HOUSE OF THE DRAGON began its run on HBO Max last night. I don't know about you, but I was a little apprehensive. It felt like it would be really easy to slip back into storylines and houses that we've already pretty fully explored. But the pilot is really striking for how much it begins to open up the world--there's tons of new settings and some new families and different kinds of characters and relationships. Even the way things look is different; there's more sunshine at times and at others a very different kind of darkness, one that seems thicker and more filled with menace.
But the thing that really leapt out for me is the treatment of Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), the younger brother of King Viserys. On one level he hits a lot of pretty standard villain motifs--he's incredibly violent he's got his own wolf pack of ultra-faithful devotees; he is massively ambitious and pretty fearless about saying so; and he's also not as talented as he promotes himself to be. Ser Cristin Cole kicks his ass both on horseback and up close.
That's a great choice, one that a lot of stories miss. You want your villain to have some flaws beyond he is arrogant and/or crazy. And the reason is not to open the door to some future failure, but because it humanizes them. It makes them a ton more three dimensional.
And here's the other thing writer/co-creator Ryan Condal does along the same lines: He gives Daemon moments where he is more than a douchebag. First, he gives him a relationship with his niece Princess Rhaenyra that seems to be very legitmately niece and favorite uncle. He actually dotes on her. And later when her father is grieving, it's Daemon that pushes her to step up and help him. Moments like that are like an emotional palate cleanser; they're so totally different than the whoring & murdering tone that has been established for Daemon, playful and delicately played, that they open us up to him. We know going forward he gonna be crazy, because he Daemon, right? But because of the impact of those few moments where he's something else, we're going to tolerate a lot of that nonsense, because we want to see that other Daemon. They gave us a little sugar, and now we'll wait because we want some more.
The other great Daemon moment is the end, when he and Viserys have it out. Going in there is no way that Daemon is in the right; he literally had an orgy the day after his sister-in-law and her son were put to rest. WTF. (And he ridiculed the son!)
But then the whole scene turns on him speaking truth to his brother. I am the one who sees what is going on, I am the one who you should have protecting you, you are surrounded by leeches, you are weak. And by this point we've seen that all of these things are true, to such a degree in fact that we no longer want Viserys to punish Daemon, we see his point of view and want to see what he might do if given some trust.
Two things make people love a new character, whether they're a hero or a villain: Big, bold, risky choices on their part; and some kind of specific, well used knowledge or talent. (Okay there are more than two, but these are differently two big ones.) Daemon is all about big choices; the first time we meet him he is sitting on the Iron Throne. It's so shocking they got Graham McTavish to gasp when he sees it. Graham !%!%ing McTavish.
And in this moment at the end, as well as his scenes with Rhaenyra, we see his talents. He sees things clearly, and maybe (?) he is actually devoted to his family.
Obviously, it's a little unfair to call Daemon the villain. This is the world of Westeros; everyone here is a villain and a hero at some point. But even so, I think a lot can be learned about how to craft a good villain from watching how Condal writes him.
