Who Is the Main Villain of House of the Dragon? (& What Are The Roles of the Other Characters)

One of the things that make the world of George RR Martin so compelling is that the lines between the definitions of “heroes” and “villains” tend to be quite blurred because we all know that everyone in the storyline is simply after their own self-interests. While we did see characters that could be heroes and villains in Game of Thrones, it is difficult to tell who the antagonist in House of the Dragon is. So, who is the main villain in House of the Dragon?

There is no main villain in House of the Dragon because all of the characters are merely acting based on their self-interests. That’s because the entire storyline of House of the Dragon revolves around politics, which is an incredibly difficult realm to understand because everyone can be right and wrong.

At this point, it does seem like Daemon Targaryen is the main villain of House of the Dragon, but that really isn’t the case because he is simply one of the chess pieces moving in this larger game of politics. In that regard, once you understand how the entire storyline flows and how it will lead to an all-out war, it will become clear why there is no clear villain in House of the Dragon.

Who Is The Main Villain In House Of The Dragon?

House of the Dragon is just like Game of Thrones in the sense that this storyline follows a lot of different characters who have their own journeys and personal decisions to make in the greater scheme of things. Of course, the thing about Game of Thrones is that, from the very start, we were able to learn that the main characters were the Starks and that Daenerys Targaryen also had a claim at the heroine title of the series.

As Game of Thrones progressed, we came to see the Lannisters as villains of the storyline. Then we met the Night King, who appeared to be one of the villains of the series as well. But we eventually learned that the ultimate villain was Daenerys herself, who descended into madness as she burned King’s Landing and was killed by Jon Snow, who was the main hero all along.

Of course, while House of the Dragon shares a lot of similarities with Game of Thrones, the one thing we know is that it can be quite difficult to tell who the main villain of the storyline is at this point in the series. We learned early on that a good part of the story will be focused on Rhaenyra Targaryen, especially because her adult self was the narrator of the prologue and because plenty of scenes included her. That could mean that she is the main character of the series. But who could be the main villain of House of the Dragon?

The first person that people would think could be the main villain of House of the Dragon is Daemon Targaryen because he embodies a lot of the things that villains tend to have. He is brash, cruel, manipulative, and somewhat selfish. He also did some awful things during the first two episodes of House of the Dragon. 

But the one thing he never did was claim the Iron Throne for himself, as he could have done so by mounting a rebellion against his brother. Nevertheless, Daemon has shown a level of love and respect for Viserys because he never did anything that harmed his own brother, even though he did a lot of things that made the king angry and disappointed in him.

However, it is still too early to proclaim Daemon as the main villain of House of the Dragon because he hasn’t shown any kind of hostility towards Rhaenyra, who is quite possibly the main heroine of the series. Every single time Daemon and Rhaenyra shared a scene, it was clear that they were quite fond of one another. In episode 2, when Rhaenyra confronted her own uncle so that she would relinquish Dragonstone and give her the dragon egg that she stole, there was a palpable tension between the two, but the tension was seemingly romantic and sexual instead of hostile.

So, if Daemon was the main villain, then there should be hostilities between her and Rhaenyra. This leads us to the conclusion that there probably is no main villain in House of the Dragon at the moment. Of course, we know what happened in the book, but we aren’t exactly sure if the series will follow the storyline of Fire & Blood down to the letter. But book readers would know that there is no real villain in the storyline that revolves around the Dance of the Dragons or the Targaryen Civil War.

Why Is There No Main Villain In House Of The Dragon?

As mentioned, we believe that there is no main villain in House of the Dragon. We also believe that there is a good possibility that no one truly fits the main hero/heroine role in the storyline. And we got to this conclusion by looking at the main nature of what House of the Dragon is—a fantasy political storyline

Considering that House of the Dragon is more of a political storyline than an actual fantasy adventure series that is somewhere near the lines of The Lord of the Rings, it becomes more understandable why there are no clear main villains or even main heroes in this series. After all, in politics, everyone has a personal agenda to follow.

This isn’t like Game of Thrones, where the Starks were simply looking to survive as a family instead of trying to rise in power to claim the Seven Kingdoms for themselves. In fact, almost everyone in House of the Dragon is interested in one thing—the Iron Throne. And the political nature of this storyline is what eventually led it to the Targaryen Civil War called the Dance of the Dragons.

Daemon Targaryen, who might be the closest thing to a main villain in the series, is merely trying to restore his birthright and is looking to claim glory so that he could increase his stock as a possible heir to the Iron Throne in the future. On the other hand, Rhaenyra, who was named heir in episode 1, is only trying to make sure that she gets to keep her status as her father’s chosen heir.

However, there are many different characters surrounding both Rhaenyra and Aemon, as it is becoming more apparent that King Viserys won’t live long to see the end of season 1. All of these characters have their own personal agenda as well because they also have their own goals in mind, regardless of whether or not they want the Iron Throne.

Such is the very nature of a political series as we need to see things as neither black nor white. There are plenty of grey areas in House of the Dragon, as it does appear that all of the characters dwell in the grey areas instead of simply keeping themselves in the black or white boxes. This is what makes this series so compelling, as every single character has a personal agenda in the larger and greater scheme of things. 

What Roles Do The Other Characters Play?

As we all know, there is no main villain in House of the Dragon because they are all trying to make sure that they get to fulfill their own personal goals in this political drama. Ambition is the key when it comes to these characters, as we get to understand what they want.

The first person that would come into mind when it comes to how vocal he has been since the first season is Corlys Velaryon, who is the head of House Velaryon and the Master of Ships in the Seven Kingdoms. He is arguably the second-most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms because he owns half of the fleets in Westeros and is married to a Targaryen that controls a good portion of the dragons that exist in the world.

Of course, Corlys could have been king consort had Rhaenys Targaryen been chosen as queen instead of Viserys. Nevertheless, it is clear that he is an ambitious man that wants to see his power increase. This was clear when he wanted Viserys to marry his daughter, the 12-year-old Laena, so that they could unite the Targaryen and Velaryon houses. 

Then, at the end of episode 2, he was seen talking to Daemon to convince him to join his war against the Triarchy in the Stepstones, despite Viserys telling him that they didn’t want to wage war against the Free Cities of Essos. And he also told Daemon that he had to claw his way up to where he is because that is the very nature of House Velaryon.

Then there is Otto Hightower, who seems to be the best at manipulating situations to his advantage. We don’t know the true nature of this character or what he wants. But it was clear that he had something in mind when he asked his daughter, Alicent Hightower, to keep King Viserys company during the time of his grief.

It was the fact that the king became fond of Alicent’s presence that he eventually decided to marry her despite his most loyal advisers telling him that the best course of action to keep the realm in one piece was to marry Laena Velaryon. As such, Otto was able to accomplish one of the things that he wanted to happen—to install his daughter as the new queen consort.

We don’t know what Otto wants, but we all know that he is probably against the fact that Rhaenyra was named heir to the Iron Throne. That’s because, in his mind, he believes that the lords of the Seven Kingdoms would never accept a woman ruling over them. As such, he would be in a better position to steer the kingdom in the “right” direction through his daughter.

In fact, in the book, it was Otto who proclaimed Aegon II, the firstborn son of Viserys and Alicent, as the new king of the Seven Kingdoms. And this was what sparked the Dance of the Dragons and the war between two different Targaryen factions.