Whereas Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) battle for management of Westeros, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) resides in his personal private horror film.His troubles began in episode 3 of Home of the Dragon’s second season, when he obtained a haunting imaginative and prescient of younger Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) after conquering Harrenhal. Episode 4, “A Dance of Dragons,” kicks these visions up a notch, as Daemon receives not one, not two, however three haunting guests. Plus, a nightcap with witch-in-residence Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) provides up a proof of why Daemon could also be getting these guests within the first place.Let’s break it down.
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What does Daemon’s episode 4 imaginative and prescient of younger Rhaenyra imply?
Milly Alcock in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO
“A Dance of Dragons” opens with Daemon’s imaginative and prescient of the Nice Corridor on the Purple Preserve. As soon as once more, he comes nose to nose with younger Rhaenyra, who now sits on the Iron Throne. However one thing’s shifted. In Daemon’s imaginative and prescient of younger Rhaenyra in episode 3, she was carrying the identical gold costume as within the first half of Season 1. Nevertheless, this manifestation of younger Rhaenyra is dressed similar to grownup Rhaenyra; she’s carrying a protracted black and crimson robe and the crown of Jaehaerys the Conciliator.As episode 3 director Geeta Vasant Patel stated, Daemon views younger Rhaenyra as somebody who really knew him, who cherished him and worshipped him when his personal brother Viserys (Paddy Considine) scorned him. In the meantime, present-day Rhaenyra forged him apart following the reveal that he was complicit in younger Jaehaerys’ homicide. Seeing adolescent Rhaenyra tackle the clothes and perspective of grownup Rhaenyra destabilizes Daemon proper off the bat.
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Making issues worse is what this imaginative and prescient of Rhaenyra truly says to Daemon. As of their episode 2 argument, she needles at considered one of his biggest insecurities, that Viserys by no means cherished him as a lot as he cherished Rhaenyra. And despite the fact that Daemon “created” Queen Rhaenyra — actually crowning her within the Season 1 finale — is he actually supportive of her? Or is he hellbent on destroying her and taking energy for himself? Rhaenyra delivers these phrases in Excessive Valyrian, a language that she and Daemon usually spoke alone collectively early in Season 1 and that holds fairly a little bit of intimacy for the 2 of them. The mix of that intimate language getting used to hurt him and the mixing of younger and grownup Rhaenyra proves an excessive amount of for Daemon. On this imaginative and prescient, he beheads younger Rhaenyra with out hesitation, an act that recollects the beheading of Jaehaerys at his behest, and his beheading of Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson) in Season 1. However even then, the horrors aren’t over: Rhaenyra’s disembodied head asks Daemon whether or not that is what he is at all times wished. Is he actually that monstrous?
Mashable High Tales
What do Daemon’s visions of Aemond Targaryen and Laena Velaryon imply?
Ewan Mitchell in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO
Daemon continues to reckon along with his worst fears as “A Dance of Dragons” continues. His subsequent imaginative and prescient is considered one of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell). Effectively, sort of. Daemon sees somebody who seems to be lots like Aemond Targaryen strolling by way of Harrenhal. From behind, he can see that this determine has lengthy, Targaryen-blonde hair, in addition to an eyepatch. Nevertheless, when the determine turns round, we see that it is truly Daemon, made to appear like Aemond.
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There are a number of layers right here. First, Daemon and Aemond act as mirrors to one another. Each are youthful brothers of kings, and each are considered as extra harmful than their siblings. However because the Dance of the Dragons will get underway, the 2 acquire a horrible new commonality. Within the Season 1 finale, Aemond’s actions led to the dying of Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), a toddler. Daemon’s retaliation, whereas initially concentrating on Aemond, additionally results in the dying of a kid: Jaehaerys. So when Daemon sees Aemond in Harrenhal, he isn’t simply seeing somebody with the same life path to him. He is seeing himself as a fellow child-murderer and a fellow kinslayer. Plus, followers of George R.R. Martin’s Fireplace & Blood may also know that Daemon and Aemond’s fates are each intertwined with the citadel of Harrenhal, so the Daemon-Aemond connection right here is very prescient.In any case that, Harrenhal nonetheless is not accomplished with Daemon. Throughout a gathering with Home Blackwood, a imaginative and prescient warps a serving girl into Daemon’s late spouse, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell). As soon as once more, this ghostly apparition is a reminder of what Daemon has misplaced, in addition to his doable monstrosity. Whereas Laena died by suicide, commanding Vhagar to burn her throughout a painful, probably deadly labor, there was an opportunity that Daemon would have compelled a C-section upon her to avoid wasting his baby, simply as Viserys did to Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke) in Home of the Dragon’s premiere.Why is Daemon getting these visions within the first place, and what does Alys Rivers should do with it?
Gayle Rankin in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO
Daemon’s nightmarish sleepwalks lead him to Alys Rivers, a bastard girl who’s overtaken the duties of Harrenhal’s Maester. Chances are you’ll keep in mind her as the lady who tells Daemon, “You’ll die on this place,” on his first evening in Harrenhal. What a heat welcome!
In Fireplace & Blood, numerous accounts describe Alys as “a serving wench who dabbled in potions and spells,” “a woods witch,” and “a malign enchantress who bathed within the blood of virgins to protect her youth.” Evidently, she’s a robust girl in her personal proper — though Home of the Dragon is to date holding no matter mysterious talents she could have considerably secret.Alys provides Daemon a historical past lesson that hints at why he retains getting unusual visions. Harrenhal is cursed, she says. When Harren the Black constructed it, he reduce down the sacred weirwood timber that used to develop the place Harrenhal now stands. “Coronary heart timber imbued with the spirits of those that lived lengthy earlier than he got here,” Alys explains. “It is stated their whispers can nonetheless be heard generally.”Daemon is fast to dismiss Alys’ account as a midwives’ story. However on condition that his mattress was made out of a weirwood tree, and that his first imaginative and prescient of younger Rhaenyra led him to the one weirwood tree that also stands in Harrenhal’s courtyard, it is clear that her phrases maintain extra reality than he may suppose.Is the curse of Harrenhal all that is affecting Daemon, although? Or is a few of Alys’ witchcraft at work as properly? She provides him a draught that she claims will assist him sleep, but he seems disoriented — and nonetheless sees Laena! — whereas consuming it. Alys additionally pokes at Daemon’s insecurities about Viserys passing him up as inheritor, one thing his imaginative and prescient of Rhaenyra introduced up at first of the episode. Can she see Daemon’s visions too? Or is she immediately answerable for them? Both approach, one thing supernatural is unquestionably afoot.New episodes of Home of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.