House of the Dragon: The Meaning Behind Daemon Targaryen’s Visions

Daemon Targaryen stands before Harrenhal Godswood’s Weirwood tree in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 3 “The Burning Mill.” Far from the madding crowd of Dragonstone, Daemon takes Harrenhal peacefully in the name of his wife – Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. The castellan, Ser Simon Strong, graciously welcomes him to Harrenhal because he bears malice toward his grandnephew, Larys Strong, who he suspects of killing their kin.

Daemon doesn’t get much sleep at Harrenhal, most likely because of tension in his marriage. He leaves Rhaenyra in disarray before departing Dragonstone on Caraxes and now experiences visions of her younger iteration (played by Milly Alcock), questioning his motives and some such. With Dark Sister in hand, Daemon Targaryen spirals slowly into madness at Harrenhal, but is there a deeper meaning behind his visions in House of the Dragon – Season 2?

Daemon And Rhaenyra Quarrel In House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2: “Rhaenyra the Cruel”

How House of the Dragon Adapted Blood And Cheese Event From The Books

The Rogue King Consort, Daemon, quarrels with his wife, Queen Rhaenyra, over commissioning the Blood and Cheese assassination attempt. In House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1 “A Son for a Son,” he contracts two assassins to infiltrate the Red Keep to kill Aemond Targaryen because that’s who killed Lucerys Velaryon above Shipbreaker Bay and that’s who Rhaenyra specifically asked for.

I want Aemond Targaryen.

Daemon believing that a wastrel ratcatcher and a Gold Cloak will be able to take out Aemond is ludicrous (this rerouts from Fire & Blood‘s Blood and Cheese plot). In George R.R. Martin’s material, Daemon specifically tasks Blood and Cheese to murder one of Aegon’s two sons. Moreover, given how well-trained Prince Aemond is in combat, Daemon must, in the heart of his heart, believe that the two guttersnipes he commissioned won’t be able to assassinate one of the fiercest fighters in the realm.

The Gold Cloak (alias Blood) bears Daemon allegiance and is on board immediately. He takes the King Consort to the specific ratcatcher (alias Cheese) that the White Worm / Mysaria mentioned works for Aegon the Second of His Name as a ratcatcher at the Keep. This ratcatcher who possesses knowledge of Maegor’s tunnels is told, “You are to find and slay the Prince Aemond Targaryen. He has silver hair and one eye… But I understand he’s quite good in a fight. You’ll want to take caution.”

Daemon throws a coin purse holding a one-half payment in Cheese’s direction. The assassin’s last question is:

What if we can’t find him?

Daemon’s nephew, and foil, Aemond, is untouched, unseen, and unharmed. Helaena’s son, and heir to the Iron Throne after Aegon II, Prince Jaehaerys, gets the short end of the stick since Daemon’s exact orders are “A Son for a Son.”

Daemon Flies Off To Harrenhal In Rage

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship is irreparable after she denies the vile allegations leveled at her, and surmises that her husband has a part to play in the decapitation of an innocent child. Daemon believes his brother’s throne was stolen from him and Rhaenyra faces a tough road ahead in trying to tame him. Daemon thinks of his wife as a tool with which his brother and Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys, kept him away from the throne.

Rhaenyra says Daemon supported her claim because of his unfulfilled wishes. Becoming her King Consort meant that he would concentrate power in the family. After screaming their guts out, Daemon says the assassination of Jaehaerys was a mistake and storms out. Rhaenyra calls him “pathetic” for striking down a child, and he flies Caraxes to Harren’s Castle to get a toehold in the Riverlands. He will raise an army in his wife’s name.

Daemon’s Visions In House of the Dragon – Season 2

Daemon Targaryen’s First Vision In House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 3: “The Burning Mill”

After the swift capture of Harrenhal, Daemon shares a meal with castellan Ser Simon Strong and is shown to his quarters. He experiences his first vision the night of his arrival. It all begins with him examining a leaky ceiling while something pounds on his door. He picks up Dark Sister and walks out, but finds the corridors empty. He follows the humming noise of a woman, which leads him to a nearby room where he sees Alcock’s Rhaenyra, sitting in a chair by the fire with Prince Jaehaerys’ corpse. Stitching up her nephew’s decapitated head back on, she exclaims:

Always coming and going, aren’t you? And I have to clean up afterwards.

