‘House of the Dragon’ Introduces Daeron Targaryen, the Hightower Prince Fans Have Waited Years to Meet

‘House of the Dragon’ has spent two full seasons building toward a war between siblings, yet one member of that family remained almost entirely offscreen. That changed in season three, when the series finally gave audiences a proper look at Daeron Targaryen, the youngest son of Alicent Hightower.

The character’s arrival answers a question long-time viewers have been asking since the show’s earliest episodes, and it also raises new ones about where his loyalties and storyline are headed as the Dance of the Dragons intensifies.

Who Plays Daeron Targaryen

Daeron is portrayed by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, a British actor previously seen in ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, ‘The Sandman’, and the live action ‘Pinocchio’ , and he has also been cast as the lead character Link in an upcoming live action adaptation. His casting for ‘House of the Dragon’ had actually been public knowledge for some time before his debut, since the identity of the actor playing Daeron reportedly leaked online roughly a year before the character ever appeared on screen , meaning dedicated fans already knew exactly who they were looking at once he showed up.

In the season three premiere, Daeron appears standing behind Lord Ormund Hightower as the Hightower army marches toward King’s Landing , and most casual viewers likely did not immediately recognize him as a Targaryen or as the brother of Aegon and Aemond, since he does not share their blonde hair. His name is never actually spoken in that scene , and Ormund never introduces the squire standing at his side by name.

Daeron’s brown hair sets him apart visually from the rest of his immediate family , since he favors his mother’s look far more closely than his siblings do. That detail has become one of the more discussed aspects of his introduction among fans piecing together his identity from background shots and trailer footage.

Alicent Hightower’s Youngest Son

Daeron is the fourth child of the late King Viserys Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower , making him the grandmother figure to Aegon and Helaena’s children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, through his siblings’ marriage. He is the younger brother of King Aegon II, Queen Helaena, and Prince Aemond, and the younger half brother of Rhaenyra Targaryen, Alicent’s rival for the Iron Throne.

Unlike his siblings, who all remained close to the center of the war in King’s Landing, Daeron was sent away from the capital as a boy. He was fostered in Oldtown by Lord Hobert Hightower and later passed into the care of Hobert’s son, Lord Ormund Hightower, who now leads the Hightower forces marching to defend the Greens’ cause.

George R.R. Martin himself addressed why Daeron was left out of the story for so long, explaining in comments reported by Entertainment Weekly that Alicent and Viserys had four children including three sons and a daughter, and that their youngest son was down in Oldtown because the show simply did not have time to work him into earlier seasons .

Despite being technically third in line for the Iron Throne, Daeron has functioned as something of an afterthought within his own family’s power struggle , a strange position given that his brother Aemond rides the largest dragon in Westeros in Vhagar, while his brother Aegon became king after marrying their sister Helaena following their father’s death.

Daeron’s Dragon Tessarion

Every Targaryen of note in this story comes paired with a dragon, and Daeron rides Tessarion, a cobalt blue dragon nicknamed the Blue Queen who has only recently been able to take flight and carry her rider. Tessarion first appeared briefly at the end of season two, flying above the Hightower army as it marched toward the capital, though her rider was not shown at that time .

Her striking coloring caused some early confusion among viewers , with a number of fans initially mistaking her for the dragon Dreamfyre before her identity as Daeron’s mount was confirmed. Tessarion’s blue flame has also drawn comparisons among viewers to other unusually colored dragonfire seen elsewhere in the franchise, though her fire is naturally blue rather than tied to any supernatural transformation.

Within the world of the show, dragon count carries enormous political weight, and Tessarion’s reveal alongside Daeron signals that this previously overlooked prince may matter far more to the outcome of the war than his limited screen time has suggested so far . Lord Jasper Wylde has counseled King Aegon II to release Daeron and Tessarion from Oldtown once the dragon is of fighting age, underscoring how central this pairing may become to the Greens’ military strategy .

House of the Dragon Season 3 Cast Context

Daeron’s introduction arrives alongside several other new and returning faces in season three. Ormund Hightower, played by James Norton, is a new addition this season as the nephew of Otto Hightower and cousin to Alicent, and he now commands one of the largest standing armies in the Seven Kingdoms as he marches to the Greens’ defense .

The season also continues threads involving Rhaenyra’s dragonseeds, including Ulf, who rides Silverwing, and brothers Alyn and Addam, sailors in Corlys Velaryon’s fleet who join Rhaenyra’s navy . Meanwhile Daemon Targaryen has been stationed at Harrenhal, where visions convinced him to rally fully behind Rhaenyra’s claim .

Season three picks up the civil war in the aftermath of the Battle of Rook’s Rest, where Aegon was severely burned after Aemond turned on him mid battle, leaving Aemond to occupy the Iron Throne in his brother’s stead . The season is expected to kick off with the Battle of the Gullet, described as one of the deadliest naval battles in Westeros history .

Fans invested in the political mechanics of the Dance of the Dragons have long tracked exactly how many dragons and riders each side can field , and Daeron’s quiet debut fits a pattern the show has followed with him, setting up his significance well before giving him any real dialogue or screen presence.

With Daeron and Tessarion now confirmed as active players heading into the rest of the season, viewers have plenty to speculate about regarding where this long overlooked Targaryen prince’s loyalties will ultimately land. What do you think Daeron’s arrival means for how the Battle of the Gullet and the rest of the Greens’ campaign will play out.