‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 8: The Milk of the Poppy Is More Important Than It Seems
In House of the Dragon Episode 8, King Viserys is in rough shape, getting by with the help of the milk of the poppy. His progressive disease has left him primarily bedridden and missing an eye. Viserys’ death is approaching, and so is the Dance of the Dragons. While the milk of the poppy serves to numb some of Viserys’ pain, there’s another significant reason for its use.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 8.]
King Viserys drinks milk of the poppy to numb the pain of his progressive disease
By House of the Dragon Episode 8, King Viserys is living an agonizing existence. While speaking on Entertainment Weekly’s West of Westeros podcast, Paddy Considine recently revealed that his character is suffering from a “form of leprosy,” which has been eating away at him over the years. When Daemon and Rhaenyra return to King’s Landing, they find Viserys bedridden. The disease has claimed his right eye and eaten away large portions of his skin.
Due to her husband’s condition, Queen Alicent has been giving Viserys milk of the poppy, a powerful anesthetic and painkiller made from crushed poppy flowers. Modern-day drugs like morphine, codeine, and heroin are also made from the poppy plant, so House of the Dragon‘s “milk of the poppy” has a similar effect.
Alicent pushes milk of the poppy in ‘House of the Dragon’ for her own reasons
Viserys is very ill in House of the Dragon Episode 8, but he is still the king, and his word is law. Therefore, it’s in Queen Alicent’s best interest to keep him sedated or too drugged up on milk of the poppy to make important decisions.
On the other hand, it’s in Rhaenyra and Daemon’s best interest to stop Alicent from giving him the drug. Viserys made Rhaenyra his successor, and he has not wavered from this decision. When Viserys appears on the Iron Throne in House of the Dragon Episode 8, he reasserts Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys’ claim to the throne at Driftmark.
Clearly, Alicent has been keeping her husband sedated so that he won’t continue publicly endorsing Rhaenyra and her children as his heir.
‘Game of Thrones’ introduced milk of the poppy
Milk of the poppy made several appearances in Game of Thrones. It was used to ease King Robert Baratheon’s pain after a boar fatally wounded him. Ned Stark also consumed milk of the poppy after a spear pierced his leg.
However, one scene from Game of Thrones shows the dangerous side of the milk of the poppy. Jaime Lannister refuses to take the drug when Qyburn amputates his hand. Qyburn wanted to amputate the arm at the elbow, but Jaime insisted he makes the cut at his wrist.
If Jaime took milk of the poppy, he would either be unconscious or too delirious to stop Qyburn if he made the cut in the wrong place.
House of the Dragon airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
