House of the Dragon season 2 positions Daemon in a very interesting light. The character is seen as more than just an impulsive Prince his emotional psyche takes on a complex meaning as we delve into the visions he has in Harrenhal. The past guilt and actions that have troubled him for a long time finally confront him.

While the HBO prequel shows Daemon’s vision in a very poignant manner, the books have something completely different to say. Fire & Blood, the book on which House of the Dragon is based, actually fails to mention these scenarios. The book is written as a historical record of the Targaryen dynasty during one of the most turbulent times in their past. Fire & Blood details the events and happenings during the Dance of the Dragon but fails to dive into the nuanced and complex emotions of the characters involved.

Sara Hess shares the complexity behind Daemon’s Harrenhal visions

Sara Hess is the executive producer and co-writer of House of the Dragon. In the podcast, she reveals why the showrunners decided to add this aspect of visions and hallucinations for Daemon’s character. The books overlook this aspect that might have happened to the Rogue Prince. As the showrunners have previously outlined, they are taking some creative liberties to showcase a realistic picture of what might have happened during the most impactful war in Targaryen history. Hess says on the podcast,

“We sort of really decided to lean into the weirdness and hauntedness of Harrenhal, which is set out in the books, and to try to imagine what that would be like. And, you know, Daemon is a– He’s the rogue prince, and he’s got a dragon, and he’s great at fighting with a sword. And it just was really interesting to us to think about putting him in a situation that he couldn’t control with his physical prowess, or his reputation, or his legend, and just have to deal with sort of, you know, go more internal with him and have to deal with the shit that’s been sort of happening in his psyche throughout season one, which we haven’t really explored.”

The castle is said to be haunted since the sacred weirwood trees were chopped down to lay the foundation for this castle. Alys Rivers plays a crucial role in revealing this aspect to Daemon whose visions are henceforth heightened.

Remaining within the possibilities of the story

With that said, Hess emphasizes how the showrunners are staying to the spirit of the story and not veering away from the core narrative. The visions portrayed in House of the Dragon are connected to the past events that the show has featured. By taking creative liberty in adding a few elements to the story, Hess claims that they are not taking away from the essence and only enhancing the story in terms of the details they provide. She added,

“And I loved the books like the original Game of Thrones books, and I think when we embellish, we’re just very careful. It’s part of the joy of being adapters that we can bring our own interpretations and imaginations to it, but we also try to stay very true to the spirit of what is there and what has been laid out and what are the parameters. The sort of dreams/visions that Daemon experiences there, it wasn’t anything that’s outside of the tenor of our show. He’s sort of reliving the events that have already happened. He’s not seeing pink elephants. We didn’t make up something that doesn’t exist within our world. So we give ourselves license to create, but within the parameters that are already existing.”

The writers and directors are thinking of how they can expand the story in terms of the events that take place and the inner workings of the characters at the time. This is done to give the narrative a proper structure and flow so that the viewers can enjoy the story while learning what happened during the Dance of the Dragons.