having some remorse regarding things he’s done before.
Ever since they both entered the royal family, Alicent and Otto Hightower have been united in their one and only long-standing mission, which is to avenge Rhaenyra and push her off the Iron Throne to eventually make Viserys I’s legitimate son and heir, Aegon, the future King.
Though Alicent was still quicker to back up, realizing that she’s just always had a bit of sympathy for her former best friend and the other side of the family, it didn’t take long for Otto to become aware of their mistakes either.
The second season’s episode 2 sees Otto finally revealing a tough truth to Aegon, saying that the latter would never become a good king. Despite Aegon’s disbelief in his grandfather’s words, it’s actually always been pretty obvious since the Greens’ King never actually considered the needs or desires of neither his citizens nor his own family members, yet still pretended to do so.
Now that Otto is officially gone as Hand of the King, he may have got a chance to clear his conscience, but things are getting far worse for the Greens without him as its strongest member.
Despite still being a very controversial character who got to the ultimate power by forcing his child daughter to marry an aged King, Otto is so far the most quick-witted player in Westeros politics, something that could potentially play into the hands of Aegon whose reign couldn’t go worse at this point.
With Criston Cole now serving as the new Hand of the King, Otto Hightower doesn’t seem to be that bad after all, especially since he’s the only one capable of leading the Greens in the right direction.
