Daeron Targaryen has finally arrived in House of the Dragon. Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower’s other children – Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena – have all made a significant mark on the series across the first two seasons, but Daeron has not only been missing, but hardly even mentioned. He was brought up briefly in Season 2, where it was confirmed that he was a ward to Ormund Hightower in Oldtown, and that he was a more decent, kinder boy than his brothers (which is, admittedly, a very low bar), but Season 3 has now given him a proper role in things. Warning: SPOILERS ahead for House of the Dragon Season 3, <a href="https://comicvibe.com/the-world-is-dancing-episode-2-story-preview-cuts-released/” title=”The World is Dancing Episode 2 Story & Preview Cuts Released”>Episode 3.
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The installment begins with Daemon Targaryen coming face to face with Ormund, and revealing to him that the war is lost: Rhaenyra is queen, and his host should go home and live in peace. Ormund agrees, but there’s one final demand from Daemon, which is that Daeron must be handed over. As a younger brother of Aegon, he would be in the line of succession and have a claim to the throne, and thus needs to be kept in check. A young boy with silver hair is handed over, and that seems to be that… except it later transpires the boy is a fake, not the real prince, which raises several questions.
Why Did Ormund Hightower Send A Fake Daeron?
Daemon has significantly underestimated Ormund. Given that Fake Daeron (played by Charlie Gordon) has had his hair dyed and been trained on what not to say and how to act, it’s clear that the Lord of Hightower has at least prepared for the possible eventuality he’d be forced into a “surrender,” and had this on hand as a contingency plan should King’s Landing fall to Rhaenyra. It shows how shrewd an operator he is and, after the death of Otto Hightower, he steps into a similar sort of role as someone who is obviously scheming to have and hold power, and he’s pretty good at it.
What, exactly, are those ends? Obviously, Ormund does not want Rhaenyra to be queen, but he also doesn’t appear to be too loyal to Aegon’s cause. When he received a letter that was ostensibly from Aemond as Prince Regent (though in truth written by Alicent), he responded that one king was as good as another. So he does not fight solely for Aegon, but instead, it would seem, for himself. The machinations of Ormund are those of someone who wants for power, much like Otto did, and he’s going to use Daeron to achieve that, with the prince as his pawn in some way.
The use of Daeron as a decoy also helps him to take Tumbleton, something we learn of at the end of the episode. Tumbleton is a market town in the Reach, near the border with the crownlands, and is where an important battle takes place in the book. Ormund seemingly plans to use it as a stronghold from which to continue making his plans against Rhaenyra, and it makes a big show of his own strength that can be used to turn people against her
Who Is The Real Daeron & Where Is He?
The Real Daeron has been hidden in plain sight in House of the Dragon Season 3. He appeared very briefly in the first episode of the season, in a scene with Ormund. There, he orders a young boy to take a messenger to a tent and draw him a bath, clearly indicating this was his squire. He was dressed in Hightower green, but there was little reason to think much of it, because he does not have the silver hair of most Targaryens. Instead, he has auburn locks, a sign he takes more after his mother, Alicent.
That genetic trait made it much easier for Ormund to pull off the swap, and also means that, presumably, Daeron is now at Tumbleton as well. It would not make sense for Ormund to let him out of his sight, given his importance and the fact that he controls a dragon, and so Daeron is – either willingly or unwillingly, that part we don’t know – with him at the stronghold
Why Rhaenyra Didn’t Realize Daeron Was A Fake (& Why She Didn’t Kill Him)
In the book, Daeron was born around the same time as Rhaenyra’s eldest son, Jacaerys Velaryon, and the two even shared a wet nurse in the hopes of avoiding any enmity between them. In the show, they are still around the same age – Alicent confirmed in Season 2 that Daeron is now 16, which is how old Jace is supposed to be – but there was never any sign of him in Season 1. Rhaenyra would still have been in King’s Landing then, and all of the children knew one another, but she says here that she has “never met”Daeron.
That could mean she somehow avoided him altogether, or hasn’t seen him since he was a baby, suggesting he was extremely young when he was sent away to Oldtown, whereas in the book, that didn’t happen until he was 12. If the latter were the case in the show, it wouldn’t make sense for her not to recognize him, but it’s clearly found a loophole with his absence from the first season, though it is perhaps one that’s best not to squint too hard at
Rhaenyra also makes the crucial decision to let Daeron live. This reflects his role in things so far: he has been an outsider of this civil war, unlike Aegon, who is the usurper, and Aemond, who not only sat the throne as well but is considered responsible for the death of Lucerys Velaryon. Daeron hasn’t done anything wrong, and therefore she will not take his life. Rhaenyra wants to be a different kind of ruler, living up to the ideals of her father, and knows that the gods may not look favorably upon her if she were to kill her innocent half-brother.
Is House Of The Dragon’s Daeron Twist In The Book?
The Daeron twist in House of the Dragon is pure, 100% show invention. While there’s much in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood that is the subject of debate and conflicting historical accounts, leaving the show to find its own definitive version of things, this is not one such instance. None of this plot exists on the page, and indeed, even the taking of Tumbleton is different, because the Blacks are stationed there before Ormund arrives
This is seemingly a means of giving Ormund a more involved, Tywin Lannister-esque role in things, which James Norton is playing wonderfully. It’s not entirely giving Daeron a bigger role, though, because it does seem like it has cut one of his more notable stories from the book: at the Battle of the Honeywine, the Hightower host faces defeat until Daeron flies in on his dragon to save the day, earning him the nickname “the Daring.” It isn’t an essential battle to show outside of that, so it does make some sense in that regard when there other major set pieces to include, but it remains to be seen just how else Daeron’s story is changed after this.
The next episode of House of the Dragon releases on Sunday, July 12, at 9 pm ET on HBO and HBO Max
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