Editing Alicent Hightower (section)

===The Dance of the Dragons===
{{Main|Dance of the Dragons}}
[[File:Green plotting.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The [[Green council]] plotting just after the death of King [[Viserys I Targaryen]], as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in ''[[Fire & Blood]]''.]] 
When King [[Viserys I Targaryen]] died in his sleep in [[King's Landing]], on the third day of the third moon in {{Date|129}}, a servant warned Queen Alicent as instructed, without telling anyone else. According to Mushroom, who was away with [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]] on [[Dragonstone]] at the time, Alicent [[poison]]ed Viserys' [[hippocras]]. Regardless, Alicent warned Ser [[Criston Cole]], now [[Lord Commander of the Kingsguard]], and together, they called the [[small council]], where plans were made to crown Alicent's son Prince [[Aegon II Targaryen|Aegon]], instead of Princess [[Rhaenyra Targaryen|Rhaenyra]], who had been Viserys's heir. At the coronation ceremony held for Aegon II and [[Helaena Targaryen|Helaena]], Aegon's sister-wife, in the [[Dragonpit]], Alicent placed her own [[crown]] upon the head of Helaena and addressed her as "my queen".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens}} 

After Aegon heard of the rival coronation of Rhaenyra, he was incensed, demanding her execution. But Alicent, Helaena, and Grand Maester [[Orwyle]] urged Aegon to offer generous terms to Rhaenyra, allowing her to remain the [[lady of Dragonstone]] and for the lands to pass to Jaecerys after her death, for Driftmark to pass to Lucerys, and for her sons [[Aegon III Targaryen|Aegon the Younger]] and [[Viserys II Targaryen|Viserys]] to serve as the king's [[squire]] and [[cupbearer]], respectively, if she acknowledged him as king and made obeisance before the Iron Throne, also offering pardons to her supporters. However, Rhaenyra rejected these terms, and war was inevitable.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens}} After Aemond killed Lucerys in the [[fight above Shipbreaker Bay]], he did not receive a hero's welcome in King's Landing when he returned with the news. His mother Alicent paled and cried out for [[Mother (the Seven)|the Mother]]'s mercy, while his grandfather Otto asked him how he could have been so blind. Meanwhile, Prince Daemon swore revenge, promising Rhaenyra ''"a son for a son"''.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - A Son for a Son}}

After the coronation, Alicent had moved her chambers to the [[Tower of the Hand]], where her father resided. Every evening before bed, Queen Helaena brought her children to see their grandmother. Because the Tower of the Hand was less secure than [[Maegor's Holdfast]], [[Blood (the butcher)|Blood]] and [[Cheese (the rat-catcher)|Cheese]] were able to take advantage of this custom. They stole into Alicent's chambers, slew her [[bedmaid]], and bound and gagged Alicent. When Helaena arrived with the children, they slew Prince [[Jaehaerys Targaryen (son of Aegon II)|Jaehaerys]], Aegon's eldest son and heir, as revenge for the death of Rhaenyra's son Lucerys, cutting off his head. Blood was captured and [[torture]]d for thirteen days; Alicent ordered that [[Lord Confessor]] [[Larys Strong]] learn his true name, so that she might bathe in the blood of his wife and children, but Archmaester [[Gyldayn]]'s [[Fire & Blood, Being a History of the Targaryen Kings of Westeros|sources]] could not determine if this occurred. Helaena subsequently went mad with grief, and Aegon gave his surviving son, Prince [[Maelor Targaryen|Maelor]], to his mother Alicent to raise.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - A Son for a Son}}

Alicent unsuccessfully defended her father, Ser [[Otto Hightower]], when Aegon II replaced him as [[Hand of the King]] with Ser [[Criston Cole]]. After the [[battle at Rook's Rest]], the [[smallfolk]] of King's Landing were greatly awed by the sight of the dragon [[Meleys]]'s head, drawn through the city on a cart. Thousands of people began fleeing the capital, until Dowager Queen Alicent ordered the gates closed and barred. In the battle, King Aegon's dragon [[Sunfyre]] was badly maimed and Aegon himself had been grievously injured. He slept nine hours out of every ten under the effects of [[milk of the poppy]], and only Alicent and Ser Criston were allowed to disturb his rest. Prince Aemond took over the rule in his stead as [[Regent|Prince Regent]] and [[Protector of the Realm]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}

