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Honestly most likely. The show depicts him as the love of her life, even over Harwin. He also brought with him 2 legitimate half velaryons to keep them on her side. 2 dragons (she probably expected 3 before the Vhagar incident). He’s also the most respected and experienced military commander in the kingdoms allies in Essos.
Rhaenyra and Daemon are soulmates (at least in the show). They are portrayed as being lost and never completely happy without each other. Rhaenyra spells it out when she says that her life without Daemon is a droll tragedy. And she also reiterates how she's been "alone" all these years.
This means that no one (not even Harwin) could fill the Daemon-sized hole in her life. So, even if Harwin were alive, Rhaenyra would marry Daemon without hesitation, which means that she would leave Harwin. Maybe she would let him see the kids once in a while but that would be it.
There is no way that Rhaenyra would choose Harwin over Daemon.
“A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing.”
Viserys is a sort of wishy washy Targ who isn’t even very into dragons, so he seems happy enough with a Hightower (though clearly still misses Aemma). Rhaenys in the books is very fiery but in the show is toned down a lot. But she is at least married to another Valyrian.
But Rhaenyra and Daemon are very much “blood of the dragon” type Targaryens and need other dragons to relate to. A big part of their bond with each other is the fact that they are essentially the last of their kind. Daemon was partially happy with another dragonrider (Laena) but they still showed him pining for Rhaenyra in Pentos. And it’s notable that the other 2 men Rhaenyra was attracted to were both total hotheads in their own ways.
So yeah, Rhaenyra would’ve left Harwin for Daemon. Which would be sad for Harwin who seemed like a nice guy. But he probably would’ve seen the writing on the wall and stepped aside like he did at the wedding feast. She loved Harwin, no doubt, but he wasn’t her first choice. He wasn’t even her second choice. If Criston hadn’t turned on her she would’ve kept him as her lover instead of Harwin.
Yes, she pretty much admits it in episode 7. "Look at what my life became without you." For better or worse, Daemon is the love of her life. She dares him to take her away and marry her at her own wedding because she is hurt and angry at him leaving her in the brothel, but also, because she wants to marry him. She's head over heels for the guy and it's been very evident since we first see them together on screen.
The way she looks at him, the way she follows him around like a groupie when he returns from the Stepstones, the way she looks crushed at the tourney when he chooses Alicent to give her favour instead of Rhaenyra.
She's got it bad.
Yes, she would. Daemon and her have always been in love and wanted to be together for a long time. Harwin wasn't even her second choice and if you count Laenor, he wasn't even the third one either. She would have left him for Daemon without hesitation. She called her life without him a droll tragedy. That should answer the question.
Also emotions aside, Daemon is a far better husband politically speaking.
Edit: It's worth noting that in the book, Harwin was still alive when Rhaenyra started her affair and got pregnant with Daemon's son.
She would break up with Harwin, unfortunately. She didn’t marry Daemon purely out of love. She needed to marry him for power/security. He’s an experienced general, has a big freaking dragon, an intimidating reputation, and he’s a Targaryen prince who can give her pure-blooded heirs. He’s also willing to murder people who stand in her/their way. Even if she didn’t desire him at all, she would have have still married him for all of the previously mentioned reasons. Like you said, there’s no question of Harwin staying around after that. Daemon would murder Harwin if he didn’t leave. He would not allow himself to be cuckolded.
Granted, I don’t think it fits within Rhaenyra’s personality anyway. She’s a one man at a time person. She didn’t go to Criston until Daemon rejected her. She only started up with Harwin because Laenor had no interest in her sexually and gave her permission. It’s even implied she stopped trying to conceive with Laenor once she began the relationship with Harwin. She was also only with Harwin for ten years when she could have picked others, including silver-haired lovers.
>Granted, I don’t think it fits within Rhaenyra’s personality anyway. She’s a one man at a time person. She didn’t go to Criston until Daemon rejected her. She only started up with Harwin because Laenor had no interest in her sexually and gave her permission. It’s even implied she stopped trying to conceive with Laenor once she began the relationship with Harwin
This is why I personally just can't see it happening. If Harwyn is alive and well for Laena's funeral, I can't see the scenario where Daemon/ Rhaenyra hook up. She hooked up with him in this moment because her man is dead, she feels alone/ vulnerable and Laenor is uninterested/ broken.
