House of Dragon has been famous for many things. Dragons, Wars, History, and of course, Milk of the Poppy. Why is it famous?
Game of Thrones and House of Dragons are some of the great pieces of history. We can find many things similar between these TV series, and one of the similar things we can find between both of these series is Milk of the Poppy.
Milk of the Poppy has been used regularly in both of the series. We’ve seen this element being used mostly while someone is on their deathbed or while they are going through severe pain. But what exactly is it used for? Is it some kind of medicine?
Before getting straight into chapter 99, we should always read the first chapter to understand the whole context, so let’s travel into the beginning where Milk of the Poopy was introduced.
Game of Thrones introduced the milk of the poppy
Game of Thrones was released way back in time than House of Dragon. Although the time sequel of House of Dragon takes place hundreds of years back before Game of Thrones took place, the milk of poopy was introduced in the post-sequel.
If you’ve watched House of Dragons and liked the things there, you will also love Game of Thrones. The series has introduced us to many iconic items, and one of the unique things about the series was they used the Milk of the Poppy whenever someone is severely wounded.
Let’s time travel and go back to the time when King Robert Baratheon was going out hunting. Unlike the usual days, Kind Robert was out of luck; this time, he got attacked by a bear. King Robert was wounded severely and the chances of him recovering to his normal state were looking pretty slim.
Although King Robert didn’t make it till the end, we could see him taking Milk of the Poppy. Even when Ned Stark wounded his leg severely, he drank Milk of the Poppy.
The Milk of the Poppy seems to be quite an effective drug in the series, but what exactly it is? And what is it made of? Let’s take a look!
What is Milk of the Poppy?
In episode 8 of House of Dragons, we could see King Viserys Targaryen being in a wounded state. He was at his worst state because his illness was in the final state.
Even during the beginning of the series, we could see King Viserys going through several diseases which were eating him from the inside. Although he was being eaten alive inside, he managed to survive against all the odds.
Although he managed to live to see another day, there were slim chances of him seeing the sunshine of tomorrow because the disease was slowly taking each part of him. His state was so bad that he was already a walking corpse. The only thing that was stopping him from meeting his fate was time.
King Viserys was no longer the kind he used to be during the past days. His looks changed completely and didn’t look anything like the young handsome Viseryhe was once. He was on the verge of death, he was so filled that he could barely even walk or do any kind of activities on his own.
His appearance was so dead that, nothing was left of him. He was only skin and bones with one dead eye. The king knew that he still had one job left to do: elect a rightful king to take his place, which he did. He selected Lucerys Velaryon as the new heir of Driftmark.
But the fans and Rhaenyra and Daemon noticed the King taking something unusual. Before the King could walk on his own strength and walk, the king was seen taking something usual, Milk of the Poppy. Now, this was something new and unusual in the series, so what is Milk of the Poppy?
Milk of the Poppy is one of the effective medicine that was made by the maesters of the time. The maesters made Milk from the poppy by extracting it from the poppy flower. And the material that is extracted from the poppy flower looks like a thick white liquid, which is milk.
Saying that Milk of the Poppy isn’t something harmful and doesn’t contain any kind of chemicals. It is an organic medicine that is used to treat people with various injuries and wounds.
What Is Milk Of The Poppy Used For?
In the series House of Dragons and Game of Thrones, we’ve seen the use of Milk of the Poppy is quite frequent. It has been used in many events, one of the main events, the Milk of the Poppy was used when people were severely injured. Another popular event where we could see the Milk of the Poppy was in use when someone was on their deathbed.
We know Milk of the Poppy is used for Medicine purposes, but taking out the exact reason can be tricky. We understand that the Maesters in the series are clever with their work. They do many experiments with various plants and herbs to make medical products.
Milk of the Poppy is one of the medical products that has proved its efficiency in many ways. Medicine is much more efficient when a person is severely wounded and about to die. The Milk of the Poppy allows the user to get relieved from the pain, and the person will have a peaceful death.
The maesters have also used this medicine while doing surgeries. It is mainly used when a person is going through severe pain, and when they use Milk of the Poppy, it simply allows the person to rest well. When a user takes the Milk of the Poppy, it will make them fall asleep quickly.
