Daemon Targaryen spent House of the Dragon‘s second season lost. First he lost his wife’s love and respect. Then he lost his ability to tell the difference between reality and dreams. But in the season finale, he finally he lost something that will serve him well: his lifelong desire to claim the Iron Throne. That only happened when Harrenhal’s “witch” Alys Rivers helped the Rogue Prince see how he his just “one part” of a larger story. Only that story is not the Dance of the Dragons. It’s a story that is much bigger and much more important, the only one that has ever truly mattered for House Targaryen.
Daemon Targaryen learned his family’s only true purpose in Westeros is to stop the White Walkers. And he know the role he must play to help defeat the army of the dead thanks to some very powerful figures that includes a major Game of Thrones character.
The King Consort spent season two on House of the Dragon struggling with his own ambition, past failures, and heinous sins. Those demons manifested in countless nightmares he had within cursed Harrenhal’s walls. His dark visions forced Daemon to face about himself ultimately led him back to the castle’s holy godswood.
His return to that sacred spot—and ultimately back to Rhaenyra’s side as both husband and devoted follower—began when he awoke in the middle of the night to find the mysterious Alys Rivers sitting on his bed. Daemon followed the strange, wise woman outside to the very same place she once foretold his. Before Alys spoke, though, Daemon saw a strange creature near the godswood’s weirwood tree. It was unclear if that antlered figure was real or just another vision, but that doesn’t even matter. Their appearance before Daemon was monumental, because that was one of the most important beings in the entire history of Westeros. That strange creature was one of the Green Men from the nearby revered Isle of Faces, an island in the middle of the Gods Eye lake where Harrenhal sits.
The Isle of Faces is where the First Men and the Children of the Forest signed the Pact that ended their long war many millennia before House of the Dragon. To mark the union between the two races they carved faces into everyone of the island’s many weirwoods. They believed that would allow all the old gods to bare witness to the agreement. The First Men and Children also established the order of the Green Men, a religious group ancient tales say is made of of small, horned (or antlered) green-skinned beings.
Want to Know More: Read our History of Thrones Piece “Gods Eye and the Isle of Faces“
Did Daemon really see one of those ancient beings? Despite being in a populous part of the Realm, few have ever made it to the Isle of Faces to even see if the Green Men still exist. But few believed the Children of the Forest or the White Walkers were still living north of the Wall, either. Game of Thrones viewers also know the stories about the Children/Green Mens’ abilities are true, too.
They were greenseers, like Ned Stark’s son Bran will prove to be one day. Those magical beings can see through weirwood trees, which is why the Children carved faces in weirwoods. And because those heart trees can live forever if left alone, they exist outside of time, allowing greenseers to see into the past, present, and future.
What Alys Rivers spoke of, and what she had Daemon do, in the season two finale suggests she is a greenseer herself. That would explain how she knew the time had finally come to let the King Consort learn the truth about how his own desires matter little. His nightmares prepared him to learn the truth about why Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros.
“When you came here you were a closed fist,” Alys said to Daemon. “You wished to bend the world to your will. But you’ve discovered, I think, that this world will not be governed. There are omens here for those who seek them.” When the believing Prince did not scoff at her, she asked him, “Do you wish then to learn what is given to you? All your life, you have sought to command your own fate. But today you are ready.”
With that a willing Daemon approached the weirwood and touched its carved face. The sacred tree’s red sap then started to run like blood over his hand. That’s when the visions, which tie Daemon’s own story into the Song of Ice and Fire itself, began. The first person he saw is one of the most important, most notorious members of his family to ever call Westeros home. Daemon saw a descendant who won’t even be born for another 45 years. He saw Brynden Rivers, a figure Game of Thrones‘ fans know as the Three-Eyed Raven.
Brynden Rivers was an albino Targaryen “Great Bastard” whose mother was a Lady of House Blackwood. His father was King Aegon the Unworthy, a despicable ruler who on his deathbed legitimized Brynden and his fellow bastard siblings, a decision that led to the second major Targaryen civil war, which itself led to even more.
Brynden (played by two different actors on House of the Dragon) was better known in life as Lord Bloodraven. He got that moniker thanks to the red, raven(ish)-shaped winestain birthmark on his cheek. He was cunning, intense, feared, and loyal to his King, as he fought against his own bastard siblings when his half-brother Daemon Blackfyre tried to claim the Iron Throne. The first Blackfyre Rebellion cost Brynden Rivers an eye, which he chose not to cover up.
His pale skin, white hair, signature birthmark, missing eye, and uncanny ability to know countless secrets from around the Realm all contributed to many calling Brynden Rivers a dark sorcerer. “How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have?” asked a popular riddle-turned-song. “A thousand eyes, and one.” That answer were right, but not because Bloodraven used sinister magic. He was one of the most powerful greenseers in the Westeros’ history.
He also greatly outlived his natural life. After his nephew, Aegon the Unlikely, sent his uncle Bloodraven to the Wall, Brynden Rivers became Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. He held that position until one day he vanished to the far north. Game of Thrones‘ fans know what became of him there. He joined with the Children of the Forest, had his body consumed by the roots of a tree, and began watching Bran Stark so that one day he could begin training Ned’s son to replace him.
Now thanks to House of the Dragon we know Lord Bloodraven was also guiding his own ancestors during their lives.
When Daemon touched the weirwood he saw Bloodraven, a greenseer who knew all of his family’s secrets from the past, present, and future, appeared. That powerful figure, who will dedicate his life to his family and all of the living, then showed Daemon the White Walkers and the army of the dead. Bloodraven then showed Daemon the death of dragons amid a sea of bodies and blood. The King Consort then saw himself consumed by water before ultimately he watched the rebirth of dragons one day. Daemon saw his own descendent, Game of Thrones‘ Daenerys Targaryen, hatching three dragons from the flames. But that was not the end of his vision. Daemon saw all of that will only be possible if Rhaenyra, not himself, sits on the Iron Throne.
Yet Alys Rivers, the Green Men, and Bloodraven were not the only greenseers to show Daemon what he “must do.” To truly learn he is “but a part” of the only story that matters, the story of the living and the dead, Daemon also needed the guidance of Helaena Targaryen, his niece the Queen.
Want to Know More: Read Our History of Thrones Piece “Brynden Rivers, the Three-Eyed Raven of King’s Landing“
From King’s Landing she also saw through the weirwood her Uncle held. Rather than hate the man who had her son killed, the soft-spoken prophet told him what he must do. Like the other greenseers, she knows what awaits her family and the world one day. What Daemon does in his life will matter in that coming war. (Even if it seems what her own brother Aemond does will not.)
The Rogue Prince did not merely hear about the Song of Ice and Fire as a young Rhaenyra did. Daemon experienced it. Because he did, he knows the truth about why House Targaryen conquered the Seven Kingdoms in the first place. It wasn’t about the Iron Throne or crown he’s always craved. Nor was it about power, bending the world to your will, or commanding your fate. It wasn’t even about love and respect, two things Daemon has always yearned for yet never earned. It’s about saving the living from the dead.
Only when Daemon finally understood his only purpose did he bend the knee to his wife. Daemon finally knows Viserys chose Rhaenyra for a reason, and that reason is bigger than any Targaryen king or queen.
Now her husband who amassed an army in the Riverlands must serve her so he can serve his House Targaryen. That’s the only way he can prepare the living for the only war that will ever really matter. Unfortunately for the Realm, before the White Walkers come the dragons still have to dance.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist obsessed with Lord Bloodraven. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.