Will Daemon ever become king in ‘House of the Dragon’? Here’s what the book says
🚨Warning: This story contains spoilers for “House of the Dragon” Season Two and George R. R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood.”
If we had a nickel for every time Matt Smith played a begrudged consort to a queen learning to step into her power ... we’d have two nickels.
In “House of the Dragon” Season Two, tensions between Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), queen of the Black faction in the Targaryen civil war, and her husband, Daemon (Matt Smith), are ever growing.
In Episode Two, Daemon left Rhaenyra’s home base of Dragonstone for Harrenhal in order to establish a host to wage war against the Greens, led by King Aegon II. Before he left, the couple had an explosive fight, with Rhaenyra accusing him of being unable to accept her as queen, instead striving to take the throne himself.
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By Episode Five, Daemon’s intentions to claim the throne for himself are clearer than ever. Will he ever become king? Here’s a quick recap of the events — and what the book material could tell us about Daemon’s future.
Daemon’s history with the Iron Throne
In the beginning of Season One, Daemon is the heir to his brother Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) throne, but the king is holding out hope for a son. In the show’s first episode, Viserys’ wife, Aemma, dies in childbirth and their newborn son dies shortly after.
In an effort to curb the unruly Daemon, Viserys names his oldest daughter, Rhaenyra, his heir. Viserys eventually has several sons with his second wife, Alicent Hightower, but never reneges on his desire for Rhaenyra to be queen (though Alicent would disagree).
Rhaenyra eventually marries Daemon (yes, her uncle) after years of romantic tension between them and to strengthen her position.
When Viserys dies, Rhaenyra fashions herself queen and Daemon her king consort, a title reserved for the spouse of a royal and one distinct from the authority granted to a king. (Prince Philip, for example, was Queen Elizabeth II’s consort, and in Netflix’s “The Crown,” he was depicted (also by Matt Smith) as reluctant to bow to his wife.
In Season Two, Episode Five, Daemon’s dissatisfaction with his position in Rhaenyra’s camp escalates. As Daemon continues to muster support for the Blacks in the Riverlands, he commands soldiers to bend the knee to him, not Rhaenyra. And when Simon Strong asks to work directly with the queen, Daemon insists that Harrenhal is his to command.
“You should address me as ‘my king,’” he tells Simon, who counters that Daemon is a prince.
When asked what he would call the husband of the queen, Simon says, “Well, the king — consort.”
“That last bit seems unnecessary, don’t you think?” Daemon replies.
He also continues to spiral inside the cursed walls of the stronghold, fantasizing about being told by his mother that he’s stronger, braver and more capable of being king than his brother Viserys.
Meanwhile, Rhaenyra struggles to maintain authority as her husband knows she is inexperienced in the minutiae of war. But she resolves not to send for Daemon.
“For too long I have looked to him for strength,” she tells her informant Mysaria. “If I must be supplicant to my own husband, what does that make me?”
In the show, there’s currently no mechanism for Daemon to become king. Rhaenyra’s heir is the eldest of her five sons, Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett). Jace is also already betrothed to his cousin, Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), opening the door for the line of succession to get even more crowded.
But what does the book say?
“House of the Dragon” is inspired by George R. R. Martin’s book “Fire & Blood,” which recounts the history of House Targaryen leading up to the events of “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which inspired “Game of Thrones.” While the show has made some changes to the history laid out in “Fire & Blood,” it can point to what the future might hold for the show.
Does Daemon ever become king?
No, Daemon does not ever become king in “Fire & Blood.”
Like in the show, Daemon fights for Rhaenyra in the Riverlands, establishing a stronghold at Harrenhal. But Aemond and Ser Criston Cole, who are helming the Greens, soon hatch a plot to march on the castle, and Daemon abandons the post. He later joins Rhaenyra on a siege of the Red Keep.
After they successfully take the castle, Daemon and a young dragonrider named Nettles (who has not been introduced in the show) head back to the Riverlands to stop Aemond, who at this point has been laying waste to the land.
Daemon again takes up residence away from Rhaenyra and potentially strikes up an amorous relationship with Nettles, but because “Fire & Blood” is written like a textbook, different sources offer different accounts.
What the historians seemingly agree on, though, is Daemon’s demise.
Daemon dies in an epic dragon fight with Aemond in the Riverlands. His dragon, Caraxes, and Aemond’s Vhagar clash in the sky before Daemon jumps onto his nephew’s dragon and drives his sword through Aemond’s “blind eye, so hard the point came out the back of the young prince’s throat.” Both dragons crash into a lake.
“Neither man nor dragon could have survived such an impact, the fisherfolk who saw it said,” Martin writes. “Nor did they.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
