Aemma Arryn’s House Of The Dragon Season 2 Return Hints At A Wild Daemon & Viserys Retcon

Warning: Contains minor SPOILERS for Fire & Blood, and potential spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2.

The House of the Dragon season 2 trailer hints at a return for Aemma Arryn, adding an insane twist to Daemon and Viserys’s relationship. Aemma Arryn was introduced in season 1 as the first wife of King Viserys Targaryen and Rhaenyra’s mother, who tragically dies during childbirth in the first episode. In the House of the Dragon season 2 trailer, a brief glimpse of a woman is shown, that many have speculated to be Aemma Arryn. A previously deleted post on X also teased Aemma Arryn’s season 2 return.

The season 2 trailer shows war erupting across Westeros in the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. Much of the House of the Dragon cast from season 1 will return, with the exception of dead characters like Viserys (Paddy Considine). Sian Brooke, who played Aemma, hasn’t officially been announced for the season 2 cast, but the action-packed trailer has opened up room for theorization about her character. She certainly won’t be having a Jon Snow-like resurrection, but she could return in some manner.

House Of The Dragon’s Trailer Hints At A Love Scene Twist Between Aemma & Daemon

HOTD’s Trailer Teases The Possibility Of Aemma Arryn’s Return

A brief shot from the House of the Dragon season 2 trailer seems to show Aemma Arryn lying in bed during a love scene. While it’s unclear who she’s with, the character wears a black ring on his right ring finger, indicating it to be Daemon Targaryen. This opens up some possibilities for what the scene could mean. The most likely option is that Daemon is at Harrenhal with Alys Rivers, a new character from the Fire & Blood book who will be joining the season 2 cast during the scenes at Harrenhal.

Alys Rivers is a bastard of House Strong who’s tied to Aemond Targaryen’s story in the books. However, she’ll be at Harrenhal when Daemon captures it, presumably very early in season 2. Alys is known in Fire & Blood as a witch who’s able to see visions, so the assumption here could be that she’s providing Daemon with a vision of someone he desires. The other possibility would be that it’s a flashback scene from before Aemma’s death, but that seems far less likely, as she was known as a loyal queen, and it wouldn’t provide any narrative advantage.

HOTD Season 2’s Aemma Scene Sets Up A Major Change To Daemon & Viserys’ Backstory

Daemon Fantasizing About Aemma Would Extend His Jealousy Of Viserys

The implication of this moment could be that Daemon had some desire for Aemma before her death. Daemon is one of House of the Dragon’s best characters due to his complexity, as being the younger brother to the king developed deep insecurities, with him always wanting to live up to Viserys. His fantasizing about Aemma would only add to that complexity. It only gets weirder, given that Daemon ended up marrying Aemma’s daughter in House of the Dragon season 1.

House of the Dragon

Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. The popular HBO spinoff show first starred Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower before they were replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play the older versions of the characters. Also starring in the series is Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) and Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.

Cast

Jefferson Hall , Paddy Considine , Fabien Frankel , Ryan Corr , Eve Best , Gavin Spokes , Graham McTavish , Steve Toussaint , Olivia Cooke , Sonoya Mizuno , Bill Paterson , Matthew Needham , Emma D’Arcy , Matt Smith , Rhys Ifans , David Horovitch

Release Date

May 21, 2022

Seasons

1

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