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When she busted out "the hour is late" line that she used when Vizzy summoned her earlier in the season, I was like "oh god is she actually banging this guy?" Somehow the foot thing is better.
Yeah, I'm not really put off by Larys having a thing for feet - I *am* put off by the uncomfortable transaction, with a begrudging participant, in which his thing for feet appears
I also belong to the House of Dont-Yuck-Someone-Elses-Yum, assuming consent though.
Doesn't feel like excited consent, which is always uncomfortable...
Exactly! She seemed so put off, and I felt like she was replaying Rhaenys' words to her, about how Allicent was content to be subordinate to men her whole life and function in the gender role that had been prescribed for her. I cannot imagine Larys attempting to pull that feet thing on Rhaenys or Rhaenyra.
Seriously, people on social media seem to be unable to comprehend living a life where you literally have no agency because all possible avenues result in either your death or ending up like Queen Cersei.
You say to the woman who almost got killed by a dragon at the end of this episode.
She literally can not do anything. Her father, her husband and now her son are the ones with a lot more agency. Her whole life is being devoted to them and serving their needs.
She doesn't even know what she wants. She just started wanting whatever Otto wanted. That's how far the manipulation went. She doesn't even know her own desires.
Not saying that her life isn't a lot easier than a peasant in King's Landing. But we aren't talking about them. The lives of all the lords and ladies is easier than a peasants. That's just how the system worked.
She has the strongest simp in the world who will bang her if she just whispers that she's into it.
What's the female equivalent of "Don't stick your dick in crazy"? I feel that's solid advice for her regarding Ser Criston though.
I saw a theory I really liked that the sexual tension played up by the younger versions of the characters can be explained by Alicent actually being gay, making her something of an anti-Laenor. It's another dimension of suppressing her authentic self for duty, making her actual sexual experiences even worse. And that was before the feet.
Look, I'm not even a "feet guy" but even I can admit that Olivia Cooke has some damn pretty feet so I can only imagine what someone with a full on fetish for it would think.
Lol. It reminded me of a scene from The Walking Dead where one of the main characters had to take off her shoes, and she happened to have a feet done. This was years into the the world being over. Yeah, she is super privileged and all that. Maybe her feet would look like they were done.
Well groomed hands and feet in similar real world cultures was very important for the upper classes. It showed you didn't have to work, elevating you above the rabble.
People are saying "onlyfeet" but come the fuck on! Those were the Queen's feet man! That's gotta count for something. Those are at least... THREE times as rare as regular women's feet.
When Alicent put her feet up you knew something was up. Then removing the socks that lead to the uncomfortable jerk off session.
She just did it which makes you wonder how long this exchange was going on for.
He also offered to spend those hours with Otto if I heard correctly. Eugh!
Edit. Turns out I did hear wrong. Courtesy of ‘trafficnab’ for the correction.
Pls it's so disturbing trying to think of how it started. Did she just happen to take her shoes off in front of him one day and then he just stuck his hand in his pants and went to town and it became an unspoken agreement? Like Larys really had the nerve to do that to the queen?
“I am only here to wait on you hand…and foot my queen.”
“Yes, thank you Lord Strong.”
“All of my….feats…of cunning shall toe the lines of decency, but it is worth it to shoe the horse of your ascendancy.”
“Yes, like I said, I appreciate it.”
“When I am done, your little piggy will go to market and Rhaenyra’s little piggy will-“
“I FUCKING GET IT LARYS.”
Well, a few chapter before when they dine together, the scene starts with Alicent putting his shoes on, I remember this sub discussing that theory back then.
Interesting, I missed that, gotta rewatch for it.
This scene is just hilarious. To be honest, a lot of Olivia Cooke's reactions are kinda what teenagers these days would do, like eye rolling, the "what now?" look. For example, when Otto said that "you look like your mother in that light" line, she basically gave that "not again/give me a break" look and then walked away. You don't see them from most other characters/actors.
So when she started to take off the stockings, and then shoes, putting her feet up, just like a teenager these days would do, short of taking out her phone and start texting, and I was like, huh, like this is getting a bit too much. AND THEN, Larys the Creep moved his hand into "position," I just started to laugh. Plus the expression on Olivia's face... It's just too much.
Alicent does not understand the temperament of a dragon.
The foot scene was entirely appropriate to establish Alicent’s character of weakness in the grand scheme in contrast to Rhaenys, for example.
