re: Game of Thrones: How much does incest and rape shape the themes and plot?

It's a medieval political intrigue with fantasy overlays. Incest (keeping the bloodlines pure) and rape (those in power taking what they want) do play pretty heavily into the story. There's also open whoring in brothels, something quite common basically until very recently, another subject we rarely see "on TV".

It doesn't set out to be politically correct, or to play pretty "let's be a princess" fairytales. It's a brutal, uncivilized world, and we see how each character survives and interacts within it. One of the great things about the show is that so many times, you can't stand a "villain" and hope they get what they "deserve"... and something happens that you end up thinking "jeez, they don't deserve THAT, nobody does"- and you start rooting for them to overcome it.

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GOT is fiction, though, baw.

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While it is indeed fiction and even further fantasy it is still loosely based on the 15th century English War of the Roses. While LOTR and its ilk leave the characters more or less asexual GOT approaches its plotline with more of a medieval humanistic approach to sex, rape and incest. While the scenes are indeed powerful they are by far not the main driver of the story. That said someone that is particularly sensitive to rape or incest subject matter might find GOT difficult to watch at times.