Daemon Attempts to Coax a Dragon With Song — His Success Could Make or Break the War

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 1.

In the finale episode of House of the Dragon’s first season, there are plenty of bits to question. Some of Daemon Targaryen's (Matt Smith) actions throughout the episode are confusing: why does he choke Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy)? And what dragon was he singing to while House Targaryen is out at war?

The events of Season 1 come to a head in the House of the Dragon finale, and now, HBO is clearly keeping us on the edge of our seats until Season 2. Season 1 basically sets up the circumstances that cause the Dance of the Dragons, and now, with our first “dance,” we’ve finally made it. So what part will these dragons play in the war, and who was Daemon singing to?

Daemon was singing to Vermithor, who eventually does take a rider.

Throughout the finale episode, we see how the relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra is strained when Daemon is ready to go to battle. Daemon claims that the Targaryens rose to power because of dragons, not dreams. However, for Rhaenyra’s entire life, Viserys taught her that dragons are nothing in comparison to prophecies. This puts the Queen and Prince at odds with one another about how to proceed.

While Rhaenyra might be more logical when it comes to acting too rashly, Daemon believes that whether or not they go to war, the more dragons they have on their side, the better. In the council meeting, Daemon claims that if they went to war on their dragons at that moment, they would outnumber the greens with 13 dragons to their four. Of course, as the episode progresses, Vhagar sadly brings house black’s number down to 12.

It’s true that there are more dragon riders on the side of the blacks, and in addition to that, because they command Dragonstone, they have access to riderless dragons. One of those dragons is Vermithor, the second-largest living dragon after Vhagar. In the episode, Daemon heads underground to sing to and coax Vermithor, hoping that he can win the dragon over to the side of the blacks.

This was confirmed after the episode aired by the official House of the Dragon Twitter account. They wrote on Twitter, “Vermithor. Famed Unclaimed Dragon.” Basically, while Daemon mentions wild dragons, Vermithor isn’t quite wild, since he did once have a rider in Jaehaerys I Targaryen. At over 100 years old, Vermithor’s age and size would make the “Bronze Fury” quite a force to be reckoned with if paired with a rider.

While we’re sure that Daemon would love to take hold of the mighty beast, he already rides his own dragon, Caraxes, who shares Daemon’s rash brutality. In Fire & Blood, a bastard named Hugh Hammer, a dragonseed born in Dragonstone, eventually claims Vermithor when the blacks seek loyal riders. Of course, no one stays loyal for too long, including a dragon, so it’s anyone’s guess as to who Vermithor will benefit in the end.

All ten episodes of House of the Dragon Season 1 are now available to stream on HBO Max.