House of the Dragon unveiled a fiery new teaser showcasing Matt Smith, who's playing one of the most complicated and polarizing characters in the Game of Thrones prequel. Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of HBO's original Westeros series. Though the Targaryens were nearly extinct during Game of Thrones, that's not the case in the new series, which follows the history of the thriving Targaryen dynasty. Unfortunately, succession is a constant problem for the Targaryens, and rival coronations lead to the Dance of the Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that nearly tore Westeros apart.
HBO already introduced several significant players in House of the Dragon. Paddy Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen, a kind-hearted man who may not necessarily be a great king. Though King Viserys is constantly at odds with his brother, Matt Smith's Daemon Targaryen, he has a soft spot for family, which eventually comes back to bite the kingdom. Emma D’Arcy takes on the role of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys' firstborn child. She's a dragonrider and the potential heir to the throne until Olivia Cooke's Alicent Hightower comes along. Alicent is Viserys' second wife and the daughter of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King and a fierce opponent of Daemon.
Of all the characters, the teaser mainly highlights Smith's Daemon. While the teaser shows various shots of many House of Dragon characters, including King Viserys, Rhaenyra, and Otto Hightower, Daemon provides the damning narration. "Dreams didn't make us kings," he says over a shot of the Iron Throne, adding, "Dragons did." But, of course, Daemon wasn't actually Westeros' king, so perhaps there's some bitterness in his words in the House of the Dragon teaser. And that bitterness built over the character's complicated history.
Daemon Targaryen was born to be an antihero. He was an experienced warrior, conquering the Stepstones and naming himself king; he wielded Dark Sister, a Valyrian steel blade and an ancestral sword of House Targaryen; and he rode Caraxes, a fierce red dragon also called the Blood Wyrm. Also, he constantly desired power. While his brother ruled on the throne, Daemon built his influence in King's Landing, commanding the City Watch and becoming familiar with all the back alleys and brothels. He even considered himself Prince of Dragonstone and Viserys' heir before his brother named his firstborn, Rhaenyra, his successor. Not to be down for long, Daemon eventually took things into his own hands and made Rhaenyra his third wife. He was integral in her attempt to gain control of the lands and realms of Westeros and proclaimed himself as Protector of the Realm for good measure.
In many ways, Daemon is several characters from Game of Thrones rolled into one. Like Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen), he's manipulative and made contacts in brothels and dark corners of Flea Bottom, even becoming known as Lord Flea Bottom. He took on Mysaria (played by Sonoya Mizuno) as his lover, and she acted as a mistress of whispers, providing valuable information long before Varys (Conleth Hill) would have his little birds. He was also a fierce warrior, a la Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), bravely jumping on the backs of dragons for a fight without a second thought. And like many Game of Thrones characters before him, he appeared to die in battle. However, House of the Dragon could reveal he didn't go out in a blaze of glory after all.