House of the Dragon fans seem to have already decided who the most “disliked” character is: how the ten-year jump has helped

House of the Dragon fans who fell in love with young Princess Rhaenyra, played by Milly Alcock, and young Alicent Hightower, played by Emily Carey, didn’t seem to suffer much after they were replaced by older actresses Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke.

Basically, the 10-year jump gave viewers exactly the villain they were ready to hate in HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off: the tiny, vengeful Queen Alicent.

Alicent was Rhaenira’s best friend, but only until she married King Viserys Targaryen. Their hatred for each other was at its peak on Sunday, when Rhaenyra, much older now, gave birth to her third son, and the queen demanded an audience.

In an utterly bizarre twist, fans didn’t seem to care much about the plot and focused on other narrative threads. So it seems they’ve already decided who the real villain is here, and it’s not Ser Harwin, as you might have guessed.

Why does House of the Dragon make such a leap in time?

Why such a drastic leap in time, you might ask? The explanations could be many. “I’m excited about the pacing and the story structure that we’re telling in the first season,” Ryan Condal explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s very complex. It happens over a long period of time because these kids have to get married and then grow up themselves and then have their kids grow up to tell the story of this generational war. HBO has given Miguel Sapochnik the creative freedom to tell this incredibly complex story in a really patient, character-driven way that sets up a first season so that it guides you into one of the most famous and bloody conflicts in Westeros history,” he added.

In other words, you’d better get used to these jumps in time because you’ll be in for it “in spades” from now on.

What fans have commented, about House of the Dragon.

me every time alicent is on screen #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/hdP9eFRqPe

– payton 🍄 (@smileyrielly44) September 26, 2022

Alicent each episode:#HouseOfTheDragonEp6 pic.twitter.com/VZGBU1u8tP

– ⟭⟬ SofiaBunny ⁷ (@SofiaiDragon) September 26, 2022