Fans of “House of the Dragon” are outraged about a moment in the Season 1 finale where Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) chokes his wife (and niece), Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy).
Spoilers ahead for the “House of the Dragon” finale.
In the episode, Rhaenyra, who is the heir to the Iron Throne, finds out that her father, the king, has died. She also learns that there’s a big complication to her succeeding him: her brother Aegon has usurped her throne. The stress sends the pregnant Queen into having a harrowing early labor and a stillbirth.
Rather than be supportive, her uncle/husband Daemon gets angry that Rhaenyra isn’t reacting with as much urgency and rage to the situation as he is. In a tense confrontation, he puts his hands around her neck and squeezes, choking her.
Fans of Daemon are outraged, seeing this behavior as a departure from his character.
“The whole appeal of Daemon as a character is that he is a complete c–t of a man who does abhorrent things to other people but never to the people he deeply loves whom he would kill and die for,” one fan tweeted, later adding, “His fervent love for his family is the one redeemable quality which makes him a compelling character. So when you take away that trait and make him an abusive wifebeater and deadbeat dad what are we left with?”
Another fan complained that “domestic battery” is not on the list of the character’s “many crimes.”
Another viewer complained that this went against how Daemon behaves in the source material, George R. R. Martin’s book “Fire & Blood,” writing, “Book Daemon [is morally] grey. Show Daemon 90% evil except for the time he was kind to his brother smh.” One fan agreed, tweeting, “Daemon finds his blood family endlessly frustrating, but he doesn’t want violence against them. He loves them. Book Daemon didn’t do half this sh-t.”
Another simply exclaimed, “WHO wrote this choking sh-t?!”
Acting in a way that’s violent, chaotic, and impulsive isn’t out of character for Daemon. After all, he murdered his first wife and preyed on Rhaenyra, his teenage niece, when she was younger.
But, book fans are upset because it’s no small thing for a show to add domestic violence that isn’t in the source material. It also seems to counter what Matt Smith himself has said about the character, since he recently told The LA Times, “I think he has a sense of duty to his family, weirdly. I think he’d lie on his sword for his brother or Rhaenyra…”
This isn’t the first time a “Game of Thrones” show has added intimate partner violence onscreen where it’s not in the source material – and doesn’t always make sense for the characters. There was an infamous incident in “GoT” Season 5 when Jaime Lannister (Nikokaj Coster-Waldau) raped Cersei (Lena Headey) after their father’s funeral. It turned out the writers and performers hadn’t intended for the scene to be rape.
Is this choke moment a similar situation for Daemon Targaryen?
“House of the Dragon” showrunner Ryan Condal at least seems aware of what he wrote, telling Deadline, “I don’t think as the writer of this series that there is very much new information in that scene about Daemon.”
“I think Daemon has very much, through the course of this season, shown you a lot of colors that would not lead one to be all that shocked in that moment,” he continued. “That primal danger is always lurking beneath the surface, and it just happened to come out in that moment.”
But that explanation isn’t satisfying to fans, since there’s no acknowledgment of it within the context of the episode. And domestic battery is no small thing to add to a story if it’s not offering any new information about the characters.
Another outraged viewer tweeted, “WHY HAVE DAEMON CHOKING RHAENYRA IF EVEN THE CHARACTERS ARE GONNA ACT LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED?!?!?”
“House of the Dragon” Season 2 will premiere at an unannounced date in 2024.