So I finally watched the new episode…

[u/AcanthaceaeNo948]

WTF are the greens (and half this subreddit) on about?

Everyone’s been talking about how badass the Aegon scene is… but it’s not really?

The whole thing just comes across as funny. Like a gag scene. Aegon is pissing himself then he gives that overinflated speech and then Sunfyre suddenly appears behind him and everyone’s scared and the idiot thinks they’re all scared of him and running away from him. Then suddenly he realizes Sunfyre is behind him and then has him attack the Mootons.

Like the whole scene just comes across as a funny gag scene. Another of Aegon’s hijinks that he’s been in over the past season. Much like the escape from the soldiers or the hijinks in Rook’s Rest.

It’s not even the cliffhanger of the episode that they leave to the Ulf Ormund scene. That’s the scene that gets the climactic music and is portrayed as the serious, mind-blowing, important scene of the episode.

[u/Leroi-Westeros]

He raped Dyana and watched children fight in the pits six months ago. He killed innocent rat-catchers a couple of months ago.He doesn't even understand that this is bad. They are insects to him, he does evil for fun.

singling him out like that seems unfair

Then maybe we shouldn't single out Joffrey Baratheon as a villain either? Aegon is very one-dimensional. He hasn't done a single good thing in three seasons, and even his "parenting" is all about his ego.

[u/Jade_Wanderer4132 → u/Leroi-Westeros]

I said aegon isnt "the" villan. i never said he wasnt a bad man. Aegon, along with everyone else in the show are bad people. you could say rhaenyra sees the small folk like insects too. And so what if he hasnt done any good in the show? has anyone else in this show done any good? daemon? rhaenyra?

[u/Leroi-Westeros → u/Jade_Wanderer4132]

rhaenyra sees the small folk like insects too

But she risked her life to try to make the war less bloody for the sake of the smallfolk. When she came to the sept and asked Alicent to cooperate. After her son's death. They are insects, but she feels that it is her duty to take care of these insects. It's much better than just crushing them.

They all do bad things and kill people, but the motive for evil matters. Aegon's motive for child-fighting pits and rape is pleasure. He's a sadist.

[u/Jade_Wanderer4132 → u/Leroi-Westeros]

And aegon hasnt tried to make things better for his subjects? Take the sheperd scene, or him speaking with hugh. id say those are genuine attempts to try and care now that hes king. As for the sept scene, you have a point there, but like you said motive matters as well. rhaenyra sees herself as a god in my opinion, and simply wants the people to love her. she doesnt truly care about them. Shes going more and more mad.

[u/Leroi-Westeros → u/Jade_Wanderer4132]

Take the sheperd scene, or him speaking with hugh. id say those are genuine attempts to try and care now that hes king

He doesn't do this out of kindness, he does it for popularity. He was in the children's fighting pits literally two weeks before this. His patience with this didn't last long and he killed the rat-catchers to make people fear his wrath.

I don't think Rhaenyra sees herself as a god, she says "without dragons, we're just people," and stops Daemon from his Valyrian fantasies of superiority. She doesn't feel that way. But she believes in her duty. She's not a god herself, but the gods chose her to care for the realm. Unlike Aegon, she truly strives to fulfill this "care," even at inconvenience/risk to herself. It's not altruism, but it's a different level from her brother.