The 11 most controversial moments in 'House of the Dragon' season 1

The most controversial moments in "House of the Dragon" season one are the brutal birth scenes, two of which lead to death.

The first birth scene occurs in the season premiere when Aemma (Sian Brooke), King Viserys' (Paddy Considine) first wife, tries to give birth to an heir to the throne. 

Viserys is summoned during the birth and it is revealed by a maester that unless something is done, both Aemma and the baby will die during the birth. The maester reveals the baby could be saved if they cut them out of her womb, killing Aemma in the process. Viserys makes the choice without consulting Aemma and the mother is held down and cut open as she screams in terror and confusion. Following his betrayal, Viserys' son quickly dies after birth.

The showrunners warned before the show aired that they were not going to pull back with birth scenes, however, fans were shocked by how graphic and horrifying the opening episode was and many have criticized the scene.

This is also made worse since the birth scene is cut between violent bloody battle scenes at a tournament in Westeros.

"Game of Thrones"  never shied away from incestuous storylines; just look at how much Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei Lannister's (Lena Headey) storyline progressed over eight seasons. 

But the dynamic between Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) felt much creepier to begin with — and it's largely to do with the 16-year age difference between the two.

After a few flirty scenes, Daemon takes Rhaenyra to a brothel in episode four and they get very close to actually consummating their growing relationship.

Their forbidden dynamic definitely feels "gnarly," as Alcock recently put it, and this is without mentioning all the other couples in the brothel that are having sex around the Targaryens.

In episode two, Viserys is forced to take a second wife and chooses his daughter's best friend, Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), who is 14 at the time.

By episode four, the pair have had two children together, so it is safe to safe they must have had sex a couple of times offscreen. 

In the episode, while Rhaenyra has snuck out with her uncle, Alicent is called into her husband's room and we see them have intercourse for the first and only time. The age gap already makes the scene disturbing but the fact that Alicent is lying there lifeless with Viserys on top of her makes the scene even more uncomfortable to watch.

Did the audience really need to see this scene?

In episode six, the teenage Aegon II Targaryen (Ty Tennant) has a truly memorable scene where he's masturbating while standing on a very, very high window ledge. It's the polar opposite of King Tommen (Dean Charles-Chapman) jumping to his death from the same castle in "Game of Thrones" season six.

It's a little shocking, but it's a moment that becomes utterly mortifying when his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), walks in on him and he scrambles for his bed sheets.

What's equally surprising is that Alicent doesn't really react to what he is doing, which means she's well aware of what he gets up to in his spare time. While this isn't the worst scene on the list, it's a telling sign about Aegon's proclivities.

After Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) dies in episode six, Aemond Targaryen (Leo Ashton) claims her dragon Vhagar for himself in episode seven.

This ultimately causes strife between Aemond and Laena's children, Rhaena (Eva Ossei Gerning) and Baela Targaryen (Shani Smethhurst), because they believe Vhagar should be passed down the family. 

The squabble quickly descends into a brutal scrap, with everyone fighting Aemond in the Dragonpit — though he handles himself quite well for someone who was being incessantly bullied before all this. But he takes it too far when he starts choking Jacaerys Velaryon (Leo Hart). 

It's controversial because it's not very often that a TV show has scenes where children are actively trying to kill each other.

Lucerys Velaryon (Harvey Sadler) takes it one step further and slashes Aemond's eye. Gross.

It's a pivotal moment for those two characters in particular, but the entire scene is instantly memorable because of Aemond's surprising savagery.

Oh look, Aegon makes another appearance on this list. What a great candidate for king of Westeros.

In episode eight, a chambermaid called Dyanna (Maddie Evans) approaches Alicent and tearfully explains that Aegon raped her, and she's terrified of being punished or executed for speaking about it. 

Although the queen says she believes the maid, she points out that other people might not, so it would be better to stay quiet about the attack. Alicent comes across like she's being caring and understanding about the difficult situation, but it's ultimately a ploy to cover up her son's crime. 

