Throughout Daenerys Targaryen’s rise to energy in Game of Thrones, the specter of her father, the Mad King Aerys, looms giant. In the course of the sequence, as Daenerys experiences setbacks and successes in her quest for the Iron Throne, quite a few characters, from Barristan Selmy to Tyrion Lannister to Varys to Jon Snow, query whether or not she is going to finally exhibit greatness or succumb to the genetically predisposed insanity of her line.

Similarly, House of the Dragon makes use of the reminiscence of a previous king recognized for his brutality and cruelty to tell the characterization of one among its central characters, Prince Daemon. The repeated invocations of King Maegor the Cruel in relation to Daemon all through the sequence are not any accident. But who precisely was Maegor the Cruel, and what’s the present making an attempt to say about Daemon by creating this hyperlink between the 2?

The abomination on the Iron Throne

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Maegor the Cruel was son of Aegon the Conqueror and the third Targaryen ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Like his descendant Daemon, he was a second son, along with his elder half-brother Aenys the inheritor to Aegon’s throne. Where Aenys took to cerebral pursuits, Maegor was extra of a jock. When he turned 13, his mom Visenya gifted him her Valyrian metal sword Dark Sister, and he was knighted by his father on the age of 16, making him the youngest knight within the realm on the time.

Despite their totally different proclivities, Aenys and Maegor received alongside nicely sufficient. When Aegon died, Aenys declared to his brother, “We shall rule this realm together, you and I,” however in observe, Aenys alone was topped. Maegor did assist his brother (brutally) put down a number of rebellions and was named Hand of the King. Yet the brothers fell out over a wedding. After 13 childless years with Ceryse Hightower, Maegor determined to take a second spouse, an act which so affronted the Faith of the Seven and so upset the frequent people that King Aenys gave him an ultimatum: Set apart his second spouse, or go into exile. Maegor selected exile.

He returned when Aenys died abruptly, however fairly than bend the knee to Aenys’ inheritor, Maegor’s nephew Aegon, Maegor claimed the Iron Throne for himself. Eventually, Aegon started rallying forces to press his declare, prompting Maegor to fulfill him in battle atop Balerion the Black Dread — the biggest of the Targaryen dragons in Westeros. He slew his kin (and the true inheritor to the Iron Throne), incomes him the sobriquet “Maegor the Cruel,” in addition to a black mark as a Kinslayer, believed to be one of the cursed and dishonorable issues anybody in Westeros may very well be.

Maegor’s battle with the church and his capability for cruelty escalated when he took a 3rd spouse, prompting a spiritual rebellion led by the Warrior’s Sons and the Faith Militant (the navy arms of the church). The rebellion ended when Maegor used dragon hearth to burn the Sept of Remembrance and everybody inside it. He then ordered the development of the Dragonpit the place the church as soon as stood. In different construction-based atrocities, Maegor celebrated the completion of the Red Keep by throwing an enormous three-day feast for everybody who labored on its development; when the feast ended, he executed all the employees to make sure he could be the one one with full information of its many hidden chambers and secret passageways.

Maegor’s rule of six years and 66 days concluded when his grotesque and mysterious loss of life launched one of many nice city legends of the Seven Kingdoms. It ended because it existed, drenched in blood.

Maegor reborn

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Just because the Mad King looms over Daenerys all through Game of Thrones, Maegor is held up as a comp to Prince Daemon, in methods each apparent and refined, all through House of the Dragon. In episode 1, Otto Hightower overtly warns that naming Daemon inheritor dangers giving the realm one other Maegor the Cruel. Much of that sentiment arises from Otto operating his personal lengthy sport to achieve management over the road of succession, however there are kernels of reality underscoring the comparability that helps it resonate.

Like Maegor, Daemon is a second son, and like Maegor, his declare to the throne is usurped by his brother’s youngster. Both wielded Dark Sister. Both achieved navy fame and glory combating pirates within the Stepstones. Both are thought of warriors in comparison with their extra bookish brothers. And each had been exiled by their kingly brothers for his or her transgressions. But regardless of Otto’s assertions, Maegor stays extra of a worst-case situation for Daemon’s development than a mirrored image of who he’s when House of the Dragon begins.

By episode 2, nevertheless, Daemon is seemingly leaning into the comparability for his personal ends: Exiled from courtroom, squatting on Dragonstone, determined for his brother’s consideration, he steals a dragon egg for his unborn youngster by way of a girl he broadcasts he intends to marry — even if he’s already married to a special girl. While it’s the dragon egg which finally lights the spark underneath Viserys, Daemon’s (finally false) declaration of his intent to take a second spouse instantly calls to thoughts Maegor’s historical past with polygamy and the way in which his want to marry and marry once more led to vital struggles with the church and large bloodshed all through the realm. The standoff at Dragonstone represents Daemon at arguably his most Maegor-like but.

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

While House of the Dragon is amplifying the Maegor/Daemon comparability — the Dragonstone standoff is sort of fully a creation of the present, including heightened drama and cinematic panache to what’s a fast apart in Fire & Blood — showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik are finally selecting up on what George R.R. Martin put down, because the parallels between Maegor and Daemon come from the textual content of the e book itself. Just just like the showrunners, Martin clearly needs readers to carry Maegor of their minds as they examine Daemon (and readers of Fire & Blood know the Maegor/Daemon comps aren’t executed but), to fret alongside Otto Hightower and the remainder of the realm that Daemon is leaning too far into that comparability.

Thankfully, Rhaenyra is ready to defuse the state of affairs in episode 2 — and Daemon proves himself higher than his great-grand uncle when he doesn’t strike down his niece, the particular person elevated above him within the line of succession. In episode 4, Daemon returns to courtroom and patches issues up with Viserys, solely to be thrown out once more after being caught almost hooking up with Rhaenyra (essential to notice: one among Maegor’s six wives was his niece). But the story of Daemon Targaryen isn’t over, and the specter of Maegor will proceed to loom over him as he strikes deeper into the Dance of the Dragons.

Just just like the narrative rigidity created by the query of which manner Daenerys’ coin would land, House of the Dragon is invoking the reminiscence of the cruelest Targaryen ruler to tease the worst-case situation for Daemon’s character arc.