For the past two years, fans of Westeros have waited to see the Battle of the Gullet play out in House of the Dragon. The latest episode in the hit HBO show was originally supposed to be part of season 2 but was ultimately pushed back. This means fans have spent many months eager to see the violent and explosive confrontation play out on the small screen. Furthermore, the battle was hyped up by the show's cast and crew, and theories about who would die inevitably started to emerge. So it comes as quite a surprise that this monumental event wasn't the most shocking sequence in the first episode of House of the Dragon season 3.
If you've watched "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood," you know which scene took the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
The Game of Thrones franchise is infamous for its many incestuous scenes. After all, bloodlines should remain pure, and strategic alliances should be forged between nephews and uncles, first cousins, or even brothers and sisters... right? Well, just when we thought things couldn't get worse, Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) kissed his own mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). The world was naturally creeped out by this sequence, and the actors behind it also share this sentiment.
Olivia Cooke on the kiss between Alicent and Aemond: "It's awful, it's odd, it's not nice"
During an interview with TV Line, Olivia Cooke was asked whether her character expected to receive a kiss from her son, to which she responded with a clear and conclusive, "F**k no!" She then added, "I don't know if any mother is expecting their son to have romantic feelings for them. It's so shocking. Sometimes I'm reading the scripts, and I'm like, 'What has Ryan [Condal] and Sara [Hess] got for me this season?' It's completely out of left field for Alicent, of course, and also terrifying because this man sits on top of the Iron Throne, and she has to tread very carefully (...) It's awful, it's odd, it's not nice. Not nice at all."
Olivia Cooke wasn't the only one to weigh in on the creepy moment, as Ewan Mitchell also stated, "I'm surprised Alicent didn't throw up in her mouth when it happened. I certainly did when I watched it. But it's like, Aemond grew up feeling like he [was] never shown any love (...) he was bullied relentlessly for being the only kid in the family without a dragon. And so, he has a very skewed perception of love, so to speak. He doesn't necessarily know how to show that or show it to other people. That's kind of what you see in that moment."
The kiss between Aemond and Alicent took viewers by surprise, even those who had read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. After all, such a moment never explicitly happens in the source material, yet there's a reason behind it in the live-action adaptation (even if it does not make the sequence any less twisted).
In the House of the Dragon season 2 finale, Alicent agreed to hand over the Iron Throne to Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and also accepted that Aegon must die so the Blacks would have no more opposition. However, for the plan to work out, the Red Keep needed to be empty, and yet Aemond decided to stay on the throne after his older brother King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) fled the Red Keep.
To ensure the Iron Throne would be free for the taking, Alicent appealed to Aemond's ego and convinced him to join Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) in battle. Unfortunately, this resulted in one of the show's creepiest moments as Aemond kissed his own mother in return. It had been previously established that he had mommy issues, but just in case there was any doubt left, the opening episode of season 3 made sure to put them to rest.
Only time will tell how this sequence will affect Alicent and Aemond's relationship moving forward, but there is no time to catch our breath. After all, episode 2 is already almost upon us, and it promises even more bloodshed and shocking moments (but hopefully, not quite as shocking).
New episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 air every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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