House Of The Dragon Episode Ten Review - 9 Ups & 1 Down

Daemon Targaryen appeared to be mellowing, embracing his role as a husband and a father of late, but the Rogue Prince’s darker side reared its head once again in the series finale.

Daemon’s actions highlight the immeasurably grey nature of his personality. Rhaenyra’s anguished cries for him as she miscarries fall on abhorrently deaf ears - Daemon only arrives after the baby’s harrowing death. Just as sinister is his willingness to attempt to sidestep the new queen's authority while she endures her excruciating affliction. Only on the timely interjection of Jace is Daemon is prevented from taking full control of the war effort.

Even in the aftermath of losing her father and baby in rapid succession, Rhaenyra is not safe from Daemon's ugliest characteristic; the Rogue Prince’s apparently inherent petulance. Daemon's fit of fury where he throttles his wife as she intimates that she is entertaining the Hightower’s terms is born of his brother’s rejection. While Viserys named Daemon heir, he never informed him of Aegon's Song of Ice and Fire, indicating that he never truly viewed Daemon as a worthy replacement, a revelation that visibly cuts his brother to his core; Rhaenyra's blatant satisfaction at this fact is absolutely joyous to witness.

Nevertheless, Daemon's less desirable traits bubbling to the surface weren't all so hard to watch. The episode also featured a gleefully dark scene in which the mercurial Targaryen demonstrates the fickle nature of human loyalty to Jace, using Caraxes to intimidate the Kingsguard present on Dragonstone into pledging fealty to the new Queen.