Meet Daeron Targaryen, the Secret Hightower Prince Stealing the Scenes in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3

For two full seasons, ‘House of the Dragon‘ fans have heard whispers about a fourth Hightower child hiding somewhere in the background of the Dance of the Dragons. That character has finally stepped into the light, and his introduction was so quiet that most viewers almost missed it entirely.

His name is Daeron Targaryen, and he might just be the most important piece on the board that nobody was watching.

Who Plays Daeron Targaryen

Daeron is played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, and he made his debut in the ‘House of the Dragon’ season 3 premiere without so much as a formal introduction. The character was quietly introduced as Ormund Hightower’s force of 15,000 marched toward King’s Landing, only to be interrupted by a letter from Alicent Hightower asking them to make camp and wait for Aemond and his dragon Vhagar.

Behind Ormund Hightower stood a brown haired young man that most casual viewers would not immediately clock as a Targaryen at all. That is because unlike his siblings, Daeron does not share their blonde hair, and instead favors his mother’s look much more closely. Ormund never actually says the squire’s name on screen, but the identity of the actor playing Daeron reportedly leaked online roughly a year before the character’s on screen debut, so dedicated fans already knew exactly who they were looking at.

Daeron’s Targaryen Family Ties

Daeron is the youngest son of Alicent Hightower and the late King Viserys Targaryen, which places him firmly inside one of the most dysfunctional royal families in Westeros. He is a prince of the Targaryen dynasty and the fourth child of King Viserys I and Queen Alicent Hightower, making him the younger half brother of Rhaenyra Targaryen and the younger full brother of Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond.

Daeron serves as a ward of House Hightower in Oldtown, having first been fostered by Lord Hobert Hightower before being passed to Hobert’s son, Lord Ormund. That upbringing away from King’s Landing explains why this particular prince has remained a mystery even to longtime viewers of the show.

Daeron the Daring is Alicent’s third son and fourth child, and he has been mentioned a handful of times on the show without ever actually being seen until now.

Newcomer Ormund is the nephew of Otto Hightower and head of House Hightower, and he has taken Alicent’s son Daeron Targaryen as his ward, marching from Oldtown to support her forces. It is a small but telling detail that even in the middle of a brutal civil war, family loyalty and political maneuvering still dictate who ends up standing next to whom on the battlefield.

Meet Tessarion, the Blue Dragon

Every Targaryen worth mentioning comes with a dragon attached, and Daeron is no exception. When viewers are introduced to Ormund and his army, they also catch sight of Tessarion, the blue dragon that Daeron rides. That sapphire blue dragon is seen traveling with the Hightower army in the same episode where Daeron himself finally appears.

Tessarion has been referenced on the show before this point without ever being fully explained to casual audiences. Rhaenyra’s uncle and husband Daemon indirectly counted four dragons on the side of the Greens, and Tessarion was one of them, even though her rider had not yet been shown.

That kind of subtle setup is exactly the sort of long game ‘House of the Dragon’ has been playing with Daeron’s storyline.

Fans who track the political chess match of the Dance of the Dragons know that dragon count matters enormously in this war. Every rider who shows up on screen shifts the balance of power, and Tessarion’s reveal alongside Daeron signals that this quiet prince is about to matter a great deal more than his screen time so far would suggest.

Why Daeron Matters Going Forward in ‘House of the Dragon’

Daeron is technically third in line for the Iron Throne, yet he has largely been treated as an afterthought within his own family’s power struggle. There are rumors and potential spoilers circulating about a narrative reason for why he has been kept so far in the background, though only a handful of people currently know whether those rumors will actually play out on screen.

It is genuinely striking that Alicent has an entire additional son, and that Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena have a whole other sibling, who had not been shown on screen through more than two seasons of the series. Yet the general expectation among those covering the show is that Daeron will play a real role going forward, and viewers have been told to be ready for it.

It is worth noting just how strange his absence has been given the rest of his family’s involvement, since his brother Aemond rides the largest dragon in Westeros in Vhagar, and his brother Aegon became king after marrying their sister Helaena following their father’s death. While the rest of the Hightower siblings have been thrust into the center of the war, Daeron’s arrival suggests the show has been saving him for a purpose all along.

With ‘House of the Dragon’ finally pulling back the curtain on its most mysterious Targaryen, the real question is what role this young prince and his dragon Tessarion will play as the Dance of the Dragons escalates, and fans are already eager to weigh in on where his loyalties and his story might be headed next.