If you can count on the Targaryens for anything, it's incest.
The family at the heart of House of the Dragon has a longstanding tradition of marrying sibling to sibling, cousin to cousin, and, in the case of Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith), niece to uncle. However, Season 2, episode 5 takes us fully into Oedipal territory, with Daemon having a sex dream about — drumroll, please — his own mother, Alyssa (Emeline Lambert).
The dream is yet another installment in Daemon's mysterious Harrenhal visions. But while those previously centered young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) or his late wife, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell, who also makes an appearance in this episode), this one focuses on someone we've never seen before in the show.
At the start of the vision, we don't know the woman Daemon is kissing and caressing is actually Alyssa. She's clearly a Targaryen based on her hair, but otherwise we don't have much to go off of.
She hypes Daemon up in voiceover while putting Viserys (Paddy Considine) down, telling him, "You were always the strong one. The finest swordsman. The fearless dragonrider. Your brother had great love in his heart, but he lacked your constitution. Viserys was unsuited for the crown, but you, Daemon, you were made to wear it. If only you'd been born first."
At this point, you're probably thinking, "wow, this unknown woman seems to know a lot about about the relationship between Viserys and Daemon. I wonder who she could be? Wait. Surely not..."
That's when House of the Dragon delivers an incestuous elbow drop right to the gut. "My favorite son," the woman declares, and the details of Daemon's vision fall into place. This is Alyssa Targaryen, daughter of Jaehaerys I. She was also the first rider of Meleys, meaning that her appearance in the episode following the deaths of Meleys and Rhaenys (Eve Best) carries extra weight.
Alyssa married her brother Baelon, and, according to Fire & Blood, had three children: Viserys, Daemon, and Aegon, who died before he even turned a year old. Alyssa died not long after that last childbirth. However, based on the blood on Daemon's hands and on Alyssa's body as the vision ends, it seems like House of the Dragon is implying that Alyssa died while giving birth to Daemon. (Or the blood, when coupled with the distorted screams in the background, is yet another gesture to the violent acts that have haunted Daemon during his time at Harrenhal, and the violence he sanctions the Blackwoods to commit against the Brackens this episode.)
Of course, if Alyssa did die during Daemon's childbirth in the show's canon, there's no way she would really know anything about Daemon being a fierce dragonrider or fighter. Even by the book's telling, she died when he was around two years old. As in all of Daemon's prior visions and dreams, Alyssa's words are just a magical projection. It's telling, then, that she only has good things to say about him.
Characters Daemon knew and was married to for years, like Rhaenyra and Laena, haunt him with tales of his worst insecurities and actions. But since Daemon never had a relationship with his mother that he can remember, the forces at play in Harrenhal warp her into someone he can take comfort in. (Maybe a little too much comfort.)
The Alyssa in his vision seems to boost Daemon's ego, as he later reveals to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) that he plans to take King's Landing for himself. Rhaenyra, he says, can choose to sit at his side. That Harrenhal DIY project is starting to look a little treasonous there, buddy!
Luckily, we can always count on Alys to put Daemon in his place. "It's a pity, don't you think, that you never knew your mother?" she asks.
This isn't the first time that Alys has seemed to know what's going on in Daemon's visions. In episode 4, she hinted at how much he must have hated losing out on the Iron Throne to an adolescent Rhaenyra — something his vision of Rhaenyra brought up that very same episode. Here, the reference to Alyssa is no coincidence either: Alys is aware of the dreams haunting Daemon. But is she directly responsible? (That drink from episode 4 did look pretty suspect.) Or is this fully the curse of Harrenhal at work, with her just hearing whispers of the dreams on the wind?
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
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