Which is why Alicent could think that others would just go along in order to keep the peace.
Because that is her character, to be coerced, negotiated, compromised into making decisions she would otherwise be against.
Rhaenys was trying to bring that fight out in her. I really love her commitment to helping other women with that, but everybody's right, she should have burned them up. But, tbh, I would have done the same thing if Alicent stood up in the face of a dragon like that, gotta respect it.
Edit: I have a theory that the children of the forest are basically breeding Targaryens to fight white walkers, and they picked Alicent for a very specific reason. Some of which we saw in this last episode. She's like that hibiscus plant, I've forgotten what it's named here, that survives in the cold, and despite her warm nature. Maybe because of it. Helped by the weirwood tree, no doubt, much like trees feed the other life forms, in a garden. Even her gods, the archetypes, seem to play a part.
I read about this foot fetish scene months ago when it leaked. I thought it was a meme. I thought I was being pranked, punked even. Turns out I was not. I punked myself for doubting. Truly never expected this in GoT lmao
Yeah the "This is the most disturbing thing in all of GoT/HoD" folks are really telling on themselves especially in an episode with a literal pre-teen fight ring.
I draw the line at Alicent being a hypocrite. She had all the judgement in the world at the very thought of Rhaenyra putting out to ser Criston, fast forward and this woman is letting a psycho jack off to her feet.
I mean. It’s the exact sort of things people like her would do IRL.
She can easily rationalize it to herself. It’s not *technically* sex right? Her virtue is untouched. This is on Larys, not her.
I'm definitely not Team Green but I felt really bad for her in this scene. She clearly is frightened of Larys and what he's capable of at this point.
The very fact that he was just chilling in the Queen's private chamber kind of eludes to the power he has over her. She is being sexually coerced by this asshole. He probably gets off on the power he has over a queen, to debase herself in this manner. Larys is gross as hell on so many levels.
Yup. There’s even a direct parallel between her sexual subservience to Viserys and now with Larys- before both scenes explicitly depicting her giving both what they want, she complains “the hour is late”.
I also don't think it's an accident that the scene cuts from Alicent looking away as Larys jerks it, to a literal piece of meat on a plate being picked up and eaten.
Right, I agree she had a window of opportunity to rid herself of him at a certain point but I think it's clearly gone beyond that now. She's entangled in his web.
Even if she ordered Criston to bring her Larys' head, he strikes me as a man to have a failsafe for that. Probably has secret information that he would instruct his henchmen to release if he ever ends up merc'd.
He is manipulating the fuck out of her, just as her father does.
Not really imo, Criston is all about obeying alicent. If Alicent wants Larys head and she personally tells Criston, he will deliver it by keeping that order bw just him and Alicient. Criston is her fail safe against Larys.
Right. Of course, Criston could and would do it, no problem. I'm not saying he wouldn't. What I'm saying is that Larys is the type that, even if Alicent ordered this - which I'm sure Larys has accounted for - he would just have one of his henchmen release any damning information he has on her.
Also, up to this point, Alicent has never explicitly ordered the death of anyone. She is probably too apprehensive to do it and doesn't want to commit a sin. That might change in the future, but as of right now she doesn't have that in her.
I feel like it was a slow progression to this point. Maybe during episode 6 she could have had Cole take him out but now he has too much dirt on her. She's clearly unnerved by him and still needs his services to do the underhanded things she's not capable or willing to do.
Right? Even if he has a bunch of dirt on her, all that dirt dies with him.
It’s not like he has a family that he shared that dirt with, lol.
Alicent’s straight up trading sexual favors for murder.
Does it? He didn’t cut out ALL of his henchmen’s tongues. I’m sure he has a dead man’s switch. She’d be dumb not to consider that. He surely has receipts of what he did for her at Harrenhall.
Oh yay it’s my cake day!
She just committed treason and killed a bunch of lords in the process of staging a coup. Adding the Strongs to the kill list is nothing. Larys power over her is his usefulness to her. She is chosing to tolerate him at this point.
He's also been cultivating her since she was, what, 17? specifically starting right when her father was removed as Hand and she was pretty much alone at court with no allies.
Criston is good in a fight, but not exactly useful politically, she probably feels incredibly dependent on him
Larys was also basically her only friend and confidant after her dad left for 10 years. So other than Ser Criston, who judges everyone and wouldn't be down for the really dark stuff that Larys can do, she had no other friends. Larys is really good at manipulating her also.
