Alicent Hightower’s book ending is even more depressing than House of the Dragon

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon and Fire & Blood*

Alicent Hightower has had one of the hardest runs in House of the Dragon, and her fate in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood isn’t much better. 

So far, Alicent has been pawned off to the aging Viserys by her father, assaulted by her own son, realised her own mistakes created a deadly war, and watched her dad being beheaded by her childhood bestie. 

Yes, she’s made some huge mistakes in House of the Dragon, but she’s basically been used as a pawn her entire life and now she’s paying the price. 

After helping Rhaenyra take back the Iron Throne, she’s being imprisoned at the Red Keep with her daughter Helaena indefinitely. It’s a lot. Although her arc is drastically different to the books, sadly, it doesn’t get much better for the queen dowager.

How Alicent Hightower dies in George R.R. Martin’s books

Alicent’s story doesn’t end quite as gruesomely as, say, her grandchildren. Instead, it’s rather depressing: after spending much of the Dance of the Dragons fighting to put Aegon II on the Iron Throne, she outlives her children and dies during an outbreak of Winter Fever in 133 AC.

After the Dance comes to an end, Alicent is left almost completely alone. Aemond dies during the Battle Above the Gods Eye, Daeron is killed at Tumbleton, Helaena dies after falling from Maegor’s Holdfast, and Aegon II is eventually poisoned by his own supporters after reclaiming the Iron Throne. 

Although Alicent outlives Rhaenyra, she never returns to the influence she once held. During Aegon III’s reign, she openly opposes the decision to marry her granddaughter, Jaehaera, to the new king in an attempt to unite the rival Targaryen branches. 

As a result, she’s confined to her own chambers in Maegor’s Holdfast, where she’s permitted little company. As per Martin’s description, “She had outlived all of her children and spent the last year of her life confined to her apartments, with no company but her septa, the serving girls who brought her food, and the guards outside her door. 

“Books were given her, and needles and thread, but her guards said Alicent spent more time weeping than reading or sewing. One day she ripped all her clothing into pieces. By the end of the year she had taken to talking to herself, and had come to have a deep aversion to the color green.”

When the Winter Fever reaches King’s Landing in 133 AC, Alicent contracts the illness and dies. In her final moments, she reportedly calls for her sons and the long-dead King Jaehaerys I, marking a tragic end to one of the Dance’s central figures.

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Featured images credit: HBO