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Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury

Torturous births in House of the Dragon dramatise the question of whether women deserve to be more than just a womb

HBO

The premiere episode of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, The Heirs of the Dragon, establishes its central themes of gender and power in a bloody fashion. Its shocking depiction of a fatal cesarean birth is notable for its brutality – but also for how it reflects on histories of pregnant representation and reproductive politics.

The series dramatises a civil war in which factions of the Targaryen family fight for the Iron Throne of Westeros. As we start, young Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has been overlooked by her father, King Viserys (Paddy Consedine). He desires a male heir, even as queen consort Aemma (Sian Brooke) suffers through stillbirths and miscarriages.

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