House Of The Dragon Gave Daemon The Jaime Lannister Treatment
"House of the Dragon" knows precisely how to appeal to fans of "Game of Thrones." In a show that is swarming with visceral violence, breathtaking visuals, plenty of mythical beasts, and controversial, swoon-inducing incestuous couples (yes, you read that right), it's necessary to remind fans that this is the world of "Game of Thrones" and it's all perfectly acceptable here. So, now and then, moments in the show are intentionally designed to serve as callbacks to its acclaimed predecessor.
Visuals in the show's battle sequences portal you back to a time long gone. When a Targaryen Princess commands her fire-breathing dragon, it takes you back to Daenerys roaring "Dracarys." When a rogue Prince stands alone and runs to the enemy front with only a sword and his determination for company, you're reminded of Jon Snow's unwavering grit during the Battle of Bastards, along with the famous "Game of Thrones" theme music ... you know you're in for some nasty fun. Especially when one of the show's most volatile characters begins to look like a certain golden-haired warrior you used to know.
Prince Daemon has a new haircut ... and a new attitude
In the show's fourth episode, "King of the Narrow Sea," the prequel spin-off series goes one step further and redesigns the appearance of one of its most prominent players — Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). After the rogue prince returns from the War of the Stepstones, you'll notice something different about him other than victory in his stride. He has quite the glow-up. He has traded his long, silvery-white locks for a slick, visibly shorter haircut. The reasons could be many: maybe it's more practical not to have your hair impede your sight when you're swinging a sword on the battlefield or have the wind in your hair when riding a dragon. Or maybe it's just an addition to the already-existing but hidden Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) effect.
If I could compare Daemon to any character from "Game of Thrones," he appears to consistently drift into Jaime's territory, at least where the morality spectrum is concerned. He's chaotic, messy, arrogant, undeniably skilled, arrogant, dangerous, and did I mention arrogant? Daemon wants all eyes on him — he wants to be watched, he wants to be desired, and unbeknownst to him, he wants to be seen. When Daemon returns from a war with a seemingly renewed conscience, he dials it up on the incest, recklessly endeavors to seduce his niece, and even in his most brutal moments, there's a vulnerability about him that threatens to slip through. Much like Jaime.
People close to them draw out their decency
Before Jaime Lannister's great redemption arc in "Game of Thrones," he was a guy who had slaughtered his king and nearly killed a child who caught him frolicking with his sister. People called him a Lion to his face and whispered Kingslayer to his back. That's a lot like how the people of Westeros treat Daemon Targaryen — they're afraid to get on his wrong side, but they're not necessarily thrilled about supporting him.
There's much more to Jaime (like Daemon) than his outstanding head of hair and unmissable combat skills. While the Lannister twin spent a lot of time being irredeemable, his reality was divulged to viewers during multiple tête-à-têtes with Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). Through his conversations with Brienne, we learned to see him as an outlaw in good standing. Brienne poked and prodded him until she drew out the decency so rooted in the very fiber of Jaime's being — much like Rhaenyra does for Daemon. These boys are rogue and messy, they're the drama. They have good dialogue and look fabulous while saying it. Even their silence is telling. "House of the Dragon" isn't missing a single opportunity to foreshadow Jaime's existence through Daemon's character, which is one of the many things that make this show so great.
They're good people with a penchant for chaos
Author George R.R. Martin always said that the people of Westeros and his characters were not good or bad — nothing was ever black or white. They're shades of gray. Daemon and Jaime both belong to this ideology, they've been good and bad, but never strayed far away from redemption.
That doesn't mean Daemon's going to be any less chaotic — he'll just think twice before doing so. Daemon almost uses Rhaenyra, and then he doesn't. He tried to remedy it, and of course, he failed. He's arrogant, sure, but if you look long enough, Daemon, like Jaime, is a man who uses arrogance and deceit as a disguise to cover his ambition and to some extent, self-hatred. He's full of himself, but only in theory. It's a defense mechanism, I think.
Anyway, remember when Jaime said, "There are no men like me; only me"? I wonder how he'd feel about Daemon.