Daenerys Targaryen appeared in the Dragon House season 2 finale, and connects to the fall of House Targaryen. The episode, “The Queen Who Ever Was,” surprisingly made the prequel’s biggest connection to Game of Thrones so far, as Daemon Targaryen had a vision of Daenerys. Beside her were the Three-Eyed Raven and a White Walker (though not the Night King himself) leading an army of the dead.
The implication of the scene in Dragon House The Season 2 ending is that Daenerys is the Prince Who Was Promised, the prophesied hero who will lead Westeros to salvation and help them win the day against the coming darkness, aka the White Walkers. Game of Thrones‘The ending didn’t make her the ultimate savior, so why does Daemon’s vision ostensibly show her that way? The real reason probably has to do with a major flaw not just by Daemon, but by many other Targaryens.
Why Daemon Targaryen Saw Daenerys In House Of The Dragon
Matches House Targaryen’s Game Of Thrones story
Daemon seeing Daenerys is not just about the future of House Targaryen, but also about the family’s former sense of superiority. We as viewers know that Dany is not the Prince That Was Promised in Game of Thrones (although she may still be in the role of George R.R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire books), and also Daemon imagines a Targaryen as the similarly prophesied hero. He fully believes in the notion that winter is coming and that Rhaenyra must sit on the Iron Throne to lead this coming savior.
The idea of Targaryens seeing themselves as greater than others dates back at least to Aegon the Conqueror, whose own prophecy stated that only one Targaryen on the Iron Throne would be able to unite the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros to defeat the White Walkers. Even away from it, The family’s status as the last surviving dragonlords of Old Valyria positioned them – to themselves and others – as being closer to the gods than to men. This was even turned into Westeros law: the Doctrine of Exceptionalism is a precept that allows Targaryens to practice incest because they are not like other humans.
It highlights how the Targaryens’ belief in being superior to others is propelling them forward, but to ruin, not glory.
With this context, it becomes a more interesting choice to show Daemon having a vision that suggests Daenerys is the Prince Who Was Promised, when we know she is not. Of course he sees the hero as coming from his and Rhaenyra’s lineage. It highlights how the Targaryens’ belief in being superior to others is propelling them forward, but to ruin, not glory.
The Targaryens turned Aegon’s dream into their own destruction
The Conqueror’s Prophecy Was Really More of a Curse
The Targaryens’ belief in their own exceptionalism is what also leads to such an immediate belief in Aegon the Conqueror’s dream of the Song of Ice and Fire. It’s much easier for them to believe in the notion of impending darkness and great threat when they are the central heroes of the story. Unfortunately, this is what is leading them – and Westeros – to disaster.
Rhaenyra and Aegon are sharing Westeros with the Dance of Dragons, the exact opposite of what Aegon’s dream wants to happen, and both are defined by the prophecy in different ways. Aegon assumes the throne thanks to a misunderstanding regarding the dream; Rhaenyra is encouraged by this, her growing god complex supported by the notion that she is not only the rightful ruler of the kingdom but its savior (or at least they will come from her bloodline).
The worst part of this for the Targaryens is not just the many deaths or the divided and war-torn kingdom, but also the fact that it leads to the deaths of the dragons.
Daemon’s view of Dany and the idea of her being the Prince That Was Promised only contribute to this. The goal of the vision is to get him back to supporting Rhaenyra, and he does so with proclamations that he now believes in Aegon’s dream. Thanks to this new vision, the war will only intensify further; any chance of peace is long dead.
The worst part of this for the Targaryens is not just the many deaths or the divided and war-torn kingdom, but that This leads to the death of dragons. The last Targaryen dragon dies about 20 years after the civil war, but it’s the Dance that directly leads to it. Most of the dragons in the cast die during the war, with only a few surviving. The Targaryens themselves, thanks largely to Aegon’s prophecy and now Daenerys’s vision of Daemon in Dragon Housethey will be so blinded by their own exceptionalism that they will destroy the very thing that defines them.