Who was Daemon Targaryen's mother, Alyssa Targaryen?

Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has yet another dream sequence in the latest episode of House of the Dragon. He's having sex with a woman who has the silver-blonde hair of a Targaryen. Disturbingly, she calls Daemon her "favorite son," implying that Daemon is dreaming about having sex with his own mother. There's also a thin trail of blood on the nape of her neck, in cast this wasn't creepy enough already.

After that Freudian nightmare is over and Daemon is awake, Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) tells him that it's a shame that he never knew his mother. Why all this mother talk? Who was Daemon's mother anyway?

Meet Alyssa Targaryen

Alyssa Targaryen was the fifth child born to King Jaehaerys Targaryen and his sister-wife, the good queen Alysanne. Altogether, Jaehaerys and Alysanne had 13 children, and Jaehaerys ruled for longer than any other monarch in the history of Westeros. He's generally regarded as a great king who presided over a time of lasting peace.

Alyssa eventually married her older brother Baelon, the fourth child of Jaehaerys and Alysanne. Other than the obvious weird incest thing, a Targaryen tradition, their marriage seemed happy. Alyssa gave birth to their son Viserys in 77 AC and to Daemon in 81 AC. In 84 AC she gave birth to another son, Aegon, both but she and the baby died within a year.

So Daemon would have been around 3 or 4 years old when his mother died, not old enough to really get to know her. (Baelon, for the record, died in 101 AC, when Daemon was 20.) If he had known Alyssa, he might have found that they had a fair number of things in common. Alyssa liked to ride, climb and play with wooden swords, and boasted that she was "as bawdy a wench as any barmaid in King's Landing." She was fierce and had a temper, once emptying a flagon of wind over her brother Vaegon's head after he insulted their sister Daella.

It sounds like she and Daemon shared a certain fiery temperament. Like Daemon, she was a dragonrider. She rode the dragon Meleys, the same dragon ridden by Rhaenys on House of the Dragon. RIP.

That said, I'm not sure why Alyssa is showing up in Daemon's sex dreams/visions/whatever's happening to him at Harrenhal. Nor am I sure whether Alys Rivers has a role in summoning her, whether it happened on its own and she can just tell somehow, or if she just got lucky when she mentioned Daemon's mother to him.

In his dream, Alyssa tells Daemon that he was made to wear a crown, one of many things leading to his decision to raise on army in anticipation of a bid to take the Iron Throne, from his nephew Aegon as well as his wife Rhaenyra. There's a lot of internal turmoil roiling within him, especially regarding his family, so maybe we shouldn't be shocked that he has some mommy issues as well. A therapist would be set for life if they ever got Daemon on their couch.

101 AC: Baelon dies of a burst belly (probably appendicitis) after coming home from a hunting trip

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.