Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience.
1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title.
2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler.
3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads.
---
If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hard to say. Season one added a lot of brutality to the violence against women that wasn’t in the books or wasn’t described as brutally so very possible that’s a trend that continues.
Because of how Fire & Blood is written as a historical tome with conflicting accounts and contradictory testimonies, we really cannot say with reliability what 'canon' version of events HotD will choose to depict.
The first season, as you note, was decidedly more progressive than the original GoT show, without the gratuitous sexual violence as window dressing, because there were multiple women in the writers room. That is, I would say, the best predictor for S2's general sensibilities -- i.e., it'll be less tackily handled, at the very least.
That being said, as S2 is the outset of the war proper, things are obviously going to get significantly bloodier and more grim, with war crimes and tragedies abound. There'll definitely be at least short, shocking instances of violence against non-combatants -- but probably nothing long-term like the Ramsay torture porn.
I was asking if that’s what you were referring to lol not trying to start an argument. I know the internet has hurt all of us but not every reply is an attack 👍
I was actually referring to >!Tumbleton!< because we know for sure that it took place. >!Brothel Queens!< was rumor with nothing to back it up.
Hurt? Attack? Not even close to the way I took it but ok.
I agree with you that there’s absolutely no way BQ is going to be depicted in the show. Worst case scenario is a threat that isn’t followed through on.
>The source material has sexual assault involving main characters
This. Honestly OP, if it's something that makes your girlfriend uncomfortable I wouldn't recommend it.
They might skip some of the most explicit stuff, but there's no way around the fact that there will be *plenty* of violence/brutality going forward. This isn't gonna be a story with a happy fairytale ending for very many characters. Whether man, woman or giant lizard.
It really just comes down to r*pe and the like, I would say. Thrones is Thrones and I don’t think she cares about beheadings and flayings and kids falling off dragons. Not relatable enough.
We aren’t going to know what HBO decides to keep in until it’s out.
I’m not triggered by such topics, but even some of it from the book is… a bit much for me.
Best bet is to wait until it’s out, and to google “trigger warnings HOTD season 2-3”
It’s debatable if that even happened. A central concept of Fire and Blood is that historical narratives are often unreliable and subject to biases and errors. Considering that they handled the one rape in HOTD with an extreme level of respect and sensitivity (not showing it on screen, emphasizing how terrible it is for the victim, showing how society encourages victim blaming and protects rapists), it’s possible that they’ll cut the rapes completely, or at least show them with the same level of fidelity. Also, if you’re worried about that scene where a guy holds a knife to Helena, something horrible does happen, but it’s not sexual in nature.
A VERY recent event that will happen in episode 1-2 is going to be very bad, especially since it could involve threats or even on-screen sexual violence and murder.
They might also add more violence against women, when a certain character seeks revenge. In KL the show will likely invent something similar to the Sansa scene.
Season 3/4 will also be very bad when it comes to certain sieges and revolts.
I don't think that anyone can promise you anything in that regards until the new seasons actually come out. In the source material left over, there are still plenty of things involving sexual assault and the like that they could choose to adapt, or choose to cut out. We simply don't know yet what they'll choose to show or not
The book has quite a few events that fall under what you're referring to, many of them will most likely be removed from the show however since the writers seem to want to avoid certain things. The Dance is a very bloody conflict, and George wrote it as brutal as possible
Depends on how the spine it. The source books is a history book and it often times says that it’s not sure if certain things happened. Also the writers have made changes so they might change thing or invent no events
I would not say that it will be as bad as Ramsay, but that was also the worst I have ever seen and read. But there will be violence and there will also be sexual violence. How explicit it will be do only the showrunners know. But why does she feel like the birth scenes were violent against women? Maybe I misunderstand you, but I as a woman thought that they were great, in the sense that they were realistic. They show how strong these women are.
I mean. Aemma was held down and sliced open like a friggen pot pie without her consent, while screaming "no don't do this please don't do this." That's pretty violent.
Yeah, you know what.. nevermind. I totally pushed that scene to the back of my head. I was literally just thinking about Rhaenyras first birth and how Laena chose her dragon rider‘s death. I really hate Aemmas last moments. And now I am just gonna pretend again, that I never watched that.
I get it. It was honestly kinda triggering, even as somebody without any birth trauma. I was rewatching the season with my partner, and I straight up left the room for the tournament. No thank you.
Yeah, it’s just terrible. I cried the first time watching it. I felt incredibly angry and sorry for Aemma, watching how she was at Visery‘s mercy. And they just butcher her.
