According to the book, the couple have no children together, and they are soon bitterly estranged, but they remain married for nearly 20 years. Rhea dies after an apparent riding accident, and Daemon is unwelcome in her home of the Vale afterward. "
In the seventh episode of the blockbuster HBO series, Prince Daemon marries his own niece, Princess Rhaenyra. The incestuous romance had been building for some time.
Daemon had to make the difficult decision of choosing whether to save his wife or the child, but, before he could utter a word, Laena ran to Vhagar and pleaded “Dracarys” to the dragon. Confused at first, Vhagar obeyed her rider's command, killing both Laena and her baby.
Daemon shows his genuine care and attention to Rhaenyra several times before the two marry. This doesn't take away from the many destructive and inappropriate parts of their relationship, but the books imply that Daemon does love Rhaenyra.
Prince Daemon marries Rhaenyra following the death of his second wife, Laena Velaryon, and they have three children.
While this is a revelation in and of itself, this sequence also highlights the truth of Daemon and Rhaenyra - he is an abuser and she is his victim, albeit perhaps one who does not see herself as a victim.
Later, in episode seven, Daemon tells Rhaenyra that he and Laena were "happy enough" in their marriage. In that regard, there was far more love between Daemon and Laena than there ever was between him and Rhea, even if it wasn't entirely romantic.
Daemon's wife, Rhea Royce, died from falling from a horse in 115 AC. Daemon abandoned the Stepstones and flew to the Vale of Arryn to claim Runestone, which had been Rhea's seat, but he was refused by House Royce.
Despite Rhaenyra and Daemon's excitement over having another child, their daughter will tragically never take a breath of air. Upon hearing the news of King Viserys' death and Aegon seizing the Iron Throne and being crowned King, Rhaenyra goes into dangerously premature labor.
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally had sex on House of the Dragon. After teasing their deep connection for weeks, making out in a brothel, and flirting their way through King's Landing, uncle and niece at long last did the dirty.
We last saw her find out the truth in "We Light the Way" that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
We know that while the two came close, they never actually did the deed. Daemon, thrown off by his lack of ability to shock Rhaenyra, left her to get drunk and pass out. While Rhaenyra did go on to sleep with Criston Cole — the big problem of the episode — Viserys (Paddy Considine) was made more cautious of Daemon.
Rhaenyra has been pregnant with her daughter Visenya since House of the Dragon's latest and last time jump, and it is heartbreaking to see her deal with this loss. The way in which the scene plays out makes it especially disturbing.
Daemon and Rhaenyra share two children together: Aegon III and Viserys II.
Lady Laena Velaryon was the eldest child and only daughter of Lord Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. She was the second wife of Prince Daemon Targaryen and gave birth to his twin daughters, Rhaena and Baela Targaryen.
It was abundantly clear in the season finale that Daemon truly values Rhaenyra as the queen, and it doesn't appear to be for his own gain. All of his actions indicate that he looks to her as his leader even before she's taken power and has every intention to get her to her rightful throne.
Joffrey Baratheon spoils Rhaenyra Targaryen's fate on Game of Thrones. As Joffrey tells us, eventually, Rhaenyra's half-brother Aegon Targaryen will feed her to his dragon Sunfyre. She dies as her son, Aegon III, watches. That's the bullet point version.
According to Fire & Blood (the source material for House of the Dragon), Daemon dies after an epic dragon fight with Prince Aemond… who also dies, womp.
Rhaenyra had to marry Daemon for two reasons. The first is that she genuinely seems to love him, as weird as that is to write. The second more pressing reason is the growing threat of Alicent Hightower and her Greens. The Greens have been in the ascendancy recently.
Why do Targaryens keep marrying each other? In short, to keep the blood of the dragon as pure as possible.
In the real (Alicent) timeline, Laena married Viserys's brother Daemon after a brief flirtation at Westeros's third-bloodiest wedding.
In Fire & Blood, the book House of the Dragon is based on, Daemon and Rhaenyra go on to have two boys: Aegon and Viserys. Yup, another Aegon and another Viserys. They also have a daughter, Visenya, but she is sadly a stillborn baby.
Both Rhaenyra and Daemon were known to be unfaithful to their partners, and they even had some kind of romantic interaction together prior to their wedding.
In the book Fire and Blood, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen does indeed marry Ser Laenor Velaryon. The pair go on to - officially at least - have three sons.
When finally did give birth to the baby, it is said that the child had a hole where her heart should have been, a tail, and scales for skin—a monster, as her mother had cursed her to be.