Warning: this article contains spoilers for House Of The Dragon.

After an age spent waiting for House Of The Dragon, many of us have naturally come prepared to watch the series with our Fire & Blood knowledge to hand, as well as each character profile carefully read over and revised in anticipation of the coming episodes.

One of the characters that has continually caused much fanfare is Prince Daemon Targaryen. Fans were initially brimming with excitement about the lead role, not least because it’s played by Matt Smith of The Crown and Doctor Who fame. But we see him in a very different light in this Game Of Thrones prequel series.

In House Of The Dragon, Daemon is the younger brother to King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and, at the start of the series, the presumptive heir to the throne. A peerless warrior and dragonrider, Daemon possesses the true blood of the dragon.  But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air, and Daemon’s journey to the Iron Throne is far from smooth.

We’ve jumped ahead in time over the course of the five episodes so far. One minute, he is banished from King’s Landing; the next, he’s revered and welcomed home with open arms by his brother, the King. It’s a tumultuous relationship, mainly on account of the fact that Daemon believes he is the rightful heir to the throne and not his niece, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). 

But the simmering tension between niece and uncle came to a head in episode four with a trip to the pleasure house. You guessed it, the talked-about Targaryen incestuous streak played out in full force, and with rumours circulating after the fact, they threatened to knock Rhaenyra out of the standing to inherit the Iron Throne.

Even confronting him in episode four, the King has to admit that his brother is beyond helping. He says: “I have spent a lifetime defending you but your heart is even blacker than I thought.”

But as Daemon maps out a plan to marry Rhaenyra, his true intention becomes even clearer: getting closer to the Iron Throne himself. The King is left disappointed, saying: “Of course, it’s not my daughter you lust for, is it? It’s my throne.”

And while we know that Daemon’s pursuit of the throne is unflinching (and somewhat unhinged), we never imagined what he would do in episode five. He visits Lady Rhea Royce of the Vale (Rachel Redford), aka his wife – the one he referred to as his “bronze bitch” and “uglier than the sheep in the Vale”, remember?

She jokes that he has finally returned to consummate their marriage, but after her digs about his young niece taking the Iron Throne instead of him, she is knocked off her horse and left injured on the floor.

He steps lightly on the armour of her arm and walks away as she says: “I knew you couldn’t finish. Craven!” Daemon then picks up a large rock, walks towards Rhea and, in a chilling off-camera moment, we’re left to piece together the sequence of events that followed. 

“Her neck and skull both crushed in the fall,” Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) tells the King after the fact. Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) comments on the surprising death of Lady Rhea, saying that her “skill as both rider and hunter were well-known”. If there are suspicions of murder, House Targaryen certainly is minding its business.

But as her husband, Daemon stands to inherit everything of Lady Rhea’s, including all of Runestone. While he may be faced head-on with accusations from Ser Gerold, Rhea’s cousin, Daemon simply dismisses them and turns his attention to flirting with Rhaenyra and Lady Laena Velaryon (Savannah Steyn) instead. In his conversation with the latter, he fields her apology over the death of his wife with: “Don’t be; I wasn’t. My lady was never very kind to me.”

But Daemon’s behaviour is now to be expected. He has simply followed through with the “rogue prince” label that fans and George RR Martin have bestowed upon him.

The dictionary definition of ‘rogue’ – “a dishonest or unprincipled man” – is almost too fitting for this lead character. We first met him sitting on the Iron Throne, having called Rhaenyra to come and meet him in the opening episode. When they’re talking about the heir’s tournament that is to take place, he refers to it as his own, overstating his position as heir to the throne rather than referring (rightfully) to the King and Queen’s incoming newborn child.

His ego is a main feature of this new series, and in a bid to assert his control over King’s Landing, he tasks the City Watch with massacring its people in that same first episode.

He says: “When I took command of the Watch, you were stray mongrels, starving and undisciplined. Now, you’re a pack of hounds. You’re sated and honed for the hunt.” Even when he’s delivering a semi-insult, his loyal followers are left to howl in unison, prompting him to deliver more of his impassioned speech.

“My brother’s city has fallen into squalor. Crime of every breed has been allowed to thrive. No longer. Beginning tonight, King’s Landing will learn to fear the colour gold.” 

As soldiers take to the streets, we see bodies beaten, limbs severed and blood everywhere. It’s “unchecked impunity”, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) says the next morning. 

Even in the midst of his brother’s grief, he does the unspeakable. He rents out a pleasure house to ‘entertain’ his friends and the City Watch. “The gods give just as the gods take away,” we hear him say, but recounting the tale the next day, Otto says that Daemon made another toast. This time, it was to Prince Baelon, the dead son of King Viserys, who Daemon styles as “the heir for a day”. It’s an act that prompts the King to name Princess Rhaenyra as his heir early on in House Of The Dragon, but this series of (very) unfortunate events just sets the tone for the rest of the season to come.

Daemon may be charming, eloquent and persuasive, but he will also stop at nothing to assert his position on the throne – something he sees as rightfully his anyway. 

So far, he’s set out on a mission of adultery, lies, incest and now murder in order to get to the Iron Throne, and something tells us the pursuit of power is only about to get more intense. While the series producer has proclaimed that there are “no villains or heroes” in House Of The Dragon, we’re inclined to give that former title to Smith’s character and we’re sure he’ll only continue to prove how much of a rogue prince he actually is.

Episodes of House Of The Dragon are released weekly every Monday at 2am and 9pm on Sky Atlantic, and are also available to stream on Now with an entertainment membership.   

Images: HBO/Sky