Enter Alyssa Targaryen, the Coolest Targaryen in Westerosi History
House of the Dragon‘s latest family affair has revealed the identity of a fan-favourite Targaryen who’s not yet appeared in live action.
Warning: Spoilers ahead of all episodes of House of the Dragon.
While the rest of the Seven Kingdoms prepares for war, Daemon is fighting for his life in the Westerosi haunted mansion that is Harrenhal. He’s being plagued by dreams of Daemon One-Eye, witches’ brews that he’s inexplicably still drinking, and Riverlanders who just won’t wage the war that he wants them to.
Perhaps most harrowing of all—at least from a viewer’s perspective, if not his—was his latest sex-fuelled dream, revealing the identity of none other than his long-dead mother, played by Emeline Lambert.
Enter: Alyssa Targaryen
In true Targaryen fashion, it wouldn’t be an entrance if it wasn’t a little bit incestuous. At first, Daemon is having a raunchy sex scene with an anonymous white-haired woman. Her face is partially obscured and you might be forgiven for at first thinking Daemon is dreaming of Rhaenyra, then perhaps Viserys’ first wife Aemma, or any other Targaryen woman.
It’s not until she finally speaks at the end of some spicy interactions that we find out she is none other than Daemon’s own mother, Alyssa Targaryen.
House of the Dragon has taken some liberties with her appearance. The Alyssa from Fire & Blood was known for being far from beautiful, with dirty blonde hair, mismatched eyes, and a crooked nose after breaking it, rather than the signature Targaryen platinum and brown eyes we see on screen. The show clearly wants us to get wrapped up in the lust of it all and veering away from Targaryen beauty standards won’t help that.
It could also be that Daemon’s image of his mother is warped, however. Daemon was just three years old when his mother died in childbirth and Alys Rivers later notes that he never knew his mother. While both dream Alyssa and season 1’s Viserys reference the fact that Daemon was the favorite, that could easily be something that the boys were told, rather than remember themselves.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Daemon conjured up a picture-perfect image of his mother, filling in the gaps with an image of idealized Targaryen-ness. I hope that if Alyssa ever appears outside of a dream, they stick to her on-page appearance and personality—because she’s just effortlessly cool. A fierce dragonrider with a warrior’s heart, she often wore boy’s clothes growing up and refused to conform to Westerosi gender standards. Her and her brother-husband Baelon loved fiercely and died young, but were beloved by the small folk and their families alike.
(featured image: Max)
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