Daemon Targaryen/Rhaenyra Targaryen

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Pairing
Pairing: Daemon Targaryen x Rhaenyra Targaryen
Alternative name(s): Daemyra
Gender category: Het
Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire, House of the Dragon
Canonical?: Yes
Prevalence:
Archives:
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Daemon/Rhaenyra is the het pairing of Daemon Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen in the A Song of Ice and Fire and House of the Dragon fandom.

They are best known as the trashy problematic fave Targaryen power couple.

Canon

Fire & Blood

The book is less of a narrative and more of a historical document. It uses the trope of an unreliable narrator and is deliberately unclear about the early parts of their relationship.

They're uncle and niece. Rhaenyra is the daughter of Viserys, who is Daemon's elder brother.

After spending many years away, Daemon returned to court in 111 AC. Rhaenyra was 14 and Daemon was 30. During that time, the pair spent much time together. He showered her with gifts and they rode their dragons, hawked, and sailed together. He read her poetry, and mocked her enemies.

After half a year at court, Daemon left. There are many divergent stories about the reason.

  • Septon Eustace says that Daemon seduced Rhaenyra took her virginity, and were caught by Ser Arryk Cargyll. Rhaenyra said she was in love with Daemon and begged leave to marry him, but her father would not allow it.
  • Court fool Mushroom says Rhaenyra had a crush on Criston Cole (see Criston Cole/Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Daemon offered his niece lessons on how to seduce a man. These lessons included kissing, handjobs, and blowjobs, but stopped just short of PIV sex in order to maintain Rhaenyra's technical virginity, which she wished to give to Criston. This lessons often took place on lonely rocks in Blackwater Bay, accessed on dragonback, where they would have no fear of getting caught. It also involved sneaking down to brothels with Rhaenyra disguised as Daemon's page boy in order to observe sex and learn tricks from the prostitutes. At the end of this long training, when Rhaenyra finally approached Criston, he was horrified and spurned her. Then, when the story came out, Daemon said to Viserys, "Give the girl to me to wife. Who else would take her now?"

Bear in mind that Daemon is said to "have an especial fondness for deflowering maidens." Whatever happened, this episode ended with Viserys refusing to allow them to marry and exiling Daemon in order to separate him from Rhaenyra.

They both went on to marry other people (see Daemon Targaryen/Laena Velaryon).

Later, in the year of 120 AC, they were both widowed, and before the year was out they had already remarried each other. They were 23 and 39 at this point. The wedding was preformed in secret. Suggested reasons include:

  • Septon Eustace: Viserys would stop it if he knew.
  • Mushroom: Rhaenyra was already pregnant and wanted her child to be legitimate.

Their son, Aegon III, was born fairly promptly after their marriage. He was followed by two more children they had together: Viserys II and Visenya (stillborn).

House of the Dragon

Rhaenyra's actress Milly Alcock said of their relationship in season 1:

“Me and Matt came to a mutual understanding: that [the relationship] is charged, but it’s under the surface,” said Alcock. “It’s almost like they’re having two conversations in every scene. It’s like what they’re actually saying, and what they’re saying in their body language, and in their eyes, and in their tone. [...] I think Rhaenyra is at an age where she can’t tell the difference between platonic love, romantic love, and lust, because she hasn’t lived long enough and gone through those experiences. So, I think that she understands that there’s a feeling here [with Daemon], but she’s not quite sure where it lands, and how to behave with it and navigate it, which is what makes that dynamic so interesting.”

interview with actor Milly Alcock[1]

Daemon and Rhaenyra speak Valyrian to each other.

For Smith in particular, he found that speaking High Valyrian as Daemon opened up another side of his character. "I found it really informative, actually, because it allowed me to understand a different sort of authenticity to Daemon that isn't in the Common Language that I speak," he shared. "He's a different person in that language. And I was like, 'Oh, that's who he is at his core.' And the fact that he speaks it only to Rhaenyra is really telling."

D'Arcy agreed that there was something "intensely intimate" about Daemon and Rhaenyra talking to each other in High Valyrian, and agreed that it was like their love language. "It forms an envelope around them and plucks them out of the world and takes them to a different plane or somewhere incredibly private," they said. "Even if they were in public, it creates an immediate intimacy and privacy."

interview with actors Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy[2]

The emotional framing of them is also markedly different than in the book.

[boleynns[3]]
I do also already love that the many preconceived notions a lot of people had that Daemon never loved Rhaenyra and only used her to gain more power were basically all proved to be clownery in their very first scene together. It was always hilarious to me that people were so sure that their union was purely political, no emotion involved whatsoever, when "Fire & Blood" is extremely explicitly presented as a biased account of history -- yet still many people were like "They never cared about eachother, they only cared about gaining more power 🤡"

I'm happy to be vindicated, but also it seemed so obvious to me that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that they would ever go in that direction just from a narrative perspective. They adjusted Alicent's age and strengthened her and Rhaeynra's relationship because stories are much better when the characters are emotionally entangled with one another -- and similarly with Daemon and Rhaenyra, it would just be bland and boring to see them paired up if they are just apathetic towards eachother rather than very emotionally invested.

