There are various theories about Daemon Targaryen’s fate in House of the Dragon, including connections to wider Game of Thrones lore. Is he the Night King? Is he the Three-Eyed Raven? Does he go off to live happily-ever-after with Nettles, the dragonseed character the show cut? Is he reincarnated as Hot Pie? Only one of those isn’t a legitimate theory, which were fueled by House of the Dragon season 2’s ending.
The finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was,” paid off a strange season for the Rogue Prince (sorry, King… Consort), with Daemon having visions of Daenerys Targaryen, a White Walker, and, intriguingly, the Three-Eyed Raven. Much of that was to get him back on Rhaenyra Targaryen’s side, and to set up his looming battle with Aemond Targaryen, likely for House of the Dragon season 3. But could the visions – and the raven in particular – really mean even more for his story beyond what’s written in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood?
What Happens To Daemon Targaryen Isn’t 100% Confirmed
Some Do Believe He Survives (Though I’m Not Convinced)
In Fire & Blood, Daemon eventually comes face to face with his nephew, Aemond, in one of the most epic fights of the Dance of the Dragons. After a period of time searching the riverlands, Daemon and his dragon, Caraxes, clash with Aemond and his own dragon, Vhagar, in what’s known as the Battle Above the Gods Eye. Taking place over the Gods Eye lake, which is next to Harrenhal, it’s a fiery, furious battle that ends when Daemon leaps onto Vhagar and drives his sword into Aemond’s empty eye socket.
…There aren’t just fan theories that [Daemon] is still alive after the Dance, but in-universe claims and songs about it as well.
All four combatants go crashing into the lake and die, but the rub is that, unlike the others, Daemon’s body is never found. That doesn’t mean it’s likely he survived, given the battle and collision into the water killed two huge dragons, but it does mean it’s possible. There aren’t just fan theories that he is still alive after the Dance, but in-universe claims and songs about it as well.
The most common of those is that he went off to live with Nettles, a dragonrider bonded with Sheepstealer in the book, with whom Daemon develops an extremely close bond. Nettles and Sheepstealer survive the Dance and their last known whereabouts were deep in the mountains in the Vale, and so the idea goes that Daemon was with them. Again, it’s not the likeliest option, but further shows Daemon could have survived. And if that’s an idea House of the Dragon decides to play with – since it enjoys taking its own view of history – then it could go further.
House Of The Dragon Has Revealed Connections Between Daemon & The Three-Eyed Raven
Daemon Saw Brynden Rivers In A Vision, But There’s More Than That
If House of the Dragon does decide to keep Daemon alive, then could it make him the Three-Eyed Raven? That would be a huge twist and upend a lot of what’s known about Game of Thrones lore, but the show has been laying the groundwork for it. Daemon’s visions at Harrenhal typically came via a connection to weirwood trees – his bed, seemingly the paste Alys Rivers made, or the tree itself – which is also how the Three-Eyed Raven operates.
Indeed, Daemon having strange dreams and visions and having this connection to the weirwood trees is not dissimilar to Bran Stark, who does become the Three-Eyed Raven in Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon made the link with the Raven more overt, though, by showing Brynden Rivers in Daemon’s vision in the season 2 finale: he’s the young Targaryen man with a raven-shaped, blood-colored birthmark on his cheek (and from which a raven flies in the vision).
As a further link, Brynden also wielded Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel sword that belongs to Daemon in House of the Dragon.
Daemon is directly related to Brynden: he and Rhaenyra are his great-grandparents. Their second son becomes King Viserys II Targaryen; his son becomes King Aegon IV Targaryen, and Brynden is one of his bastard children. As a further link, Brynden also wielded Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel sword that belongs to Daemon in House of the Dragon. Both characters have their connections to magic – Daemon with his visions, while Brynden was alleged to be a sorcerer, but this could well have been greensight – and each lusts for power and manipulates political events.
It’s unknown how Brynden himself became the Three-Eyed Raven, though there is a clearer beginning of an explanation: he was later sent to the Wall, where he rose up to become Lord Commander. He went missing during an expedition, and was never seen again, but at some point thereafter, became the Three-Eyed Raven (though his identity was more a theory until House of the Dragon season 2’s finale revealed Brynden in the vision).
Daemon Being The Three-Eyed Raven Is More Plausible Than Him Being The Night King
The Night King Theory Is Debunked By Game Of Thrones
Daemon being the Night King has been a very popular theory, and it is a fun one in a silly, tinfoil sense. There isn’t a huge amount of evidence for it, and a lot of what is there could easily be explained in different ways or hand-waved away, including:
- Daemon’s fate is unconfirmed.
- Daemon’s outfit in season 1 had a resemblance to the Night King’s.
- Daemon sees a White Walker with Targaryen-esque hair in his vision.
- The Targaryens are linked to the White Walkers through Aegon the Conqueror’s song of ice and fire prophecy.
- An incorrect belief that the Night King was a Targaryen, because he survived dragonfire in Game of Thrones season 8.
The problem, of course, aside from the evidence being a bit thin, is that Game of Thrones showed the Night King’s origin story. He was a man turned by the children of the forest, and this would have pre-dated Targaryens, never mind Daemon, by thousands of years. Even allowing for a time loop, which itself stretches credulity massively, the person in Game of Thrones looked nothing like Daemon, which would need to be explained.
In contrast, there is a window of opportunity that would allow Daemon to become the Three-Eyed Raven. Brynden may hold the title in Game of Thrones and then pass it on to Bran, but there were others. When speaking about the Night King in Game of Thrones season 8, episode 2, Bran says:
“He’ll come for me. He’s tried before, many times, with many Three-Eyed Ravens.”
The thing is, we know absolutely nothing about those other Three-Eyed Ravens, which means the idea that Daemon becomes one cannot be ruled out. House of the Dragon also introduced the Green Men in the season 2 finale, an order that guards the weirwood trees on the Isle of Faces in the riverlands and are loyal to the children of the forest and so, presumably, the Three-Eyed Raven. With one of the Green Men at Harrenhal, this could be setting up Daemon’s rescue from the Gods Eye, and a bigger role with the weirwood trees.
Unlike Daemon being the Night King, there’s enough wiggle room in canon, and certainly enough we don’t know about the Three-Eyed Raven, for it to be true.
It’s certainly not a perfect theory by any means – for one, Daemon doesn’t have any blood of the First Men that we know of, whereas Brynden was half-Blackwood (whose sigil literally has a weirwood tree on it). Secondly, the visions were seemingly shown to him by Alys, rather than him possessing a power such as greensight. But, unlike Daemon being the Night King, there’s enough wiggle room in canon, and certainly enough we don’t know about the Three-Eyed Raven, for it to be true.
Why House Of The Dragon Season 3 Should Shut Down Its Daemon Theories
Daemon’s Story Is Better With A Permanent Death
The theories about Daemon are fun, but I don’t think it’s a road House of the Dragon should go down for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if Daemon becomes the Three-Eyed Raven, then it starts to make the world feel smaller. It already did this a little bit with his visions of Dany and the White Walker, because it’s making the franchise feel more intertwined and thus like it’s serving Game of Thrones more than its own story, and Daemon being the Three-Eyed Raven would only double down on that.
Secondly, Daemon’s ending is more fitting if he dies. Despite some connections, there’s not really enough in his arc to strongly suggest him becoming the Three-Eyed Raven and spending decades in a tree beyond the Wall is a worthy payoff to his arc. In contrast, him going out with an epic warrior’s death, going down with his dragon and taking his biggest rival with him, is a much more satisfying conclusion for his House of the Dragon story, and one I really hope they make definitive when the time comes.