King Viserys tried to tell Daemon about the Song of Ice and Fire in cut scene

The tides have changed on House of the Dragon. After eight episodes, King Viserys I Targaryen has finally died. The stage is beings set for the Dance of the Dragons civil war. While George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood finds plenty of political and personal reasons for the green faction to deny Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne, House of the Dragon adds another layer: during his final moments, King Viserys tells Alicent about the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, and she misinterprets his words to mean that he is proclaiming his son Aegon the new king on his deathbed.

It’s a tragic moment; Viserys doesn’t even realize it’s Alicent that he’s talking to, he’s trying to answer a question his daughter Rhaenyra asked him the previous night. Instead, he accidentally pushes things even closer to war.

“The fact that Alicent misinterprets it is horrific,” Viserys actor Paddy Considine told The New York Times. “What comes next would horrify Viserys. I mean, we have this knowledge of where this goes and the fact that [the prophecy] did come true. But the fact that it’s misunderstood is an absolute disaster. Viserys would be turning in his grave.”

In deleted scene, Viserys tried to tell Daemon about the prophecy

The fact that Alicent mistakes Viserys’ words is sure to cause all sorts of trouble, though it brings up a pretty fair question: if the Targaryens hadn’t guarded this secret quite so closely, could the coming bloodshed have been avoided? As of Episode 8, King Viserys and his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) are the only ones who know about the Song of Ice and Fire, a prophetic dream of their ancestor Aegon the Conqueror which holds that only a Targaryen leader can avert the White Walker invasion that will one day happen in Game of Thrones. Couldn’t Viserys have told a couple of other Targaryens, perhaps his brother Daemon?

“No way, not at that time,” said Considine. The idea of Viserys telling Daemon about the prophecy is actually something the show explored; they even tried to film a scene where the king subtly tested whether his brother was ready for the information.

“That’s something that we struggled with,” Considine recalled. “There was a scene that was deleted after Aemma (Sian Brooke) died, where Viserys meets with Daemon and he tries to hint at this idea of prophecies and what the gods mean to him. He was trying to get some idea where Daemon’s at with his beliefs, but the tone of the scene was never quite right. There’s no way that Daemon would even connect to that — he’d laugh Viserys out of the room. He’s not into dreamers or things like that.”

Viserys making Daemon Hand of the King “never would have worked”

Daemon and Viserys had a fraught relationship on House of the Dragon. While the king always strained to keep his family together, Daemon often pushed boundaries and flouted the rules of court.

Yet there’s no denying that there’s love there. There’s one scene in the season premiere where Viserys is disinheriting Daemon as heir to the throne, and Daemon angrily points out that in 10 years Viserys never named him Hand of the King. He claims that Otto Hightower and Viserys’ small council are leeches, preying on his weakness. “They don’t protect you. I would,” he declares.

Time has made this moment even more interesting, because on some levels Daemon is absolutely right. Otto Hightower does use Viserys to satisfy his own ambitions. Episode 8 featured a beautiful, unscripted moment where the decrepit King Viserys is struggling toward the Iron Throne to defend the rights of his grandchild Lucerys, and his crown falls from his head. Daemon picks it up, helps the king to his seat, and then tenderly places the crown upon Viserys’ brow.

Given how Viserys has been gradually robbed of power throughout the season, this scene does make one wonder if he should have listened to Daemon all those years ago. Whatever enmity lies between them, Daemon and Viserys have always had a soft spot for each other. Maybe Daemon would have been a good choice for Hand after all?

“Absolutely not!” Considine said with a laugh. “Daemon was a liability. It never would have worked. Viserys knew Daemon couldn’t sit in Small Council meetings for 12 hours straight. He doesn’t have the temperament. Even at the end, there aren’t words in that relationship. Daemon helps him up there, and he puts the crown on his head, and that said everything that he’s never said, without uttering a word. But that guy could never have been able to be Viserys’s Hand.”

As much as I wish it were otherwise, Considine’s logic is pretty unassailable. Daemon is a rogue prince, through and through. Imagining him as a bureaucrat is pretty hard.

Now King Viserys has passed on and all these questions of how the Dance of the Dragons could have been averted are but musings. Civil war is coming. We’ll see how Alicent and the greens react to the misinterpreted prophecy when “The Green Council” premieres on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday.

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