,,go upright among those who are on their knees"

She did not hesitate. She sacrificed those people and she did not took a step back, she went through with it. And it changes the dynamic between her and daemon once again, it's a huge shift when you look back at state they both were in when they saw each other the last time. Rhaenyra no longer feels like daemon is always one step ahead of her because she is still grieving but she is no longer paralyzed. She is finally more herself again. it was there all this time. the blood of the dragon. the fire. Rhaenyra and daemon both had a hard time this season after losing so much and both have grown and that could only happen because they were away from each other.

Harrenhal changed daemon and this episode proved it. He was always loyal to rhaenyra but he struggled so hard but when he has to choose he chose rhaenyra.

Willem blackwood was loyal to daemon but daemon killed him because it was the only way to secure the loyalty of the river lords for rhaenyras claim.

I don't necessarily dislike Mysaria. I think she is being genuine BUT I would not completely trust her. I would not make secret plans with her, hiding those plans from my own son and other people I have known for longer. In mere weeks, Mysaria reached "Hand of the Queen" status. It is ridiculous. Rhaenyra is not just anyone, she is the queen, and she cannot be so naive when her actions affect the lives of so many. She simply does not have what it takes to be Queen.

And thank you writers for making me believe that the only person who knows something about ruling is Alicent. At this moment, Alicent deserves to be Queen more than anyone because she has done it and the kingdom did not fall. And this is being said by a huge team black supporter who didn't understand how anyone could be on the Greens side. Now I see it.

And a side note, I also do not enjoy Rhaenyra being bi, I swear this new trend has become ridiculous, everyone is bi or gay now, even main characters from a book adaptation, because it is so sexy. Wow. But I would still not have minded as much if the people were not making such a big deal out of it. Suddenly, without any background to support it, Mysaria and Rhaenyra have become a ship with an army of fans. THIS IS A JOKE!

Aside from certain scenes and loving how the actors presented their characters, the quality of dialogue and the build up of the characters is not the same at all.

Everytime I see the book readers write how much they cut out of the show, or how much they changed certain characters, it just gets disappointing more and more.

"If you hate it, no one is making you watch it."

Look, many of us love the universe that GRRM has created. Regardless of the last seasons of GoT, we cared a lot for the show adaptation of the book. And we will always want to come back to this world.

But that means that I want to see the world handled with care when they want to make a show adaptation. Take advice from GRRM, stick to the bloody source - don't just make your own stuff.

- isn’t there supposed to be a war going on? besides episode 4, i feel like we’ve only gotten very small snippets of war taking place. give us more snippets of war, death, despair, of the effects of this fight for the throne (besides that of king’s landing) please. even the emotions are off. i wish there was a greater sense of urgency that comes with a war being waged. i feel like jace is the only one capturing this urgency.

- going off of the first point, why isn’t rhaenyra showcasing any of this urgency? or anger? true determination? she doesn’t even do anything and then states something along the lines of “i don’t think i can win this war.” what? why isn’t she fighting tooth and nail for her throne? why isn’t she fueled with more rage that her son was murdered, her throne usurped? i’m sorry but she truly has not been doing anything except begging to go off to fight on syrax which is admirable but very much not helping. she needs to be making moves and barely any moves are being done. and then she complains about the way the others view her. i’m not a fan of her council but also you have to prove them wrong by actions not just by words, and there are no actions but plenty of words on her end.

- rhaenyra’s hesitance to do anything. i understand her hesitance for war but its just been taken way too far in the show. by continuing to paint rhaenyra in a good light by making sure she doesn’t do anything that could be seen as bad takes away from her character and how interesting it could have been.

- overall, not a fan of aegon’s characterization and while i haven’t read fire and blood, from what ive heard about his character in the book, it is infinitely better and more interesting. he’s supposed to be the opponent of rhaenyra and yet his character is very weak and almost brushed aside in favor of a more rhaenyra versus alicent front which makes me upset. i am absolutely not a fan of aegon at all. i truly wish they did not make his character the way they did as it would have been so much more interesting if they went with his book characterization instead.

