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Gayle Rankin Was ‘Struggling Every Day’ to Define Alys Rivers
But we should know more of the Witch Queen of Harrenhal’s story before HOTD’s season ends, she teases.
“I’m really interested in playing with the idea of perception, in women who were identified as being witches and around whom there was a lot of controversy and confusion and questions,” Rankin says. Alys’s motives are unclear, and her expanded interactions with Daemon are a change from Fire & Blood, in which all that’s written of their relationship is “Whatever her powers, it would seem Daemon Targaryen was immune to them, for little is heard of this supposed sorceress whilst the prince held Harrenhal.” (She’s also seemingly no longer a wet nurse with breast milk “that flowed so abundantly” it “nourished countless babes born of other women at Harrenhal.”) Yet her willingness to call Daemon on his shit — Rankin says “no” ten times when I ask whether Alys cares about his obsession with being called “Your Grace” instead of “my prince” — and her unapologetically spooky aura give the character a decidedly different feel from the original in George R.R. Olivia and Emma do an incredible job of paving the way for nuanced stories about women in power, and Alys comes in as an extra foil to that narrative.
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