The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 1, Episode 10, "The Black Queen," which aired Sunday, October 23 on HBO. It also contains discussion of traumatic themes.
Multiple decades after Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen was declared to be her father's successor, House of the Dragon ended its first season with all of the pieces to start the Dance of the Dragons. At the beginning of the Season 1 finale, "The Black Queen," Rhaenys visits Dragonstone to tell Rhaenyra and Daemon that Viserys has died and that the Hightowers have staged a coup while crowning Aegon as Westeros' next king.
Rhaenyra doesn't get the chance to grieve the loss of her father or process what this betrayal means for her future, because she immediately has a stillbirth. Rhaenyra has been pregnant with her daughter Visenya since House of the Dragon's latest and last time jump, and it is heartbreaking to see her deal with this loss. The way in which the scene plays out makes it especially disturbing.
Rhaenyra's Stillbirth Scene is Unnecessarily Long
Rhaenyra's stillbirth is particularly graphic and the scene goes on for over six minutes, with the exception of a few cutaway shots of Daemon in between. It seemed that House of the Dragon would try to right some of the wrongs done to women earlier in Season 1, but "The Black Queen" proves otherwise. Rhaenyra doesn't just lose her baby, but this happens in an unnecessarily long and detailed scene that could have been dedicated to literally anything else. It is a mind-boggling choice, and just the first of the violences enacted upon her in the finale. After the stillbirth, a grieving Rhaenyra cradles Visenya's body in her arms while Daemon leaves, choosing to mourn outside by himself.
Later, it is Rhaenyra who has to be the rational one when dealing with Team Green, even though she's had her birthright taken away from her. She handles it carefully, seemingly in direct contrast to Daenerys, who was eventually punished and killed by Game of Thrones for her ambition. Meanwhile, Daemon wants to burn the world down and start a war, and at this point, it's clear that he is more concerned about his own power than Rhaenyra's.
House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra is Subjected to even More Violence
When Rhaenyra doesn't agree with Daemon's way of going about the potential war, he chokes her. Many fans have shown anger towards this scene because they believe it is out of character for Daemon, who seems to love her. Others have combated this by pointing out that Daemon killed his first wife and his relationship with Rhaenyra has always had a glaring gap in both age and power. However, this scene is not about Daemon; it's infuriating to watch two violent scenes with Rhaenyra as the subject in one episode.
This naturally leads a viewer to wonder what the writers' intentions were with either one. Perhaps they worried that Rhaenyra would not seem deserving enough of the crown unless she were shown to really suffer in order to achieve it. Maybe Daemon's assault was just for shock value. Whatever the reason, it was disappointing and awful to watch, especially when it occurred in between the deaths of two of Rhaenyra's children. Maybe House of the Dragon Season 2 will treat the queen better, but if the books are any indication, it's likely she'll continue to agonize.
House of the Dragon Season 1 is now streaming on HBO Max.