One Crucial Daemon Storyline House of the Dragon Could Not Be Bothered to Develop
Who needs character development if you are an Internet darling anyway?
Daemon Targaryen is arguably one of the most favorite — and most controversial — characters in House of the Dragon. However, fans believe that he is not getting a fair enough treatment by the Game of Thrones prequel showrunners.
Not only have they axed the scenes where he interacted with his daughters Baela and Rhaena, but also the show never actually gave viewers a chance to explore Daemon's relationship with his first wife Rhea Royce.
Moreover, their one and only interaction ended with Daemon killing her — something that never happened in the books. In fact, only by reading the books can one get to know that Daemon was forced to marry Rhea and it was a bitterly unhappy marriage.
The series, however, has been "devolved to Daemon throwing random insults at his wife with no context", as Redditor ThinWhiteDuke00 noted. The lack of any insights into their marriage remains one of the biggest regrets among fans.
According to Redditors, there are actually a lot of missed opportunities to explore.
"It also seems like she kept in communication with Otto, or someone on the council. It seemed rather interesting that when we see her and Daemon together, she's giving him back, word for word the words that he'd said at that meeting. I found that to be very curious," Redditor apkyat said.
House of the Dragon could in fact address a pretty acute topic instead of simply resorting to Daemon hating on his first wife for no reason, fans note.
"I think it's actually pretty important to explore the angle of "underage marriage" and the fact that Daemon was literally a teenage boy when he was forced into marriage," Redditor Ozymandias1009 said.
Rhea Royce, portrayed by Rachel Redford, appeared in House of the Dragon's season 1 episode 5, We Light The Way, only to immediately get killed off.
The second season is set to begin filming in March 2023, with HBO to announce the premiere date later.