- daemon. his harrenhal arc was interesting initially but has dragged on far too long. i understand that they’re trying to flesh out a character arc for him however when there are only 8 episodes and a supposed war raging on, spending so much time and energy on this arc seems like mistake when they could have spent this time advancing and fleshing out the war more. if anything, i feel as though it was purposefully done in this way in order to give an excuse to NOT flesh out the war considering the war doesn’t seem very fleshed out in almost any front except for the happenings in King’s Landing. also, he is chasing away all possible allies, which is frustrating.

- the whole “a misunderstanding started the war” is lame. the greens were already in opposition of team black way before this misunderstanding, why is it now suddenly this one misunderstanding is the driving force for what is taking place when it never was before? trying to paint alicent in a good light by making the whole thing seem like a misunderstanding takes away from her character and how interesting it could have been.

- how locationally-isolating the show has been. everything seems so isolated to driftmark-king’s landing-dragonstone-harrenhal. i wish we could see more of what’s going on in westeros

- helaena. her character is nowhere near as present or fleshed out as i would like it to be.

- the way jaehaerys’ and lucerys’ deaths feel very much forgotten. everyone got over the deaths very quickly with little mention besides the first few episodes.

- the overall reactions to rhaenys’ death was underwhelming in my opinion.

- reaction to aegon and sunfyre being injured: team black’s reaction to aegon and sunfyre potentially being dead was underwhelming and further drives the point that despite aegon being the direct opposition to rhaenyra, the writers truly do not view him as a major player at all. team green’s reaction was also so so underwhelming. this is the guy you all have been saying is the true heir to the throne, the whole driving force behind your team’s actions, ambitions, etc - and yet, there’s barely any true, substantial reaction to him being nearly killed. it’s just been overshadowed by aemond’s ambitions and the secret of aemond being the one to nearly kill him and sunfyre. also you guys are basically down a whole dragon and there’s no reaction to that?

- i’m sorry but mysaria x rhaenyra. it’s just the idea that bothers me - the writers can’t give us a proper queen!rhaenyra arc, but they can give us another rhaenyra romance. the show continues to build rhaenyra’s character around her romantic partners. without daemon by her side, i would have liked to see her come to herself and develop without a romantic partner to fall back on. instead, she has another romantic interest to fight her battles (mysaria being the mastermind behind the plans helping rhaenyra win the throne/win over the people of King’s Landing). it just makes rhaenyra seem entirely incompetent on her own.

- alicent x criston cole. i feel like the show has been putting so much attention and tension on alicent’s relationship with criston cole when i would have preferred more focus on alicent’s relationship with her children. also, for a woman who is so strongly against sexual relations outside of marriage, about duty and honor, i feel like showing us exactly how alicent x criston cole came to be is very much important for alicent’s character? instead of showing us that they’re in a relationship without any information on its progression, making it seem so out of character for alicent.

- yeah otto left but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be showing us his POV.

- the very much lack of unity in team green.

- the very much lack of unity in team black.

what i like:

