A calculated move or a genuine redemptive quality?
The main couple of House of the Dragon is unique in how strangely twisted it is, yet it fits perfectly into the world of Westeros.
A marriage between an uncle and a niece, the prequel series to Game of Thrones does not disappoint with this disturbing concept.
But some fans are still not over one particular aspect of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship.
Why is the proud husband of the Queen so surprisingly accepting of his wife having not one, but three bastard children with King’s Landing Lord Commander Harwin Strong?
He treats them as his own, with no hint of illegitimacy, which is surprising for a medieval character who is quite toxic in many ways.
Fans have come up with a number of possible explanations. The most logical is that Daemon simply had no choice. If Rhaenyra had to choose between her children and him, the odds would not have been in her uncle’s favor.
So he simply does not want to jeopardize their relationship by openly mistreating Joffrey, Lucerys, and Jacaerys.
She needed someone to protect her and her children, and if Daemon hadn’t proven his willingness to take on that role, she wouldn’t have proposed in the first place.
The other thing is that Daemon is not the most conservative guy. He is… quite liberal about his sex life and even encouraged Rhaenyra to do the same. So maybe the whole bastard thing is just not a big deal to him.
Some suggest that this is all to spite Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King and one of Rhaenyra’s main political rivals, along with Otto’s daughter Alicent. And it fits perfectly with Daemon’s belief in the superiority of the Targaryen bloodline.
“Daemon is completely behind the rule that they are the blood of the dragon and what they say is law when they are the ruling monarch. Rhaenyra says they’re not bastards? Then they’re not,” Reddit user Puzzleheaded_Eye7311 said.
The boys still have Targaryen blood in them, which makes them as legitimate as any other official member of the House. So Daemon doesn’t care if a birth is legitimized by marriage.