Is Daemon Targaryen Bisexual? House of the Dragon Deleted Scene Reveals

Daemon Targaryen, portrayed by the British actor Matt Smith, is by far the most polarizing, antagonizing, and amusing character in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon. Now, there’s a deleted scene that is circling the web, suggesting that Daemon might have affinities for more than one gender. So, is Daemon Targaryen bisexual?

In George R.R. Martin’s source material book, Fire & Blood, there’s nothing to suggest that Daemon Targaryen is bisexual. However, in House of the Dragon, nothing was confirmed, but there were some hints pointing to the King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea being bisexual.

It’s all just theory, speculation, and allegation, especially considering the biggest hint came from a deleted scene. However, there were some changes in other characters and plots made for the show, so who’s to say Daemon’s sexuality isn’t one of those changes, as well? Here’s what we know, what we speculate, and what is actually the case in real life.

Is Daemon Targaryen bisexual in House of the Dragon?

The majority of the speculations rose after episode six of the show premiered, and some additional deleted scenes leaked and started circling the internet. Particularly, there’s a scene in the episode where Daemon and Laena are sitting at a dinner table with the prince of Pentos, Reggio Haratis, sharing some thoughts about a potential alliance.

There, Daemon gives a ‘suspicious’ look to one of the male servants there, grabs him by the hand for a brief second, and then whispers something in his ear. It only lasted for a brief second, and it would probably amount to nothing but harmless chatter in the context of the episode.

However, one particular Twitter account called ‘Out of context House of the Dragon’ was among the first to point out something from a deleted scene circling the web, of Laena from the back, walking. In the background, we see Daemon with the same male servant, seemingly holding hands and whispering to one another.

Now, the shot is quite blurry, but it does seem there’s some affection being shared there. It doesn’t confirm anything, but it does open the doors to the possibility of Daemon being bisexual. Here’s the original tweet, along with the screenshot of the scene:

Now, we have the hand grab, the whisper, and the look from episode six, and we have the deleted scene with the two men in the background. Then, there’s the subtle situation from episode five, before Laena and Daemon were together. He tells her that she’s almost as pretty as her brother.

Now, one might interpret that as a joke towards Laena, a mock towards Laenor and his ‘peculiar’ lifestyle – or a subtle hint that Daemon is into Laenor. I don’t believe that to be the case at all, but three subtle, little hints are hard to ignore. And, there’s one more.

When Laena and Daemon speak to each other later in episode six, she says something along the lines of she knows she’s not the partner he wanted. If you know what happens in the books, or if you simply followed the show and Daemon’s agenda throughout, you’ll probably pick up that the partner Laena is referring to is actually Rhaenyra.

However, with those three previous hints about Daemon being bisexual already in the back of one’s mind, it’s easy to see how one could interpret these words from Laena as another hint that, hey, maybe Daemon wanted another kind of partner.

In reality, all that are just rumors and speculations, and there’s no real confirmation that Daemon Targaryen is actually bisexual in House of the Dragon. I’d love to see the show explore that issue a bit deeper in further episodes, so we can get a clearer picture, but until that happens (if it ever does), everybody is entitled to believe whatever they want.

Is Daemon Targaryen bisexual in the book Fire & Blood?

Fire & Blood is the name of George R.R. Martin’s book, which was used as the source material for House of the Dragon. There were already several obvious changes in the series compared to the book, but what does the book say about Daemon? Is Daemon Targaryen bisexual in the book?

Well, unfortunately for those who hoped so, there’s nothing in the book to suggest that Daemon was bisexual. I mean, he was comfortable having sexual intercourse with women in a brothel, surrounded by tons of other men, but he never had flings or engaged with other men in a sexual manner whatsoever.

In fact, he was quite the ladies’ man, having several wives, spouses, partners, or ‘his own’ escorts. Funny enough, as it usually is with the Targaryens and many other houses in Martin’s work, most of Daemon’s partners were his female cousins. Taking that into consideration, it was more likely to see Daemon sleep with his niece than with another man.

Are there other bisexual characters in House of the Dragon?

So, now we’re at the conclusion that Daemon Targaryen might or might not be bisexual in Hause of the Dragon – which isn’t really a conclusion, is it? So, are there any other queer characters in the show?

Well, I don’t remember any characters depicted as explicitly gay or bisexual other than Laenor Velaryon and his male partners. However, there were some early implications that his wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen, might also be bisexual.

During the first few episodes of the show, Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower were best friends and somewhat too touchy-feely for it to be just friendship. It all turned sour once Alicent married Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys, but even before that, one can obviously see the two share a simple, platonic, childish love towards one another – nothing romantic or sexual.

Apparently, even Emily Carey – who portrayed Alicent Hightower in those first few episodes – told Variety that there were no intentions of making Rhaenrya and Alicent’s relationship romantic:

“We didn’t intend to play it. We weren’t ‘making them gay’ or ‘queerbaiting,’ or anything like that. It’s just if you want to read into it and see it like that, do it. If you want to see them as more than friends, do it. If you don’t, then don’t.”

I believe the same thing can be said about Daemon’s sexuality – you can feel free to interpret it any way you can. However, if we’re talking about the books, then you have to reconsider Rhaenyra’s sexuality once again.

In the books, there are no doubts about Rhaenyra being bisexual. After all, she was in this big, incestuous love triangle/poly relationship with Daemon and Laena before it fell through. There were talks about other female partners for the Princess, but it all just goes to show that she was queer in the books. So, who knows? Maybe we’ll see it in the show too.

Is Matt Smith bisexual?

Finally, I just wanted to briefly address this hot topic, as I’ve seen many fans wondering – is Matt Smith, the actor portraying Daemon Targaryen, bisexual in real life?

Well, whereas there’s still doubt about Daemon’s sexuality in the show, there’s no doubt that Matt Smith is not bisexual in real life. He’s currently dating a businesswoman named Caroline Brandy, was in a long-term relationship with the actress Lily James, and had at least two other known ex-girlfriends, Mayana Moura and Daisy Lowe.

I mean, he never explicitly said, ‘I’m 100% straight,’ but all the evidence points only in that direction.