If that wasn't enough, the queen even gives her a bag of gold for her troubles and some contraceptive tea.

Sure, Alicent confronts her son about the rape, but her first instinct was to cover it up to protect him. It shows that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty when she needs to.

Episode nine comes with an unexpected moment that did not originate from George R.R. Martin's book, "Fire and Blood." Halfway through the episode, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), Alicent's close advisor, visits her in his room claiming he has information.

In return for this information, Alicent is forced to reveal her feet and the spy soon masturbates to the sight of her feet. Up until now, it was not clear why Larys was so keen to help Alicent but the scene indicates that his foot fetish has been known for some time since the queen consort appears to already know he wants to see her feet from the moment they start talking.

While this scene isn't as explicit as other sex scenes, it has made some fans uncomfortable since Alicent is forced into this demeaning situation in order to survive in King's Landing and get the information she needs.

Both Olivia Cooke and director Clare Kilner have criticized Larys in interviews, and the Alicent actor even admitted to Variety that she was worried about the scene being "gratuitous."

There may be some justification as to why Rhaenys (Eve Best) didn't end the whole civil war at the end of episode nine by killing the Hightowers, but it still feels like a weird decision to give her the opportunity and have her run away.

After Viserys dies, the Greens, the name for the Hightowers and their supporters, quickly try to control the narrative by locking up Rhaenys in King's Landing. Towards the end of the episode, supporters of Rhaenyra help Rhaenys escape in order for her to warn the true heir.

In the final scene, Rhaenys with her large dragon Meleys, the Red Queen, crashes into the coronation, which is being held in the Dragonpit, killing several civilians. The dragon then walks up to newly-crowned Aegon and Alicent and there is a moment where it seems Rhaenys is about to kill them. Meleys then roars and flies away to go find Rhaenyra.

On the one hand, it would be treason to kill the king in such a public forum and may have even started a civil war anyway. At the same time, it feels anti-climatic for Rhaenys to just fly away after creating such chaos with her entrance.

At the beginning of the finale, Rhaenyra goes into labor after hearing about the Hightowers' plot to take the Iron Throne from her. It is very clear to the audience that this isn't a normal birth as the nurses start whispering that it is too early.

Rhaenyra refuses any help and painfully gives birth to a stillborn baby. Each of the birth scenes in "House of the Dragon" is difficult to watch but this scene was one of the hardest since you saw Rhaenyra physically forcing the baby out herself. It is likely that Rhaenyra was reminded of her own mother's C-section and was fighting in order to not end up like her.

The "House of the Dragon" finale sees tensions rise across Westeros after Alicent crowns the now-older Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) king in front of the masses in the Dragonpit. And though Rhaenyra and Daemon put on a united front, the latter still struggles with the idea that his brother, Viserys, didn't trust him with the crown. 

Daemon's insecurities come to a head when Rhaenyra makes a point that her father didn't even tell him about the prophecy, the Song of Ice and Fire, and he responds by instantly grabbing her by the throat.

It's a moment of pure venom from Daemon, and it's clear that he's a very damaged individual. But it's disgraceful because for most of the season Daemon has acted like he and Rhaenyra are against the world, only to react with toxic violence when he's broken by the fact that she's ultimately more important than he is.

In the season finale, Aemond finally gets his revenge for his eye but at the cost of starting a civil war. After Rhaenyra finds out about the Hightowers' betrayal, she sends her two children to her allies to find out whether they still support her as queen.

Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) ends up in Storm's End where he bumps into Aemond and his giant dragon Vhagar. After failing to persuade Lord Borros Baratheon to join Rhaenyra's side, the young Targaryen hurries home on his dragon Arrax but is chased by Aemond.

It's clear to Aemond just wanted to scare Lucerys, rather than kill him. However, after Arrax attacks Vhagar, all bets are off and both the dragon and its rider are ripped to shreds very quickly.

It is a shocking reminder that dragons have a mind of their own.