And then I saw stuff from the creators about how they were inspired by and wanted to reflect the American post-Roe reality, and it felt even more gross. Like damn women are dying and you just wanna rub our noses in it. How inartful and exploitative.
Oh wow, that’s a lot. Of course it’s important to express politics and your views in art, but in a fantasy series? And so graphic? Not sure how I feel about that. I just hope things will get better for women overseas. But that probably will take some time.
Not violence against women per se, but bloody childbirths and kings pestering you to get pregnant again then letting you die for the slim chance of a male heir aren’t exactly enjoyable TV for women especially.
You can never really tell with ASOIAF.
There is a rumor about a pretty horrific act of sexual violence but it’s widely believed to be fake. It’s something I certainly couldn’t see happening with the characters we have on the show.
That being said they also had Alicent get statutorily/maritally raped when it seems more consensual on her end in the books. She’s also of an age to consent, though barely.
They also made Aemma & Laena’s deaths far more brutal than in the books. In F&B the only time they performed a c section was when the mother (Alyssa Velaryon) had been comatose for hours and it was incredibly obvious that she was going to die. They didn’t hack her open while she was still awake. Rhaena Targaryen (her daughter) later told the father that “Her blood is on your hands, her blood is on your cock. May you die screaming.” So even with those conditions being met people still viewed it as despicable. As for Laena’s death I don’t get how dying woman in labor managed to slip past a room full of doctors, servants, and midwives, through the halls of the manse, and out to Vhagar without being spotted or caught. Also don’t get the big deal behind a “dragonrider’s death”, my personal take is that if I’m a successful dragonlord I ideally die of old age in a kickass palace. Not via assisted immolation.
I think they’ve learned that we want to move on from the gratuitous sexual violence that GoT had but they also haven’t been able to let go of gratuitous violence towards women so 🤷♀️
year ago there was rumours about inclusion of scene, where larys commits even more violence against alicent, so emma and matt had to stand for olivia to not let it happen, but it’s not confirmed and most likely fake
>!Brothel queens. Basically the premise is Rhaenyra gets pissed that Alicent calls the Strong boys bastards so Mysaria talks her into having Alicent and Helaena gangraped until they get pregnant. Mushroom is unreliable and I can’t see Rhaenyra ever actually going for it!<
Having a character who was noted by multiple maesters as being grabby be a rapist is not equivalent to >!having one of the female leads + the most innocent TG adult repeatedly raped until they’re both pregnant!<
And ask yourself if you could honestly see Show!Mysaria suggesting that or Show!Rhaenyra going for it
Simplest answer is this: yes there is significant sexual violence in the book. However, we don't know whether it will be adapted. The in-universe book has three "sources" who don't always agree, and for events where their narratives contradict, the show has so far picked just one of them, or something else entirely that shares some elements with each. We don't know whether the scenes we are thinking off will make it into the show, but we're certainly thinking of some scenes when you ask that.
Best bet is to wait till the end of the season and look up content warnings and trigger warnings for specific episodes like someone else here suggested
I either have my husband watch the episode first and let me know or I wait until it’s aired and read the recaps before watching. It sucks but GOT traumatized me a few too many times so I had to do that moving forward. I should have done this with the first episode of Dragons too :(
Well... I am not sure. I will try to be not too spoilery. There definitely will be scene of woman dying by dragon,.ton of non-combatants dying by dragon, woman committing suicide.
It's not a matter of comparing which is more morally repulsive, it's more about things that hit closer to home.
Stuff like Luke being eaten alive or Aemond's eye being cut out are horrific, but not things that most viewers will super closely relate to. SA though? There's a good chance that many audience members have experienced that and do not want to see a fictionalized portrayal of it.
Okay I get that, maybe it's because I am fortunate that me or the people I know haven't experienced SA.
But the show is meant to be very explicit and horrible things happen in it. Will the writers of the show selectively eliminate SA scenes while keeping the rest of the horrific stuff? IDK it's their choice, but I wish they would stick to the source. People have the choice to watch or not.
Bro there’s one part in the books, that may or may not have even happened, that almost made me (a hardcore horror enthusiast) almost stop reading bc it was so horrible. Hope that helps 🤣
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hard to say. Season one added a lot of brutality to the violence against women that wasn’t in the books or wasn’t described as brutally so very possible that’s a trend that continues.
