Editor’s Notice: The under comprises spoilers for Season 2 Episode 5 of Home of the Dragon.
The Large Image
- Daemon is haunted by visions of his mom, Alyssa, and struggles with insecurity about his identification and position as a king.
- Alyssa Targaryen was Daemon and Viserys’ mom who died a tragic dying after childbirth.
- Daemon’s troubling goals at Harrenhal could also be influenced by his personal unconscious emotions and probably manipulation by Alys.
Plainly with regards to Daemon (Matt Smith) and Harrenhal, the king consort (or king, as he would now wish to be referred to) cannot catch a break. From being haunted by a young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and a toddler’s corpse to being goaded by her in his brother’s crown, the haunted citadel is feeding on Daemon’s insecurity in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5. Although it’d take longer to unravel why he noticed himself dressed as Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and whether or not Laena’s (Nanna Blondell) specter is on the aspect of the angels, it is clear that the class this week for Daemon’s goals (or are they hallucinations? Visions?) is Oedipal. In a blurry imaginative and prescient, we watch as Daemon has intercourse with a mysterious blonde lady (Emmeline Lambert) with those self same Targaryen appears to be like. When you would possibly marvel if that is Aemma (Siân Brooke), Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) spouse, it does not take lengthy throughout this romantic liaison for us to understand that she is definitely Daemon’s mom, Alyssa. Yikes!
Who Is Alyssa Targaryen?
So, wait, wait, who’s Alyssa Targaryen precisely? Effectively, she is Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne’s fifth youngster and second daughter. Based on George R. R. Martin‘s Hearth & Blood, King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne had been beloved by the individuals, a sentiment that’s shared in Home of the Dragon.Despite the fact that the two of them had 13 children, on the finish of Jaehaerys’ life, he nonetheless had a succession disaster. After the dying of their eldest son and daughter (one more Aegon and one other Daenerys), the couple had Aemon, Baelon, and Alyssa. Aemon can be the king’s inheritor and later change into Rhaenys’ (Eve Greatest) father, whereas Baelon and Alyssa can be married as siblings and change into dad and mom to Viserys, Daemon, and (sure, one other) short-lived Aegon.
In contrast to how she is portrayed in Home of the Dragon in Daemon’s imaginative and prescient, Alyssa had soiled blonde hair and one eye that was Targaryen purple and the opposite inexperienced. In Hearth & Blood, Alyssa is described as considerably of a tomboy character. She wore boy’s garments and appreciated to battle and journey and was stated to have a warrior’s coronary heart. As acknowledged in Episode 5 by Rhaenyra, when she’s speaking with Baela (Bethany Antonia), Alyssa’s dragon was Meleys. As a mom, she would take each of her sons flying whereas they had been nonetheless newborns. Nonetheless, the completely happy household would not be completely happy for lengthy. After struggling in labor together with her third son, Aegon, Alyssa died inside a yr afterward and Aegon quickly adopted, not in contrast to Viserys’ spouse Aemma.
What Occurs in Daemon’s Imaginative and prescient?
This episode shouldn’t be the primary time Alyssa has been talked about. Again in Season 1 Episode 4, when Daemon has returned from the Stepstones, we hear Viserys saying, “You had been at all times mom’s favourite. No, it is no nice thriller. You had been. Our mom, she had no regard for customized or custom, guidelines. And I, sadly, was no nice warrior.” That dialog hints on the root of Daemon and Viserys’ points. In his imaginative and prescient, we see a girl round Daemon’s age with silver hair calling to him. Is that this a intercourse employee? Is that this somebody we’re meant to acknowledge? Did they alter actors for Aemma Arryn? It is unclear at first, however her message is clear.
“You had been at all times the sturdy one,” she coos to Daemon, who smiles wistfully as the 2 of them change into intimate. “The best swordsman. The fearless dragonrider. Your brother had nice love in his coronary heart, however he lacked your structure. Viserys was unsuited for the crown, however you, Daemon, you had been made to put on it.” If there’s something that Daemon’s been dying to listen to, it is any such approval and encouragement. Not simply that he’s the inheritor, however that he was made to put on the crown, that he has the structure of a king, and he responds eagerly to her. Then, as Daemon pulls again from kissing her, the girl appears to be like up at him; Daemon’s hand drags down from her neck and leaves a disturbing path of blood there. She then says, “If solely you’d been born first, my favourite son.” And that is when Daemon’s pleased expression melts away into horror earlier than he involves — on the eating desk subsequent to the Strongs in the midst of the day, confused and disturbed.
