Is "House of the Dragon" More or Less Violent Than "Game of Thrones"?

"House of the Dragon"'s first season arrived on Aug. 21, and the beginning installment already featured some shockingly violent scenes. There was the gold cloak's raid of King's Landing led by Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), the very bloody jousts, and, of course, the brutal scene where Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) died in childbirth. But if you're a particularly squeamish viewer, you might be wondering: how violent is "House of the Dragon" overall?

"It's 'Game of Thrones.' There is sex and violence as part of the story," coshowrunner Ryan Condal told POPSUGAR before the series premiered. "The particular way that we've approached it in this time is making sure that whenever you're going to have any kind of . . . sex or violence on screen, that there's a compelling story reason for it, and that it's a story that needs to be told. It's not being done gratuitously or to titillate or anything like that."

"Game of Thrones" became notorious for heartbreaking, shocking deaths, so it seems likely "House of the Dragon"'s body count will rise quickly, too. Condal and coshowrunner Miguel Sapochnik also said there's no sexual violence in the first season.

Season one of "House of the Dragon" seems to mostly take place before the civil war called the Dance of Dragons that will tear the Targaryen family apart. That means these 10 episodes are probably less violent than what could come down the road, and definitely less violent than "Game of Thrones"'s epic battles. It also feels like fighting with dragons - who can set people and things on fire from pretty far away - should be less viscerally violent than normal warfare, but there were moments in "Game of Thrones" where the dragons' powers unleashed some hard-to-watch bloodshed. In season seven, Drogon and Danaerys (Emilia Clarke) mow down the Lannister army in a haunting sequence.

All that is to say, if the violence on "Game of Thrones" was too much for you, the violence on "House of the Dragon" will be pretty much the same. It might not get to full Red Wedding levels, but a lot of people are going to be involved in a very bloody war. If you don't want to see all the bloodshed, be prepared to cover your eyes pretty frequently.

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