Daemon is teary-eyed and unable to say a word in defense. It is obvious that he is consumed by the guilt of murdering an innocent child, disappointing his wife, and leaving her stranded among her councilors. He drops his sword and wakes up to find himself standing before a Weirwood heart tree in the Godswood of Harrenhal. The same black-haired woman who stared him down earlier when Ser Strong was pledging fealty, says:

You will die in this place.

The bastard and an acting Maester at Harrenhal, Alys Rivers, is the only one who doesn’t kneel to Daemon. She bears him no sympathy, and she will align with Daemon’s antagonist, Aemond, in the Dance of the Dragons. Alys goes on from being Aemond’s bedmate to a paramour and later claims to be pregnant with his child.

Daemon Targaryen’s Visions In House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4: “The Red Dragon and the Gold”

House of the Dragon Episode 4 opens with Daemon opening the door to the Throne Room and demanding that Alcock’s Rhaenyra, dressed like an adult Rhaenyra and wearing her father’s crown, speak louder as she climbs down the steps of the Iron Throne:

I can’t understand. Speak plainly.

The teary-eyed Rhaenyra says Daemon created her but is insistent on her destruction, while he urges her to stop. “All because your brother loved me more than he did you,” she says in High Valyrian. Daemon slices her head off with one swift motion of Dark Sister, and her two-toned crown hits the ground. At this moment, Rhaenyra’s disembodied head says:

This is what you always wanted, is it not?

As Daemon moves closer, he hears “there’s been a raven” in Rhaenyra and Simon Strong’s voice. At this point, he wakes up, and he quite literally sees blood on his hands. This blood disappears a moment later, and Simon Strong informs him that Cole’s army is on the march and Harrenhal might be their next target.

More visions/nightmares continue to haunt Daemon at Harrenhal. He gets out of bed and finds himself following what initially looks like Aemond, but is him dressed as his nephew and wearing an eyepatch. This one is to give an insight into the mirror characters – Daemon and Aemond’s future, as they will battle it out above the Gods Eye, which lies on the northern shore of Harrenhal. Aemond’s manifestation leads him to Alys Rivers working late at night, preparing something using a mortar and pestle. Alys remarks that Daemon isn’t getting enough sleep, and adds that it’s probably because of the cursed castle of Harrenhal. Harren the Black cut down the holy Weirwood heart trees on the same land where Harrenhal stands:

Heart trees, imbued with the spirits of those who lived long before he came.

Daemon is quick to dismiss Alys’ telling as “a midwives’ tale,” but is told the very bed he sleeps on was fashioned out of a Weirwood tree. He is momentarily allured by Alys’ words and drinks her potion to help with his sleep. The very next moment shows him lost in Ser Willem Blackwood’s words in a meeting at Harrenhal. Here he experiences the vision of his beloved deceased wife – Laena Velaryon, walking in as a cupbearer. Laena fills Simon Strong and Daemon’s cup, and he is unable to take his eyes off her. The next moment, Laena is gone and Daemon is embarrassing a regular maid at the council.

All of these visions or nightmares – of young Rhaenyra, young Rhaenyra dressed as an adult, himself dressed like Aemond, and Laena Velaryon are obvious signs of Daemon’s failure to manage inner conflicts. He never really dealt with his problems but empowered himself by running away from them. He jumped from marriage to marriage, killed his first wife, watched Laena die in childbirth, and rushed to marry Rhaenyra. His antagonist, Aemond, is a kinslayer like him. Both men are guilty of striking down children, and that, too, their kin. This has translated into confusion, loneliness, and anger, and they have earned the mistrust of those around them.

The curse of Harrenhal, Alys Rivers’ mysterious potion, and the weight of Daemon’s actions mean that he might have to get used to haunting visions. As far as Daemon’s fate in Fire & Blood is concerned, he will die at Harrenhal, battling Aemond and Vhagar above the skies of the Gods Eye lake, atop Caraxes.