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What Does Daemon’s Dream About His Mom Imply?
Whereas your knee-jerk intuition is perhaps to say it is a mommy situation (and it is perhaps to some extent), Daemon’s imaginative and prescient touches on all the pieces that Viserys himself felt self-conscious about. Daemon is the warrior, the dragonrider, the extra aggressive chief, and, sure, he was a greater chief of males when he was Commander of the Metropolis Watch. In Hearth & Blood, the Goldcloaks are identified to be extraordinarily loyal to Daemon. Lengthy after Aegon II takes the throne, there are nonetheless many guards of the Metropolis Watch who would fortunately battle for Daemon. In Season 2 Episode 1, we see that Blood nonetheless calls Daemon “Commander” although it has been a few years since he is held that title.
Equally, in Hearth & Blood, it is acknowledged that Daemon was knighted at sixteen after which later given his father’s Valyrian metal sword Darkish Sister by his grandfather Jaehaerys. Whereas Viserys technically rode Balerion, Aegon the Conqueror’s legendary dragon, the dragon was very outdated by that time and solely flew as soon as with Viserys on his again earlier than he died. In the meantime, Daemon was an lively dragonrider and even rode Caraxes into battle.
This imaginative and prescient is the projection of what he is at all times been instructed by Viserys. However, it is unclear how intently Home of the Dragon sticks to Hearth & Blood‘s timeline. In Hearth & Blood, Daemon was solely a toddler when Alyssa died. Viserys’ claims solely make sense if Alyssa really was sufficiently old to observe her sons develop to change into warriors, however is Viserys letting his insecurities communicate for him? On this week’s episode, Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) says, “It is a pity, do not you assume, that you simply by no means knew your mom?” So, how a lot of this imaginative and prescient is about Alyssa, and the way a lot of it’s really about Viserys? Actually, the resounding connection between all of those dream sequences has been that Viserys is on the coronary heart of them. They don’t seem to be about what sort of king Daemon can be or what sort of uncle he was to Rhaenyra or the connection he might need had together with his mom; they’re about Daemon’s fraught relationship with Viserys.
How A lot of All of This Is Harrenhal and Alys’ Doing?
It’s clear in Episode 5 that Daemon is starting to spiral uncontrolled. He tells Ser Simon Robust (Simon Russell Beale) to name him king as an alternative of king consort. He tells the Brackens to pledge their allegiance to him slightly than Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). He refers to himself as king and plainly states to Alys that when he takes King’s Touchdown, Rhaenyra can come to him the place they’ll rule collectively, slightly than him merely being her consort. It is perhaps one factor if Daemon’s actions had been really resulting in constructive outcomes, however apart from doing a little first rate wooden chopping, all of his plans go awry. The Riverlords flip towards him and by the top of the episode, he is in a worse place than when he began.
This begs the query, how a lot of that is Daemon’s personal emotions coming to mild, and the way a lot of it’s due to Harrenhal? Actually, how a lot of it has to do with that bizarre concoction that Alys handed Daemon to drink? You might need observed that we’re leaping between calling that scene a imaginative and prescient or a dream. The very fact is, it is unclear if Daemon is dreaming and asleep at that second, or hallucinating a imaginative and prescient. We have not really seen him go to sleep since the last episode, when he chopped off younger Rhaenyra’s head.
And it was after ingesting that odd tea that Daemon’s timeline at Harrenhal began to really feel hazy. How a lot of what he is seeing is the product of Daemon’s lively unconscious, and the way a lot of it’s Alys manipulating him? She picks an opportune time to say his mom after the 2 talk about the morals of what the Blackwoods are doing to the Brackens, so is that this Alys’ model of instructing Daemon a lesson? Is it the haunted castle of Harrenhal? Or does Daemon simply have bizarre goals like this usually? It is nonetheless unsure, however what is sure is that every one this time spent at Harrenhal does not appear to be serving to Daemon or Rhaenyra in any respect, and possibly there’s one thing to that.
Watch Home of the Dragon Season 1 and a pair of on Max within the U.S.