On the "Daemon groomed Rhaenyra." I can see where it comes from but it is such a lie. I cannot even hear these words anymore. Why did he groom her? Because he gave her a necklace when she was 14 and there was sexual tension in the scene? First, it's Matt Smith, he can have sexual tension with a rock. Second, the same could be said for Milly Alcock. Third. They are Targaryens! Daemon always wished that his grandmother had found a wife for him like Rhaenyra, a true Targaryen bride. And Rhaenyra grew up admiring his rebellious spirit, which was very similar to hers. In a way, it was like how Daenerys always expected to marry Viserys one day. This is their tradition: to find a pure Targaryen match. But nothing happened when she was 14 and I don't believe he thought of her in a sexual way back then at all! Rhaenyra, on the other hand, already had a crush on him by then. Then he returns from the Stepstones, she was 18-19 years old and about to be married to someone she didn't care for. She was a woman then and of course he desired her, she was everything he liked mixed with the fondness he always had for her. Was it that bad for him to have taken her to a brothel to clarify all the mysteries of lovemaking that she had no clue about? I think it was progressive of him, and very feminist to be honest. Did he plan to ruin her reputation so that he could marry her? Maybe yes, maybe not. Perhaps he just wanted to marry her. Or he simply wished to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of and that pleasure could exist within the marriage or out of it. Or maybe both things. But in my vision, he didn't plan it that far, he wasn't even aware of the intensity of his feelings for her until that moment in the brothel. And it scared him in a way that all plans flew his mind. The role of uncle and lover so twisted in his mind that he had to get away from her. The entire story would have been different if he hadn't but I wouldn't have had the same love for their romance. And then how can you say that he groomed her when she always had the upper hand when it came to him? He had the entire realm fooled by his lies of marrying Mysaria and having a child with her, he was ready to die facing Otto on that bridge and then she comes, she calls him out on his lies, and immediately his farse is gone, he surrenders the egg and leaves. She had such an influence over him that one might say he was the one being groomed XD Being older does not mean anything. And Rhaenyra was always stronger than him, more decisive, more sure of herself, and she always saw him exactly for what he was, with all his flaws. She was not naive or molded by him. To say so is very diminishing of her character and I hate it. And unlike the books, Daemon and Rhaenyra only got sexually involved when she was much older, already with 3 kids and lovers, and very experienced in the act of love. And again, it was her choice, he didn't pursue her, she did!

On the "Poor Rhaenyra, she was in love with an evil man her entire life and he doesn't care for her as much." Another huge lie. Daemon loves Rhaenyra so much more than she loves him and that is very evident. He needs her more than she needs him. Him wanting to admit that or not is another story but it is the truth. During their 10 years apart, Rhaenyra was miserable because she kept being humiliated by Alicent, she had "bastard" children and a husband who didn't support her as she wished. I can see why she was not happy. But Daemon? Daemon had a fantastic wife, who believed in him, loved him, and was fierce as him. She had all the qualities he loved. They had two legitimate daughters, they traveled the world together. Then why was he so defeated? As Laena said "He didn't eat, he didn't sleep, he spent his days in a library reading books about the Targaryen ancestry". And now people may say that he was sad because he didn't have the throne. Wrong. He had already lost the throne from the moment Viserys had other children, it didn't matter anymore. Or people will say that it is because he missed his brother. Also wrong, he had been away from his brother many times over, but it never stopped him from returning as he pleased. At Rhaenyra's wedding, he didn't even fight with Viserys, so he was not exiled. No, he stayed away for so long because he didn't trust himself if he saw Rhaenyra again. He was heartbroken because she was not in his life and appeared to be faring well without him, with 3 children and a stable relationship with Harwin. From the moment Viserys died, Rhaenyra distrusted him. Outside of their happy bubble, she doubted he would accept her as queen and would try to rule over her. She believes he was not there with her at the birth of Visenya because he was already mad planning his war. But was he? Or was he making sure that the people around them were loyal and would not stab them in their backs? At the funeral of Visenya, she was partially blaming him, she wouldn't even look at him and he was just there wanting to be part of her grief, their grief, but she wouldn't let him. At the war council table, he was proud of calling her his queen, his grace, he thought they would "rule together" and yet all the proposals he makes at that table are refuted coldly by her. And he is confused. In his mind he doesn't understand why she is pushing him away, why she is so explicitly ruling out everything he says. And then Luke dies and she disappears and he is angry at everyone. But mostly he is worried because she went alone and she is exposed to Vhagar and Aemond so he wants to take down Vhagar and the threat that she represents. Finally, when Rhaenyra returns he is so relieved and, despite his harsh words before that she was straying in her duties as queen, he doesn't say any of the sort. He simply asks if she found what she needed. This is such a nice touch. At the end, he just wants to console her but doesn't know how and she doesn't let him near. And being Daemon he reacts to this feeling of being pushed away and rejected with violence as the only way he knows how to deal with his emotions. When she says "I want Aemond" he immediately goes into action because if this is the only thing he can do for her, to comfort her, then he will. And it goes terribly wrong. Overall what I mean to say is: that before Daemon started calling himself king, before he started to feel that he was better suited to rule, Rhaenyra was already blaming him and distrusting him for what he hadn't thought of doing yet. Hence, despite all of his mistakes, and he makes a lot of them, loving Rhaenyra less has never been one of them.

