Does House of the Dragon Season 2’s Finale Confirm the Daemon/Night King Fan Theory?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 8.

Some House of the Dragon fans are convinced Prince Daemon Targaryen is (or one day will be) Game of Thrones baddie the Night King. So, does Daemon’s vision of the Night King in Season 2’s finale confirm the theory they’re secretly one and the same?

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Does House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 8 Confirm the Daemon/Night King Theory?

Nope – if anything, it shuts the theory down. When Daemon touches Harrenhal’s heart tree and sees the future threat posed by the Night King and his White Walkers, he freaks out. And not in a “I’m horrified by the monster I’m about to become” way, but in a “I’m horrified by the monsters that are coming” way. Heck, one of the first things Daemon tells his niece-wife Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen is that Westeros needs to be ready for the looming White Walker invasion. This is not the behavior of a guy who’s about to go full “snow zombie” and try to wipe the Seven Kingdoms out!

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But then, the evidence for Daemon being the Night King was never very strong. We’ve already seen the Night King’s origin story, in Game of Thrones Season 6, and Daemon’s nowhere to be seen. That tracks, too. The Night King is one of the First Men transformed by the Children of the Forest over 10,000 years before House of the Dragon takes place. That’s right: he’s not a Targaryen and he’s canonically way older than Daemon. Oh, and the Night King’s fire immunity doesn’t tie him to Daemon either, since (as seen elsewhere in House of the Dragon) Targaryens aren’t fireproof!

Why Does Daemon See the Night King in Season 2, Episode 8?

Two reasons. The first is foreshadowing; House of the Dragon has been laying the ground work for the White Walkers’ arrival in Game of Thrones since Season 1’s first episode. Indeed, the Song of Ice and Fire – Aegon the Conqueror’s prophetic dream about the Night King and his minions – is indirectly responsible for House of the Dragon‘s civil war. So, it makes sense that showrunner Ryan Condal and his team would include prophecy-related cameos in Season 2’s finale.

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The second reason Daemon sees the Night King in his vision is character-based. The Rogue Prince needs a reason to give up his own aspirations for the Iron Throne and bend the knee to Rhaenyra. And that’s exactly what witnessing first-hand the ancient evil that threatens the realm does: it convinces Daemon humanity’s only chance of survival is uniting behind a strong leader (and quick!).

House of the Dragon Season 2 is currently streaming on HBO and Max.