History Characters / HouseOfTheDragonDaemonTargaryen

* TheDreaded: He's feared and disliked by Otto Hightower and the King's council. No doubt the people of King's Landing as a whole have learnt to fear him after his "purge" of the criminals. [[spoiler:In "We Light the Way", his arrival causes the entire engagement party, from lords and ladies to seasoned knights and even the king himself to fall completely silent. Hardly anyone dares challenge his position at the party either, despite his past deeds.]] [[spoiler:Even Prince Aemond, despite growing into a very dangerous individual, backs down when Daemon gets between him and Jace.]]

Viserys's volatile and mercurial younger brother. A formidable warrior and dragon rider who follows his own rules and instincts, he is nonetheless very loyal to his niece Rhaenyra, whom he seduced and ended up marrying. He fathered Aegon the Younger and Viserys II with Rhaenyra and became the leader of Rhaenyra's armies during the civil war engulfing Westeros known as Dance of the Dragons.

Viserys's volatile and mercurial younger brother. A formidable warrior and dragon rider who follows his own rules and instincts, he is nonetheless very loyal to his niece Rhaenyra, whom he seduced and ended up marrying. He fathered Aegon the Younger and Viserys II with Rhaenyra and became the leader of her armies during the civil war engulfing Westeros known as Dance of the Dragons.

Viserys's volatile and mercurial younger brother. A formidable warrior and dragon rider who follows his own rules and instincts, he is nonetheless very loyal to his niece Rhaenyra, whom he seduced and ended up marrying. He fathered children with Rhaenyra and became the leader of her armies during the civil war engulfing Westeros known as Dance of the Dragons.

%%* MysticalWhiteHair: A definitive feature of his family's ancestry and one of his most notable physical features.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Daemon and Corlys follow up their victory at the Stepstones over the Triarchy by declaring victory and going home, leaving the Stepstones in the hands of, as Daemon puts it, "the tides, the crabs, and two thousand dead Triarchy corsairs, staked to the sand to warn those who might follow." As impressive as Daemon's victory and boast are, it means that no one is left to actually secure the Stepstones from further Triarchy attacks. Fast forward sixteen years and the Seven Kingdoms face another Triarchy attack on the Stepstones, forcing Corlys to go back to the Stepstones and retake them. This effort nearly costs Corlys his life and Rhaenyra's camp possession of High Tide and Driftmark.

** {{Pride}}: Despite the trouble that he gets himself in, he's too proud to admit that he needs help or that he needs the people who he cares about in his life.

* TheCorrupter: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed|Trope}}, but in "King of the Narrow Sea", he is the one to expose Rhaenyra to the more deviant side of the social world in King's Landing. He also awakens her sexuality by taking her to a brothel and they even engage in it themselves, to the point he ''almost'' takes her maidenhead. However, his love and respect for her stops him from doing so completely, even though they both wanted it. Of course, not only does word reach the king of this little liaison, but her virginity is no longer intact due to her night with Ser Criston, which is ''very heavily'' reviled in this era's society.]]

* FatalFlaw: He has two major ones.

** One of Daemon's virtues is his investment in and ability to inspire loyalty from his men... though given he's [[AxCrazy Daemon]], this results in a small army of gold cloaks willing to follow him in copious amounts of PoliceBrutality when he's out in charge of the City Watch.

** Aemond and Daemon are alike -- really, really alike, to a MirrorCharacter degree -- but they're also foils. Aemond became who he is because he knew Viserys had no regard for him and wouldn't protect him. When something awful happens to Aemond, like loosing an eye, Viserys does absolutely nothing. He grew up knowing he had to be strong enough to protect himself. Daemon became who he is because Viserys's favoritism sheltered him and gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted with minimal consequences.

** Daemon's marriage to Laena Velaryon, seen in episode 1.06, is outwardly pretty successful -- two beautiful daughters, racing dragons together, and she was even able to reign in his impulsive streak quite a bit and [[TookALevelInKindness soften his him a little]]. But subverted as the episode unfolds, we come to see the fault lines in their relationship. Laena desires to return to Driftmark and Daemon refuses. He is clearly haunted by a restlessness and melancholy.

** [[spoiler:When meeting with Otto and the Greens at the entrance to Dragonstone, Otto suggests his two young sons be sent to as squire and cupbearer for King Aegon II. Daemon furiously rebuffs the offer and is all too eager to draw his sword on his old rival]].

* PsychopathicManchild: PlayedWith, as Daemon acts more like a sulky teenager attempting to earn the approval and attention of his more mature older brother, and often throws violent tantrums when he doesn't get his way, such as his little stealing-the-dragon-egg-and-almost-starting-a-war stunt. But he is capable of empathy and keeping head cool when the situation calls for it.

* TooCleverByHalf: Daemon's a talented schemer, and is an ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter when it comes to the people around him. But he's not as crafty as he thinks he is. His gambits often blow up in his face, and causes him to be alienated by the people he cares about.

* PsychopathicManchild: Played with. Daemon acts more like a sulky teenager attempting to earn the approval and attention of his more mature older brother, and often throws violent tantrums when he doesn't get his way, such as his little stealing-the-dragon-egg-and-almost-starting-a-war stunt.

[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonBlacks Blacks]] ('''Daemon Targaryen''') | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonGreens Greens]] ([[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonAlicentHightower Alicent Hightower]]) | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonHousesOfWesteros Houses of Westeros]] ([[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] [[[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonViserysTargaryen Viserys Targaryen]]] | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonHouseVelaryon House Velaryon]]) | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonOthers Others]] | [[Characters/HouseOfTheDragonDragons Dragons]] ]]]]-]

Viserys's volatile and mercurial younger brother. A formidable warrior and dragon rider who follows his own rules and instincts, he is nonetheless very loyal to his niece Rhaenyra, whom he seduced and ended up marrying. He fathered children with Rhaenyra and became the leader of her armies during the Dance of the Dragons.

* MysticalWhiteHair: A definitive feature of his family's ancestry and one of his most notable physical features.

** In a similar vein to Otto Hightower, Daemon is presented as a more proactive figure in the looming conflict between the Blacks and the Greens, actively pushing for war in contrast to Rhaenyra's efforts at diplomacy, whereas Rhaenyra in the books was just as eager to go to war as Daemon was. This culminates in him choking Rhaenyra in a fit of rage and grief [[spoiler:after losing both his brother and daughter]], something that he never mentioned to have done in the books.

* NumberTwo: Rhaenyra commands the faction of the Blacks, and Daemon is her most trusted warlord and battle commander.

* PetTheDog: When an ill Viserys is struggling to get up on the Iron Throne, he lends his hand to help him up and get seated, making it one of his few genuine acts of kindness without any ulterior motives.

** Being married to Laena appears to have softened him somewhat. [[spoiler:He clearly wants to marry Rhaenyra, but rather than MurderTheHypotenuse, he instead arranges a DeathFakedForYou scenario so that Laenor and his current lover can leave Westeros behind with no-one realizing the truth. Contrast this with how he murdered Rhea so that he could have the opportunity to wed Rhaenyra. Its downplayed as he still arranges for an innocent man to be murdered in Laenors place]].