While Daemon and Rhaenyra have been circling each other for quite some time, the finale revealed a darker and more toxic aspect of their relationship when, arguing over how to proceed against Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), Daemon chokes Rhaenyra in order to get his point across.
So Rhaenyra bringing up a prophecy as the reason why she doesn't want to go to war, especially as we established that Daemon does not believe in them makes him so furious that he lashes out and chokes her.
When she brings up the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, Daemon snaps and grabs her by the throat. “Dreams didn't make us kings,” he hisses as Rhaenyra struggles for breath. “Dragons did.”
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.
Daemon Led Rhaenyra Out Of The Castle To A Brothel
Instead, after learning Rhaenyra's feelings about marriage, he more or less took her out for some fun on the town… before going to the brothel, which was to teach her that women can have sex for pleasure as well as men.
While Daemon and Rhaenyra have been circling each other for quite some time, the finale revealed a darker and more toxic aspect of their relationship when, arguing over how to proceed against Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), Daemon chokes Rhaenyra in order to get his point across.
While we conjectured that something inside forced Daemon to stop before he took Rhaenyra's virginity, a recent HBO-approved “Inside the Episode” installment revealed that something was literally impotence. He literally couldn't get it up.
We last saw her find out the truth in "We Light the Way" that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
It was clear that Leana and Laenor had a close relationship, and she likely would not appreciate her uncle choosing this moment to make a statement while her brother grieves. Daemon laughs at this moment because Vaemond is choosing this moment to guilt Rhaenyra for having children with Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).
1 Daemon Probably Loves Rhaenyra
However, Fire & Blood gives some insights into Daemon's character, which House of the Dragon only touches on in the last episodes of Season 1. Daemon shows his genuine care and attention to Rhaenyra several times before the two marry.
In "King of the Narrow Sea", Rhaenyra seduced Ser Criston after she herself was denied by her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). She and her paramour spent the night together, and she was warm towards Ser Criston afterward.
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.
Daemon's age in the show is not explicitly revealed, but neither are we led to believe that his age is significantly different from what it is in George R. R. Martin's books. So, let's agree that he is (give or take) 16 years older than Rhaenyra. This places him in his early 30s when we first see him meet his niece.
Daemon grabs Rhaenyra by the neck, choking her and saying that Viserys wanted desperately to make his reign more significant. He says dreams didn't make them kings, dragons did. Rhaenyra realizes that Viserys never told his brother about the prophecy.
Her next child whom she's now pregnant with, however, will be a different story. In House of the Dragon episode 8, Rhaenyra Targaryen is pregnant with her daughter Visenya. Despite Rhaenyra and Daemon's excitement over having another child, their daughter will tragically never take a breath of air.
He doesn't only ignore Laena on the issue, though, he actively ignores his daughter Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning) as well, perhaps because she doesn't own a dragon like her sister Baela (Shani Smethhurst) or her parents.
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.
At birth, Aemond was said to be half the size his older brother, Aegon, had been, though he was twice as fierce. At the age of ten, Aemond lost his right eye during a fight with his nephew Lucerys Velaryon. Subsequently Aemond took to putting a sapphire in place of the missing eye.
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. RELATED: House of the Dragon: Which Dragon is Daemon Singing To?
Daemon stops himself from taking her virginity, though, fleeing the scene conflicted while leaving Rhaenyra to make her way home alone.
Prosthetic designer confirms: the baby was deformed
“When the babe at last came forth, she proved indeed a monster: a stillborn girl, twisted and malformed, with a hole in her chest where her heart should have been and a stubby, scaled tail.
While House Of The Dragon episode 4 showed Daemon was able to seduce Rhaenyra by kissing and undressing her, he couldn't fulfill the act due to impotence.
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. Before a 10-year time jump occurred in the show's sixth epsode, Daemon took a young Rhaenyra to a brothel in King's Land where the two got intimate.
Daemon is said to love his family by both the showrunners and fans but we're only shown his love for Viserys and Rhaenyra. Even Matt Smith has said that they're the only people Daemon cares about. Going by the actor's words and what we've seen on the show, Daemon doesn't seem to care about his daughters.
Daemon stumbles back to the Red Keep and is brought before the king, who confronts him with the White Worm's intel. Daemon, pointedly, doesn't deny that he and Rhaenyra had sex.