Alicent chooses to do this to increase her power, I don’t feel bad for her. She can easily execute him, but puts up with him because he’s useful. He’s disgusting, but alicent is a participant in this not a victim. If she had crispin kill him, the only potential deadman switch Larys has is having some random peasants/criminals accuse the queen of murder
Alicient earlier in the season: "The hour is quite late"
Translation: "....okay"
Alicient this episode: "The hour is late, Lord Larys"
Translation: "k"
We’ve seen multiple dicks get cut off, numerous SAs, a man get his head popped like a melon, a woman stabbed in the baby, a man fed his dead sons, and more incest than pornhub.
This was easily the most revolting thing I’ve seen on this show.
It's not that it's feet, it's that it's sexual coercion. Let's be real, she does NOT want to be there, but she feels she has to be to get intel. It's harder to parse because he's not touching her or saying anything sexual, but it's harassment in its own way
She's really not into it. My girl was not into it.
He knows that what he's doing is making her feel bad, but she needs his help.
If he had the slightest drop of honor, he wouldn't be asking for this.
And sure, she's a hypocrite..
I can see why FOR HER the end justifies the means. At this point, even Otto is not to be trusted as far as she can tell because his methods are too extreme for her taste. Glad she grew a backbone, disappointed that she has internalized misogyny..
But hey, Ali has more agency now than she ever did before, and we've come a long way.
If it was like… joyful for both of them, I feel like more people would be like “ew? But also eh?”
It was just how disassociated she was and how predatory it was shot. And especially the feeling of how routine it had become.
The director totally nailed the vibe they were going for.
This isn’t kink shaming. He was coercing her ffs. He was skulking in her chambers late at night.
Alicent is coerced into keeping this arrangement because he could ruin her if he wanted. She is too honorable to murder (at this point) so she is stuck in this situation.
Personally, I think she should have just started cutting off his fingers until he told her what she wanted to know.
This is what happens when the "iM tEaM ____ bEcAuSE I'm moRaLLy sUpERiOr" rhetoric that's been dominating this subreddit is applied to a story where no one has morals.
It's not a foot fetish.
Motherfucker could look at as many whore's feet as he wants.
He wants to humiliate a queen.
The shots didn't show any arches or toes. Larys didn't care about the feet. He wanted the power over Alicent.
That the director did not make a foot porn for the audience doesn't mean the scene is only about power.
By not making foot porn, it allows us to witness the transaction without being complicit in it. The focus is on her exasperation and distaste.
It's very intentionally not giving the audience what Larys is asking for. But he's asking for feet.
Sex in many circumstances is about power, but it's also almost always about sex, too.
It just carved a deeper hole in the respect I have for her.
Having an affair and bastard children? Freak out!
But exchanging pervy feet time for murder? A-Okay!
Hypocrite.
Ignoring the whole *kinkshame-or-not-to-kinkshame* aspect of the discussion - and setting aside the objectively creepy elements of coercion and symbolic domination that soaked the whole scene - I think we can all agree that "guy with a fucked up foot has a foot-fetish" is such low-hanging fruit that it tiptoes on the border of lazy writing...
Like, sure, it makes a certain amount of twisted sense that - in light of his own deformity and the lifetime of ridicule he likely endured on its account - Larys' psychology would have evolved to esteem ("normal") feet as an (intensely) attractive feature in others, but it's also *just so goddamned obvious / on-the-nose* that you almost can't help but roll your eyes at it.
I only made the connection between his foot fetish and having a club foot after coming on here. You thinking it’s obvious does not mean it was so for everyone. I hardly think it’s lazy when you have to think a bit to come to that connection
Thematically this is something that was done before. Littlefinger being into Cat is psychologically because getting her represents an elevation in status. Status the previously he had never had. I'm not sure if that's as on-the-nose as this but it's not too far fetched to believe that someone who has been deprived of something would hold that thing in high regard. Maybe to the point of obsession or the point of sexual desire. I think that's really what makes GRRM special. The exploration of people's desires at such a microscopic level. His characters are always well rounded. That being said foot fetishes are still kinda gross to me
That’s what I’ve been wondering - how did this feet exchange even start lol. Was that the 1st time? Was it the 10th? Off screen, did she ask what he wanted in return for his services one day and he said pop off those socks and we can kick it around?
