HOTD's Showrunner Hinted At The Importance Of Alicent's Unseen Third Son
More Greens are coming.
Just when you thought there was no way House of the Dragon could squeeze in any more characters, it’s starting to sound like Season 2 will open the door to some very important new faces. In particular, superfans are curious about when one key player who was completely missing from Season 1 will finally make his TV debut. Alicent’s eldest sons, Aegon and Aemond, stirred up a heaping helping of drama in Season 1, but her youngest, Daeron, wasn’t even mentioned. Well, now co-creator and executive producer Ryan Condal is spilling on how important Daeron Targaryen will be to the House of the Dragon story, and when fans can expect him to fly in.
In George R. R. Martin’s novels, Daeron is a pretty important part of the Dance of the Dragons, the name given to the Targaryen versus Targaryen battle for the Iron Throne that is the focus of House of the Dragon. Daeron is Alicent’s fourth and youngest child, and although he would have been alive during the events depicting in the latter half of HotD Season 1, the series has yet to show or even mention him. His older brothers, Aegon and Aemond, were central parts of Season 1’s story; even his big sis Helaena showed up every once in a while. But no Daeron.
There’s a logical reason for this absence, though, which Martin himself pointed out after fans grew curious as to his whereabouts. “Daeron is down in Oldtown, we just did not have the time to work him in this season,” Martin explained on his blog earlier in October.
Recently, Condal expanded on Daeron’s whereabouts in a Season 1 postmortem interview with Variety, confirming that Alicent’s youngest dragon rider does indeed exist in the show’s universe and will be introduced when it’s relevant.
“He does exist. No worries, everybody,” Condal said. “He’s warded off at Oldtown to Hobert Hightower and soon to Ormond Hightower, who is Hobert’s nephew, who becomes Lord of Oldtown. Honestly, this stuff happened all the time in this world. It’s not our modern day where if you had a 6-year-old, you would FaceTime them every day and see how they’re doing and write letters. He’s there. That’s the fact. When he is relevant to be mentioned — and he will be — he will be mentioned.”
In terms of Daeron’s story, the show has remained faithful to Martin’s lore so far. Alicent’s youngest son was sent to serve as a cupbearer and squire for his mother’s cousin, Lord Ormund Hightower, in Oldtown when he was a child. As the Dance of the Dragons began, Ormund was pivotal in leading the Reach forces in support of Aegon II’s claim to the throne. Daeron came of age as a knight in Ormund’s army, earning the name Daeron the Daring for his formidable dragon riding abilities on his dragon, Tessarion.
Though he started out spending most of his time in Oldtown, Daeron became involved in several pivotal battles during the Dance of the Dragons, so it’s hard to imagine the series would wait too long to finally introduce him. It’s still unclear if Daeron will get his spotlight in Season 2 or not, but fans can rest assured that he’ll be flying into House of the Dragon at some point.