In {{date|130}}, when Rhaenyra's dragons first appeared in the skies above King's Landing, the [[master of whisperers]] Lord Larys Strong spirited Aegon out of the city, along with Alicent's grandchildren, Prince Maelor and Princess [[Jaehaera Targaryen|Jaehaera]].{{refn|group="N"|In a now deleted blog post, [[George R. R. Martin]] added that Alicent herself gave the initial order to smuggle Maelor and Jaehaera out of the capital.<ref>[[Not a Blog]]: [http://web.archive.org/web/20240904154210/https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2024/09/04/beware-the-butterflies/ Beware the Butterflies]. George R. R. Martin (September 4, 2024). Archived and retrieved September 4, 2024.</ref>}} Alicent yielded the [[Red Keep]] to Rhaenyra during the [[fall of King's Landing]], during which her brother, Ser [[Gwayne Hightower]], was killed by Ser [[Luthor Largent]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} Alicent was bound in [[gold]]en fetters, but though her father, Ser Otto, and co-conspirators on the small council were beheaded for treason, Rhaenyra spared Alicent's life "for the sake of our father, who loved you once".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}

[[File:Alicent pleads for peace by Doug Wheatley.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Alicent begs Queen [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]] for peace, on her knees before the [[Iron Throne]], as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in ''[[Fire & Blood]]''.]] 
Alicent's grandson Maelor died at [[Bitterbridge]] while on the run from Rhaenyra's [[knights inquisitor]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}} After Alicent heard of Rhaenyra's planned campaigns against Prince Aemond and Prince Daeron, she pled for peace, on her knees before the Iron Throne. Alicent petitioned that the [[Seven Kingdoms]] should be divided between Rhaenyra and Aegon II, with her son taking the [[stormlands]], [[westerlands]] and the [[Reach]], ruling his new realm from [[Oldtown]], while Rhaenyra would rule the [[crownlands]], [[riverlands]], the [[Vale of Arryn]], the [[Iron Islands]] and the [[North]]. Her stepdaughter rejected this offer of peace, claiming that her brothers had given up their positions of honor by stealing her birthright and claiming the lives of her own sons. When Alicent claimed that only [[Bastardy|bastard]] blood had been spilled, whereas her grandsons had been innocent, Rhaenyra was enraged, and threatened to cut out her tongue if she spoke any more of bastardy. According to Mushroom, [[Mysaria]] suggested to Rhaenyra that Alicent and Helaena be forced to [[prostitute]] themselves in one of King's Landing's [[brothel]]s as an even crueler punishment than their tongues being cut out. However, [[Gyldayn]] discredits the story of the "[[Brothel Queens]]".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}} 

Alicent laughed when she heard of the [[Two Betrayers]] at the [[First Battle of Tumbleton]], promising that the blacks would now reap what they had sowed. However, Prince [[Aemond Targaryen|Aemond]] died fighting Prince [[Daemon Targaryen]] in the [[Battle Above the Gods Eye]],{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}} and Prince [[Daeron Targaryen (son of Viserys I)|Daeron]] died at the [[Second Battle of Tumbleton]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown}} When Helaena's madness led her to commit suicide by jumping from her window, Alicent rent her garments and cursed her rival.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown}} 

Rhaenyra fled the capital after the [[Storming of the Dragonpit]] and the [[Riot of King's Landing (Dance of the Dragons)|riot of King's Landing]], and Alicent was in attendance when Ser [[Perkin the Flea]] then placed his squire, [[Trystane Truefyre]], on the [[Iron Throne]]. Aegon II [[fall of Dragonstone|secretly captured Dragonstone]], and when Rhaenyra [[Flight to Dragonstone|arrived at the island]], he fed her to his dragon, [[Sunfyre]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown}}

When Lord [[Borros Baratheon]] ended the [[Moon of the Three Kings]], Alicent negotiated the betrothal of her surviving son, King Aegon the Elder, to [[Cassandra Baratheon]]. Alicent was overcome with joy to learn that her granddaughter, Princess [[Jaehaera Targaryen]], had reached [[Storm's End]] in safety. Alicent did not trust the Sea Snake, Lord [[Corlys Velaryon]], but Larys Strong persuaded her to consent to his proposals, and she reluctantly agreed to betroth Jaehaera to Rhaenyra's son, Prince Aegon the Younger. Alicent, acting as proxy for King Aegon II, publicly pardoned Lord Corlys, and restored him to his place on the small council.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II}}

After King Aegon II returned to King's Landing, he was determined to get revenge on those who had betrayed him, and was urged on in these plans by Alicent. When the greens learned that Lady [[Rhaena Targaryen (daughter of Daemon)|Rhaena Targaryen]] had hatched [[Morning|a dragon]] in the [[Vale]], Alicent feared that the [[smallfolk]] would now consider the [[blacks]] as more legitimate, and Aegon made unsuccessful efforts to hatch a new dragon for himself. As the armies of the [[Lads]] and Lord [[Cregan Stark]] advanced on the capital, conspirators plotted against Aegon II. The king was found [[poison]]ed, and Alicent was arrested by [[House Velaryon|Velaryons]] on the [[serpentine steps]] and taken to the dungeons.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II}}