In defense of House of the Dragon’s drawn-out Harrenhal story

As Daemon Targaryen suffers from nightmares week to week in the dark, dank rooms of Harrenhal, many House of the Dragon fans have had one question on their minds: “When will this be over?”

But as Game of Thrones fans shout “Filler!” and craft Luigi’s Mansion memes, I’m here to argue in favor of the Harrenhal happenings, and to celebrate the weird, spooky, and incestuous goings on in the Riverlands. Harrenhal has allowed House of the Dragon

to flesh out its mystical side amid much politicking in Dragonstone and King’s Landing, and bloody skirmishes elsewhere, and has given the show an injection of aesthetic diversity. I’ll say it: Harrenhal is beautiful and terrifying, and refreshingly unlike everything else we see in Westeros. (Not to be all “Getting a lot of ‘Boss Baby’ vibes from this,” but Harrenhal’s exterior is giving me warm and fuzzy ‘Shrine of Storms from Demon’s Souls’ vibes. I love the way the show’s castle has been designed.)

But most of all, Harrenhal has given Daemon something to do, and let him reflect on his character in the process.

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Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Daemon has very few places to go at this point that would welcome him. He’s run away — or been all-but-exiled — from King’s Landing, Dragonstone, Pentos, and the Vale. Being stuck in the morass of Harrenhal is fitting, given his abandonment of Rhaenyra in her ongoing time of need and her own inability to escape Dragonstone. He deserves to be stuck here, and to painfully confront his demons.

Thankfully though, four weeks into Daemon’s stay at Harrenhal, we’re actually seeing some progress. Maybe not in terms of Harrenhal’s repair or the formation of a functioning garrison, but the weeks of increasingly fucked-up dreams Daemon’s endured have forced him to confront his relationships with Rhaenyra, Laena, and Viserys. Daemon appears to finally be realizing he may actually be in the wrong, thanks to Alys Rivers’ brand of poison therapy. It’s working, and as anyone who’s been to therapy knows, that kind of change doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it means processing a sex dream about your mom.

As Alys says in her spat with Daemon in this week’s House of the Dragon, “When something does not please you, you run.” Given that Daemon has few places left to run to, he has little choice but to heed her advice and wait for the winds to shift, while also accepting that running away from his problems (and the ghosts that haunt both him and Harrenhal) isn’t the answer.

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Or maybe this is, like, character growth. Also maybe I just like seeing Daemon suffer. After all, he put his brother through hell and is now on his third wife, whom he’s quietly plotting against. Oh, he’s also indirectly responsible for the death of a little kid, thanks to a botched assassination attempt he outsourced. Daemon’s a prick, and a few weeks of bad sleep and detachment from reality seem like the start of a fitting punishment.

From a viewer perspective, Daemon’s suffering at Harrenhal has given us the brief return of beloved characters, including Paddy Considine’s Viserys and Milly Alcock’s younger Rhaenyra. Purely from a fanservice standpoint, I’m happy to see these people back. Similarly, Daemon’s (and the viewers’) extended stay at Harrenhal has also given us time to spend with the delightful Ser Simon Strong, played with sharp, understated “well, actually” energy by Simon Russell Beale. Simon’s brought some enjoyable comic relief to House of the Dragon, and I say the more of him the better.

So, yes, Daemon is spinning his wheels at Harrenhal; deservedly so. He’s shown very little capacity for change to this point, and he’s finally asking for help. Maybe his latest breakthrough — and the timely death of Grover Tully — will actually help him move on.

But I won’t object if Daemon needs to put in the work at Harrenhal for a little bit longer.