In the first episode of House of the Dragon, Daemon Targaryen cuts off a guy’s testicles and plops them on a stump. Later, he takes his niece to a brothel and eventually marries her. This show can get pretty twisted, but for whatever reason I was never more disturbed than in Episode 9, where information broker Larys Strong masturbates to the sight of Alicent Hightower’s bare feet, which she shows off in exchange for intel.
Actor Matthew Needham weighed in on the scene during an appearance at the Game of Thrones Official Fan Convention this past weekend, saying that while “people were already quite creeped out by me” before the scene aired, “everyone’s been weirdly very nice about it”…at least to his face.
As for what’s going through Larys’ head during the scene, Needham has clearly thought it through. “The apex of his ambition is not feet,” he said, to audience laughter. “As great as that is, it’s not.”
"I don’t think it’s a foot fetish like we understand in 2022. I think it’s weirder than that. It’s not just about a man with a clubfoot being attracted to feet. It’s that he can make her do it. This is a very disturbed person with a lot of trauma… It’s about making her feel as much shame as she does for that part of her body as he does for his.He can cut out tongues and he can cut out eyes. I think he likes that. I think he likes making people incomplete. He can’t do that with her. He can, though, associate that part of her body with a trauma so that long after he’s gone, she’s got this sick feeling about it that’s connected to that. That’s the thing about assault like that: it makes the victim’s body the scene of the crime, and I think that’s what he likes to do. So I don’t see it like he loves feet. It’s the fact that she’s not into it and he can make her do it."
Ugh, I think this makes the scene even more squishy. “He likes making people incomplete.” Larys is even more messed up than we thought.
Needham took things further by pointing to a scene in Episode 5, when Larys is talking with Alicent in the godswood and muses about how the weirwood tree is thriving despite being rare in this region. Later, we see that he has a potted version of the wierwood. “He’s taken this natural thing that is growing and thriving against all odds and he’s cut it and he’s potted it and he’s in charge of whether it lives or dies. And I think that’s how he sees Alicent.”
House of the Dragon star explains just how twisted Larys Strong is
A fan also asked about Larys’ firefly sigil, something the character invented for himself. Once again, Needham had a detailed answer ready. “The way I thought was it’s sort of synonymous with the Hightower thing, like, it’s the light in the darkness,” he said. “I thought that’s sort of how he saw himself, as leading the way into this new future or something…. that he could bring with him, but he’s a bit weird.”
Finally, does Larys have any house words? “F— this s—! Show me your feet!”
Larys Strong and his foot fetish will return in House of the Dragon season 2, most likely premiering sometime in 2024.
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