In a series filled with decapitations, lethal skin disease, and prisoners being fed alive to hordes of crabs, it’s wild that one of the most disturbing scenes in House of the Dragon centered around a foot fetish. In the penultimate episode of the Game of Thrones prequel’s first season, fans learned that Larys Strong had been giving information to Queen Alicent Hightower only in exchange for some long looks at her feet. In a scene that still makes fans uncomfortable to think about, Larys touched himself while staring at the Queen, causing her to look away and long for the moment to be over.
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Following the season finale this weekend, House of the Dragon star Olivia Cook spoke with Variety about the debut season as a whole, but also spent some time on that particular scene. She explained that it’s a disgusting place for her character to be put in, but that she’s left with no choice.
“She knows what Larys can do, how powerful he is and how he won’t stop shy of killing his entire family in order to progress in this court,” Cooke said. “The dynamic shifts slightly all the time over the scene. He probably holds more weight. It’s difficult, because she has no choice but to go along with a lot of the things that he does. She needs the information. Ultimately, she knows how she’s going to get it. If she doesn’t have the information, it could result in her death or in her usurpation or in her children’s death. I don’t think any of this is taken lightly. It’s just an absolute necessity, unfortunately. I don’t think there’s any manipulation going on. It’s just she needs the information, and this is how she gets it.”
“It’s disgusting, it’s demeaning, it’s assault. But she’s not really left with any choices,” she continued. “She’s surrounded herself with psychopaths and murderers. There’s no one else to turn to. Maybe she thought she could turn to Talia, but she’s turned out to be a spy.”
The scene became an instant trending topic on Twitter, and fans haven’t been able to see Larys the same way since it aired. In addition to painting Larys as an even more despicable villain, the sequence also adds to the empathy we feel for Alicent, continuing to make her one of the most layered characters in all of Game of Thrones.
What did you think of House of the Dragon‘s first season? Let us know in the comments!
