Let’s Break Down Daemon’s Vision in House of the Dragon Season 2’s Finale
Daemon’s last spooky Harrenhal nightmare is a doozy.
Daemon’s time in Harrenhal has provided a strange subplot for House of the Dragon Season 2. While Rhaenyra and Aegon have been planning all-out battles and secret espionage, he’s been doing some home repairs and raising an army by engaging in some mild-to-moderate war crimes. But all throughout, his time at Harrenhal has been interrupted — or perhaps controlled — by visions fueled by a local heart tree and the mysterious healer Alys Rivers.
In the Season 2 finale, all those events build to one last vision that’s full of glimpses of the future — including a new look at a key character from Game of Thrones — which tie these two shows together in a brand new way. Here’s everything in Daemon’s vision, from the obvious to the hidden.
Spoilers ahead for the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale!
1. Brynden Rivers
Brynden Rivers is easily identifiable by his raven-shaped birthmark.
The first thing Daemon sees in his vision is Brynden Rivers and a three-eyed raven. Rivers was the bastard child of Daemon’s grandson, Aegon IV, and Melissa Blackwood, a member of one of the oldest families of Westeros. Brynden is known for his port wine stain birthmark that spread along his face in the shape of a raven, earning him the nickname The Bloodraven. A fierce strategist and sorcerer, he served as Hand to the King, Master of Whispers, and even Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Later in his life, he disappeared north of the Wall for decades until he was discovered by Bran Stark — the Bloodraven had become the Three-Eyed Raven, a greenseer.
Brynden’s inclusion in Game of Thrones the series has always been questionable. While Max von Sydow portrayed a character named The Three-Eyed Raven, there was never any confirmation that the character was meant to literally be Brynden. This reveal is either the confirmation fans have been waiting for, or a reveal of a pivotal Targaryen in Westerosi history, depending on how you interpret it.
2. The White Walkers
White Walkers rear their cold, dead faces once again in the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale.
“Winter is coming” has always been a calling card of Game of Thrones, and Daemon evokes them in this episode. The words of House Stark were a warning to always be prepared, but they also were an ominous sign of a wintery war yet to come: the battle between all of Westeros and the White Walkers. Daemon sees the White Walkers up close and personal in his vision.
We already know that visions of the war with the White Walkers have happened, as Aegon the Conqueror’s dream of a great threat coming from the North is indirectly the cause of the entire Dance of Dragons. But now, Daemon has firsthand knowledge of what’s coming, and it’s enough to scare him into bending the knee to his wife.
3. Daemon Drowning
Daemon will in fact die by drowning at Harrenhal and remain there forever.
We next see Daemon trudging through a battlefield where soldiers and dragons alike lay dead, and with his next step he’s suddenly drowning in murky water. Bloody battles are a dime a dozen in this era of Westerosi history, but this one in particular seems to be Daemon’s last battle. Much like Alys warned earlier in this season, Daemon will in fact die there.
In an epic dragon dogfight with Aemond in Fire & Blood, Daemon leaps onto Vhagar and stabs his nephew in the eye, forcing all involved to plummet into the Gods Eye lake. The bodies of Vhagar, Caraxes, and Aemond were recovered, but Daemon’s never was. Perhaps this vision is warning Daemon of his fate to rest forever in a watery grave.
4. Red Comet
The Red Comet as seen in Game of Thrones.
We briefly see a massive red comet streak through the sky in this vision, and in the Game of Thrones universe that can only mean one thing: The Red Comet, a mystical comet that seemed to be tied with great events in history, leading some to refer to it as the Harbinger. In Game of Thrones, the comet appeared at the end of Season 2, where it’s discussed as some kind of omen about the War of the Five Kings, but Osha explains that the comet could only mean the return of dragons.
Sure enough, the comet coincided with the hatching of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons, bringing back the superpower that seems so commonplace in Daemon’s time.
5. Daenerys Targaryen Returns
The Targaryen Game of Thrones fans came to love (at least at first) appears in her ancestor’s vision.
Daemon then sees Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons after she hatched them through fire. For those keeping track at home, that’s his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandaughter, but Targaryen blood is strong. Game of Thrones viewers know Dany better than any other Targaryen, so not much needs to be shown: we don’t even see her face.
Could this future Targaryen queen be a sign of Rhaenyra’s future, or is her involvement with the White Walkers and the Targaryen line itself applicable to Daemon’s situation?
6. Helaena’s Warning
Helaena’s cryptic foresight affects even Daemon.
After seeing Rhaenyra on the throne, Daemon’s niece Helaena appears from a black void. “It’s all a story, and you are but one part in it,” she says. “You know your part.” We know that Helaena has had prophetic dreams in House of the Dragon before: she’s predicted Aemond’s eye loss, the Blood & Cheese murder, and many other events, even if she and others didn’t know what she was referring to at first.
Daemon’s final takeaway from this vision is that he needs to dedicate himself to Rhaenyra and the Blacks, so it’s interesting that he sees a member of the Greens who finds herself caught up in the war. Is this him subconsciously seeing the price his own blood is paying, or is it signaling something bigger?
