'Whenever I see a woman with a swollen belly lying on a bed with nothing but smelling salts to hand, and know that I’m about to wince through a traumatic onscreen birth, I raise my eyes to the heavens and say: 'Not again,'' writes Christobel Hastings.
prequel, which has just become the biggest series premiere in HBO history, swooped onto our screens this week with a sprinkling of dragons, orgies and sudden, brutal deaths. Chief among them was a pivotal scene concerning King Viserys , Queen Aemma and an unborn child who is fated to become the male heir of Westeros. If you’re yet to watch the first episode ofYou may also like, the first episode explores the King’s obsession with producing a male heir to secure the future of the Iron Throne.
Sure enough, when Aemma goes into labour – during a dramatic, bloody jousting tournament, no less – there are complications. When the King is called into her chamber, he is informed by the grand maester that the baby is breech, and all attempts to turn it and induce a natural birth have failed. Aemma is already screaming in agony, but the scene takes an even more horrifying turn when Viserys is given the choice to save his wife or the baby.
He also noted that the childbirth scene, in particular, was intended to underline the lack of agency women had over their own bodies. “The idea being,” says Sapochnik, “that Queen Aemma doesn’t get to choose her fate even though she’s right there. King Viserys and the grand maester never think to consult her, and so she is powerless over a decision about her own body.”
There’s no denying, of course, that the way Aemma doesn’t get to have a say in her birth and the value placed on her unborn child will draw parallels with the rollback of reproductive rights in America following the recent reversal of Roe v Wade. It is a grim reality indeed that women are being forced to bear children against their will in this day and age.
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