Is Daemon's Night King Vision Hinting at a Major Targaryen Connection? (2024)

The Big Picture

Daemon Targaryen's vision hints at a potential connection between the Night King and House Targaryen.
Theories suggest Daemon or Aemond could become the Night King, but the timeline makes it unlikely.
Despite speculation, the origin of the Night King remains mysterious, and the connection to Targaryens is uncertain.

The Season 2 finale of House of Dragon has come and gone, but theories are still making the rounds around the internet — especially about Daemon Targaryen's (Matt Smith) vision sequence in Harrenhal. In "The Queen Who Ever Was," the rogue prince sees that winter is coming, and, with it, the White Walkers. The appearance of one of the Others in this scene raises many questions, since the identity of the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) in Game of Thrones remains a mystery. With this in mind, and given how Daemon's vision is structured, some fans have started speculating that the big baddie may, in fact, have once been a Targaryen. As strange as this may sound, nothing is impossible in Westeros, so let's take a look at it.

Is Daemon's Night King Vision Hinting at a Major Targaryen Connection? (1)

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What Do We Know about the Night King’s Origins?

One of the arguments in favor of the theory that the Night King was once a Targaryen is the fact that Daemon only sees Targaryens in his vision. First, he sees Bloodraven (Joshua Ben-Tovim) as the Three-Eyed Raven. He then sees Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) sitting on the Iron Throne, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and her three baby dragons, and, finally, Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) talking directly to him about his part in the war. The only loose thread is the White Walker leading an army of wights, and, although that's not necessarily the Night King, it may be a hint that the Others may have a connection to House Targaryen, after all.

Figuring out where the Night King comes from is still tricky, even though Game of Thrones has tried to explain it. In the Season 6 episode "The Door," a flashback shows the Children of the Forest stabbing a man in the heart with an obsidian dagger, and that man becomes a White Walker. It's not known whether that is actually the Night King (although both are played by the same actor, Vladimir Furdik), but the Children's intention in doing it was to protect themselves from the humans who threatened them. Of course, things got out of hand and, instead of fulfilling their purpose, the White Walkers threatened to enshroud the whole world in an everlasting winter.

In the books, the character we know as the Night King doesn't even exist - at least not yet. There is a creepy tale of a similar figure, though, the Night's King. According to Old Nan, who is Bran Stark's (Isaac Hampstead-Wright) caretaker in Winterfell, the Night's King was the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch during the Age of Heroes. He fell in love with a woman whose description matches exactly that of a White Walker. They get married and, from that moment on, his soul belongs to her. Together, they reign terror and control the Night's Watch for thirteen years, until the King in the North and the King Beyond the Wall join forces to kill him. After his defeat, all records of who he was were purged, but Old Nan teases Bran by saying he was named Brandon Stark, too. There are theories that he may come back, but, so far, the Others don't even have a single individual in command.

Which Targaryen Could Eventually Become the Night King?

House of the Dragon has certainly been very concerned about establishing connections with Game of Thrones in ways that push both series further from the original George R.R. Martin books. The Prince That Was Promised prophecy is one of those connections, and, apparently, now the White Walkers may have become another. Daemon's vision, for example, is not in . The vision establishes that his destiny and role in the war are set and that he must fulfill them, but there is no way of knowing how exactly he understood this message. He sees that he must support Rhaenyra right now, but what about in the long run?

Daemon suddenly becoming selfless and fully supporting Rhaenyra has bothered some viewers, but it may be tied to what he really saw in his vision. He always wanted a throne and is known to be a morally gray character who, above all else, serves himself. A possibility is that he sees himself becoming the Night King and that the only way to achieve it is by supporting Rhaenyra. He is entitled like that, and it isn't difficult to imagine him doing this just so he could live forever and become the king he always wanted to be. He knows that he is supposed to die in Harrenhal in a confrontation with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), as Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) has already told him in Episode 3, "The Burning Mill," and, in the books, his body is never found. The Gods Eye and the Isle of Faces are known to have a strong connection to the ancient mystical elements of Westeros that are still active beyond the Wall, which may explain how he could end up as the Night King.

Another candidate is Aemond. Right after Daemon's vision, Aemond confronts Helaena in King's Landing, ordering her to fly Dreamfyre into battle with him. She refuses, and, in their argument, she says that she saw him die, swallowed in the Gods Eye and never seen again. Aemond is one of the most bitter people in Westeros, and he has also desired a crown his whole life. He is the sort of person who lashes out and would rather see the whole world burn (or freeze) than not get what he wants. In Fire & Blood, his body is found on the Isle of Faces with Daemon's sword in his eye socket, but Helaena has already said that he will never be seen again in House of the Dragon. So Aemond may be the one to vanish and become the fearsome and terrible king he always wanted to be.

It’s Still Unlikely That the Night King Was Once a Targaryen

As much sense as it could make for either Daemon or Aemond to become the Night King in the future, it still sounds unlikely. There are multiple issues with the timeline of events in Westeros history, like, for example, the Age of Heroes being set between ten and six millennia before the events of House of the Dragon, and the flashback in "The Door" is supposed to have happened during this time.

House Targaryen, however, is much younger than that. There isn't a specific register for when their ancient country, the Valyrian Freehold, began, but the earliest records put it around five millennia before the events of Game of Thrones. Season 2 of House of the Dragon is set some 150 years before Game of Thrones, meaning Daemon and Aemond's deadly duel is set many millennia too late for either of them to show up around the Age of Heroes. Time travel could explain it, but such a concept hasn't been introduced in the series, nor in the books, so, unless the Green Men on the Isle of Faces are up to something, it's still unlikely that Daemon and Aemond could become the Night King.

Season 2 of House of the Dragon is streaming on Max.

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