Is Daeron Targaryen Dead In 'House Of The Dragon'? His Fate, Explained
House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 8, concluded with the tense and brutal Battle of Tumbleton. If you're anything like me, then watching Daemon (Matt Smith) hack, slash, and then battle for his life once he entered the gate probably had you on the edge of your seat. While Season 3 concludes with Daemon alive and relatively well, the fate of other characters isn't quite so clear.
Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) is probably the biggest thread left dangling. Did he survive the blast from Silverwing, the dragon of the traitorous Ulf the White (Tom Bennett), or will his uncle, Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), stumble upon his body among the ash and destruction? Here's what to know about whether or not Daeron Targaryen will make it to House of the Dragon Season 4.
Daeron Targaryen Is Most Likely Alive
While it's always possible that House of the Dragon hits us with a major plot twist, Daeron Targaryen most likely survives the First Battle of Tumbleton, if George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood is anything to go by.
[BOOK SPOILERS!] When it comes to Daeron, things are much different in the book. In Fire & Blood, Daeron saves Ormund and his army during the Battle of Honeywine after flying his dragon, Tessarion, into the conflict. As a result, Ormund knights Daeron and dubs him "Daeron the Daring." In contrast, House of the Dragon skips over the battle entirely and concocts a story about Ormund wanting Daeron to be king, which never happens in the source material.
That doesn't mean that Rhaenyra doesn't still consider him a threat, though. Still, the Daeron in the book is… well… a bit more "daring" than the quiet and uninterested-in-power character we see in the series. Before the Battle of Tumbleton, Daeron even has Tessarion burn Bitterbridge to the ground to avenge the death of his nephew, Maelor Targaryen, who doesn't exist in House of the Dragon.
When we get to the First Battle of Tumbleton, things play out similarly to the show. Ulf betrays both sides (although Hugh hasn't betrayed anyone in HOTD as of yet), and Ormund dies. With Ormund out of the picture, Daeron effectively takes his place and later events, which I won't cover here to keep some mystery alive, eventually place him as first in the line for the throne. However, Daeron eventually dies in the Second Battle of Tumbleton, but the details around his demise are somewhat conflicting.
'House Of The Dragon' May Turn Daeron Into An Entirely Different Person
Looking at Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon has gone largely off-script when it comes to Daeron. Still, Ormund died, which means Daeron is most likely ready to take his place in Season 4. That's where things get tricky, though.
Thus far, the newly knighted Daeron the Daring hasn't been so daring. While he had plans to fly Tessarion into battle, both Gwayne and Ormund prevented him from interfering for different reasons. Gwayne doesn't want Daeron to die because he genuinely seems to care about him and suspects that the Battle of Tumbleton will be a massacre. In contrast, Ormund doesn't want Daeron to die because he'd lose a "king," and one he considers a "Hightower king" at that.
While House of the Dragon leads us to believe that Daeron could've perished in the fire and rubble, it's unlikely, given the role he plays in Fire & Blood. Ormund's army needs a new commander, and Daeron has been groomed to be just that. The issue is that HOTD's Daeron isn't hungry for power and even admits to Gwayne that he wishes he could walk away from it all. He tries to broker peace between the Greens and Blacks before the battle and releases Coryls (Steve Toussaint) in a gesture of goodwill—something that Ormund isn't too happy about when he finds out.
Ormund's death may ignite a fire in Daeron to seek revenge against the Blacks, but at the same time, Daeron didn't seem to like his cousin that much. Therefore, Daeron might need a new motivation to continue Ormund's fight and his own descent to the throne. Maybe Alicent will play a role in this. Or maybe the likely deaths of [BOOK SPOILERS!] Aemond and Aegon will motivate Daeron to keep fighting for the crown, seeing it more as his duty as first-in-line rather than a want.
Only time will tell, but so far, everything points to House of the Dragon having to veer from George R. R. Martin's source material to make its version of Daeron Targaryen work.
