Milk of the Poppy and Moon Tea: The Medicine of House of the Dragon - Den of Geek

This nonfiction contains spoilers through House of the Dragon episode 8.

If we’ve learned thing from House of the Dragon, it’s that the maesters of Westeros should astir apt ticker a spot much Grey’s Anatomy. Medical advancements aren’t precisely astatine their highest during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), and arsenic we’ve seen, it’s had immoderate harrowing consequences. 

Despite immoderate backward techniques, a six-year time leap betwixt occurrence 7 and occurrence 8 means the maesters were intelligibly doing thing close to support a rotting Viserys live – looking similar a Westerosi mentation of Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring. You don’t request to survey to beryllium a doc successful King’s Landing, but if you fancy a vocation change, here’s everything you request to cognize astir medicine successful House of the Dragon.

Milk of the Poppy

The astir communal medicine we’ve seen is Milk of the Poppy. Those who’ve watched Game of Thrones volition retrieve it was fixed to King Robert I Baratheon aft that unfortunate goring, portion Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane was besides offered it earlier helium was zombified. In House of the Dragon, it was regularly utilized to easiness the symptom of King Viserys.

Milk of the Poppy is simply a communal attraction from the maesters, made from crushed poppy flowers and named for its milky appearance. The portion is efficaciously the show’s mentation of morphine and is drunk by patients. It’s astir often utilized to sedate idiosyncratic earlier surgery, but here, it kept Viserys successful a mostly docile authorities – whether done his choosing oregon not is up for debate. 

In occurrence 8, “The Lord of Tides,” Viserys turned down his accustomed Milk of the Poppy dose truthful helium could beryllium much with it erstwhile addressing the tribunal connected the aboriginal of the Driftmark Throne. Viserys was sick from the precise archetypal episode, and though theorists archetypal guessed he’d contracted greyscale from the Iron Throne, Considine confirmed it was a benignant of leprosy. Given that the archetypal play has covered implicit 30 years, that’s a agelong clip to person Vis hooked connected the milky stuff.

Moon Tea

Whereas Milk of the Poppy is to easiness your pain, Moon Tea is utilized to forestall pregnancy. George R.R. Martin’s books accidental it’s a premix of tansy, mint, wormwood, honey, and pennyroyal, but fixed that tansy and pennyroyal are utilized successful existent abortifacients, helium made definite helium added a mythical premix of ingredients truthful nary 1 could really effort it. 

Moon Tea archetypal appeared successful occurrence 4 erstwhile a young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) snuck retired of the Red Keep for a nighttime of debauchery with Uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). Rhaenyra had a engaged night, and ended up losing her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Daemon bragged to Viserys that he’d taken his daughter’s innocence, prompting the King to nonstop a cupful of Moon Tea to her chambers via Grand Maester Mellos. These events don’t hap successful Martin’s Fire & Blood, but owed to an unreliable narrator, it’s imaginable they did occur.

House of the Dragon seemingly included much Moon Tea successful occurrence eight, erstwhile Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) forcibly fed a servant immoderate beverage aft she accused Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) of raping her. Dyana doesn’t look again, truthful it’s unclear whether she drank Moon Tea oregon was poisoned by Alicent to permanently unopen her up. 

Leeches and Maggots

From House of the Dragon’s aboriginal days, the maesters were warring a losing conflict to cure Viserys. Before anyone understood what was incorrect with him, the archetypal enactment was a casual leeching connected his sores. Viserys’ archetypal wounded was a chopped connected his back, which comes with the territory of sitting connected a throne made of swords. However, the chopped didn’t heal,

Not to beryllium confused with Lady Melisandre and Stannis’ Game of Thrones leech ritual connected Gendry, House of the Dragon‘s leeching was expected to purge Viserys of his infected blood. When things got a small much desperate, they resorted to placing his manus successful a bucket of maggots. It mightiness dependable gross, but maggots are utilized to devour distant astatine dormant tegument successful real-life medicine. Explaining it to Inverse, Professor Yamni Nigam, said: “The oldest grounds of the affirmative relation betwixt maggots and quality wounds is successful the Bible, successful the publication of Job.”

Apparently, the Mayans would soak cattle humor connected a cloth and fto it get infected with flies laying their eggs. When the maggots hatched, it was placed connected lesions to effort and region the dormant flesh. In 2022, maggots are seemingly FDA approved and are utilized to dainty the likes of unit ulcers. Maggots and leeches didn’t enactment for Viserys, arsenic successful occurrence 3, helium was missing the fingers helium sliced successful the premiere. 

Other Medicines

In the larger A Song of Ice and Fire world, determination are adjacent much seemingly out-there treatments. Sometimes firemilk is utilized to dainty a pain coiled oregon the essence of nightshade (in tiny doses) is utilized to assistance with sleep. You’ll besides retrieve Samwell Tarly’s excruciating cure for Ser Jorah Mormont’s greyscale successful Game of Thrones. 

Martin said that helium wanted Westerosi medicine to beryllium much precocious than the existent Middle Ages due to the fact that helium “didn’t privation everybody dying astatine twenty-six.” Still, the motivation of the communicative is that if dragons and deadly weddings aren’t capable to woody with, effort not to get sick successful the Seven Kingdoms. As Aemma Arryn’s botched caesarean reminds us, your person is apt to enactment their ain lineage supra your survival.