Aemond and Alicent’s Shocking Kiss on ‘House of the Dragon’ Finally Explained

The most talked about scene from the ‘House of the Dragon‘ season three premiere had nothing to do with dragonfire or the Battle of the Gullet. Instead, fans could not stop discussing an unsettling moment between Aemond Targaryen and his own mother, Alicent Hightower, that unfolded during a quiet, character driven exchange.

Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond, has since broken down exactly what was going through his character’s head in that scene, and the explanation only adds more layers to an already uncomfortable moment.

Why Aemond Kissed Alicent in ‘House of the Dragon’

The kiss happens during a tense conversation where Alicent is trying to convince Aemond to fly to Harrenhal on Vhagar. She tells him how courageous he is while drawing near and stroking his ego, and he responds by leaning down and putting his lips on hers, leaving her visibly horrified even as she manages to compose herself once he pulls away.

Mitchell has offered some insight into Aemond’s mindset during the moment. He explained that Aemond is trying to read between the lines to see if there is an ulterior motive behind his mother’s sudden warmth toward him.

The actor admitted the scene felt “out there” when he first read the script, though he said he kind of saw it coming given everything he had already explored about Aemond’s relationship with Alicent.

Mitchell also suggested there was a power dynamic at play. He believes Aemond was essentially asserting control over the family in that moment, and he raised the question of how the kiss might reshape the dynamic between mother and son moving forward.

The Oedipus Complex Behind Aemond’s Feelings for Alicent

When asked directly whether Aemond’s actions stemmed from genuine attraction or were purely a power move, Mitchell offered a nuanced answer. He said it was probably a little of both, describing it as something close to an Oedipus complex rooted in Aemond having a skewed perception of what love even is.

According to Mitchell, that skewed perception traces back to Aemond’s childhood. He pointed out that Aemond has never really been on the receiving end of unconditional love from his mother or from anyone else, and as a result, he genuinely does not know how to express affection.

The actor expanded on this further, tying it to the age gap and family dynamics between mother and son. He noted that Alicent was very young when she had Aemond, and that watching her navigate a male dominated world made him feel, to some degree, like he should be there for her too.

Mitchell was also refreshingly candid about how uncomfortable the scene was to film and watch. He joked that he was surprised Alicent did not throw up in her mouth when it happened, adding that he certainly reacted that way when he watched the finished scene himself. He also connected Aemond’s behavior to his history of being bullied as a child for not having his own dragon, arguing that this rejection shaped his skewed understanding of love and his tendency to seek out maternal figures wherever he can find them.

What Alicent’s Reaction Reveals About Her Situation

Alicent’s response to the kiss is just as important as Aemond’s motivation behind it. Showrunner and cast commentary suggests her horrified but restrained reaction was tied directly to the fragile plan she had already set in motion with Rhaenyra.

At that point in the story, Alicent’s main goal was to get Aemond to leave for Harrenhal with Vhagar, which would leave King’s Landing largely undefended and allow Rhaenyra to reclaim the throne as part of a deal the two women struck the previous season.

Because of that fragile arrangement, pulling away from Aemond was not really an option for her. If she had protested or reprimanded him in that moment, there was a real chance Aemond could have decided to abandon the Harrenhal mission entirely and stay in King’s Landing instead. In that sense, the uncomfortable kiss became Alicent’s only real sliver of control in a situation where she otherwise had very little power.

Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent, has also spoken about how deliberately the scene was constructed from Aemond’s side. According to Wiki of Thrones, Cooke explained that the team wanted the kiss to feel like Aemond was not entirely confident in the moment, almost like a first kiss from his perspective, and that Alicent had always sensed something more troubling in Aemond’s feelings toward her without ever expecting it to actually surface.

Is the Kiss in George R.R. Martin’s Book?

For fans wondering whether this moment has any grounding in the source material, the answer appears to be no. George R.R. Martin’s ‘Fire and Blood,’ the book that ‘House of the Dragon’ draws from, contains no such interaction between Aemond and Alicent.

That said, the nature of the source text leaves a small window open. Since ‘Fire and Blood’ functions more like a historical chronicle than a traditional novel, it would have been unusual for such an intimate moment to be randomly documented, meaning it is technically possible the moment happened off page even though it was never directly written into the book.

This is not even the first time the show has introduced this kind of uncomfortable mother son moment. Season two included a similarly bizarre scene in which Daemon kissed his own mother during one of his fevered Harrenhal dream sequences, and like the Aemond and Alicent kiss, that moment never occurred in Martin’s book either.

Between Aemond’s tangled feelings toward Alicent and the show’s apparent willingness to push these unsettling family dynamics further than the books ever did, it’s clear this storyline is far from finished, so what do you think Aemond’s kiss really means for his and Alicent’s relationship as the war for the Iron Throne rages on.