Daemon's Creepy Dream Pushes House Of The Dragon Into A Darker Place
The following article contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon" season 2, episode 3, and "Fire & Blood."
Dreams and prophecies are pretty important in George R. R. Martin's novels about the worlds of Westeros and Essos, and that includes their television adaptations as well. In "Game of Thrones," some of those prophecies ended up disappearing into the mist as the showrunners tried to create an ending without the full guidance of novels to steer by, but since the book "House of the Dragon" is based on, "Fire & Blood," is finished, the prophecies set up now are just about certain to have a serious payoff. In the third episode of the second season, fan-favorite and brat prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has a pretty terrifying dream while sleeping within the haunted halls of Harrenhal, and it signals a very dark turn for the future of the series.
"House of the Dragon" can be rather brutal, and while it has toned down some of the more horrifying elements of the source material (hello, Blood and Cheese), there's still plenty to come to disturb and devastate viewers. Daemon's dream hints at his future and it seems like, in this instance, showrunner Ryan Condal and co. are following the books, which will lead us all to some very dark moments and Daemon's eventual demise.
The details of Daemon's dream
In the episode, Daemon is currently holed up at Harrenhal after his fight with his niece-wife Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) because he ordered the killing of Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Prince Jaehaerys was killed instead. He's supposed to start gathering armies and readying for war, but Harrehal isn't exactly the Ritz Carlton, and he's annoyed by water dripping down on him from the ceiling almost everywhere he goes. He's nervous and agitated, barring his door with a random longsword and being startled when someone tries to force it open. When he draws his sword and goes out into the hall... there's no one there. He goes down the hallway and sees a room with a fire lit, only to discover a younger Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) rocking in a chair by the hearth, sewing Jaehaerys's head back onto his body (which she holds in her arms).
The child is Rhaenyra's nephew and the image is shocking, but what she says is even worse, asking Daemon: "Always coming and going, aren't you? And I have to clean up afterwards." She's absolutely right and he knows it, and we see tears forming in his eyes before he closes them, overtaken with emotion. He drops his sword and we're taken somewhere new, where he opens his eyes again. He's by the heart tree of Harrenhal, where Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) tells him "You will die in this place." As far as bad dreams go, that's as bad as it gets.
But what does Daemon's dream mean?
It's important to remember that Harrenhal is extremely cursed. Like Bermuda Triangle, Lake Lanier levels of cursed. As such, prophetic dreams there have some extra power to them. And while the show hasn't introduced her yet, Alys Rivers is a seer in "Fire & Blood," telling the future in less cryptic ways than Helaena Targaryen, who also seems to have some kind of supernatural foresight. And in this instance, Alys is likely speaking the truth about Daemon's fate. In "Fire & Blood," Daemon waits for Aemond at Harrenhal by himself, slowly deteriorating mentally in a very particular place:
"Each night at dusk he slashed the heart tree in the godswood to mark the passing of another day. Thirteen marks can be seen upon that weirwood still; old wounds, deep and dark, yet the lords who have ruled Harrenhal since Daemon's day say they bleed afresh every spring."
Daemon and his dragon Caraxes end up doing battle with Aemond and his dragon Vhagar, and they end up doing one another grievous harm before crashing into the Gods Eye (the giant lake south of Harrenhal). Caraxes made it to the shore before dying, while Aemond and Vhagar's bodies were found in the lake. Daemon's body was never recovered, so he may have survived, but the book's historians believe that he died there.
Prophecies and curses in House of the Dragon
The heart tree in the weirwood of Harrenhal is of particular significance because the heart trees are sacred to the people of the North, who worship the Old Gods of Westeros. It's worth noting that Aemond's body is found near the Isle of Faces, an island in the center of the Gods Eye that's a holy place and one of the only weirwood forests left in the south, believed to be a place where mystical children of the forest might still live. After Daemon's treatment of the heart tree, it's unlikely he would be welcomed on the island, which means his remains may have been destroyed by magical means or he was taken somewhere by the supernatural inhabitants of the isle. Not only that, but the Targaryens are already invaders to Westeros. By the end, the land itself has become his enemy, and it's possible that he was swallowed up by the Gods Eye completely because Westeros was taking her vengeance on an abusive invader.
Whatever the case may be, Daemon comes to an incredibly tragic end at Harrenhal, and it will be interesting to see how the television series adapts his fate. (Who knows? Maybe they'll decide to take the route where he somehow magically survived! People do love Matt Smith.) We'll have to wait a few seasons to see what happens, but there should be lots of fun little clues to follow until then.
New episodes of "House of the Dragon" season 2 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.