Daemon Targaryen Did Just Enough to Be Considered a Villain
At least that's what 'House of the Dragon' fans are saying — those who are not ready to throw all their support behind the rogue prince.
Warning: the following article contains spoilers for 'House of the Dragon ' episode 5
Five episodes into 'House of the Dragon', we got to know one thing: there is a certain group of people among the show's fans who are literally ready to forgive everything that Daemon Targaryen did, does, or will do. They would argue that Daemon, just like the rest of the show's characters, is "morally grey" — but other fans beg to differ.
According to them, Daemon has already done just enough to be considered a villain. Over the course of five episodes, he has already taken part in a cruel raid on innocent people, cheated on his wife, celebrated the death of his nephew with some jokes, started a war in defiance of the king, and, finally, murdered his own wife.
The murder of Rhea Royce was something that Daemon fans were surprisingly okay with. It did not seem to scale down the fan love that Matt Smith 's character enjoys, and some people find it really weird, even connecting this sort of fans' behavior with another popular show, 'Breaking Bad '.
"It's like the Walter White syndrome. People will defend his actions because he's an interesting character played by a great actor while glossing over the clearly evil actions he's doing," Reddit user xWhiteRavenx explained.
Some people suggest that it is about the talent and confidence that Daemon channels. After all, despite clearly not being a good person, Daemon manages to secure a lot of love not only from the show's fans, but also from many characters in 'House of the Dragon'.
This fact is illustrated by the "Daemon is innocent your honor" Twitter movement — which, naturally, is more of a joke than a serious statement. Although some people are clearly divided between their love to now-deceased Rhea and to Daemon.
While calling Daemon "morally grey" might be a little bit of a stretch, it's clear that he is one of the fan favorites in the show, alongside his niece Rhaenyra whom he shares an ambiguous chemistry with. The rogue prince does look like he is ready to go even further to achieve his goals, and we have five more episodes to witness that.
Streaming on HBO Max, 'House of the Dragon' has new episodes arriving every Sunday.