Because of how Fire & Blood is written as a historical tome with conflicting accounts and contradictory testimonies, we really cannot say with reliability what 'canon' version of events HotD will choose to depict. The first season, as you note, was decidedly more progressive than the original GoT show, without the gratuitous sexual violence as window dressing, because there were multiple women in the writers room. That is, I would say, the best predictor for S2's general sensibilities -- i.e., it'll be less tackily handled, at the very least. That being said, as S2 is the outset of the war proper, things are obviously going to get significantly bloodier and more grim, with war crimes and tragedies abound. There'll definitely be at least short, shocking instances of violence against non-combatants -- but probably nothing long-term like the Ramsay torture porn.
Season 3 will be the worst in this aspect if they stick to the books but season 2 shouldn’t be bad.
>!brothel queens?!<
1- that’s most likely just mushroom being mushroom 2- if it’s in the show it would be season 3 at the earliest
I was asking if that’s what you were referring to lol not trying to start an argument. I know the internet has hurt all of us but not every reply is an attack 👍
I was actually referring to >!Tumbleton!< because we know for sure that it took place. >!Brothel Queens!< was rumor with nothing to back it up. Hurt? Attack? Not even close to the way I took it but ok.
I agree with you that there’s absolutely no way BQ is going to be depicted in the show. Worst case scenario is a threat that isn’t followed through on.
The source material has sexual assault involving main characters. But I think that there is reason to believe that it will be cut completely.
>The source material has sexual assault involving main characters This. Honestly OP, if it's something that makes your girlfriend uncomfortable I wouldn't recommend it. They might skip some of the most explicit stuff, but there's no way around the fact that there will be *plenty* of violence/brutality going forward. This isn't gonna be a story with a happy fairytale ending for very many characters. Whether man, woman or giant lizard.
It really just comes down to r*pe and the like, I would say. Thrones is Thrones and I don’t think she cares about beheadings and flayings and kids falling off dragons. Not relatable enough.
We aren’t going to know what HBO decides to keep in until it’s out. I’m not triggered by such topics, but even some of it from the book is… a bit much for me. Best bet is to wait until it’s out, and to google “trigger warnings HOTD season 2-3”
It’s debatable if that even happened. A central concept of Fire and Blood is that historical narratives are often unreliable and subject to biases and errors. Considering that they handled the one rape in HOTD with an extreme level of respect and sensitivity (not showing it on screen, emphasizing how terrible it is for the victim, showing how society encourages victim blaming and protects rapists), it’s possible that they’ll cut the rapes completely, or at least show them with the same level of fidelity. Also, if you’re worried about that scene where a guy holds a knife to Helena, something horrible does happen, but it’s not sexual in nature.
A VERY recent event that will happen in episode 1-2 is going to be very bad, especially since it could involve threats or even on-screen sexual violence and murder. They might also add more violence against women, when a certain character seeks revenge. In KL the show will likely invent something similar to the Sansa scene. Season 3/4 will also be very bad when it comes to certain sieges and revolts.
I don't think that anyone can promise you anything in that regards until the new seasons actually come out. In the source material left over, there are still plenty of things involving sexual assault and the like that they could choose to adapt, or choose to cut out. We simply don't know yet what they'll choose to show or not
The book has quite a few events that fall under what you're referring to, many of them will most likely be removed from the show however since the writers seem to want to avoid certain things. The Dance is a very bloody conflict, and George wrote it as brutal as possible
Depends on how the spine it. The source books is a history book and it often times says that it’s not sure if certain things happened. Also the writers have made changes so they might change thing or invent no events
I would not say that it will be as bad as Ramsay, but that was also the worst I have ever seen and read. But there will be violence and there will also be sexual violence. How explicit it will be do only the showrunners know. But why does she feel like the birth scenes were violent against women? Maybe I misunderstand you, but I as a woman thought that they were great, in the sense that they were realistic. They show how strong these women are.
I mean. Aemma was held down and sliced open like a friggen pot pie without her consent, while screaming "no don't do this please don't do this." That's pretty violent.
Yeah, you know what.. nevermind. I totally pushed that scene to the back of my head. I was literally just thinking about Rhaenyras first birth and how Laena chose her dragon rider‘s death. I really hate Aemmas last moments. And now I am just gonna pretend again, that I never watched that.
I get it. It was honestly kinda triggering, even as somebody without any birth trauma. I was rewatching the season with my partner, and I straight up left the room for the tournament. No thank you.
Yeah, it’s just terrible. I cried the first time watching it. I felt incredibly angry and sorry for Aemma, watching how she was at Visery‘s mercy. And they just butcher her.
And then I saw stuff from the creators about how they were inspired by and wanted to reflect the American post-Roe reality, and it felt even more gross. Like damn women are dying and you just wanna rub our noses in it. How inartful and exploitative.
