Daemon Targaryen's vision on House of the Dragon, explained beat by beat

In the season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, the mysterious Alys Rivers takes Daemon to the Harrenhal godswood and has him lay his hand on the weirwood tree. He sees a vision of things to come which reorients his perspective. Let's break down what happens here.

Bloodraven

The first thing Daemon sees is an image of a man entwined in the branches of a weirwood tree. He has a raven-shaped wine-colored birthmark on his face. This is Brynden Rivers, also known as Bloodraven, also known as the Three-Eyed Raven from Game of Thrones (called the Three-Eyed Crow in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books). He's played on House of the Dragon by Joshua Ben-Tovim.

Brynden Rivers is a Targaryen bastard who will be born decades after the events of House of the Dragon. He's Hand of the King to several monarchs as well as Master of Whisperers. At one point he's sent to the Wall and is lost on a ranging in the far North. We don't exactly what happens next, but he ends up meeting the Children of the Forest and becoming the Three-Eyed Raven/Crow. With his powers, he's capable of peering through time, with the catch that he's trapped in a tree for the rest of his apparently immortal life. On Game of Thrones, we met him when he was played first by Struan Rodger and then by Max von Sydow.

There's still a lot we don't know about Bloodraven, but he's involved in the fight against the White Walkers. On Game of Thrones, he's eventually killed by the Night King, but not before he passes his powers on to Bran Stark.

White Walkers

Next Daemon sees a vision of White Walkers, the ice creatures who threatened humanity on Game of Thrones, which is set well over a hundred years after the events of House of the Dragon. He walks past the bodies of men and dragons before falling into a pool and reaching up for air.

Daemon is seeing a vision of what will be should the White Walkers eventually overrun Westeros and wipe out humanity. This is the fate that the characters on Game of Thrones were trying to prevent. The vision, possibly sent by Bloodraven, is trying to tell Daemon that he has a part to play in averting this apocalypse as well. Daemon may not know what a White Walker is, but he knows they're scary and bad and that it's best if they don't get what they want.

There's also significance to Daemon drowning in that pool of water, although it involves major SPOILERS. In Fire & Blood, Daemon and Aemond eventually battle on dragonback above a lake called the Gods Eye, near Harrnehal. I suspect the bit where he falls into deep cold water is just a spooky representation of the plight he and all of humanity will be in if they aren't stopped.

Daenerys Targaryen

Next, we see an image of a comet blazing across the sky before seeing Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled princess played by Emilia Clarke on Game of Thrones. The comet passed overhead in the final episode of Game of Thrones season 1, which ended with Daenerys' three dragons being born. The four of them would go on to instrumental in the fight against the White Walkers.

Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne

Finally, Daemon sees a vision of his wife Rhaenyra Targaryen on the Iron Throne, bathed in golden light. This is Bloodraven or the Children of the Forest or the universe or whoever telling Daemon that in order for the White Walker apocalypse to be averted, Rhaenyra must take the throne. Daemon has been wavering in his support of Rhaenyra this season, but seeing this inspired him to recommit himself to her.

Helaena Targaryen, who herself has precognitive powers, then shows up to Daemon and tells him that he "knows his part" in this drama. This underlines that Daemon should stop striving for his own glory and support Rhaenyra for the greater good of the realm.

Mileage will vary on how much you enjoy this scene. It's fun for Game of Thrones fans to get a few easter eggs, but personally, I don't like how it diminishes Daemon's own personal drive in favor of making him only one "part" of a greater story. I think Daemon is a more interesting character if he thinks he's the hero of the story, even if he's not. And I don't like that he's now being motivated by events that won't happen in this universe for over a hundred years. I'd rather the drama be centered in the characters and time and place House of the Dragon has already established.

We have a while to wait before we see how House of the Dragon follows up on this. There's no exact release date, but I'd expect season 3 to come out in 2026.

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