As fire burns through the sky and the blood of dragons boils the smallfolk hundreds of feet beneath them, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finds himself haunted in Harrenhal. The run-down castle was identified as significant in the war due to its position in the Riverlands; Rhaenyra’s husband fled there to gain control over it — and escape his wife — and has been followed by a presence manifesting in his mind. He can’t walk the halls of the castle without visions of the past and, possibly, the future. Is Harrenhal haunted, or is Daemon?
After flying in upon Caraxes and finding no challenge to his being there, Daemon has found himself hallucinating. He sees visions of his late wife serving wine; of a younger Rhaenyra, sewing on the severed head of his nephew. The past is swirling in his mind, his attempt at escaping his pain by gaining space from Rhaenyra backfiring as his guilt follows him to Harrenhal. Considering what Daemon has presented to audiences since the series began, the most surprising thing about his new situation is that he’s able to feel guilt at all. With each episode’s passing, his nightmare fuses closer to his reality as his visions worsen.
Game of Thrones introduced the Targaryens’ affinity with magic: Daenerys experienced a prophecy in the finale of season 2 while in the House of the Undying. She sees a vision of herself in the roofless throne room, ash covering the ground like snow. Knowing where that series went, the assumption can only be made that House of the Dragon’s visions for Daemon should be taken seriously. With these nightmares swarming his sight, he might consider working on fixing the past before his future is extinguished.
The Targaryen family is no stranger to magic — they ride dragons! A family believed to be of elevated status, it only makes sense that the Targaryens would have a stronger propensity toward believing in prophecies and giving heavier thought to hallucinations (and then probably calling them prophecies, as Viserys did with his son in the show’s pilot). The latest episode includes mention of the belief Targaryens hold that the “blood of the dragon” that runs in their veins from their ancestry in Old Valyria allows them, exclusively, to ride dragons. By adding another magical element to the series, the creators are linking the family more closely to a spiritual existence in Westeros while providing the series with a path for Daemon’s development while he’s isolated from the other characters. The members of this noble family believe less in traditional spirituality and liken themselves to deities more than mortal people. The most powerful house in Westeros might have dragons, but certainly not time for introspection!
Still, the Targaryens have magic woven into their history: Game of Thrones, and more specifically the series of books it’s based on, is about Aegon’s Dream, which has set off more problems than any other story in the realm’s history. In George R.R. Martin’s books, the only people we know to revere the story are the Targaryens themselves, with Rhaegar in particular really buying into the hype, while most smallfolk remain apathetic to the perceived fables told to princes by their fathers. While other noble houses have a shared history with those around them, the house of fire and blood holds itself to a higher degree than even the other noble houses of Westeros, even marrying within the house so the bloodline remains purely of Old Valyria (which is why it was such a scandal Viserys chose to marry Alicent Hightower). The stories told within House Targaryen are treated as concrete facts that only those else within the house will understand. Audiences understand this lore is accepted religiously because of events that (pretty much) occurred in Game of Thrones.
A family so keen on keeping others out only invites the perils of isolation. The entire family seems starved for understanding in various ways, Daemon specifically seeking to fill the void created by the love and respect Viserys gave to Rhaenyra over him. He makes missteps after reacting quickly in search of validation, the cause of his current marital evasion being his role in the death of a child. The past creeps up on him and stirs a fear within him he wasn’t aware existed. He keeps hearing that the corridors around him have spirits roaming them, but he knows the only thing possessed in these halls is him.
Daemon’s nightmarish stay at Harrenhal brings visions that are reminiscent of the darkness Daenerys saw inside the House of the Undying in Game of Thrones. And Daemon being secluded in a different portion of the realm allows time for him to, in his own way, dissect everything that’s happened since Viserys’ death. The Targaryen lineage claims to have the blood of the dragon — some of them can’t even be burned (at least on Game of Thrones) — so a bond to the magic in the world around them offers them a view of the more spiritual side of things, including the experience Daemon is having at Harrenhal as the past surrounds him. Westeros isn’t flooded with magic, but it seems that Targaryens have a knack for attracting any that does exist, which is presumably why they’re seen as more elevated beings than regular people.
House of the Dragon has zeroed in on Daemon’s inability to see outside of himself, even in dire situations, and how that is a detriment to everyone around him. Evading Rhaenyra by fleeing to Harrenhal seems to have given him the isolation necessary to dig deeper into his memories of the cruelty he’s caused, most recently the death of an innocent child. What Daemon is seeing might be frightening to him most of all because he’s being forced to acknowledge truths no one else will force in front of him. Within a family whose existence and connection to dragons can be described as magical, it makes sense to observe one’s own personal history by personifying what’s haunting them. It shares characterization with the audience without having to contort the narrative and have Daemon interact with another person just for exposition’s sake.
As long as he’s in Harrenhal, Daemon will feel the presence of his choices bearing down on him while he hides from his wife. Dragon pushes the lore of the Targaryens deeper, an intricate look at the effect they not only have on the realm and those around them, but also themselves. Using a type of vision, the series allows Daemon to confront his previous choices, the weight they’ve left on him, and how they’ve affected his vision of himself. The Dance of Dragons has begun, and it’s more than fire-breathing beasts clawing at Daemon Targaryen.
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