House of the Dragon called out for ‘twisted’ incest scene

Warning! This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon is back with another series of dragons, Targaryens and the cavalcade of unhinged things they get up to as they squabble over a chair made of swords.

Last we left off, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) was horribly burned and snuck out of King's Landing, leaving his younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in charge of the war effort against their half-sister Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy).

Their mum Alicent (Olivia Cooke) had promised Rhaenyra she'd sell out her own children to give her the throne, but this is a story all about how the Targaryens had a big war where lots of people died so don't expect it to be so neat as all that.

While people are getting slaughtered by swords and burned to death by dragons, the thing really giving audiences the ick is Aemond kissing his mum on the lips.

There's been plenty of incest in House of the Dragon already, both claimants to the throne are married to members of their own family as Aegon is wed to his sister Helaena (Phia Saban) and Rhaenyra is with her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith).

If we're being honest, incest between siblings isn't that shocking for audiences familiar with Westeros as it's happened several times before, but something between parent and child remains a bridge too far for viewers.

Last season we were horrified by the sight of Daemon tripping his head off at Harrenhal with a series of visions, one of which showed him having a sexual encounter with his own mother.

It was very much not welcomed by the viewers, and Aemond kissing his mother on the lips in a very creepy manner has drawn similar responses.

Viewers have said it's 'f**king weird', which is an understandable reaction to a boy kissing his mother creepily, while many others shared their disgusted and disappointed reactions that the story had gone in this direction.

The book House of the Dragon is based on, Fire and Blood, is more of a fictional historical account than a story so there's things happening we won't know about because the in-universe chroniclers don't know about it either.

Fans would rather see something less horrific, like the violent war where many people are dying (HBO)

But neither Daemon having dream sex with his dead mother or Aemond kissing Alicent on the lips were mentioned, those are things the show threw in and fans have protested that it's 'twisted'.

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal explained to Entertainment Weekly what the thinking behind that moment was.

"He's somebody that was traumatized at an early age by his brother by taking him to a brothel long before his brain could probably process what was happening," the showrunner said.

"As these things do, that trauma then manifests a certain way in his behaviour as an adult.

"While I don't think that Aemond is necessarily in love with his mother, I don't think he's able to separate the feelings that he has for her from these other male feelings that he experiences."

The new season of House of the Dragon is streaming on NowTV and HBO Max.