Twitter Has A Lot To Say About That House Of The Dragon Feet Scene
HBO's "Game of Thrones" spin-off "House of the Dragon" certainly enjoys making viewers feel exceptionally awkward. Sure, "Game of Thrones" had its fair share of cringe-inducing moments, what with all of the torture, assault, violence, and random nudity, but it seems as if "House of the Dragon" has taken these aspects of its predecessor show and really dialed it up to an extreme level. This may be on account of all of the incest, prolonged sex scenes, the slow decay of Viserys (Paddy Considine), and scary bursts of anger and hate. It's good to be back in Westeros, isn't it?
Joking aside, one of the major shadow powers in "House of the Dragon" is Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). Although not directly considered a major player by most of his peers, Larys is a perpetual schemer in league with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). His ambition has seen him order the deaths of many, including his own brother and father, in order to further his own goals, assuming they line up with want Alicent wants. This is the reason why Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) was able to regain his title of Hand of the King, and Larys acts as a mix between a spymaster and an assassin, though he rarely gets his own hands dirty. However, Episode 9 has highlighted one of Larys' motivations — which is not in the book on which the show is based — and oh boy, is Twitter having a field day with that one.
Twitter fans of House of the Dragon are tripping over on their own feet to make fun of Larys
In previous episodes of "House of the Dragon," Larys' motivations were somewhat hard to pin down. Does he secretly crave lordship, is he in love with Alicent, or does he just want to cause chaos across the land? Larys has been a constant ally for Alicent, even though sometimes even she is aghast with his actions. However, the penultimate episode of Season 1 of "House of the Dragon" has revealed yet another aspect of Larys, and it turns out that he is actually quite fond of feet, which is probably the cleanest way of describing it. He offers information to Alicent, and the price for this is Alicent performing a strip-tease with her feet while Larys fixates.
It was this scene that Twitter is having a field day with, and it seems like everybody has jokes involving this moment. @alex_abads posted a picture that shows off a pair of legs with several socks stacked on top of each other, and they captioned the picture by saying, "when i have to ask larys strong for a favor." @naman_gupta999 also posted a joke image of an opaque Viserys with a background of a perfect blue sky and clouds, and said, "Viserys from the afterlife watching Alicent sell feet pics to Lord Larys."
The actor who plays Larys doesn't think the relationship is romantic
@Wiame7_ poked fun at the scene between Larys and Alicent by posting an image of a screaming child, and said they were shocked that Larys killed his own brother for some feet pictures, and they joked that Larys would probably burn down all of Westeros to touch those royal toes. @houseofdragontv also shared a cast photo of Otto and Alicent Hightower, and said that this is a picture of The Hand and The Feet. In other words, it seems like the internet is having a lot of fun with this interaction between Larys and Alicent.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Larys actor Matthew Neeham was asked about his character and Alicent in Episode 6, and he replied, "I wouldn't say it's romantic, but there's an underlying... it's not erotic, but there's some sort of frisson there for Larys. She gets to say, 'I didn't want this,' and I know she did. So that's what I thought I was going for in those scenes. It's this, 'We're both on the same side here.' But I obviously just look mad. Maybe I'm just mad, I don't know." Considering these words, it seems like Larys isn't in love with Alicent, but there is definitely some attraction on some level. How this exchange will continue in the future is anybody's guess, but at least we know Twitter's denizens will enjoy themselves.