Much like Game of Thrones, House of Dragon is full of ethically questionable and despicable characters. One who seems determined to join the list is Aegon Targaryen.
In episode eight ‘The Lord of the Tides,’ it is revealed to Queen Alicent that her son Aegon has raped one of their female maids.
Though we never see the physical crime, Alicent is left dealing with the consequences of the heinous act. In a refined fashion, the Queen pays the girl off, has her drink ‘the’ tea and orders her never to speak of it again.
Though this is still not remotely fair by any reasonable person’s standards, the Queen’s determination to secure the throne has been relentless and her decision to allow the girl to even live was comforting.
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Speaking with EW, Director Geeta Patel discussed the tragedy of Queen Alicent and balancing her cruelty and ambition with her motherly duty.
“When you read that scene and you’ve been through all the episodes right before, it’s easy to just be like, ‘Alicent is a cold-hearted snake’… The idea was to make it a day in the life for her.”
“She’s not always perfect and doesn’t always get it right and she doesn’t have all the choices in the world. She almost has to choose between worst-case scenarios,” he continues. “Olivia just blew it out of the water. She just was Alicent in the most vulnerable, powerful, dimensional, emotional way. We had such a great time shooting that scene.”
Another important choice they discuss is the decision to not depict violent sexual acts against women in the series. Executive Producer Sara Hess highlighted that their approach to these topics would be a point of difference between House of the Dragon and its predecessor Game of Thrones. The new series would instead only deal with the aftermath.
“Being raped or being hurt sexually is a serious thing,” says Patel. “There’s the complication of the way society works during these times. Is it something that someone would call the police and to make a big deal out of, or is it something that just happened all the time?… There was a lot of conversation, particularly around this scene and this part of the story.”
Be sure to check out our recap of episode eight of House of the Dragon here.
