Daemon’s vision in ‘House of the Dragon’: What does he see after touching the tree?
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has spent the last few episodes of “House of the Dragon” Season Two soul searching in the Riverlands while his wife, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), strategizes. Why does he long to be king? After ceding his ambitions years prior to his brother, can he do so again to a woman?
His walkabout seems to end in the Season Two finale, thanks to his first encounter with a weirwood tree.
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The tree is located in the godswood of Harrenhal. Godswood are enclosed wooden areas within the castles of the Seven Kingdoms. Typically, at the center of the godswood is a weirwood tree with a face carved into it, called a heart tree.
These trees, in the universe of George R. R. Martin’s books, are places of worship for those who pray to the old gods and are thought to have magical powers. If a castle doesn’t have a weirwood, another type of tree will be used to fill the role of a heart tree.
Viewers of “Game of Thrones” will remember the importance of these red-leafed trees. Bran Stark had many a vision brought on by touching the bark of a weirwood.
The scene in “House of the Dragon” at the Riverlands is reminiscent of Bran’s journeying. Daemon, at Alys Rivers’ (Gayle Rankin) urging, touches the tree so that he can finally learn his fate.
“Do you wish to learn, then, what is given to you?” Alys says. “All your life you’ve sought to command your own fate. But today you are ready.”
Daemon touches the tree and up, up, up and away he goes, into the past and future. He gets a glimpse at the events told in “Game of Thrones,” which are to unfold 200 years in the future. He sees how his family is connected to the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy.
And when he finally reemerges, his entire perspective on Rhaenyra and the Iron Throne have changed.
Here’s what to know.
What does Daemon see in his vision, exactly?
Daemon has been having lots of visions — some of which would give Freud fodder for a book (or trilogy). He’s been seeing his dead brother. He’s been sleeping with his late mother (really).
But the vision at the weirwood is different because it’s more forward-facing — things viewers familiar with “Game of Thrones” know will happen.
The visions are disjointed. He sees:
A blond man seemingly strapped to a dead tree.
The Three-Eyed Raven flying toward him.
A snowy path leading to an army led by the Night King.
A dead dragon, and a man stepping through profound carnage, with bodies all around him.
Daemon plunging into water.
Dragon eggs in fire, then a naked woman holding hatched dragons in a charred landscape.
Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne.
Finally, our resident oracle Helaena saying, “It’s all a story. And you’re but one part in it. You know your part.”
These visions indicate events to come in the near future, which align with what’s told in George R. R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood”: A battle is coming and so is Daemon’s own death. (In the book, Daemon meets his end after a dragon fight sends him and Aemond crashing into a lake.) Eventually, Rhaenyra will take the throne (which she does in the book — but it’s a short-lived reign).
The visions also indicate what comes far in the future next, thanks to the appearance of the Three-Eyed Raven.
If you watched “Game of Thrones,” you’ll remember Bran Stark encounters the Three-Eyed Raven in two forms: first, as a bird in his dreams, and then as an old man literally growing into the roots of a weirwood. Through the power of greensight, the Raven can travel into people’s visions, as he is now with Daemon.
In Martin’s books, the Three-Eyed Raven was once Brynden Rivers, a Targaryen loyalist who lived during the rule of Aegon I. After disappearing, Brynden took on another life as the Three-Eyed Raven. In the show, the Raven — never confirmed to be Brynden and played by Max von Sydow — helps Bran awaken his ability to have prophetic vision.
Seeing the Three-Eyed Raven here is a sure indication of prophecy.
As we know from “Game of Thrones,” dragons become extinct but do return — thanks to Daenerys Targaryen — many years in the future. Daenerys is able to hatch three real dragons from eggs others thought had been permanently turned to stone.
And then there’s the real threat: not dragon fire, but the ice of the White Walker army.
Targaryen monarchs have long seen this coming and passed the news of it to each other in secret. King Viserys’ last words are Aegon I’s dream, also known as the Prince That Was Promised prophecy or the Song of Ice and Fire. The dream speaks of a great threat of “cold and dark.” The only way Westeros can survive the coming threat is with a Targaryen on the Iron Throne “to unite the realm.”
In short, the tree is a wake-up call; Daemon sees that winter is, in fact, coming. He now understands that this story is far bigger than he is — and the threat is far greater than just Greens and Blacks. If anything, the Targaryens should be a united force.
(It’s worth noting that a Targaryen, ultimately, doesn’t kill the White Walkers in “Game of Thrones.” Arya Stark eliminates the threat.)
How does Daemons' vision change him?
Turns out, the Riverlands for Daemon is just husband-reform school. The weirwood has a profound impact on him, leading to a spiritual 180. He goes from resenting Rhaenyra to supporting her.
When Rhaenyra shows up at the Riverlands, Daemon announces that he won the region’s houses over to their side. But what about him, Rhaenyra wonders when she asks, “To whom are you sworn?”
That’s when our newly tamed Daemon speaks to her in High Valyrian, conveying wisdom he learned from the tree.
“This war is just beginning,” he says. “Winter is coming with darkness and doom.”
Rhaenyra’s reaction is, essentially, I’ve heard this song before. “You sound like my father,” she says.
“I saw it. I saw that we cannot withstand it. And yet, somehow we must,” he says.
Switching back to the Common Tongue, he says, “The realm’s only hope is a leader who can unite it, and my brother chose you.”
A few pets of a weirwood later, and Daemon now fully backs Rhaenyra. He realizes not everything is about him. His “role,” as Helaena says, is already written, and it may not involve being king.
Rather, he’s one in a chain of people trying to stave off pending doom and destruction — of which the Dance of the Dragons is just the start. His ego steps aside so that he can fight on the right side, which, he is more certain than ever, is the Blacks.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
