Everything You Need To Know About House Of The Dragon Season 2's Alys Rivers

Everyone's having a rough time on season 2 of "House of the Dragon" but few are going through it more than poor Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). First his niece-wife kicks him out of the bedroom, then he's hanging out alone in a haunted castle, and now he's having hallucinations in the middle of meetings with his allies. His latest encounter with the possibly supernatural is all thanks to him taking a drink that's supposed to calm him down, but instead seems to be making him worse. 

The source of the drink is a mysterious woman whom Daemon finds in the halls of Harrenhal — a woman who is suspiciously comfortable with talking back to a dangerous Targaryen prince and seems to have lived in this castle for a long time. For those familiar with "Game of Thrones," she gives off clear Melisandre aura, which is troubling given Melisandre's tendency to burn people alive. Her name is Alys Rivers, played by Gayle Rankin, and we're happy to inform you that she's up to no good. 

Alys is allegedly a bastard of the Strong family, although it's not actually clear who sired her. The historian narrator in the source material, "Fire & Blood," mentions some speculation that Alys is the daughter of Lyonel Strong, which would make her the half-sister of both Larys Strong (a.k.a. Clubfoot) and Ser Harwin Strong. There are some problems with this theory, however — mainly that Alys appears much younger than her supposed forty years, and that she's heavily speculated to be a witch. 

Another theory from Mushroom, a dwarf jester on Rhaenyra's side who is secretly recording all his thoughts on the Dance of Dragons, is that she's "a malign enchantress who bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth." Mushroom also believes that Alys was far older than the other sources claim, believing Alys to have been "wet nurse to both [Larys and Harwin], perhaps even to their father a generation earlier."

The book also gives attention to how all of Alys' children had been stillborn, which spurred theories at the time that she's "a witch who lay with demons, bringing forth dead children as payment for the knowledge they gave her." The "Fire & Blood" narrator doesn't give much credence to this theory, but Mushroom fans know that the dwarf's testimonies always tend to have at least a shred of truth to them, at least as far as the "House of the Dragon" canon is concerned. From what we've seen of TV Alys so far, she definitely seems to be dabbling in witchcraft. 

"Whatever her powers, it would seem Daemon Targaryen was immune to them, for little is heard of this supposed sorceress while the prince held Harrenhal," the book reads. So, Daemon's hallucinations throughout the past two episodes have been entirely original inventions for the TV adaptation.

It's one of the many examples of the show adding in storylines that easily could have happened in the book, but were simply never mentioned because the people involved had no reason to share the tale. Daemon is not the type to admit to anyone how he'd had his mind messed around with by a witch, so it's certainly possible that his guilt-ridden visions of young Rhaenyra were something the book character really did go through. 

Either way, Alys' impact on Daemon so far has helped to illustrate the more vulnerable version of the character seen in the TV show. Book Daemon seemed far more sinister, unbothered by any guilt over the Blood & Cheese incident and seemingly unconcerned at this point by the possibility of losing Rhaenyra's trust. Magical visions in a haunted castle are the perfect fit for this new version of the character, and Alys Rivers is the perfect vehicle to make them happen. But where will Alys go from here? 

Warning: spoilers for "Fire & Blood" and (most likely) "House of the Dragon" below:

Alys Rivers' real claim to fame among the "Fire & Blood" fandom is her mysterious relationship with Prince Aemond Targaryen. When Aemond recaptures Harrenhal — which turns out to be surprisingly easy, as Daemon has abandoned it for strategic reasons — one of the first things he does is put the rest of the Strong household to death for surrendering to Daemon so quickly. Aemond chooses to spare Alys' life, however, as he's enchanted by the woman. (With Aemond's odd relationship with the older prostitute in the brothel this season, the show's already foreshadowing this development.)

Mushroom also speculates that Alys has a fling with Ser Cristin Cole, although other accounts differ. One thing beyond dispute, though, is that Alys steps in to prevent Aemond from killing a squire who merely delivered him bad news about the war — so she can't be all bad. She's also soon pregnant, most likely with Aemond's child. Near the end of the war she helps provoke a near-final climactic battle between Daemon and Aemond, reportedly using her visions to help Aemond hunt down his uncle/brother-in-law.

Alys also gets points for being one of the few people to actually survive the whole civil war, although that doesn't mean she's enjoying a peaceful life. Soon after the Dance she's named herself the Witch Queen of Harrenhal, and by the end of "Fire & Blood," Aegon III is trying to figure out how to dethrone her. We don't find out exactly how her reign ends, (maybe "Fire & Blood: Part 2" will come out one day), but we know she's certainly not alive by the time "A Game of Thrones" begins. Perhaps she dies by the sword, or perhaps she flees the city before it's taken. 

Rankin is a Scottish actress, best known for her roles as Queen Victoria in "The Greatest Showman," Sheila the She-Wolf in "Glow," and Riley in "Men." When asked about her role as Alys in Town and Country Magazine, Rankin said, "My particular storyline is quite, for the moment, contained. Contained, let's say — very wild, but contained." This implies that Alys likely won't start interacting with Aemond until at least season 3, which makes sense given the book's general timeline. 

As for Rankin's thoughts on the character herself:

"I'm obsessed with her. I've always given the opportunity to play people who are pretty prophetic, which is cool, but it's a lot of pressure!... She's so f***ng cool. I want to really ground her and find her humanity — I always try to find my way into that, but she has a lot of power, too. Just really exciting. I don't think we've seen half of it yet, so that will be fun."