Fandom

Popular tropes in fanworks

  • Most of Daemon/Rhaenyra's appeal centers around the idea of them as a power couple
  • Their dragons, Caraxes and Syrax, who symbolically represent their riders, also hook up.
During this period, Rhaenyra's dragon Syrax laid several clutches of eggs, doubtless the result of matings with Caraxes.

The Rise of the Dragon

Basically Miguel Sapochnik said, ‘He's the dragon that no one loves, and he has a deviated septum.’ And my expansion was that he's a bullying white boy who thinks he can rap and overcompensates. Plus he's always hitting on the lady dragons. He tries to sing a new lovesick rap song he wrote for Syrax.

Paula Fairfield, sound designer for the dragons[4]

  • Size Kink: Daemon is tall and Rhaenyra is short.

Controversies

They have an age difference of 16 years. Regardless of which version of the story you adhere to, they pretty clearly first hooked up when Rhaenyra was a teenager. Their relationship is incestuous. The authenticity of Daemon's feelings for Rhaenyra is also questionable, seeing as marrying her is a way for him to be king.

One would he hard-pressed to find someone who claims this is not a problematic ship. Some fics are tagged "Daemon Targaryen is His Own Warning." That part is not the question. The question is "does that bother me?" Is it a problem that it's problematic? Or is it problematic in a problematic fave sort of way?

[wingedwolfpups, July 27th, 2022[5]]
a month ago i was side eyeing daemon/rhaenyra shippers so hard, all “ewwww he’s her uncle and a creep!!!!” and yeah that’s still true but now i’m ALSO INTO IT i can’t wait to watch them be toxic af it’s kinda hot i blame matt and emma…
[rhaenyrasdaemon, Aug 21st, 2022[6]]
Let’s make one thing clear, I ship Daemon and Rhaenyra, and I do not care that it’s Problematic

Fanworks

Meta

Fanart

There is not a ton of artwork of them predating the show, although the friends ChillyRavenArt[7][8][9][10][11][12] and NaomiMakesArt[13][14][15][16] both did several pieces each.

Fanfic

The Blacks & the Greens [1] by SweetestPopcornFandom: book!fandomDate: 23 June 2019Length: 1m+Status: Ongoing
Enormous magnum opus

Memes

Gallery

Book-Based Fanart

  • The Rogue Prince and the Realm's Delight by NaomiMakesArt

    The Rogue Prince and the Realm's Delight by NaomiMakesArt

  • by ElenaStripe

    by ElenaStripe

  • Queen Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon Targaryen by ChillyRavenArt

    Queen Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon Targaryen by ChillyRavenArt

Show-Based Fanart

Memes

  • Meme satirizing Rhaenyra's influence on the parley in S1E2.

    Meme satirizing Rhaenyra's influence on the parley in S1E2.

  • A version of the Barbie mugshot meme by viscardiac featuring Rhaenyra.

    A version of the Barbie mugshot meme by viscardiac featuring Rhaenyra.

  • Companion piece by viscardiac featuring Daemon.

    Companion piece by viscardiac featuring Daemon.

Resources

References

  1. ^ Lauren Sarner (August 21, 2022). "'House of the Dragon' star Milly Alcock: 'I was in shock and disbelief'". New York Post. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022.
  2. ^ Vanessa Armstrong (Aug 8, 2022). "Matt Smith And Emma D'Arcy Say Their House Of The Dragon Characters' Love Language Is High Valyrian". Slashfilm. Archived from the original on Aug 8, 2022.
  3. ^ boleynns (23 August 2022). "the many preconceived notions". Tumblr. Archived from the original on Aug 24, 2022.
  4. ^ Joanna Robinson (Aug 29, 2022). "The Bridge Showdown: The Best Scene From 'House of the Dragon' So Far". YouTube. Talk the Thrones.
  5. ^ wingedwolfpups (July 27th, 2022). "a month ago i was side eyeing..." Tumblr. Archived from the original on 31 Jul 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ rhaenyrasdaemon (Aug 21st, 2022). "Let's make one thing clear". Tumblr. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ chillyravenart (Nov 15, 2018). "Daemon And Rhaenyra Targaryen". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  8. ^ chillyravenart (Dec 10, 2018). "Rhaenyra and Daemon". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  9. ^ chillyravenart (Feb 25, 2019). "Daemon x Rhaenyra". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  10. ^ chillyravenart (Aug 8, 2019). "You Are My Queen - Daemon X Rhaenyra". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  11. ^ chillyravenart (Nov 28, 2019). "Targ Thursdays Week 4: The Dance of the Dragons". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  12. ^ chillyravenart (May 17, 2020). "Daemon, Rhaenyra and Aegon feat. Caraxes". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  13. ^ naomimakesart (Jul 20, 2018). "Daemon And Rhaenyra". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  14. ^ naomimakesart (Aug 8, 2019). "Secret Tryst". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  15. ^ naomimakesart (May 5, 2020). "A Black Wedding". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  16. ^ naomimakesart (Nov 26, 2020). "The Queen and the Protector of the Realm". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
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