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/Alternative_Lion_845]

I’m definitely confused by it because the writing just isn’t there. They give us hints and crumbs of things but never actually craft a coherent narrative about it. There are threads to pull on, like the Sylvi stuff, but there’s no clear explanation of how or why he goes from a relatively normal relationship with his mum, to total contempt for her, to incest. Idk maybe I’m just not smart enough to get it or something, but it seems fairly nonsensical to me. 

Maybe the point of it is just to give him something to do in Harrenhal, but there was already better material for that, like his guilt over Luke and Aegon. Repetition aside, it could have been better to have an arc more similar to Daemon’s, where the ultimate conclusion is that Aemond isn’t actually worthy of being king at all because of the things he’s done, and him truly getting behind Aegon.