As Daemon Targaryen suffers nightmares week after week in the dark, dank chambers of Harrenhal, House of the Dragon Fans have one question on their minds: “When will this be over?”
But while Game of Thrones fans are chanting “Filler!” and Luigi’s Mansion memesI am here to advocate for the events of Harrenhal, and to celebrate the strange, spooky, and incestuous events in the Riverlands. Harrenhal has allowed House of the Dragon to emphasize its mystical side amidst much political scheming in Dragonstone and King’s Landing, and bloody skirmishes elsewhere, and has given the show an injection of aesthetic diversity. I’ll say it: Harrenhal is beautiful and terrifying, and refreshingly different from anything we’ve seen in Westeros. (Not to be all “I’m getting a lot of ‘Boss Baby’ vibes from thisbut Harrenhal’s exterior gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling ‘Shrine of Storms from Demon Souls‘ vibes. I love how the castle from the show is designed.)
But most of all, Harrenhal has given Daemon something to do and a chance to reflect on his character.
Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO
Daemon has few places to go that would welcome him at this point. He’s run away—or nearly banished—from King’s Landing, Dragonstone, Pentos, and the Vale. Being stuck in the swamps of Harrenhal is fitting, considering his abandonment of Rhaenyra in her constant time of need and her own inability to escape Dragonstone. He deserves to be stuck here and face his demons in a painful way.
Thankfully, four weeks into Daemon’s stay at Harrenhal, we’re actually seeing some progress. Maybe not in terms of Harrenhal being repaired or the formation of a functioning garrison, but the weeks of increasingly fucked-up dreams Daemon has endured have forced him to confront his relationships with Rhaenyra, Laena, and Viserys. Daemon finally seems to realize that he might be wrong, thanks to Alys Rivers’ brand of poison therapy. It works, and as anyone who’s been through therapy knows, that kind of change doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it means processing a sex dream about your mother.
As Alys says in her argument with Daemon in this week’s episode House of the Dragon“When you don’t like something, you run.” With few places left to run to, Daemon has little choice but to follow her advice and wait for the wind to change, while also accepting that running away from his problems (and the ghosts that haunt him and Harrenhal) isn’t the answer.
Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO
Or maybe this is, like, character development. And maybe I just like watching Daemon suffer. After all, he dragged his brother through hell and is now with his third wife, whom he is secretly plotting against. Oh, and he is also indirectly responsible for the death of a small child, thanks to a botched assassination attempt that he outsourced. Daemon is a dick, and a few weeks of bad sleep and disconnection from reality seems like the beginning of a fitting punishment.
From the viewer’s perspective, Daemon’s suffering at Harrenhal has given us the brief return of beloved characters, including Paddy Considine’s Viserys and Milly Alcock’s younger Rhaenyra. From a purely fan service standpoint, I’m glad to see these people back. Likewise, Daemon’s (and the viewers’) extended stay at Harrenhal has also given us time to spend with the delightful Ser Simon Strong, played with sharp, understated “well, actually” energy by Simon Russell Beale. Simon brought some pleasant comic relief to House of the Dragonand I say: the more of him the better.
So yes, Daemon is spinning his wheels at Harrenhal; rightfully so. He’s shown little capacity for change up until now, and now he’s finally asking for help. Maybe his latest breakthrough—and the timely death of Grover Tully—will actually help him move forward.
But I will not mind if Daemon is kept busy at Harrenhal a little longer.