'House of the Dragon' Season 3 Includes Yet Another Unnecessary Sexual Assault Scene
An attempted sexual assault on Alicent Hightower in the latest episode of 'House of the Dragon' reopens the question of whether the show has actually learned anything from 'Game of Thrones'' controversial history.
The excessive and graphic depiction of sexual violence against women in 'Game of Thrones' and its spin-offs has been debated for years. 'House of the Dragon' was thought to be breaking that tradition; but the latest episode dashed that hope. In her piece for Kotaku, Ash Parrish explains why this scene has sparked such anger.
In the latest episode, Westeros' Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower tries to flee the capital with her daughter and grandson. Before she can escape, she's cornered by a member of the king's council, who threatens her by bringing up her forbidden affair with a Kingsguard member. The scene escalates into a violent assault, and Alicent is rescued at the last moment. Although the physical attack is repelled, the attacker continues his psychological assault, telling the guards who've caught him that Alicent "deserved it." Thankfully, the manipulation doesn't work; but it leaves viewers with a very bad taste.
The original 'Game of Thrones' was frequently criticized for the on-screen assaults inflicted on Cersei Lannister, Sansa Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen, as well as for what happened to countless "disposable" female characters in the background. Outlets like Vanity Fair, Esquire, and The Atlantic all published pieces addressing the issue. You'd expect any thoughtful showrunner to say, "Let's not do this again."
As Parrish emphasizes, the real issue comes down to the answers to three questions: What does this scene teach us about a character? In what direction does it move the plot? Is it faithful to the source material? For this assault in 'House of the Dragon,' the answer to all three is no. The attacker himself is already an insignificant figure; the assault doesn't say anything new about Alicent's personal journey either — her agency had already been stripped away by the manipulations of the men around her. What's more, this event doesn't appear in George R. R. Martin's book at all; it was invented from scratch by the writers.
The most frustrating part is that 'House of the Dragon' is already fully capable of handling the conflict between two powerful women fighting for the throne without resorting to this. A show with so much to say about the countless ways powerful women can be stripped of their power could have trusted itself, instead of repeating a tired and harmful trope.