Who Is Alicent's Fourth Child? 'House of the Dragon' Finally Mentions Daeron Targaryen

There's one more Targaryen to introduce as Westeros goes to war, and the TV show just confirmed he is coming.

By Michael Hein

House of the Dragon did most of its set-up and exposition in Season 1, but there are still a few new characters to be introduced as the war goes on. On Sunday, the show finally mentioned Daeron Targaryen – son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and younger brother of Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Read on for a look at how this character has been excluded from the story so far, but fair warning: There are spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon.

In House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) finally mentioned Daeron for the first time in this series, telling Alicent that he "will take more kindly to instruction" than her other sons. He added: "Daeron may yet help us in the weeks to come." This caught book fans off-guard as they thought they understood the Targaryen family tree by now, and it was a shock to book-readers who believed that Daeron was being left out of the TV series. So far, Daeron's absence hasn't impacted the plot too much but it has saved table space at some of those feast scenes.

In George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, the historians of Westeros say that King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) and Alicent had four children together – Aegon, Helaena (Phia Saban), Aemond and Daeron. Last season, we met three of those children all at once during one of the show's many time skips, so the absence of Daeron seemed to indicate he did not exist in this adaptation. That was significant, since the book tells us Daeron is a dragon-rider bonded to the dragon Tessarion.

Daeron is described as a handsome, likable boy, and while he was "the gentlest" of his brothers, he did share Aegon and Aemond's enmity towards Rhaenyra's sons. Daeron bonded Tessarion at the age of six, and at the age of 12 he was sent off to live in Oldtown with Alicent's family, House Hightower. He was to be a cupbearer and squire to Lord Ormund Hightower, Alicent's cousin and the current ruler of the city.

We've seen the younger sons of lords make exchanges like this throughout Game of Thrones and its spinoffs – think Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon living in the Vale of Arryn in the main series. In Daeron's case, many readers and viewers mistake this for Daeron studying at the Citadel. However, Daeron simply went to Oldtown to live at court in the Hightower, and he even took his dragon with him.

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Daeron has some important moments coming up in this series, so fans are delighted to hear that he has not been left out. At the pace the show is going now, it's unlikely that we'll see him in Season 2 – especially since there was no casting announcement. On the other hand, fans are hoping that this show is keeping other casting secrets, so maybe this one can just be added to the list.

House of the Dragon Season 2 airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. Martin's books are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.

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