Daemon Targaryen is a messy prince who lives for drama on HBO’s House of the Dragon. From the first episode of the Game of Thrones spinoff on, we’ve watched as he fought against the idea of anyone taking his place as heir of his brother. When that did end up happening with his niece, Rhaenyra, he fled King’s Landing and went to Dragonstone, where he declared that he was taking a second wife and stole a dragon egg for his unborn child—which leads us to the third episode, which has Daemon at his absolutely most dramatic yet: starting a war and spiraling out of control therein, all because he’s not of “importance” to the crown.
It has been a show of his anger but is also in line with how the Targaryens have been depicted throughout all of the history in Game of Thrones. We know they’re quick to anger and love to make a show of their actions. It was seen in Daenerys Targaryen, and it is very obvious, in how her family is acting throughout this prequel series, that the anger and the spirit that we saw in her Emilia Clark’s depiction of the character comes from a long line of drama kings and queens doing their best to get their way. And at the heart of that is Daemon.
In the third episode, we really saw the theatrics at their height when the war he started ushered in a battle that was gruesome and messy—including a dragon just murdering one of his own for the hell of it.
Just a man and his dragon
For the most part, this episode was centered around Viserys, Alicent, their son Aegon, and the anger that Rhanerya felt for the entire situation. But when we did get to see Daemon, he was in the midst of a battle that he had brought on. He flew in on his dragon, who set about killing his own as he was talking about how Daemon would save them, and it fueled his theatrics in the end when Viserys sent aide to the war so that Daemon wouldn’t die trying to win without asking for help.
We even saw a moment when Daemon was fueled by his brother stepping in, where he went up against the Crabfeeder and his army on his own, his side waiting for him, and just when it looked like Daemon’s own dramatic flair had resulted in his downfall, Laenor Valaryon came to his aid riding a dragon, and that is where the episode left us.
And did I love the end of this episode being a shot of Matt Smith covered in blood? Obviously. But it all also highlighted my favorite parts of Daemon. He’s brash, he’s hot-headed, and he’s foolish because he wants things done his way and everyone is, seemingly, ignoring that and doing whatever they want instead. So he’s left pulling these dramatic acts out as a way of getting the attention he so desperately craves, and it is fascinating to see play out each week.
May Daemon’s theatrics continue throughout the rest of the season!
(featured image: HBO)
