He’s keeping it in the family.
Spoilers below for the fifth episode of “House of the Dragon” Season 2.
The “Game of Thrones” spinoff show, “House of the Dragon,” focuses on the Targaryen family, who ride dragons, have silver hair, and often marry their own blood relatives.
Even so, the fifth episode of Season 2 features the weirdest incest yet.
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), has spent Season 2 on a bad acid trip. This season has benched him from the action, so far relegating him to stay at the notoriously spooky castle of Harrenhal, as he tries to rally troops for the war between his wife Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), and her brother Aegon (Tom Glynn Carney) over which one of them will get the Iron Throne. (Most recently in the fourth episode, the two sides had an epic dragon battle. Rhaenyra’s valuable ally, Rhaenys (Eve Best), got killed, and Aegon got burnt to a crisp, an ordeal from which he’s slowly recovering.)
During his stay in this castle, Daemon has been experiencing weird dreams and hallucinations. It’s unclear if they’re brought on by magic at Harrenhal, or perhaps if the witchy Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) is inflicting these dreams on him.
Nevertheless, when the fifth episode catches up with Daemon, he’s having a steamy tryst with a silver haired woman that seems to be one of these dreams.
She’s unfamiliar to the audience, and she looks around his age – she isn’t noticeably older.
As they canoodle, the woman says to Daemon, “You were always the strong one. The finest swordsman. The fiercest dragon rider. Your brother had love in his heart, but he lacked your constitution,” referring to his deceased brother, Viserys (Paddy Considine), who was the king before he died in Season 1. Since Daemon was the second son in his family, he was never the king, much to his ire.
The mysterious woman adds that Daemon was “made to wear” the crown, and finishes her speech by calling him her “favorite son,” making it clear that it’s his mom.
Daemon then wakes up.
His mom hasn’t been on the show, as she died when he was a young child.
Daemon is no stranger to incest, since his wife, Rhaenyra, is his niece. (Milly Alcock, who played young Rhaenyra, told The Post in Season 1 that shooting a tryst with her on-screen uncle was “quite gnarly.”)
And Aegon, who usurped Rhaenyra’s throne, is married to his sister, Helena (Phia Saban).
So on one hand, a character having a sex dream about his mom seems like just another day on “House of the Dragon.”
Nevertheless, this is still pretty out-there. Incest between parents and children is taboo, even for Targaryens. Most of it happens between siblings or cousins in their family.
Later in the episode, Alys makes a comment about Daemon having never known his mother – making it seem clear that she’s aware of his strange sex dream.
“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and streams on Max.