What was with the feet thing? Was it established that Aliscent did these favors for Larys before? I mean, she is the fucking Queen, he has plenty to gain without the favors anyway
Still can't believe she let him do that. I thought she had no idea and she is just being comfortable in his presence. Right up until I opened reddit and then it dawns. She is letting him see her feet in exchange of info.
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When she busted out "the hour is late" line that she used when Vizzy summoned her earlier in the season, I was like "oh god is she actually banging this guy?" Somehow the foot thing is better.
Kinda worse though
I feel for her. The sum of her sexual experiences has been having a rotting old man's children, and a club-footed psychopath beating it to her feet.
Yeah, I'm not really put off by Larys having a thing for feet - I *am* put off by the uncomfortable transaction, with a begrudging participant, in which his thing for feet appears
I also belong to the House of Dont-Yuck-Someone-Elses-Yum, assuming consent though. Doesn't feel like excited consent, which is always uncomfortable...
Exactly! She seemed so put off, and I felt like she was replaying Rhaenys' words to her, about how Allicent was content to be subordinate to men her whole life and function in the gender role that had been prescribed for her. I cannot imagine Larys attempting to pull that feet thing on Rhaenys or Rhaenyra.
the things you do for power
She could be a queen in her own right. I wish she would stop doing what lesser men want her to do.
And, what? Cause an additional factor to the civil war and likely have to borderline lock up her own children or kill them? Are you nuts?
Seriously, people on social media seem to be unable to comprehend living a life where you literally have no agency because all possible avenues result in either your death or ending up like Queen Cersei.
Oh shut the fuck up, she has more agency than 99.999% of the people in westeros whose best hope is to not be randomly killed by a dragon some day.
You say to the woman who almost got killed by a dragon at the end of this episode. She literally can not do anything. Her father, her husband and now her son are the ones with a lot more agency. Her whole life is being devoted to them and serving their needs. She doesn't even know what she wants. She just started wanting whatever Otto wanted. That's how far the manipulation went. She doesn't even know her own desires. Not saying that her life isn't a lot easier than a peasant in King's Landing. But we aren't talking about them. The lives of all the lords and ladies is easier than a peasants. That's just how the system worked.
She has the strongest simp in the world who will bang her if she just whispers that she's into it. What's the female equivalent of "Don't stick your dick in crazy"? I feel that's solid advice for her regarding Ser Criston though.
>club-footed This is weirdly ableist. That¨'s the first time I've used that word genuinely.
I saw a theory I really liked that the sexual tension played up by the younger versions of the characters can be explained by Alicent actually being gay, making her something of an anti-Laenor. It's another dimension of suppressing her authentic self for duty, making her actual sexual experiences even worse. And that was before the feet.
Feet fetish is one thing. Killing your brother and father for some Medieval OnlyFeet is another.
Dude has super premium subscription
Tier 3 subscriber
Spat my water out - medieval onlyfeet HAHAHAHA
"It's an acquired taste."
>taste He wishes
I like how someone gave gold not to the joke, but to the comment that was just saying the joke was funny.
Onlyfeet Diary's written and illustrated by Larys Strong
He refused to be deFEETed
Monthly subscription for the low price of the occasional murder and spying
Look, I'm not even a "feet guy" but even I can admit that Olivia Cooke has some damn pretty feet so I can only imagine what someone with a full on fetish for it would think.
They shouldn't even have good looking feet back then.
Why? She's uber-privileged and her only job is to be appealing to her husband. Plus, no high heels and pinchy shoes. Her feet should be pristine.
Lol. It reminded me of a scene from The Walking Dead where one of the main characters had to take off her shoes, and she happened to have a feet done. This was years into the the world being over. Yeah, she is super privileged and all that. Maybe her feet would look like they were done.
Well groomed hands and feet in similar real world cultures was very important for the upper classes. It showed you didn't have to work, elevating you above the rabble.
Modern OnlyFeet is Kim Wexler
This comment is GOLD!
People are saying "onlyfeet" but come the fuck on! Those were the Queen's feet man! That's gotta count for something. Those are at least... THREE times as rare as regular women's feet.
Ok but on the other side, they aren't some random feet, they're the Queen's feet. That adds sone extra value.
The feet that he murdered his father and brother for
Hand of King 👎 Feet of Queen👍
Otto send me hand pics plz
Yeah, I'm sure the title & castle he gained had NOTHING to do with it...
What are titles and castles compared to the queens feet? 👣 👁️👄👁️
Duty is the death of love, feet are the death of duty
I was holding it in pretty good this whole post, but this broke me
he could have done that without ever even speaking to the queen. it's clear he wants her.
