House of the Dragon: What Does Daemon’s Dream Mean and Who Appears?
The third episode of House of the Dragon Season 2 brings us closer to the war and seems to take place in the last moment of calm that both Rhaenyra and Aegon II will have in their lives. The hatred between the two sides of the Targaryen family is felt in the kingdom and is affecting the great houses, who take advantage of this moment to act on the hatred they feel for each other. The first to act are the Blackwoods, who support Rhaenyra, and the Bracken, who support Aegon II. They decide to attack each other due to a dispute over the lands and the sides they took and end up causing a massacre that leaves their territory. full of dead bodies and blood. Rhaenyra Targaryen believes that they can still avoid war, and Rhaenys supports her in that, but everyone seems to have their own agenda in continuing to push forward into battle. Criston Cole, for example, feels great resentment towards Rhaenyra and lets this be what drives him to march into battle with a small group of men, but they are intercepted by Baela and Moondancer, who quickly report this.
Knowing very well what happens in wars, Rhaenyra ends up sending Joffrey and his two young sons to take refuge with the Arryns, who are her allies. They are accompanied by the young dragons, Stormcloud and Tyraxes, plus 4 eggs that are yet to hatch and that could give Rhaenyra, Daemon’s daughter, a second chance to get her own dragon. While everyone plans their strategies, Daemon Targaryen arrives at Harrenhal, where he quickly discovers that there is no support for Larys Strong (after he ordered the murder of his father and brother, Harwin) and that they are at his disposal. With this, Rhaenyra’s cause (and yours) gains a huge castle and a strategic position for battle, as well as 40 thousand swords. Rhaenyra tries to make a last attempt to get closer to Alicent to reach peace and try to reason with her, Daemon has a macabre vision in a dream and, as if the conflict were not enough, a man claims to be the son of Baelon, father of Viserys I and Daemon, and that could further affect the line of succession.
House of the Dragon: What Does Daemon’s Dream Mean and Who is the Woman Who Appears?
While at Harrenhal, Daemon has a vision of a younger Rhaenyra, who is sitting in front of the fire while sewing up the headless prince’s neck. In the vision, Rhaenyra tells him that she is the one who always has to clean up his messes, which seems to be a reference to the fact that after the murder of Aegon II’s son, she is the one who will have to bear the consequences, which in this case leads to war. Within the dream, the vision leads him to a destroyed area of a castle where there is a large tree, where a mysterious woman appears, with black hair and blue eyes (Euron Greyjoh has them in Game of Thrones and is also associated with some of the Baratheon), who tells him that he is going to die in that place. This seems to indicate that her fate is sealed, that Daemon is going to die, and that he is going to do so in that very place.
Daemon sees the same woman when he arrives at Harrenhal, she walks into the great hall where Simon Strong is dining, and she walks past without anyone noticing or reacting. Who is the woman in the dream/vision? The woman could be Alys Rivers, who supposedly had visions of future events and became Aemond Targaryen’s lover. Some stories said she was the bastard daughter of Lyonel Strong, others that she was a forest witch, who had found a way to stay eternally young (something like the Red Witch from Game of Thrones) and had extraordinary and dark abilities. Another possibility is that it is some kind of vision of a character from the past (and it must be remembered that many Targaryens have dreams, visions, and premonitions). If that is the case, it could be Argella Baratheon, daughter of the last of the Storm Kings who is also described as having dark hair and blue eyes.
Argella’s family, the Durrandon, dominated the Riverlands, where Harrenhal is located, and it was her father who asked Aegon for help in defeating Harren the Black at the time, and even offered his daughter’s hand in marriage, but Aegon was already married to his sisters, so he ordered her to marry Orys Baratheon, who at that time was considered one of the supposed Targaryen bastards, which Argella’s father found offensive and rejected the proposal. Following the rejection and conflicts in the realm, Argella’s father goes to war with Aegon and in the meantime, she becomes the one in charge of Storm’s End, where she declares herself Storm Queen after her father’s death and makes the decision to fight against Aegon as well, but her men, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Harren, betray her and hand her over to Orys, who marries her and becomes Lord of Storm’s End, which is the moment when House Baratheon officially arises (while House Durrandon disappears).
Everything points to the mysterious woman being Alys, who, if she is a witch, would undoubtedly have the ability to get into anyone’s dreams. In the books, one theory says that Daemon did not die, but that he took advantage of the situation in which everyone thought he had died to escape from all that and have a quiet life away from the conflicts of his family, but this dream (and here dreams have a lot of weight and meaning) suggests that the prince will have a tragic end.
Who is the Prophecy Viserys I Was Talking About?
In their meeting at the end of House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3, Alicent tells Rhaenyra that Viserys I spoke of a promised prince and that he mentioned Aegon’s name, but Rhaenyra tells her that he was not referring to her half. brother, but to Aegon the Conqueror, who unified the kingdom with his conquests. Viserys I thought that The Song of Ice and Fire was about Aegon the Conqueror and a prince who was promised to unify the kingdom, but now we know that the prophecy was not about Aegon, Rhaenyra, or Aegon II, but rather about John Snow, a Targaryen secret that, in the end, ends up having to face Khaleesi and helping to stop a massacre and create peace in the kingdom.
Can Alicent Hightower Stop The War?
Now that her father is no longer at the Hand of the King, acts have been committed that cannot be forgiven or taken back, such as the murder of two princes, and Aegon II is being advised by Criston Cole and Larys Strong, Alicent Hightower could not do anything to stop the war, as she would risk being accused of treason or being exiled to Oldtown alongside Otto. What Rhaenyra tells her about the prophecy seems to affect her, but, as she says, it is already too late.
Do Bastards Have a Right to The Throne?
This chapter also features a man who claims to be the grandson of Jaehaerys the Conciliator and the bastard son of Baelon the Brave, brother of Viserys I and Daemon. Here, bastards have no right to the throne unless they are acknowledged, and this character doesn’t seem to be anywhere near that, so he probably couldn’t even come close to the throne. But what this does is show that there are many more Targaryen hidden in the kingdom and that the prophecy and line could continue even if Aegon II, Rhaenyra, and their respective children die.
