Do Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon Marry Each Other in House of the Dragon?

We saw in episode 4 of House of the Dragon that one of the reasons why Viserys didn’t want Daemon to marry Rhaenyra was the fact that he had a lawfully wedded wife. Of course, there was also the fact that he wasn’t exactly a good man, but it was still important to note that he was a married man. Then, in episode 5, a recently-widowed Daemon ended up flirting with Laena Velaryon in the betrothal banquet for Rhaenyra and Laenor. So, do Daemon and Laena marry each other in House of the Dragon?

As far as the book is concerned, Daemon and Laena end up marrying one another. in the book, Daemon killed Laena’s betrothed in a duel when the Targaryen prince insulted him. After killing Laena’s betrothed, Daemon wedded Laena shortly after, as the marriage gave birth to two daughters.

Daemon marrying Laena meant that he and Rhaenyra ended up marrying the children of Corlys Velaryon, as this allowed both of them to gain access to the power and wealth held by House Velaryon. It is this relationship with the Velaryons that will ultimately help both Daemon and Rhaenyra in the future when the inevitable Dance of the Dragons arrives.

Does Daemon Marry Laena?

It was during episode 4 of House of the Dragon that Daemon made his intentions clear when he sought to marry Rhaenyra after he admitted to the deed of seducing the princess during the night when they went out to the streets of King’s Landing. Of course, we all know that King Viserys wasn’t willing to give his daughter to his brother because the fact that he knew what kind of man he was. Of course, we also learned as early as episode 1 that Daemon was married.

Of course, Daemon made sure to fix that problem as early as the opening scenes of episode 5. It was during that scene that we met Lady Rhea Royce, the lawfully wedded wife of Daemon Targaryen. As she was out hunting on horseback, she saw Daemon, who she insulted about getting disinherited by his own brother. She also reiterated what he said about her in episode 1 when Daemon said that even the sheep of the Vale were prettier than Rhea. 

Without saying a word, Daemon steadily approached Rhea’s horse and managed to scare it well enough for it to forcefully dismount its rider. Lady Rhea obviously broke her back after the fall as Daemon simply had to finish her off with a rock. In that regard, he remedied the problem of him being married by those actions. And we all know that Daemon wants power so that he can further his own ambitions for the Iron Throne, which he could no longer inherit due to the fact that Viserys had already disinherited him.

It was during the episode that Rhaenyra was going to marry Laenor, as Viserys himself went to Driftmark to meet with Corlys Velaryon and offer him the proposal for their children to wed one another so that they could unite the Targaryens and the Velaryons, the two most powerful houses in the Seven Kingdoms.

After the proposal had been accepted, the Targaryens returned to King’s Landing, where there was a grand ball to kick off the start of an entire week’s worth of celebration before the wedding of Rhaenyra and Laenor. Of course, despite his past deeds and the obvious animosity between him and Viserys, Daemon still arrived on time to take part in the celebration of his niece’s betrothal to Laenor.

During the dance, it was clear that there was something going on with Daemon and another member of House Velaryon. We are talking about Laena, who is the younger sister of Laenor. Of course, this wasn’t the first time we saw Laena.

For those who forgot, Laena was the one that the Velaryons offered to Viserys as his new queen because they wanted to unite the two families once and for all. At that time, Laena was still around 12 years old, as the king believed that she was too young for him. Despite that, Laena was more than willing to listen to what her father told her to say as she herself said the word that Corlys told her to say to the king.

Nevertheless, Viserys ended up marrying Alicent Hightower instead because he actually developed feelings for her while she was there to comfort him on the orders of her father, Otto Hightower. And it was this act that ultimately ruined the relationship between the Targaryens and the Velaryons before Viserys patched things up by offering to marry Rhaenyra to Laenor.

Of course, we also know that Daemon lusted for Rhaenyra not only because he was attracted to his niece but also because of the fact that he wanted more power for himself. And that was the reason why he was never truly into Rhea Royce, who wasn’t even the most powerful lady in the Vale.

But because Daemon couldn’t have Rhaenyra, he probably saw Laena as a prime target because the Velaryons had the strongest fleet in the entire realm and controlled half of the world’s dragons. And she was the best target for him during the banquet because she was young and quite interested in him as well.

In the book, Daemon did indeed marry Laena and had a family with her. This is probably something that we would see in episode 6 because there is a major time skip that is most likely going to be somewhere around 10 years. And, of course, a more mature version of Laena Velaryon is most likely to step into the shoes of the character.

When Will Daemon Marry Laena?

At this point, it is tough to tell when Daemon will marry Laena, but we do believe that this will happen off-screen. That’s because we are expecting the time skip between episodes 5 and 6 to be at least a decade long due to the fact that we are expecting the children of both Rhaenyra and Alicent to mature off-screen.

In that regard, it is possible that Daemon will marry Laena somewhere during that time skip, as we believe that the marriage will happen just a year after Rhaenyra marries Laenor. But there is still a problem regarding the betrothal of Laena to the son of the Sealord of Braavos. We learned that Corlys had already arranged a wedding between Laena and the son of the Sealord of Braavos in episode 4 when Otto Hightower described it as “disturbing news” because how it would only allow Corlys to become more powerful.

But in the book, the son of the Sealord of Braavos inherited his father’s wealth and squandered it all away, and that was one of the reasons why Corlys tried to delay the wedding as much as possible. And because it was clear that Daemon was interested in Laena, he insulted her betrothed until the boy challenged him to a duel, only to get slain by Dark Sister.

After that, Laena was now free to choose whoever she saw fit, and that was when she and Daemon wedded one another just a few weeks after the death of the son of the Sealord of Braavos. This allowed Daemon to become powerful, as the Velaryons were just as powerful or even more powerful than the Targaryens.