Character dynamics are the name of the game on House of the Dragon. The political intrigue and the action is great, but at it’s core, the show is about the familial relationships that get fractured in the pursuit of power. Fractured, oftentimes, to the point of disrepair.
Daemon (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra Targaryn (Emma D’Arcy) present a unique instance in which corruption and power bring two people closer together. They started out as enemies, vying for the Iron Throne, but over the course of the show’s first season, they became politically aligned. The question that fans have going into the second season, though is whether these family members are now husband and wife.
When did Daemon and Rhaenyra get married?
In true Game of Thrones fashion, Daemon tied the knot with his own niece, Rhaenyra. The two had always harbored an attraction for one another, as evidenced by the season 1 scene in which Daemon took a teenage Rhaenyra to a brothel and they became intimate.
Tensions arose between the two as they grew older (in the case of Daemon, much older), and Rhaenyra was made the heir to King Viserys (Paddy Considine), but it all came back around in the seventh episode of the first season, “Driftmark.”
It was during this episode that Daemon and Rhaenyra had their wedding ceremony. The latter already had three children with Laenor Velaryon (John MacMillan), who decided to fake his own death, and Daemon had twin daughters with his second wife, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell).
What will happen to their marriage in season 2?
Matt Smith talked about the role that grief played in the Daemon and Rhaenyra marriage during the second season. In particular, he told Entertainment Tonight that grief was the driving force behind both characters’ decisions:
We pick up in a very complicated situation. There’s a lot of grief flying around in the air and I think Daemon is doing things that he thinks are for the benefit of the family.
Emma D’Arcy, the actor who plays Rhaenyra, agreed with Smith and expanded upon the concept of grief as a motivator moving forward. “I think grief is a major motor for the show as a whole,” the actor noted. “Ad certainly for Rhaenyra’s sort of narrative arc through the series.” Fans will have to find out for themselves what becomes of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s union by the end of the season.