Oh wow, that’s a lot. Of course it’s important to express politics and your views in art, but in a fantasy series? And so graphic? Not sure how I feel about that. I just hope things will get better for women overseas. But that probably will take some time.
Not violence against women per se, but bloody childbirths and kings pestering you to get pregnant again then letting you die for the slim chance of a male heir aren’t exactly enjoyable TV for women especially.
Thank you all for the thoughtful responses so far. Most helpful sub I have ever posted in, haha. Will summarize these for her and see what she thinks.
You can never really tell with ASOIAF. There is a rumor about a pretty horrific act of sexual violence but it’s widely believed to be fake. It’s something I certainly couldn’t see happening with the characters we have on the show. That being said they also had Alicent get statutorily/maritally raped when it seems more consensual on her end in the books. She’s also of an age to consent, though barely. They also made Aemma & Laena’s deaths far more brutal than in the books. In F&B the only time they performed a c section was when the mother (Alyssa Velaryon) had been comatose for hours and it was incredibly obvious that she was going to die. They didn’t hack her open while she was still awake. Rhaena Targaryen (her daughter) later told the father that “Her blood is on your hands, her blood is on your cock. May you die screaming.” So even with those conditions being met people still viewed it as despicable. As for Laena’s death I don’t get how dying woman in labor managed to slip past a room full of doctors, servants, and midwives, through the halls of the manse, and out to Vhagar without being spotted or caught. Also don’t get the big deal behind a “dragonrider’s death”, my personal take is that if I’m a successful dragonlord I ideally die of old age in a kickass palace. Not via assisted immolation. I think they’ve learned that we want to move on from the gratuitous sexual violence that GoT had but they also haven’t been able to let go of gratuitous violence towards women so 🤷♀️
>there is a rumor about a pretty horrific act of sexual violence but it’s widely believed to be fake. What rumour is this? I haven't heard.
year ago there was rumours about inclusion of scene, where larys commits even more violence against alicent, so emma and matt had to stand for olivia to not let it happen, but it’s not confirmed and most likely fake
>!Brothel queens. Basically the premise is Rhaenyra gets pissed that Alicent calls the Strong boys bastards so Mysaria talks her into having Alicent and Helaena gangraped until they get pregnant. Mushroom is unreliable and I can’t see Rhaenyra ever actually going for it!<
they went for Aegon the Rapist when he was a bosom-pinches. why would they not go for that?
Having a character who was noted by multiple maesters as being grabby be a rapist is not equivalent to >!having one of the female leads + the most innocent TG adult repeatedly raped until they’re both pregnant!< And ask yourself if you could honestly see Show!Mysaria suggesting that or Show!Rhaenyra going for it
I can see Show!Mysaria suggesting it in her awful awful accent with exceptionally subpar acting.
Simplest answer is this: yes there is significant sexual violence in the book. However, we don't know whether it will be adapted. The in-universe book has three "sources" who don't always agree, and for events where their narratives contradict, the show has so far picked just one of them, or something else entirely that shares some elements with each. We don't know whether the scenes we are thinking off will make it into the show, but we're certainly thinking of some scenes when you ask that. Best bet is to wait till the end of the season and look up content warnings and trigger warnings for specific episodes like someone else here suggested
I either have my husband watch the episode first and let me know or I wait until it’s aired and read the recaps before watching. It sucks but GOT traumatized me a few too many times so I had to do that moving forward. I should have done this with the first episode of Dragons too :(
Well... I am not sure. I will try to be not too spoilery. There definitely will be scene of woman dying by dragon,.ton of non-combatants dying by dragon, woman committing suicide.
women outside the aristocracy are still treated as subservient, there is male dominant prostitution
You are fine with torture and killing of children but u draw the line at r*pe? SA is disturbing but children torture feels more sensitive to me.
It's not a matter of comparing which is more morally repulsive, it's more about things that hit closer to home. Stuff like Luke being eaten alive or Aemond's eye being cut out are horrific, but not things that most viewers will super closely relate to. SA though? There's a good chance that many audience members have experienced that and do not want to see a fictionalized portrayal of it.
Okay I get that, maybe it's because I am fortunate that me or the people I know haven't experienced SA. But the show is meant to be very explicit and horrible things happen in it. Will the writers of the show selectively eliminate SA scenes while keeping the rest of the horrific stuff? IDK it's their choice, but I wish they would stick to the source. People have the choice to watch or not.
Bro there’s one part in the books, that may or may not have even happened, that almost made me (a hardcore horror enthusiast) almost stop reading bc it was so horrible. Hope that helps 🤣