Dear Rhaenyra: You're boring and I love you

To Rhaenyra Targaryen, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm...

You're really quite boring.

I mean, you had some spunk as a kid. You gave your Auntie Rhaenys a little lip. You snuck out of the castle, made out with your uncle, and shattered Ser Criston Cole's sense of self-worth. You know, Targaryen princess stuff. And you did swoop in to save the day when Daemon went rogue. That was cool. And bold. It made me cheer for you. But that was the second episode of Season 1. What have you done since?

You declared you didn't want to become a princess who pushes out babies for the realm, but rather one who "serves as a knight and ride[s] to battle and glory." Pretty standard I'm a girl in a man's world plot stuff. But then you became a princess who pushed out babies for the realm.

Your throne was usurped. When your son was killed and we finally thought you were going to open fire on the Greens, you took a leave of absence to tend to your grief. You only had one line the entire season 2 premiere. I mean, you were brave enough to confront your pain. You showed us what it means to honor your own humanity and your son's in the face of violence and war. But, like, this is Westeros. You could have also beheaded someone. Anyone, really.

Your most boring moment came when Ser Arryk Cargyll snuck into your chambers to assassinate you. I thought, Surely, this is the moment when Rhaenyra shows her teeth! Instead, you clutched your sheets, called for your guards, and watched passively as two men fought for your life. The queen who cowered on the ground seemed a far cry from the dragonrider who dared Daemon Targaryen to run her through with his sword.

I wanted you to be stronger than somebody or to outsmart someone. I wanted you to win something for yourself. Not the war for Westeros, necessarily, but maybe a thumb war with Joffrey.

Meanwhile, your old friend Alicent Hightower has been busy as a bee nurturing her plots and schemes and sociopathic children. One episode at a time, she has managed to make herself wholly unlikable, but incredibly watchable. Very not boring. She's the Queen You Love to Hate. In more ways than one, she's accomplished what you could not: seizing the Iron Throne and convincing Ser Criston Cole to be her on-again-off-again. Say what you want about the Dowager Queen, she does stuff. For the last four or more episodes of the series, watching you has felt like the equivalent of having a breath-holding contest.

After Episode 3, however, I couldn't be more grateful.

Forgive me, Your Grace. The Princess Rhaenys foreshadowed your wisdom many times by admiring your preference for patience over brash action and reminding us of your need to feel the full heartache of your son's loss. Still, I doubted, until you marched into King's Landing yourself.

You put yourself in harm's way to avoid bringing harm to others. When Alicent made you truly doubt for the first time that your father had, in fact, named your half-brother Aegon heir to the Iron Throne, you did what no one else would have had the courage to do. At your weakest and most vulnerable, in your greatest moment of doubt, you asked: "What did he say?" You asked a question. You sought the information you truly needed, and you listened to the answer, all while kneeling across from your greatest enemy and most tragic friend.

Stories aren't really supposed to reflect real life because real life is boring. Like you. But in asking that one final question of Alicent, you showed us what it means to be prudent and judicious, even when it means our own dreams, our safety, and even our own sense of self is at risk. You put yourself at risk of breaking, a fate maybe worse than death for having to live with it. It was the most quiet, most ordinary, most boring way to show us the most real courage we've seen yet, and for that, I love you.

Now, if it pleases you, Your Grace, to battle and glory.

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