WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1 and George R.R. Martin's book, Fire & Blood!Just when it seemed like Larys’ obsession with Queen Alicent Hightower’s feet couldn’t get any more disturbing, House of the Dragon season 1 occurred in episode 9 when Queen Alicent sought information from the spymaster and torturer Lord Larys Strong. After killing his brother Harwin and father Lyonel in order to force Alicent into giving him more power, Larys continued feeding her vital secrets and quickly rose through the capital’s ranks. However, their alliance turned more sinister when revealing that Larys would only give Alicent information if she agreed to let him masturbate to her feet.
At the 2022 House of the Dragon’s key characters are morally grey, Larys Strong is inarguably despicable, with George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood book establishing his legacy as a ruthless man who will forever be impossible to understand. House of the Dragon season 1’s depiction of the character has already made him worse than the book, with Needham’s insight regarding Larys’ actions with Alicent making him far more sadistic than expected.
Larys & Alicent’s Foot Scene Is Another Horrible Crime
According to Matthew Needham, Larys Strong’s obsession with Alicent’s feet isn’t a typical foot fetish, but is rather a sadistic power play aimed at controlling and traumatizing another person. Larys wasn't conveniently using Alicent to satisfy a sexual foot fetish; he got off on knowing that she didn’t want to let him masturbate to her feet and he could make her shame herself. Sure, Larys has a psychological fixation on feet as an association with the trauma and shame of his clubfoot, but his satisfaction truly comes from his power to manipulate Queen Alicent Hightower, a supposedly untouchable ruler.
House of the Dragon establishes that Larys is ashamed of his own feet, and now he’s instilling this same shame in Alicent. In Needham's opinion, Larys likes making people feel incomplete, so the entire scene is a purposeful assault; even long after Larys is gone, he wants Alicent to be just as traumatized and sickened by this part of her body as he is. The powerful torturer Larys Strong may take the eyes or tongues of his prisoners in the Red Keep’s dungeons, but the psychological manipulation of Alicent is an even more satisfying crime because the shame appears self-inflicted.
Larys gives Alicent the illusion of choice in their shocking "agreement," but enjoys that he can make the righteous and dutiful Queen of Westeros turn her own body into a crime scene. Needham’s assessment of Larys and Alicent’s foot masturbation scene in House of the Dragon season 1 reaffirms that cold-blooded murder and physical pain aren’t the only sources of criminal torture Larys will inflict on others. In fact, this is only the beginning of the heinous crimes he will commit in the horrific Dance of the Dragons.
HOTD Makes Larys Its Most Sadistic Character
There are plenty of figures in the running for this title, but the deep-rooted psychological damage that Larys has been inflicting on Alicent cements him as House of the Dragon’s most sadistic character. Alicent is supposed to be the one person who Larys can't harm, but it turns out that he sees her as nothing more than a pawn in his own political game, a mind for him to torment, and a body that will internally bear the scars of his crimes long after he’s gone. There was no realistic political gain from making Alicent sexually shame herself; Larys simply wanted to inflict pain on another and make her weak.
The young Larys' manipulation of Alicent bringing his deplorable nature and lack of empathy to an irredeemable level.
Larys’ HOTD Ending Confirms His Biggest Shame
House of the Dragon episode 9 demonstrates that Larys tries to lessen his own shame of his clubfoot by giving trauma associated with feet to others, but it’s never successful. Larys’ insecurities about his clubfoot drove him to immense power during the Dance of the Dragons, but it never fully removed the inferiority he felt. This comes full circle in House of the Dragon’s ending, which firmly establishes the clubfoot at Larys’ greatest source of self-torment.
After conspiring to kill Aegon II Targaryen in the Dance of the Dragons, Larys is executed for Kingslaying by Lord Cregan Stark, the temporary Hand of Rhaenyra’s son King Aegon III Targaryen. Larys accepts his death when the time comes, preferring a “warmer hell” and choosing to be beheaded rather than take the Black like many of his co-conspirators. Larys’ last words in House of the Dragon are simply a plea for Cregan to grant him one request: “When I am dead, hack off my clubfoot… let me be free of it in death.” Instead of showing repentance, Larys only wants to be rid of the source of his trauma and shame in the afterlife.