House of the Dragon actor Matt Smith says his character finds joy in upsetting people, and that’s completely within Daemon Targaryen’s character. In Fire & Blood, written by George R.R. Martin, Daemon is known to be arrogant and unapologetically callous, often pushing things too far for the sake of rattling people, and that will apparently cross over into live action.
In an interview with Empire, Smith makes Daemon’s motivations crystal clear.
“Daemon is there to cause chaos and piss people off because, simply, it entertains him. [Daemon] and Otto loathe one another. They’re winding each other up, needling one another. And in the middle of it is Paddy, who plays Viserys. They’re both vying for his attention and his love.”
Otto Hightower is probably Daemon’s biggest target. From the House of the Dragon Comic-Con trailer, the two are shown to be at odds in a couple key scenes. In one scene, Otto confronts Daemon on a bridge for having taken a dragon egg, and another is takes place when Otto doubts Daemon’s right to the throne to his very brother King Viserys. Certainly, their rivalry will come to a head in the series.
Game of Thrones has never been in short supply of dastardly royals who’ve been drunk with power; most notably, the bratty King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) angered fans for years with his cruelty and chaos, and Ramsey Bolton (Iwan Rheon) soon followed with his love of torture and abuse. In Daemon’s case, he has his dragon Caraxes to take out all his fury.
Speaking of dragons, House of the Dragon is set to pull off the most dragons ever seen on-screen. As one might assume with its name, there will be many dragonriders battling it out for the throne. On one side is the daughter of King Viserys, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), while her former friend and widow to King Viserys, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), stands on the other side. This rivalry divides houses and sets the realm aflame in their quest for the crown.
House of the Dragon premieres on HBO August 21.