Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon episode 1 and content warning for references to birth trauma and baby loss.
The first episode of House Of The Dragon has been the talk of the town since its release, bringing the world of Westeros back to the fore with blood, tragedy and political plots.
The Game of Thrones prequel featured a birth scene dubbed by many as ‘horrific’ and ‘triggering’, with some comparing it to the famously devastating Red Wedding from the original series.
Before the episode aired – which saw attendants cut directly into the stomach of Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) to deliver her baby on the instruction of her husband King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) – the moment was shown to ‘as many women as possible’ to gauge if it was ‘too violent’.
‘We did make a point of showing it to as many women as possible and asked the very question: “Was this too violent for you,”’ said co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, according to Insider, after the creators emphasised it wasn’t intended to be ‘gratuitous’.
‘And unanimously, the response was “no”. Often the response was: “If anything, it needs to be more.”’
The director explained that after receiving feedback from women who watched the scene, he felt it was ‘really important’ to emphasise the lack of choice Aemma had over her fate, as she’s seen pinned down to the bed before having the terrifying realisation over what’s about to happen to her.
‘We shouldn’t be shying away from this thing that’s happened because it’s raising a point that seems to hit a real trigger for women, which is this idea of choice,’ he said.
‘She doesn’t get to choose. She’s effectively murdered by her husband. And that is a good indication of the state of play in this world that we’re inhabiting.’
Miguel, who directed several episodes of Game of Thrones including Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards, found it ‘appropriate’ in episode one of House Of The Dragon to draw a parallel between the ‘battlefield’ of childbirth and male knights fighting to the death at a bloody tournament.
‘One’s fighting on the battlefield, the other’s fighting for survival – sometimes from the person closest to her,’ he stated.
After the episode came out, several viewers criticised the lack of a content warning for the birth scene.
While there was a content warning at the start of the instalment, it failed to mention anything regarding birth trauma as it said that there would be ‘strong language, violent scenes, scenes of a sexual nature and scenes which some viewers may find distressing’.
‘Hey, HBO, a trigger warning about a graphic, traumatic birth would have been PHENOMENAL before that c-section scene,’ one person said, adding: ‘I didn’t even have [a C-section] and it sent me swirling so for moms who have had birth trauma. I think it’s fair they know.’
‘Just gonna warn everyone: the birth scene with Aemma Arryn is very intense, and disturbing in a way that Game of Thrones never was. Brace yourselves,’ someone else said.
House Of The Dragon is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW, with new episodes released at 2am on Mondays.
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