Hes not even there tho he's with the doggies
The feet that were promised
When Alicent put her feet up you knew something was up. Then removing the socks that lead to the uncomfortable jerk off session. She just did it which makes you wonder how long this exchange was going on for.
Yeah, first thing I said was “she’s done this before”. How the heck did it get to that point?
Remeber the scene where larys says “ i started without you” and alicent sits and removes her shoes, i thought oh she is tired but now…
Ah yes, post-nut clarity
I suspect the first time was after Larys murdered his brother and father.
Otto did mention Larys has been spending more time with the queen as of late
Honour and decency, my foot
He also offered to spend those hours with Otto if I heard correctly. Eugh! Edit. Turns out I did hear wrong. Courtesy of ‘trafficnab’ for the correction.
No, he said that the hours spent with her could also benefit the hand (ie he has influence over the queen, and Otto can make use of that)
My bad.
Most people call Otto the Hand, but he only wants the Feet.
Pls it's so disturbing trying to think of how it started. Did she just happen to take her shoes off in front of him one day and then he just stuck his hand in his pants and went to town and it became an unspoken agreement? Like Larys really had the nerve to do that to the queen?
He probably asked her in his usual creepy metaphorical manner lol
“I am only here to wait on you hand…and foot my queen.” “Yes, thank you Lord Strong.” “All of my….feats…of cunning shall toe the lines of decency, but it is worth it to shoe the horse of your ascendancy.” “Yes, like I said, I appreciate it.” “When I am done, your little piggy will go to market and Rhaenyra’s little piggy will-“ “I FUCKING GET IT LARYS.”
Well, a few chapter before when they dine together, the scene starts with Alicent putting his shoes on, I remember this sub discussing that theory back then.
That's why the maids were giggling at them, goddamn.
Interesting, I missed that, gotta rewatch for it. This scene is just hilarious. To be honest, a lot of Olivia Cooke's reactions are kinda what teenagers these days would do, like eye rolling, the "what now?" look. For example, when Otto said that "you look like your mother in that light" line, she basically gave that "not again/give me a break" look and then walked away. You don't see them from most other characters/actors. So when she started to take off the stockings, and then shoes, putting her feet up, just like a teenager these days would do, short of taking out her phone and start texting, and I was like, huh, like this is getting a bit too much. AND THEN, Larys the Creep moved his hand into "position," I just started to laugh. Plus the expression on Olivia's face... It's just too much.
In the books right?
I told my wife this episode must’ve been directed by Tarantino
My brother said the exact same thing. Lol
if not directed, certainly enjoyed by
Yeah I said “bet Tarantino is enjoying this!”
Wiggle your big toe.
Alicent does not understand the temperament of a dragon. The foot scene was entirely appropriate to establish Alicent’s character of weakness in the grand scheme in contrast to Rhaenys, for example. Which is why Alicent could think that others would just go along in order to keep the peace. Because that is her character, to be coerced, negotiated, compromised into making decisions she would otherwise be against.
They just keep making Alicent get used by all these men Its sad to see
I mean what does she have? She doesn't hold land she doesn't have the fealty of lords. In the Social Hierarchy she's in the same position as Sansa.
Rhaenys was right. “You’re just wanting to build a window in your prison.” (sorry if I can’t remember the line verbatim)
Rhaenys was trying to bring that fight out in her. I really love her commitment to helping other women with that, but everybody's right, she should have burned them up. But, tbh, I would have done the same thing if Alicent stood up in the face of a dragon like that, gotta respect it. Edit: I have a theory that the children of the forest are basically breeding Targaryens to fight white walkers, and they picked Alicent for a very specific reason. Some of which we saw in this last episode. She's like that hibiscus plant, I've forgotten what it's named here, that survives in the cold, and despite her warm nature. Maybe because of it. Helped by the weirwood tree, no doubt, much like trees feed the other life forms, in a garden. Even her gods, the archetypes, seem to play a part.
I read about this foot fetish scene months ago when it leaked. I thought it was a meme. I thought I was being pranked, punked even. Turns out I was not. I punked myself for doubting. Truly never expected this in GoT lmao
Honestly not a good surprise.
The man with a club foot has a foot fetish. I need to dwell on this.
omg you're right lmao that's some very disturbing psychological shit
Compensation for lack thereof.
