House of the Dragon: Why TV Helaena Reacted to Blood & Cheese the Way She Did (Actor&Writer Answer)

So here's a personal example of why Halaena didn't scream. I was raped in my bedroom when I was 13 by a family friend during a Christmas party. When he appeared in my room and came up and began doing what he did, you are in shock at the appearance at first. Second Halaena (as it happened to me) is told not to react. Not to make a sound. Halaena had a knife held to her throat, and she had children she didn't want to frighten, so she as much as with my experience, one does not scream because quite frankly, you can't. Your body won't make the sound.

I'm autistic and I think her reaction was normal. She wouldn't know what to do in an emergency situation she's never been in.

I thought they did a good job of showing someone who is sheltered her entire life suddenly confronted with terror and violence. And threats of more violence.

People don’t scream the way they do in movies.

This is kinda making me wonder if I watched the same show as everyone else. It's pretty obvious that Helaena didn't scream because she was told approximately 2 seconds ago that if she does scream they'll kill them all. And I will grant yes some people immediately freeze and scream in high tension scenarios. The writers aren't going to " Helaena screams and then Blood and Cheese kill Helaena, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera," or "Blood and Cheese still kill Jaehaerys and teleport out of the castle before someone intercepts them,"

The real question people should be asking is why the whole place seemed deserted during the assasination.

I got robbed while working as a teller at a credit union. The gun wasn’t pointed at my face, but he showed me that he DID have one. He told me to “Shut up and stay calm.” I could’ve screamed and made a scene. But I was hyper-focused on making sure I did EVERYTHING he wanted me to do. I was eerily calm. Until he left. Then I sank to the ground and cried. So Helaena’s response (and Margaery’s too) was spot on.

I’m autistic and just two weeks ago, I was in a situation where I had to make decisions very quickly. I was riding with a friend on an endurance ride and part of the course went down a quiet Sandy dirt road. There was a pickup truck with a single axle trailer that was banging around behind it driving fairly fast for the conditions. My friend shouted “Slow down!” to the driver who then swore at us and swerved to hit us gals on horseback with his truck. The woods on either side of the road was mixed with swamp and very dense so that horses couldn’t get through. We not only had to keep level heads for ourselves, but also for the panicky prey animals that we were on. The horses, while scared, didn’t bolt or throw us and we immediately contacted forestry service and county sheriff. The sheriff wanted to know why we didn’t get video of the truck. Speaking just from my own being on the spectrum experience, sometimes it feels like it takes a little longer for the gravity of a situation to sink in, so I thought her reaction was fairly realistic. Plus if Aegon had some abusive tendencies toward her, disassociation is a possibility

I was just binge watching your videos because I haven’t had the time lately to watch them as they come out and then you dropped another one haha

THANK YOU!!! I replied back to someone on Reddit who was complaining about the scene and saying that D&D were better writers 🙄🙄🙄 Helaena being played as neurodivergent in the show as well. She probably would have taken them at their literal word. She couldn't save the boy, if she played along she'd at least get the girl out alive and live herself. As you say! My housemate watches the show with me, he's Autistic. He said after the show had finished, when I asked him his thoughts; "It's very realistic and obvious to me (as someone with Autism ) That she was probably disassociating, and taking them literally. She went to a place she feels safe (her mums room) and basically curled up and made herself small. (Eg. When you're having a meltdown/over stimulated) She acted exactly how I probably would have in that situation or a similarly traumatic event." People react in all kinds of different ways to trauma. But in that situation, Helaena was going to loose either one child or her own life and both her children. She chose what anyone in that situation would probably also have to choose. I think people like to think they'd go in there like superman and smash the two guys out and fight them off and save everyone! But that's not the real world.

I felt like her reaction was in line with her reaction to seeing Vaemonds death. She disassociates and probably can’t tell if it’s one of her bad visions/dreams. This girl senses so much violence on the horizon daily.

I don't really mind the she didn't scream I have never had a Blood and Cheese type event but with more minor things sometimes I can't make a sound it's more of a do or don't do thing.

The actress is incredible. I hope she is rewarded.

I was fine with the way the scene was done ! I already knew we wouldn’t see a child decapitation . So I don’t know what people were really expecting .

Some people apparently think the show version "couldn't possibly traumatize Helaena into a spiral of madness"? They obviously 1. saw something different from everyone else, because that was pretty traumatizing! 2. don't understand people at all, and 3. have never heard of things like "shock."

Your explanation and summary of the blood and cheese incident, makes me feel better.

I have similar experience with fear, when my life was endangered I froze. I also remember watching Criminal minds and they said multiple times that people are more likely to scream when they see a gun than a knife. There is just something in human psyche to react differently to a knife

30 mins before ep 2 XD

I think some people just don't understand why they dislike this scene and they're trying to find the reason. At least that how it was with me. Kinda still is. I can't quite put my finger on it but this scene just feels... off. maybe it's because it's another coincidence and the killing of Jaeharys wasn't the plan. Maybe it's because Haelena is irrelevant in this scene and if she wasn't there nothing would have changed. But the way they did it was just wrong. It's not that it doesn't make sense. It does. But if something makes sense doesn't mean it's good

Because the downloaded files about games of thrones where playing in her brain without her consent