House of the Dragon viewers left traumatised by ‘harrowing’ finale birth scene

Just a heads up that the following piece contains spoilers for the final episode of House of the Dragon season one - along with potentially triggering content about pregnancy loss and still birth

In this week's episode, we saw Rhaenyra (played by Emma D’Arcy) going into early labour after discovering that her father King Viserys (played by Paddy Considine) had died.

As a result, the baby was delivered stillborn - the sequence proving particularly graphic when Rhaenyra pulled the infant out herself through tears.

Posting on Twitter, one viewer said: “That birth scene was so hard to watch, and I wish Rhaenyra and Daemon had the time to grieve Visenya’s death.”

Another commented: “I just want to say those birth scenes in House of the Dragon have put me off having kids forever. I’m traumatised.”

While a third posted: “Omg this scene with Rhaenyra giving birth just broke my heart.”

Someone else agreed that it had been ‘hard to watch’, writing: “There were some rough parts in that ep[isode] involving Rhaenyra and her giving birth. That was hard to watch.”

Another viewer joked: "Find yourself someone who loves you as much as the House of the Dragon writers love a harrowing birth scene.”

Many people also shared trigger warnings online to alert others about what was in store, while a warning at the beginning of the episode said: "The following programme contains strong language and scenes which some viewers may find distressing."

The show’s creators have previously admitted that they weren't going to ‘shy away’ from depicting several birth scenes from the original source material and that it would use the scenes to explore ‘different themes’.