Throughout the series, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) has a sexually-charged relationship with her uncle (Matt Smith) which almost results in the pair having sex in episode four. At the time, Rhaenyra was 18 while Daemon is in his early 30s.
"This is essentially a grooming scenario," the 30-year-old actor said. "The idea that a teenage girl is in any way able to consent to that sexual interaction is a mess. There is no way that power can be equally distributed in that relationship."
D'Arcy added: "This isn't something I know a lot about, but I do know that something very electric and erotic can happen between people who share genetic material and don't grow up together. That's always exciting and dangerous, especially when one is young. He offers Rhaenyra new horizons, and I don't know about you, but I find that a deeply attractive quality in a person."
In episode four, Daemon takes Rhaenyra to a brothel, and they proceed to make out until Daemon pulls away and ditches the young princess. While some fans have suggested that the pair did actually have sex in the scene, D'Arcy said that they thought Daemon "couldn't follow through."
"It's very much open to interpretation, but I think impotence is a big theme with Daemon, so that's my read on it," the actor told the Independent.
She added: "Clare Kilner, our director, made sure that we hadn't seen any of the brothel stuff until we were shooting. So, that was our first time walking through the brothel, and he's guiding her through the room with all of these other bodies. So, that was quite shocking. You're like, 'This is kind of weird and silly.' There were extras who we had just met who were like, 69-ing for 12 hours. It's pretty gnarly. We felt pretty overdressed because everyone else was nude."
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New episodes of "House of the Dragon" air Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.
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