Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen is determined to solve the problem on the Stepstones without his brother’s help.
But Rhaenyra could lose more than just a friend.
Viserys named her his heir to the Throne after losing his wife and newborn son.
Ollie Upton/HBO
Furthermore, his decision also served to distance his dangerous brother, Daemon (Matt Smith).
(Privately, he says “the realm would tear itself apart” if Rhaenyra came into power.)
She and Viserys have several tense conversations in which they argue over the necessities of a strategic marriage.
Gary Moyes/HBO
It’s hard to believe him.
He let the vision go once he realized his obsession with manifesting it killed Rhaenyra’s mother.
After all, he’s certainly no dragon rider, nor is he a warrior or conqueror.
Wil Johnson, Matt Smith, and Theo Nate on ‘House of the Dragon’.Ollie Upton/HBO
Viserys can’t even manage to slay the normal stag they rounded up for him efficiently.
His strikes are sloppy and the animal dies in horrible pain.
Being a dreamer might be all he has.
He knows he’s seen as weak.
It’s a meager show of strength, which is all he’s capable of.
Later, the elusive white hart reveals itself to Rhaenyra and Cole but she refuses to kill it.
Heck, they don’t seem to mean all that much to Viserys, either.
Meanwhile, Corlys and Daemon’s war against the Triarchy, a.k.a.
the Crabfeeder (Daniel Scott-Smith) and his pirate goons, is a disaster.
That leads Ser Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson), Corlys' brother, to ask Viserys for help.
It’s Alicent who convinces him that it’s in his best interest for Crabfeeder to be vanquished.
He sends word to the Velaryon army that men are on the way.
When Daemon learns of this, he violently rages against the messenger.
He doesn’t want Viserys' help, no matter how badly they’re losing.
There, he waves a white flag in surrender.
This draws out Crabfeeder and several of his soldiers, one of whom approaches Daemon to take his sword.
That’s when Daemon strikes, sprinting to the cave’s entrance as arrows fall around him.
Crabfeeder summons more soldiers into the open and Daemon is felled by a pair of arrows.
The encroaching hordes surround him on all sides.
There’s no escape.
Suddenly, a jet of flame falls from the sky, incinerating the Triarchy soldiers.
Victory, and without Viserys' help.