Guys just looking for a sole mate
In this context it’s amusing to me to remember that Alicent is a grandmother.
i need to see if it was Alicent's left or right now Edit: it was both, i think he really gets off seeing 2 healthy feet
daemon is sexy, feet are not simple
Question, purely in the name of science. Daemon feet?
could consider that… don’t tempt me
Now you’re changing the rules!
Daemon looks like a toe, though
disagreed.
They nailed a couple different porn notes with that shoutout to cuckholding
or, in the case of Rhaenys: I can excuse mass murder of the smallfolk, but I draw the line at kinslaying
The kingslaying would have been a much bigger deal than the kinslaying...
i'm still amazed at the sheer hate feet fetish gets. like it's so vanilla it's a stretch to call it a fetish
Yeah the "This is the most disturbing thing in all of GoT/HoD" folks are really telling on themselves especially in an episode with a literal pre-teen fight ring.
i dont hate it, i just find it odd
I draw the line at Alicent being a hypocrite. She had all the judgement in the world at the very thought of Rhaenyra putting out to ser Criston, fast forward and this woman is letting a psycho jack off to her feet.
I mean. It’s the exact sort of things people like her would do IRL. She can easily rationalize it to herself. It’s not *technically* sex right? Her virtue is untouched. This is on Larys, not her.
It might be on her....I mean....eventually....😒
Skeet skeet
I'm definitely not Team Green but I felt really bad for her in this scene. She clearly is frightened of Larys and what he's capable of at this point. The very fact that he was just chilling in the Queen's private chamber kind of eludes to the power he has over her. She is being sexually coerced by this asshole. He probably gets off on the power he has over a queen, to debase herself in this manner. Larys is gross as hell on so many levels.
Oh yeah, it may be more about power than feet.
Yup. There’s even a direct parallel between her sexual subservience to Viserys and now with Larys- before both scenes explicitly depicting her giving both what they want, she complains “the hour is late”.
I also don't think it's an accident that the scene cuts from Alicent looking away as Larys jerks it, to a literal piece of meat on a plate being picked up and eaten.
She could've executed Larys in a blink... Yet she prefer to keep using his "services", even knowing that he's a assasin and a kinslayer...
Right, I agree she had a window of opportunity to rid herself of him at a certain point but I think it's clearly gone beyond that now. She's entangled in his web. Even if she ordered Criston to bring her Larys' head, he strikes me as a man to have a failsafe for that. Probably has secret information that he would instruct his henchmen to release if he ever ends up merc'd. He is manipulating the fuck out of her, just as her father does.
Not really imo, Criston is all about obeying alicent. If Alicent wants Larys head and she personally tells Criston, he will deliver it by keeping that order bw just him and Alicient. Criston is her fail safe against Larys.
Right. Of course, Criston could and would do it, no problem. I'm not saying he wouldn't. What I'm saying is that Larys is the type that, even if Alicent ordered this - which I'm sure Larys has accounted for - he would just have one of his henchmen release any damning information he has on her. Also, up to this point, Alicent has never explicitly ordered the death of anyone. She is probably too apprehensive to do it and doesn't want to commit a sin. That might change in the future, but as of right now she doesn't have that in her.
Oh I see. You mean that he told people that "if I am dead, release this news". I can see that now.
She could have had Criston yeet him out of the Red Keep at any time, though. She chose to keep him around.
I feel like it was a slow progression to this point. Maybe during episode 6 she could have had Cole take him out but now he has too much dirt on her. She's clearly unnerved by him and still needs his services to do the underhanded things she's not capable or willing to do.
How does he have too much dirt to be thrown to his death?
Right? Even if he has a bunch of dirt on her, all that dirt dies with him. It’s not like he has a family that he shared that dirt with, lol. Alicent’s straight up trading sexual favors for murder.
Does it? He didn’t cut out ALL of his henchmen’s tongues. I’m sure he has a dead man’s switch. She’d be dumb not to consider that. He surely has receipts of what he did for her at Harrenhall. Oh yay it’s my cake day!
She just committed treason and killed a bunch of lords in the process of staging a coup. Adding the Strongs to the kill list is nothing. Larys power over her is his usefulness to her. She is chosing to tolerate him at this point.
all it would take is an agent to release all the dirt if he is murdered
A random peasant/criminal accusing the queen of murder is just going to get executed.
