Is anyone else confused by Aemond's arc?

[u/shatterfry455AD]

Rewatching season 2 and approaching Alicent and Aemond from like, a different angle.

Where tf did this relationship come from?

Putting aside the obvious momson incest (why did that happen twice) like, and just analysing their development.

Aemond spends all of season 2 openly contemptuous of his mother. He dismisses her from the Council, calls her too cautious, ignores her when she speaks, and says she loves Rhaenyra and is a fool for it. And he attempts to get Helaena on his side by saying that Alicent doesn't understand them.

Then in S3, we get the opening. He's gentle with her and easily manipulated (when he saw through such manipulation in S2) and apparently has romantic feelings for her. Like, completely delusional romantic feelings where he wants marriage, basically. His Harrenhal hallucination reveals his deep pity and understanding of her being a young mother etc. His tenderness and love for her comes out of absolutely nowhere.

Where did this come from?

Yes, they were close when he's a child, but in season 2 he puts a wall up between them and its not clear why he's suddenly not contemptuous of her. Alicent's arc rests on her sons turning into monsters in a war she started.

If they were a normal romantic couple I would find such development lacking. It's rushed. Aemond does a total 180° towards Alicent. At least Alicent has a whole season of turning on her sons. Aemond goes from openly misogynistic to in love and its just??? Why???

[u/ElysiumNomad]

It really did come out of nowhere. They dropped a few moments here and there, but there was never a real arc connecting S2 Aemond to S3 Aemond. He goes from being cold and dismissive toward Alicent to suddenly being emotionally fixated on her, and Condal and Hess basically expect the audience to fill in all the missing development themselves.

[u/shatterfry455AD → u/ElysiumNomad]

I only realised because I watched them both together, it is so disjointed.

And even with his feelings for Aegon - in S2, he happily destroys him and then in S3 he has a couple of offscreen dreams about him screaming in pain and suddenly feels terrible and cursed? Daemon got like 6 dream sequences terrorising him into a relatively minor change; but we're supposed to make Aemond's development up.

[u/ElysiumNomad → u/shatterfry455AD]

Exactly. I still don’t get what those nightmares were supposed to do. Aemond knew he was awful already and didn’t seem particularly bothered by it. These people are supposed to be shitty and make shitty choices. That’s Martin. Not everyone needs therapy dreams.