epic fantasy of dragons and great quips and character acting, then scenes of sexual violence may seem like something that's foisted on you. that characters are put in there as juice drama. i totally understand that reaction. i come at it somewhat differently. i've always understood martin's novels and the hbo adaptation as a story about what it's like to live in an intensely violent sexual culture. i realize this is a bit nerdy. the conflict in the series starts from a historical instance of rape. one character kidnaps the other. it's presumed that he sexually assaulted her. her fiance uses that as an excuse to start a war during which rape is used as a weapon in the conflict. and so for me it's impossible to separate out the events of "game of thrones" from this story about living in a sexually violent culture. that's a supergrim thing to turn into as your sunday evening