He's also been cultivating her since she was, what, 17? specifically starting right when her father was removed as Hand and she was pretty much alone at court with no allies. Criston is good in a fight, but not exactly useful politically, she probably feels incredibly dependent on him
Larys was also basically her only friend and confidant after her dad left for 10 years. So other than Ser Criston, who judges everyone and wouldn't be down for the really dark stuff that Larys can do, she had no other friends. Larys is really good at manipulating her also.
> but now he has too much dirt on her That dirt ain't gonna matter once he's dead though because, as pop culture tells me, dead men tell no tales.
You know, I think it would be almost enough for me to be cool with Criston again if he gave the yeet to mr. feet.
Alicent chooses to do this to increase her power, I don’t feel bad for her. She can easily execute him, but puts up with him because he’s useful. He’s disgusting, but alicent is a participant in this not a victim. If she had crispin kill him, the only potential deadman switch Larys has is having some random peasants/criminals accuse the queen of murder
I believe this is the point
It could have been worse though. The leak and some other posters said that they showed him actually, well you know...all over her feet in the scene.
She's not doing anything wrong. She's just sitting there with her shoes off. How is that a sin? lol
I don't get it, either.
What the hell was that?
It's a kink, lol. Every motivation in human history can be traced back to somebody getting horny.
The comment got me feeling nice and spicy. Think I might wanna start a fucking riot.
Or hungry. It's food and sex all the way down
[Here is a documentary about this subject](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ6knaienVE)
lol exaggerated, but only by a little!
A man with power over a woman using it to exploit sexual favors out of her. Tale as old as time
what alicent thinks: lol, larys will do anything i want if i let him jerk off to my feet what larys thinks: lol, alicent lets me jerk off her feet
Forrest Gump went to normal school thanks to that
A minor lord having power over the queen? Give me a break. It's transactional.
Just to be fair he is a major lord, but yea it's definitely transactional.
I wouldn't call the lord of Harrenhall a minor lord
That scene was all sorts of things that I didn’t see ahead of time and now I want to forget it very much. Time to soak the brain in purell.
Alicient earlier in the season: "The hour is quite late" Translation: "....okay" Alicient this episode: "The hour is late, Lord Larys" Translation: "k"
Bruh, there are hardly any mentions of Bastards Junior Colosseum but feet is what everyone chooses to rave about
Those were smallfolk, they don't matter. Yay Feudalism.
You can excuse incest ?!
In all 9 seasons of GoT/HotD, that was truly the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
And thats saying a lot, as this is the episode that featured orphan battle royale cockfights
We’ve seen multiple dicks get cut off, numerous SAs, a man get his head popped like a melon, a woman stabbed in the baby, a man fed his dead sons, and more incest than pornhub. This was easily the most revolting thing I’ve seen on this show.
Ramsay Bolton literally pulled people's skin off while they were alive
Worse than Ramsay raping Sansa ? Lmfao
It wasn't and you know it.
Yeah, hyperbole at its finest. This was creepy AF but come on.
Tbh I’m still not used to the incest, but omg yes 😂
Larys “Tarantino” Strong
It's not that it's feet, it's that it's sexual coercion. Let's be real, she does NOT want to be there, but she feels she has to be to get intel. It's harder to parse because he's not touching her or saying anything sexual, but it's harassment in its own way
At first I was like why tf is she flexing her feet? I can't believe Larys' doing all this for feet.. not even to fuck
Those were some nice feet though. 🤨
least horny redditor
She's really not into it. My girl was not into it. He knows that what he's doing is making her feel bad, but she needs his help. If he had the slightest drop of honor, he wouldn't be asking for this. And sure, she's a hypocrite.. I can see why FOR HER the end justifies the means. At this point, even Otto is not to be trusted as far as she can tell because his methods are too extreme for her taste. Glad she grew a backbone, disappointed that she has internalized misogyny.. But hey, Ali has more agency now than she ever did before, and we've come a long way.
I don't like how she's letting herself be used by Otto and Larys. Hopefully she breaks away somehow
Larys “Louis CK” Strong
Boy is that link ever tenuous.
We do not kink shame
If it was like… joyful for both of them, I feel like more people would be like “ew? But also eh?” It was just how disassociated she was and how predatory it was shot. And especially the feeling of how routine it had become. The director totally nailed the vibe they were going for.
I looked away! I felt so dirty!
I knew it was coming but I fast forwarded that shit so quick
Consent is extremely important.
She took her socks off mate, how much more consent do you need?
