‘House of the Dragon’: Daemon and Rhaenyra’s First Sex Scene is About Way More Than Just Incest

Well, they did it. Those silver-haired freaks went there. Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally had sex on House of the Dragon. After teasing their deep connection for weeks, making out in a brothel, and flirting their way through King’s Landing, uncle and niece at long last did the dirty. Not only that, but Rhaenyra and Damon literally had sex on the beach. Once again, House of the Dragon is delivering the weird incest drama that defined Game of Thrones, but doing it better by making this sex scene less about skin and more about two weird souls becoming one. House of the Dragon‘s first Daemon and Rhaenyra sex scene is shockingly sweet — like most of the sex scenes we’ve gotten so far!

House of the Dragon Episode 7 “Driftmark” opens with the funeral of Daemon’s second wife, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell). While Daemon and Laena got on pretty well and had a couple of cute daughters, their interactions in Episode 6 make it clear that Laena understood she was second choice. Daemon has always wanted to marry Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra obviously wishes that he had.

After Laena’s funeral, Rhaenyra and Daemon walk along the beaches of Driftmark. She literally admits that her marriage to Laenor (John Macmillan) is a “farce,” admitting that she took Ser Harwin (Ryan Corr) as a lover and gave birth to his children. When she rues Ser Harwin’s death at Harrenhal, Daemon suggests that the Hightowers had him killed. The conversation soon steers to Rhaenyra’s real motive. She wants to tell Daemon that he abandoned her when she was a child, leaving her in this awful situation. More importantly, she’s not a child anymore and she wants him. 

The two kiss on the beach, at first touching each other as tentatively as little Aemond (Leo Ashton) approaches the great dragon Vhagar. The music swells and director Miguel Sapochnik pans out, making us feel like Rhaenyra and Daemon are the only two people in the world. We then cut to the lovers undressing each other beneath a makeshift shelter. The camera lingers on laces being undone with modest flashes of bare skin. A stocking is pulled down. We see scar tissue covering Daemon’s shoulder for the first time.

Daemon and Rhaenyra only have eyes for each other, though. And, yes, it’s difficult to see what’s happening. This is all happening in the dark light of the gloaming. The sun has sunk beyond the horizon and the only people awake on Driftmark are dragonlords pursuing their pleasures*. This is not a scene intended to be titillating for the audience like the brothel scenes in Game of Thrones. This is about two people committing themselves to becoming one. (And also they’re uncle and niece, so like showing that in a torrid way would be kind of gross?)

Daemon and Rhaenyra don’t just have sex in House of the Dragon Episode 7. By the end of the episode, they’ve also successfully plotted a way to fake Laenor’s death so they can be married. And they don’t just get married, they bind their blood as Aegon the Conqueror did with his sisters. Their twisted romance is about more than just getting their incestuous rocks off. Daemon and Rhaenyra see themselves as the true heirs of Old Valyria, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and her greens be damned.

*It definitely feels meaningful that as Daemon and Rhaenyra consummate their relationship, young Aemond finally bonds with the legendary Vhagar. Targaryens gonna Targaryen!