‘House of the Dragon’ Stars Explain Aemond and Alicent’s Controversial Kiss

House of the Dragon, like much of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros, is populated by characters whose unresolved trauma shapes their decisions.

Game of Thrones had Cersei Lannister. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms had Aerion Targaryen. House of the Dragon has Aemond Targaryen.

Having declared himself King Regent in the wake of Larys Strong helps facilitate Aegon II’s departure from King’s Landing, Aemond has consolidated power in a way that leaves the Greens with little choice but to fall in line.

His rise to power coincides with one of the season’s most discussed scenes: a kiss with his mother, Alicent Hightower.

The scene builds on a recurring theme throughout the series: Aemond’s desire for Alicent’s approval and seeking the company of older women, most notably Sylvi.

Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond, spoke with People about the scene that "kind of makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit."

"Yeah, it's kind of shocking," Mitchell told the magazine. "But then also, I just recognized a tremendous challenge and an opportunity to show Aemond in a new light. It's quite a difficult pill to swallow, isn't it? Kissing your mom on the lips, especially in that way.”

He said, “Aemond, growing up, he never felt like he was loved enough by his mom and his family around him, and a kid needs that unconditional love to develop a balanced view of themselves. And Aemond, because he never had that, he's got a very skewed perception and a very strange way of showing love.”

Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower, described the kiss as “really dangerous,” not only because of what it reveals about Aemond’s psychology, but because of what it means for Alicent’s survival.

Unlike Aegon, whom she could manage, Aemond operates by his own logic.

Cooke told the outlet, “She knows that one wrong facial expression, one perceived rejection, will cost her her life. So she's trying to tread very, very carefully.”

Aemond was always the spare. With Aegon groomed as heir and Helaena positioned as his queen, Alicent’s attention never fully reached him.

As a second son, Aemond occupied a position similar to that of his uncle Daemon Targaryen in the generation before: useful in war, rarely centered in the family’s plans.

Mitchell suggests Aemond's actions are rooted in years of emotional neglect and his desire for maternal approval.

“I always think about the eye for an eye scene in season 1, when it's young Aemond having his eye taken out, and Alicent, his mother, is really the only person defending him in that moment,” he said. “That moment is something he's certainly never going to forget. He's bound to her.”

Compounded by the split focus Alicent devoted to placing Aegon on the throne and her fraught relationship with Rhaenyra, Aemond's need for her approval was never met.

The kiss represents the most explicit manifestation of that need so far.

Daeron Targaryen, meanwhile, remains in the field under Ormund Hightower's command, a thread the show has yet to fully pull.