In simpler terms, Milk of the Poppy is used as the painkiller in both Games of Thrones and Hous of Dragon. When the person takes Milk from the poppy, it will ease their pain because it will numb their wounds.
Everything starts to make sense now. Milk of the Poppy is used to make the person feel drowsy and numb their pain. This might be the main reason why King Viserys took Milk of the Poppy he was in constant pain and was having great trouble sleeping.
His illness was getting the best of him, and he could only stop that by taking Milk of the Poppy.
Milk of the Poppy has been proven as one of the most efficient Medical materials in the series, but what if we tell you about the Dark Side of this medicine?
Yes, the Dark Side! Let’s take a look at the consequences people will have to face after drinking Milk of the Poppy.
The Dark Side of the Milk of the Poppy
From the above discussion, Milk of the Poppy seems to be very useful but there’s still one thing that we are forgetting about it. It’s a drug.
No matter what kind of useful medicine it will be, every one of them has consequences and if you don’t be careful with them, you’ll need to face them as well. When a person drinks Milk of the Poppy, it drowses the person’s mind, and not only will their pain get numb, but also their mind and memories.
We can compare the Milk of the Poppy with modern-day anesthetics. When a person takes the Milk of the poppy, their mind will be filled with clouds, and all they can see is imagination.
Milk of the Poppy is dangerous as the person’s mind will get filled with dreams and vivid feelings. These are the normal consequences, and if the person takes Milk of the Poppy daily, then they will have difficulty separating between dream and reality.
The substance is so powerful that the person will have its effect still when they’ll wake up from the illusion.
King Viserys had to face the same consequences in episode 8. He was continuously taking Milk of the poppy and it didn’t take time for the drug to show its evil side to the king. The drug was so effective that it took control of his mind and memories. King Varney’s memories started to fade in such an order that he could hardly even recognize Rhaenyra and Daemon.
Daemon also gave his statement on King’s memories. He himself said that the King could barely remember his name because of the effects of Milk of the Poppy.
When the time came to announce the next heir of the Kingdom, he chose not to drink the Milk of the Poppy because he wanted a stable mind. he didn’t want the Milk of the Poppy to affect his judgment.
The King didn’t take Milk of the Poppy again because for the last time he wanted to have dinner with his entire family. He didn’t want his mind and thought to get interrupted by the milk of the Poppy. He was able to control his mind during his last moment.
Before House of Dragons, Game of Thrones also gave us a little introduction to the dark side of the drug.
Do you remember when Jamie Lannister lost his hand? Jamie lost his arm and when Qyburn tried to recover his arm, he insisted Jamie drink Milk of the Poppy. But he refused to do so. Jamir refused to take the Milk of the Poppy because he knew the consequences that he would face.
Jamie insisted Qyburn make a cut on his hand because if he had taken Milk of the Poppy then he would be unconscious, he would simply lose his sense, and wouldn’t be able to stop Qyburn if he had made the cut in the wrong place.
This shows that Milk of the Poppy also has a dark side that can be used to faint or make someone unconscious. There was no knowing what kind of consequences Jamie would have to face if he was in control of Milk of the Poppy.
Alicent was the one that gave Milk of the Poppy to King Viserys
King Viserys has always been liked since the beginning of the series. No matter how ill he was, or how skinny he was, he was the King, and no matter what the situation is one should always follow the law that King makes. This must be one of the major reasons why Alicent constantly kept King in the effect of the drug.
The King was every injured and the best way to make important decisions was by keeping the King under the influence of the drug by which he could make crucial decisions. But this was not the right decision because his brain was suffering in various ways.
Rhaenyra and Daemon were aware of the consequences of Milk of the poppy and suggested that Alicient stop her from giving Viserys the drug. It seemed like Alicent’s plan failed, and Viserys announced Rhaenyra, his successor. He also announced Rhaenyra’s son Luverys to claim the throne of Driftmark.
Alicent was keeping the King inside the influence of the drug because she didn’t want the King to publicize to declare Rhaenyra and her children as King’s heirs.
Conclusion
Milk of the Poppy has been proven as one of the most efficient medicine in the series, but during episode 8 we could see some of the consequences. This proves that every bright side has a dark side within it. The drug can also be compared to the modern world drug such as morphine, codeine, and heroin.