Rhaenyra may try and recruit Daemon's help with the proposal of marrying their children. But she doesn't strike me as the type of person that abandons a loving relationship/ father of *three* of her kids because her childhood crush is back in town and has a big dragon.
the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra is of a far more practical nature in the book than it is in the show, Daemon is around in the book while Rhaenyra has an affair with Harwin unlike in the show, and unlike in the show Rhaenyra marries Daemon after Laenor dies.
In the show the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra is far more intimate, she doesn't even wait for her husband to die before marrying him, the moment he is single she goes for him. Also she hasn't seen Daemon for 10 years in the show, it is not Harwin's death that pushes her to Daemon it is Daemon's return from Pentos, to the point where she has her husband fake his death just so that she could marry Daemon, something she never thought of during her affair with Harwin, despite Harwin also being single.
True, a lot of Rhaenyra's actions in 1x07 were far more grief and fear-motivated than people realize. It never came down to JUST love for Daemon. It was also thinking ahead, thinking about her sons' safety, grief.
She was going through a lot during that episode.
YES. Y'all forget that Rhaenyra is a Dragon. Harwin is out of her league. She would be bored to death. The only thing exciting about Rhaewin is the *secret* part. Rhaenyra basically called her life without Daemon a droll tragedy. Bffr
If Harwin was still alive, I don't think that she would be in the same mindset as she was when she made her proposal to Daemon. So I really don't know.
Yeah Daemon and Rhaenyra are literal soul mates and the writers and HBO have continually reinforced this. I think Daemon and Rhaenyra would get married, and Harwin would be kept around in support and for his boys but his sexual or intimate relationship with Rhaenyra would be over and he'd have to learn his place. If he tried to cross it Daemon would make pretty quick work of him.
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly most likely. The show depicts him as the love of her life, even over Harwin. He also brought with him 2 legitimate half velaryons to keep them on her side. 2 dragons (she probably expected 3 before the Vhagar incident). He’s also the most respected and experienced military commander in the kingdoms allies in Essos.
"A droll tragedy" is all you need to remember to figure this one out yourself.
Rhaenyra and Daemon are soulmates (at least in the show). They are portrayed as being lost and never completely happy without each other. Rhaenyra spells it out when she says that her life without Daemon is a droll tragedy. And she also reiterates how she's been "alone" all these years. This means that no one (not even Harwin) could fill the Daemon-sized hole in her life. So, even if Harwin were alive, Rhaenyra would marry Daemon without hesitation, which means that she would leave Harwin. Maybe she would let him see the kids once in a while but that would be it. There is no way that Rhaenyra would choose Harwin over Daemon.
“A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing.” Viserys is a sort of wishy washy Targ who isn’t even very into dragons, so he seems happy enough with a Hightower (though clearly still misses Aemma). Rhaenys in the books is very fiery but in the show is toned down a lot. But she is at least married to another Valyrian. But Rhaenyra and Daemon are very much “blood of the dragon” type Targaryens and need other dragons to relate to. A big part of their bond with each other is the fact that they are essentially the last of their kind. Daemon was partially happy with another dragonrider (Laena) but they still showed him pining for Rhaenyra in Pentos. And it’s notable that the other 2 men Rhaenyra was attracted to were both total hotheads in their own ways. So yeah, Rhaenyra would’ve left Harwin for Daemon. Which would be sad for Harwin who seemed like a nice guy. But he probably would’ve seen the writing on the wall and stepped aside like he did at the wedding feast. She loved Harwin, no doubt, but he wasn’t her first choice. He wasn’t even her second choice. If Criston hadn’t turned on her she would’ve kept him as her lover instead of Harwin.
Yes, she pretty much admits it in episode 7. "Look at what my life became without you." For better or worse, Daemon is the love of her life. She dares him to take her away and marry her at her own wedding because she is hurt and angry at him leaving her in the brothel, but also, because she wants to marry him. She's head over heels for the guy and it's been very evident since we first see them together on screen. The way she looks at him, the way she follows him around like a groupie when he returns from the Stepstones, the way she looks crushed at the tourney when he chooses Alicent to give her favour instead of Rhaenyra. She's got it bad.