OK, so I've been reading posts on HOTD this season but been quiet, but after this last episode, I had to come out of hiding, because, yeah, I just can't. I called this after season 1, and I think I'm pretty sure where we're headed now. I genuinely do not believe that Daemon is being written out of character, or that this is coming out of nowhere, or that this makes no sense, or that Daemyra are being destroyed. Truly, just be patient. I think we're gonna be good.

I wrote this on October 21, 2022: The Object of Your Ire

And, yeah, I was almost 99% right there, so I've got a pretty good read on the thought process they got going. So, here's my take.

First, let's assess the situation.

Viserys dies. The throne is usurped. Daemon wants to go to war. He has no problem crowning her because they are both fire and blood. However, like Viserys, Rhaenyra cautions temperance. Because of this, Daemon fears she is weak like his brother. Luke is killed and Rhaenyra is enraged, and Daemon thinks now she will be on the same page as him. They will go to war and wipe out the traitors. They will indeed burn together. Instead, due to the Jaehaerys "mistake," Rhaenyra is once more urging caution, and Daemon's not here for that. Rhaenyra finally calls him out on the fact that Viserys didn't trust him, and now she knows that she can't either, not in this very volatile climate.

Daemon is proud and stubborn, and just as he didn't believe that Viserys didn't trust him but it was rather a case of jealousy and his own ego at play cannot see that it truly was the fact that his own intemperate actions pushed Viserys, and now Rhaenyra to this point. So he storms off. Now, in Harrenhal, these visions he is having are bringing home his guilt, parallels to moments in his life with Rhaenyra that pertain to her as heir and him not.

1) The camera work when he "killed" young!Rhaenyra was identical to when Viserys had him on the floor in S1EP4 and Viserys told him he didn't want Rhaenyra he wanted the crown 2) Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne as he walked towards her paralleled when we first saw him and Rhaenyra in the first episode but it was Daemon on the throne 3) Young!Rhaenyra was wearing the same dress that Rhaenyra was wearing when she mentioned Aegon's prophecy to her, the same when he choked her

(Also, someone pointed out that in the actual scene in the 1st episode, Daemon and Rhaenyra spoke Valyrian to each other. In this haunting vision, only young!Rhaenyra is doing so. Daemon is speaking the Common Tongue. He does not want to engage in their "secret language" in this version of young!Rhaenyra because she is not the real Rhaenyra and he knows that.)

So, why? Why is he having these visions? And why did he have the vision of having sex with his mother? Because Daemon has deep-seated issues of guilt and ego, and mommy and daddy-issues. Because Daemon feels like he should have been the one on the throne. That HE was better than Viserys. That HE would have been a better king than Viserys. That he would have been the favored son. But remember… these aren't JUST Daemon's visions, he's also almost assuredly being slipped something from Alys Rivers to hallucinate things. So, there is that. Basically, we're having a deep character dive into Daemon to deal with his guilt over some of the fucked-up things he's done, his issues that are even too much for him, and Alys's woowooaaahh! is pushing that along its way.

Oh, and BTW, that woman in Daemon's hallucination wasn't ACTUALLY Alyssa Targaryen. So, people saying, oh noes, they've ruined Alyssa Targaryen, no, no, they have not. We haven't met the real Alyssa Targaryen. That was some fucked-up concoction of Daemon's deranged psyche, not the real woman. Not by a long shot. Daemon desperately misses his wife, but he messed that up, and can't admit that he messed up. He's not there yet. He can't admit that. He also can't admit that he would make a lousy king. Last we heard him say, he's still saying that he should be king, and Rhaenyra his queen, by his side. Ah, ah, ah, ah, but I think the reason for this arc is to deal with that once and for all….

