House of the Dragon viewers react to most ‘uncomfortable’ sex scene yet in new episode

Tension has been mounting between the two characters over the last few episodes

House of the Dragon’s fourth episode, “King of the Narrow Sea”, offered viewers perhaps its most shocking sex scene yet.

During Monday’s (12 September) episode, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) takes leave of the palace in secret and is led on a romp around Downtown King’s Landing by a cloaked figure.

Spoilers follow for episode four of House of the Dragon – you have been warned!

The figure in the cloak is, of course, her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith), the family bad boy who has returned to the city triumphant in his victory over the Crabfeeder, sporting a short new haircut and all.

The pair gallivant around King’s Landing at night, listening to jesters and stealing food before winding their way into one of Daemon’s favourite brothels.

It’s there that the sexual tension, which we have seen mounting in recent episodes, reaches a fever pitch and the pair begin kissing and removing each other’s clothes.

Milly Alcock in ‘House of the Dragon’ (Ollie Upton/HBO)

With Rhaenyra’s trousers around her ankles, Daemon suddenly has second thoughts and can’t bring himself to go through with the act, leaving his niece in the lurch.

Find out what Rhaenyra star Alcock thought about shooting the scene, here.

While the pair did not go all the way, the incestuous scene was enough to shock viewers even though intercourse within the same family is something that Game of Thrones never shied away from.

“Okay u house of the dragon ppl go waaaay too hard for incest,” one viewer tweeted. “This s*** is making me physically uncomfortable.”

Another alluded to the show’s heritage and its precursor’s proclivity for incest. “House of the Dragons had to let us know they ain't lose a step with the incest,” the user tweeted.

House of the Dragon incest tweet (Twitter)

Others, meanwhile, were torn about their feelings for the couple, who they couldn’t decide to root for or be repulsed by.

“Not House of the Dragon making me root for incest,” a viewer wrote.

While incestuous relationships are rightly considered taboo in modern society, they were certainly not by the Targaryens.

The Targaryens held themselves above the laws of men and therefore practised incestuous marriage and polygamy in order to keep their bloodline “pure”.

Many of Daenerys’ ancestors aside from Daemon and Rhaenyra practised incest and polygamy – you can read all about the Targaryen family tree here.

And you can read about the biggest talking points from episode four here.

House of the Dragon airs weekly on Sundays in the US, with the UK premiere arriving 2am the following morning on Sky. The episodes are then repeated at 9pm on Mondays, and will be available to stream on Sky and NOW after their initial airing.