'House of the Dragon' Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained: Daemon Prevails

House of the Dragon comes back with a smashing episode this week, teasing some upcoming family drama, a big time jump and a true test of worth. In this episode we see Rhaenyra becoming antsier as she assumes her father is about to replace her with Aegon. Now that he is the eldest male heir, it has become quite clear that the son could possibly be the next one to sit on the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, Daemon is at the Stepstones trying to build his capabilities as a leader. 

It works for him because he wins this war. Even though it was essentially a petty move to go against the army all by himself. King Viserys’ message just makes him want to prove him wrong and prove that contacting him after three years of nothing wasn’t going to change anything. Meanwhile, King Viserys is quickly becoming the people’s most disliked monarch. Rhaenyra has been stressing about the fact that the throne will be passed on to her younger brother, and even though Viserys has no intentions of changing anything about the coronation, he still needs Rhaenyra to get married. 

But clearly, since a lot of people are enjoying going against their king, the council said that if they found the white hart stag coming to Prince Aegon it’s because the gods are choosing him to be the rightful heir to the throne. Otto Hightower saw that and spun the story to fit that narrative. When the stag came to the group with Prince Aegon, the group took this as an omen. However, after all of them turn, they find that the stag is not there at all. It cuts to the stag coming to Rhaenyra which would mean that destiny is actually smiling upon Rhaenyra to be the future heir to the throne. 

Now that Daemon is completely out of the picture of the palace, we can take a look at what he is doing. So he’s at the Stepstones trying to gain victory alongside House Velaryon, and he wins. While this does mean wealth and power for the House Velaryon, it also means that Daemon has established a position with the House and can now influence certain aspects of it. Daemon’s ambition, however, doesn’t end there of course. It is certain that he will be coming up with plans to cause carnage in the household. In the next episode, we can probably expect the brothers to arrive at a dramatic confrontation that would probably once again threaten Rhaenyra’s position.

Stream House of the Dragon on HBO Max.