There are two elements that explain why Daemon doesn't sleep with Rhaenyra; that Daemon knew what he is doing is wrong, and that Daemon's affection for Rhaenyra kept him from taking it too far by sleeping with her - but he still takes advantage of the situation by trying to gain power and the Iron Throne through ...
Daemon couldn't perform with Rhaenyra after she took control of the situation. “It's the idea that Daemon is using Rhaenyra as a way to get at her father,” showrunner Miguel Sapochnik said.
That's right, during the Oct. 2 episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) stopped fighting their feelings for one another and finally got together. However, this was more than just an illicit liaison, as Rhaenyra and Daemon got married at the end of the episode.
In the fourth episode of "House of the Dragon," the pair kiss in a brothel, and when rumors that they were intimate together reach the king, Daemon tries to get Viserys to let him marry his niece Rhaenyra. The king refuses, but their story doesn't end there, because by episode eight, they're married.
According to the accounts of Septon Eustace, prior to her turning sixteen, Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle, Prince Daemon, after he seduced her.
We last saw her find out the truth in "We Light the Way" that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
After Daemon's first wife dies, he gets together with Laena Velaryon—who was initially suggested as a bride for King Viserys. They have two daughters. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra marries Laena's brother, Laenor Velaryon, and they have several kids.
While we conjectured that something inside forced Daemon to stop before he took Rhaenyra's virginity, a recent HBO-approved “Inside the Episode” installment revealed that something was literally impotence. He literally couldn't get it up.
In "King of the Narrow Sea", Rhaenyra seduced Ser Criston after she herself was denied by her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). She and her paramour spent the night together, and she was warm towards Ser Criston afterward.
Back at King's Landing, Otto Hightower is vacating. Daughter Alicent tells him she regrets her role in the debacle over what happened the night Rhaenyra was spotted kissing Daemon.
While this is a revelation in and of itself, this sequence also highlights the truth of Daemon and Rhaenyra - he is an abuser and she is his victim, albeit perhaps one who does not see herself as a victim.
After the beginning of Daemon and Rhaenyra's marriage played offscreen, viewers were able to return to the story to see the pair after they'd established their life together.
Prince Daemon marries Rhaenyra following the death of his second wife, Laena Velaryon, and they have three children.
Daemon stumbles back to the Red Keep and is brought before the king, who confronts him with the White Worm's intel. Daemon, pointedly, doesn't deny that he and Rhaenyra had sex.
After berating Daemon for “abandoning” her to marry the now-deceased Laena Velaryon, Rhaenyra makes it clear that she has feelings for her uncle and wishes to strengthen her position in Westeros by marrying him. The pair then have sex.
Her next child whom she's now pregnant with, however, will be a different story. In House of the Dragon episode 8, Rhaenyra Targaryen is pregnant with her daughter Visenya. Despite Rhaenyra and Daemon's excitement over having another child, their daughter will tragically never take a breath of air.
Ser Criston Cole, we have to understand, was never a good guy. He wasn't an honorable knight who went over to the dark side. He merely wore a chivalrous façade. He didn't want Rhaenyra to run away with him because he loved her despite his claims to marry “for love.” Nor was he heartbroken over her refusal.
A sordid and controversial story began to spread that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle Daemon at age 16. No one knows if that is true. But Targaryens had long married within the family to keep their bloodlines pure. And King Viserys did exile his brother shortly after.
Alcock explains that Rhaenyra wants to be “seen” and Criston and Daemon are the “only two people who really see her. Both of them see her for different reasons.” She reveals that “she genuinely likes him. But I don't think she would pick him over Daemon, ultimately.”
While Daemon and Rhaenyra have been circling each other for quite some time, the finale revealed a darker and more toxic aspect of their relationship when, arguing over how to proceed against Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), Daemon chokes Rhaenyra in order to get his point across.
He chokes Rhaenyra after she starts telling him The Song of Ice and Fire prophecy and learning that Viserys kept secrets from him. Perhaps Daemon's attack was motivated by this perceived betrayal? Part of it also may be related to his dislike of Viserys weakness.
It was clear that Leana and Laenor had a close relationship, and she likely would not appreciate her uncle choosing this moment to make a statement while her brother grieves. Daemon laughs at this moment because Vaemond is choosing this moment to guilt Rhaenyra for having children with Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).
The shock of the loss of her father, combined with the Greens' ruthless betrayal sends her into early labor. Without modern medicine, a baby born so early had very little chance of survival in the best of circumstances - and in these terrible conditions the baby, a girl named Visenya, is stillborn.
In 120 AC at the age of thirty-nine, Daemon married again, this time to his niece, Rhaenyra Targaryen, the twenty-three-year-old Princess of Dragonstone.
Daemon and Rhaenyra share two children together: Aegon III and Viserys II.