Daeron Targaryen has officially been introduced in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, although we have unknowingly met him before. Ser Duncan the Tall met a mysterious, drunken stranger in the very first episode, but the significance of him was kept a secret until Episode 4. Following the reveal that Egg is actually Aegon Targaryen, it turns out that man was his older brother, and now he’s causing problems for Dunk in more ways than one.
While it was Daeron’s own drunken behavior that led to Egg running away, he cannot admit that to his father, Maekar, and so lies that Dunk was a “robber knight” who kidnapped Aegon, thus adding to Aerion’s own charges against the hedge knight that lead to the impending trial of seven. What’s more, though, is that Daeron repeats what he told Dunk at the inn: he dreamed of him, and it’s a dream that portends death… but for a dragon, not for Ser Duncan.
What To Know About Daeron Targaryen & What Happens To Him
Spoilers For Daeron’s Fate After The Show Ahead
Where Maekar is severe, and Aerion carries the cruelty and arrogance of the worst and maddest Targaryens, Daeron (who is played by Henry Ashton) is different. He was sent by his father to take part in the Tourney at Ashford Meadow, but he has no interest in fighting, swordplay, or riding horses. Indeed, pretty much the only thing he does have interest in is alcohol, in part because of the dreams he has taking a toll on him, leading to him being known as Daeron the Drunken. That’s why he was at the inn, rather than making his way to Ashford Meadow.
Daeron is Maekar’s eldest son and, by a very surprising confluence of events that happen both around and after A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ timeline, he does end up as heir to the Iron Throne for a time, as Maekar unexpectedly becomes king in 221 AC (around 12 years after Season 1). However, he never actually becomes king, as he dies before his father, believed to be from a pox he contracted from a prostitute.
Daeron’s Dragon Dream Continues A Major Game Of Thrones Franchise Trend
House Of The Dragon Has Revealed Several Prophetic Dreams
Dragon dreams are crucial to House Targaryen’s history. It was a dream by Daenys, long before even Aegon’s Conquest, that foresaw the Doom of Valyria and led to the family moving to Dragonstone.
House of the Dragon then took this even further. It revealed Aegon the Conqueor’s own prophetic dream, his Song of Ice and Fire, in which he saw a coming darkness (or in other words, the White Walkers) and that only a Targaryen on the throne could unite the realm to defeat it. This is what led to him conquering Westeros, though he was off by some 300 years.
King Viserys I Targaryen also had dreams of his son becoming king, amid roaring dragons, which actually foreshadowed Aegon II and the Dance of the Dragons. And even more so, Helaena Targaryen’s dragon dreams and prophecies, such as Aemond losing an eye and the events with Blood and Cheese, have almost entirely defined her character.
Daeron is just the latest example, and he won’t be the last either – indeed, the third Dunk and Egg novella, The Mystery Knight, has Dunk meeting another character who has had a prophetic vision of his future. That won’t happen until Season 3, but the show is already setting a precedent for it.
There is also a connection to Daenerys herself here as well. Game of Thrones cut out a lot of the prophetic elements from the books, including drastically watering down her visions in the House of the Undying, but it did confirm her as a dragon dreamer.
In Season 2, Episode 6, she revealed that she had a dream telling her that if she carried her dragon eggs into a great fire, they would hatch. And she concludes with the same words as Daeron: “My dreams come true.”
Daeron Targaryen’s Dream Of Dunk Explained & How It Comes True
Major Book Spoilers Ahead
Daeron did not initially detail what his dream of Dunk was, but he finally explains exactly what he saw in Episode 4:
“I have seen you, Ser. And a fire. And a dead dragon. A great beast with wings so lage they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive, and the dragon was dead.”
Dreams and prophecies are often not literal in A Song of Ice and Fire, and that applies here, too. There are no dragons in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, because they died out over 50 years before the events at Ashford.
So instead, Daeron’s dream points to be a more figurative dragon: a dead Targaryen. And if you want to know what happens, highlight the hidden text below:
No fewer than four Targaryens take part in the trial of seven: Aerion, Daeron, Maekar, and, surprisingly, Baelor, who fights on the opposite side o the other three. This is still the Game of Thrones universe, so fate is no so kind as to kill the villainous Aerion, but instead, it’s the honorable Baelor who dies. Baelor is killed by his brother, Maekar, during the trial, the back of his head caved in with a mace. Ser Duncan lives, but a truly great dragon dies.
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release Sundays at 10 pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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