It’s taken exactly one episode – one scene, really – for House of the Dragon to prove it’s as adept as Game of Thrones was at dominating the monoculture. Showrunner Miguel Sapochnik has already commented on the brutally graphic forced birth sequence that incited social media backlash, which included some viewers demanding the premiere episode of HBO’s new spinoff be preceded by a trigger warning. “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?’” Sapochnik said at a roundtable event. “And unanimously, the response was ‘no’.”
In the deeply horrific scene, King Viserys’ wife Queen Aemma, played by Sian Brooke, is in exhausting, protracted childbirth. Her baby – of unknown sex – is in breach, and her medieval-inspired “doctors” are unable to correct it. The Grand Maester tells the king that both his wife and the unborn child may not live, but he has a way to save one and not the other: a forced caesarean delivery performed on a fully conscious and unconsenting woman.
