We’re most of the way through House Of The Dragon’s sophomore season, and fan response has been extremely positive for pretty much everything, at least apart from one storyline that just won’t end. Daemon Targaryen, widely considered to be one of the best parts of Season 1 has spent most of Season 2 interacting with strange side characters and having troubling, sometimes incest-y visions inside Harrenhal. His absence has become a growing frustration among the characters on the show and a running joke amongst fans on social media.
I get it. I’m typically a pretty patient viewer and don’t always want action and immediate gratification. Side quests are often perfectly fine with me, but even I’ve said, “We’re still doing this?” three or four times to my wife while watching the past few episodes. It’s been a slog, but I think I know why the show is progressing Daemon’s storyline so slowly, and it has nothing to do with the visions themselves. Let’s recap quickly.
In an effort to secure an army of troops, Daemon flew on dragonback to Harrenhal to claim the Riverlands in episode 2. He arrived to find nothing more than Larys Strong’s relatives hanging out, and he’s spent the last four episodes mostly seeing bizarre visions, interacting with a healer and occasionally speaking with the most powerful families who all have their own forces. It’s been giving serious House Of Black And White vibes, and fans, whether on social media or in reaction videos, have repeatedly complained about how it seems to be the same thing every week. They’re also not happy about how far Daemon seems from everything else going on.
Me watching another episode of Daemon tripping balls in Harrenhal #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/dcofIe3ltEJuly 23, 2024
I get all the complaints, but the thing is, I think the part about Daemon being further away from the plot is more important than the visions themselves. Now, that’s not to say everything Daemon is seeing isn’t important. It is. He’s on an emotional journey wrestling with his place in the Targaryen line, his subservient relationship with Rhaenyra and his own feelings of inadequacy. The former heir needs to come to terms with all of this, and I’m sure the showrunners feel having us watch that internal struggle will help him grow as a character and make moments down the road more meaningful. I’m sure it will.
But it doesn’t take four and a half episodes and counting to do that. That’s almost as many episodes total as we got with the younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent. No, I think the primary goal here is very specifically to advance the plot for everyone else without Daemon. We’re all annoyed about how Daemon isn’t at the small council meetings and wasn’t there to help Princess Rhaenys in her fight with Aemon and King Aegon, but Daemon has been presented to viewers as a reckless man of action who jumps into every fight. He preaches aggression all the time, and if the writers want to move the civil war along slowly, one chess move at a time, it’s easier to do that without Daemon actively in play.
I don’t know where any of this is going. I don’t read the books and have actively avoided spoilers, but from what I’ve seen of Daemon, he’s a man of action. He’s someone who tends to accelerate conflict and forward the plot quickly. So, as much as these visions every week are about him, the fact that they’re taking soooooo long is likely less about what he’s seeing and more about keeping him separate from other things happening.
There are two episodes left in the acclaimed second season. You can watch House Of The Dragon on HBO, Max and via other streaming options on Sunday evenings.