And there's good news on that front.

I know I'm kinda all over the place here, and I apologize, but there's a crap-ton to unravel. Look, Daemon is a fucking mess. But the first two episodes set this up perfectly to get us where we are and lead us, I believe, to where I think we're going. I could be wrong, absolutely, but I really did nail the whole Daemon/Viserys/Rhaenyra lack of trust/heir messed up in the head thing. I really did. So, I'm kinda trusting my gut here.

So, first couple of episodes, Daemon is itching to do things his way. He can't as he's waiting for the queen's go-ahead, but she's off looking for proof of Luke's death. She finally comes back and gives him that go-ahead. YAY! He thinks, but then he makes a "mistake," and she tears into him, telling him some very hard truths that he is just not willing to hear. So he storms off on his dragon. That's our set-up.

Then the next three episodes have been at first, he's working on getting the army for her, but then it starts to become about well, she's not doing this how I would, and I would be better so I should be the king and she can be my queen, so it should be my army, yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Except it hasn't been as black and white as that because:

He's having all of these visions that are wrecking him, reminding him of how he was not the chosen heir at one point, it was Rhaenyra. (Natch, just like in the real world, Aegon/Alicent were getting that same dose of reality.)

He's stomping all over the Riverlands trying to force people to do his bidding as he would if he were king. First he tells the young Tully heir to kill his grandfather (nope, won't do, the kid loves his grandsire), then he threatens to kill the Brackens (or Blackwoods, I forget which, LOL) with dragonfire (nope, they'd rather die), then he's all do war crimes, but not in my name (they do the war crimes, under the Targ flag). In other words, Daemon does everything wrong. He kinda shows that Viserys was right.

We have that lovely final shot of him, head bent as he leans against the fireplace that flows directly into from the opposite side --> Rhaenyra leaning against the fireplace, head bent. SOULMATES!

Then she has her little talk with Lord Alfred, sending him to Harrenhal to find out what are Daemon's intentions. And there are three very interesting things of note in this scene. 1) That she knows Daemon well enough to know that he might be considering raising a host in his name. Yeah, it's awful of Daemon to even be considering that, but the fact that Rhaenyra knows him THAT WELL, yeah, you go, Rhae-rhae!, 2) Lord Alfred immediately was all like: "His intentions? But, but, but… Prince Daemon would never!" Loved that. Because you know it did not come from a place of Daemon Targaryen is just known for being SUCH a loyal guy, but rather because they know he loves his wife. Uh huh! And 3) Rhaenyra's message: That she wants to finish their conversation. Love, love, love that. Girl is like, babe, we gonna hash this out!

Furthermore, we also had Jace (sweet, beautiful, perfect Jace, Iluvusomuch!) having Daemon's back when talking to the Freys, but straight up just expecting Daemon to be there for Rhaenyra because that's just what's been up for so long, and then he cut himself off because of their, erm, "marital spat, but still, yeah, he just, that's his expectation about Daemon when it comes to Rhaenyra, and that just made my heart go SQUEE!

On another Jace note with regards to Daemon and the Riverlands, so ya got Daemon there failing spectacularly in his attempt to gain a host, while Jace--using tactics learned from his mother's school of politicking--got a big swath of Riverlands mileage they can use. So, Daemon's whole 'your way sucks, my way is better' isn't quite working which brings me back to eps 1-2 set-up, and what eps 3-5 have been doing for us.

Rhaenyra asked Daemon "Do you accept me as your queen and ruler?" We didn't get an answer. I believe--and I totes, totes could be wrong, but I believe that we are heading toward the moment when Daemon can answer Rhaenyra because he has exorcised enough of his demons that he can finally say yes. He can say yes because he realizes that his way isn't the way. That Viserys didn't trust him because of Daemon's actions, not because of jealousy on his brother's part. And that Rhaenyra following suit wasn't her lack of faith, but Daemon's lack of control. And that is his arc, gaining that realization, and that control, restoring her faith in him.

DAEMYRA WEEK Day 7 | Free Day

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 10!!!!