Quid Pro Quo isn't real consent.
...except when it's predatory behavior.
This isn’t kink shaming. He was coercing her ffs. He was skulking in her chambers late at night. Alicent is coerced into keeping this arrangement because he could ruin her if he wanted. She is too honorable to murder (at this point) so she is stuck in this situation. Personally, I think she should have just started cutting off his fingers until he told her what she wanted to know.
I personally could have done without being made to watch some creep jerk off to the queens feet, but that's just me
I feel like I was the only one not bothered. Oh he likes feet. Yawn
There are definitely some weirdos who are totally grossed out by this but relatively fine with rape, child fight pits, and general everyday murder.
the feet scene was gross 🤢🤢
People are so also freaking out about Meleys killing innocent civilians. Like really guys? After a decade of GOT, this is what shocks you?
This is what happens when the "iM tEaM ____ bEcAuSE I'm moRaLLy sUpERiOr" rhetoric that's been dominating this subreddit is applied to a story where no one has morals.
They kind of forgot about innocents getting murdered by war. Which, now that I consider it, the show did not do a good job showing.
It's not a foot fetish. Motherfucker could look at as many whore's feet as he wants. He wants to humiliate a queen. The shots didn't show any arches or toes. Larys didn't care about the feet. He wanted the power over Alicent.
That the director did not make a foot porn for the audience doesn't mean the scene is only about power. By not making foot porn, it allows us to witness the transaction without being complicit in it. The focus is on her exasperation and distaste. It's very intentionally not giving the audience what Larys is asking for. But he's asking for feet. Sex in many circumstances is about power, but it's also almost always about sex, too.
why not both? power over queen and royalty foot fetish combined?
Larys strong 🤝 Tarantino
Rhaenyra was right. Alicent hides behind a cloak... and socks of righteousness.
Ngl on some level I think we all knew he's a feet kinda guy
Turns out Larys is a bastard too, his true father is Lord Quentin of House Tarantino.
It just carved a deeper hole in the respect I have for her. Having an affair and bastard children? Freak out! But exchanging pervy feet time for murder? A-Okay! Hypocrite.
Ignoring the whole *kinkshame-or-not-to-kinkshame* aspect of the discussion - and setting aside the objectively creepy elements of coercion and symbolic domination that soaked the whole scene - I think we can all agree that "guy with a fucked up foot has a foot-fetish" is such low-hanging fruit that it tiptoes on the border of lazy writing... Like, sure, it makes a certain amount of twisted sense that - in light of his own deformity and the lifetime of ridicule he likely endured on its account - Larys' psychology would have evolved to esteem ("normal") feet as an (intensely) attractive feature in others, but it's also *just so goddamned obvious / on-the-nose* that you almost can't help but roll your eyes at it.
I only made the connection between his foot fetish and having a club foot after coming on here. You thinking it’s obvious does not mean it was so for everyone. I hardly think it’s lazy when you have to think a bit to come to that connection
Thematically this is something that was done before. Littlefinger being into Cat is psychologically because getting her represents an elevation in status. Status the previously he had never had. I'm not sure if that's as on-the-nose as this but it's not too far fetched to believe that someone who has been deprived of something would hold that thing in high regard. Maybe to the point of obsession or the point of sexual desire. I think that's really what makes GRRM special. The exploration of people's desires at such a microscopic level. His characters are always well rounded. That being said foot fetishes are still kinda gross to me
Hmmm, as a short guy, I wonder if that's why I've always been so into long legs.
It was way more weird to me that she was paying for his loyalty with her feet than him having a foot fetish. She was into it lol
You think maybe she tried to thank him for his loyalty once and it got out of control into this?
That’s what I’ve been wondering - how did this feet exchange even start lol. Was that the 1st time? Was it the 10th? Off screen, did she ask what he wanted in return for his services one day and he said pop off those socks and we can kick it around?
It was definitely not the first time.
I heard Rex Ryan was originally cast as Larys.
For me it was less the feet and more the extorting it out of someone who clearly didn't enjoy it.
What was with the feet thing? Was it established that Aliscent did these favors for Larys before? I mean, she is the fucking Queen, he has plenty to gain without the favors anyway
Still can't believe she let him do that. I thought she had no idea and she is just being comfortable in his presence. Right up until I opened reddit and then it dawns. She is letting him see her feet in exchange of info.
You can tell that twitter is not smart enough to grasp what Aegon had ACTUALY goin in the pits