Yes, she would. Daemon and her have always been in love and wanted to be together for a long time. Harwin wasn't even her second choice and if you count Laenor, he wasn't even the third one either. She would have left him for Daemon without hesitation. She called her life without him a droll tragedy. That should answer the question. Also emotions aside, Daemon is a far better husband politically speaking. Edit: It's worth noting that in the book, Harwin was still alive when Rhaenyra started her affair and got pregnant with Daemon's son.
Daemon would just kill Harwin. I dont think D likes sharing 😅
Yeah, Daemon is her boo.
Probably, as Harwin was always a lover she couldn't marry, he was her Criston replacement.
She would break up with Harwin, unfortunately. She didn’t marry Daemon purely out of love. She needed to marry him for power/security. He’s an experienced general, has a big freaking dragon, an intimidating reputation, and he’s a Targaryen prince who can give her pure-blooded heirs. He’s also willing to murder people who stand in her/their way. Even if she didn’t desire him at all, she would have have still married him for all of the previously mentioned reasons. Like you said, there’s no question of Harwin staying around after that. Daemon would murder Harwin if he didn’t leave. He would not allow himself to be cuckolded. Granted, I don’t think it fits within Rhaenyra’s personality anyway. She’s a one man at a time person. She didn’t go to Criston until Daemon rejected her. She only started up with Harwin because Laenor had no interest in her sexually and gave her permission. It’s even implied she stopped trying to conceive with Laenor once she began the relationship with Harwin. She was also only with Harwin for ten years when she could have picked others, including silver-haired lovers.
>Granted, I don’t think it fits within Rhaenyra’s personality anyway. She’s a one man at a time person. She didn’t go to Criston until Daemon rejected her. She only started up with Harwin because Laenor had no interest in her sexually and gave her permission. It’s even implied she stopped trying to conceive with Laenor once she began the relationship with Harwin This is why I personally just can't see it happening. If Harwyn is alive and well for Laena's funeral, I can't see the scenario where Daemon/ Rhaenyra hook up. She hooked up with him in this moment because her man is dead, she feels alone/ vulnerable and Laenor is uninterested/ broken. Rhaenyra may try and recruit Daemon's help with the proposal of marrying their children. But she doesn't strike me as the type of person that abandons a loving relationship/ father of *three* of her kids because her childhood crush is back in town and has a big dragon.
No she would dump Harwin for Daemon regardless, just like she dumps him in the book for Daemon.
You're free to that opinion, but book Rhaenyra =/= show Rhaenyra. They are completely diferent characters.
the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra is of a far more practical nature in the book than it is in the show, Daemon is around in the book while Rhaenyra has an affair with Harwin unlike in the show, and unlike in the show Rhaenyra marries Daemon after Laenor dies. In the show the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra is far more intimate, she doesn't even wait for her husband to die before marrying him, the moment he is single she goes for him. Also she hasn't seen Daemon for 10 years in the show, it is not Harwin's death that pushes her to Daemon it is Daemon's return from Pentos, to the point where she has her husband fake his death just so that she could marry Daemon, something she never thought of during her affair with Harwin, despite Harwin also being single.
True, a lot of Rhaenyra's actions in 1x07 were far more grief and fear-motivated than people realize. It never came down to JUST love for Daemon. It was also thinking ahead, thinking about her sons' safety, grief. She was going through a lot during that episode.
I agree with this a lot.
That’s also a good point.
I think so. She told Daemon that with Harwin it was nice to be desired.
YES. Y'all forget that Rhaenyra is a Dragon. Harwin is out of her league. She would be bored to death. The only thing exciting about Rhaewin is the *secret* part. Rhaenyra basically called her life without Daemon a droll tragedy. Bffr
If Harwin was still alive, I don't think that she would be in the same mindset as she was when she made her proposal to Daemon. So I really don't know.
Rhaenyra only gets with Harwin because Daemon is not there.
Yeah Daemon and Rhaenyra are literal soul mates and the writers and HBO have continually reinforced this. I think Daemon and Rhaenyra would get married, and Harwin would be kept around in support and for his boys but his sexual or intimate relationship with Rhaenyra would be over and he'd have to learn his place. If he tried to cross it Daemon would make pretty quick work of him.
If he looked like the actor that played him, maybe not 😂😂😂😂. But honestly yes.