WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8!House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8 director Geeta Patel has revealed that an impactful sequence in the latest episode was a product of luck, not design. The inaugural season of House of the Dragon is thundering towards its exciting conclusion with just two episodes remaining. House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8 saw the end of the ailing King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and the pressure inside power vacuum created by his death is beginning to ramp up. Before fading, King Viserys shared an on-screen moment with his brother Daemon (Matt Smith) that soldered their relationship better than any dialogue could.
At the start of House of the Dragon, Daemon was the unruly brother in King's Landing, overzealous in policing the people and despised by King Viserys' council. The inciting incident of the series is when King Viserys replaces Daemon with his daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as the heir to the throne as punishment for a lifetime of misbehavior, disrespect, and crown-hunting. House of the Dragon is loaded with time jumps, and now more than 15 years have passed since Viserys first spurned Daemon. Daemon, now married to a grown-up Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), has returned to King's Landing, laid eyes on his sickly brother and made amends without words but with actions.
There are few accidents in television production. A show as large as House of the Dragon has extremely delicate coordination and detailed planning for an efficient shoot. But House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8 director Geeta Patel explained to EW that one of the most emotionally fraught moments in the episode was mostly unplanned, and unexpectedly came alive during rehearsals. Read Patel's full comments below:
"There was one moment in the throne room where Daemon helps Viserys up the stairs to the throne 'cause Viserys is so weak, he can't make it himself. First, a soldier comes up to Viserys, and Viserys shakes him away and says, 'No, no, no. I can do this myself.' He has the pride. And then another person comes to him and he thinks it's a soldier and it's actually his brother. When we were shooting that — I think the rehearsal again, the first day — the crown fell off of Paddy's head and Matt picked it up and we just kept going. We didn't stop [filming]. There was a discovery there of this moment. So then the three of us got together and they were like, 'We felt this. This felt like the turning point in our relationship.' It's just a silent moment.
"I was so thankful that accident happened, that the crown fell off because it proved to be, at least for me, quite a heavy moment and quite a turning point for a storyline that had started in the pilot: Hey, I want your crown and by the end here I'm gonna put the crown back on your head and I'm gonna help you to your throne."
What's Next for Daemon on House of the Dragon
Daemon, slightly rehabbed by his marriage to the ultimate pragmatic in Rhaenyra, still has a viciousness in him that is to be feared. In House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8, Daemon severs Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson)'s head in two for publicly questioning the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children from her first marriage. Daemon is the rider and owner of a duty-bound dragon, and he personally cultivates more dragon eggs from Rhaenyra's dragon Syrax, which may prove to be useful artillery in the impending Targaryen civil war. Based on Patel's comments, Daemon and Viserys have finally made peace, but Daemon has not forgotten his ambition for power. The trailer for House of the Dragon episode 9 indicates King's Landing will begin to splinter in Viserys' absence.
Daemon, sometimes wrongfully understood as a brute, was the first to notice and object to the addition of iconography belonging to the Faith of the Seven proliferating in the Red Keep, perhaps hinting that the way Daemon's rivals intend to deal with him is through a powerful bureaucracy. In Game of Thrones, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley) is persecuted for incest by the church and like Daemon, she was tangential to the Iron Throne rather than sitting on it. Queen Alicent, Daemon and Rhaenyra's primary opposition, is a close ally of the church and may be pressed to wield that powerful institution by her conspirator Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). With King Viserys' and Daemon's fraternal arc fulfilled, House of the Dragon is officially teed up for the Dance of the Dragons.
Source: EW