I think Daemon’s visions are manifesting the same way Helaena sees her Visions. Which is why Helaena seems completely unaware at times, like Daemon is.

Haelena will tell us soon. She is due to drop the tea.

If Daemon walking around an empty castle, tripping balls, the children of the forest are the true MVPs.

When Alice said that part about “you never got to meet your mother” when she turns around n walks away she basically disappeared behind Simon when he came walking to him.. he even looked her direction as if he was to say “what are you looking at” .. this a dream fam!

9:30 “he just ate the cat he came out of” ☠️ Game of Thrones is about daddy issues House of the Dragon is about mommy issues

Is Caraxes having crazy dreams lol

Yo i think youre spot on. Its all a vision quest to help him kill his ego and save his family. He doesnt actually care about the throne just his family

That idea of daemon getting a spin inside Aemond's head via the weirdwood paste is super interesting.

The visions and dreams are pretty clear to me. No present members of the Harrenhal staff are present during his dreams. And he's clearly having waking visions when he sees people from the past in the present settings.

Alys (The Ghost of Harrenhal?) might just want to scare off these guys through those trippy dreams so that they leave the place alone for the trees to grow freely.

I hypothesize that Alys is working with Larys Strong to drive Daemon into acting on his darkest desires and divide team Black.

Sorry, I forgot his name, but the man sent by the Queen to find Daemon's reasons for why he cut everyone off will find him sleeping in the limbs of the weir wood tree. It was all a Bob Newhart dream.

The spennanite bag is crazy Daemon brought his PS5 with him.😂

Grey Area is my favorite GOT/HOD content creator next to David Lightbringer. ❤ Anyone else agree? ⏬⬇️⤵️🔽👍🏿👍🏾👍

The theory Daemon has just been asleep this whole time is very interesting but I do know there better be a big pay off at the end of this storyline!

My feeling regarding the situation at Harrenhal at the moment; The scene with the lords of the Riverlands at night did happen. I feel that we have been shown that Daemon believe fully in Targaryen supremacy. That he is (or is supposed to be) a dragonlord, and that this is very important. Daemon like so many of the characters in both season 1 and 2 is living caught up in fantasies and delusions. We also see that through the season that Daemon appears to be motivated by the status and power of his family, and more specifically for the approval of his brother. And he revels in the hero worship from young Rhaenyra. Through his dialogues with Ser Simon we see Daemon flirt with the idea of proclaiming himself king, however he isn't really doing much else to pursue that goal directly. He is sort of throwing his (and his dragons) weight around to muster up troops. He threatens the Brackens with fire, but then backs down when his threats are ineffective. Afterwards he seems almost bemused. Then he delegates violence to the Blackwoods, which I read as a sign that he doesn't really have the stomach for violence and/or that he lacks conviction. Which is what I felt most of all. He is half-heartedly blustering and threatening the lords at the night meeting but without conviction. It felt like someone just going through the motions because this is what he knows, or how he thinks he should act, but then suddenly his dead wife is there asking if he is “taking care of their daughters.” Which I read as being a sort of “what are you doing? Why are you here doing this? What about your children?” So I read the conflict within Daemon being that he does have some guilt lurking in the shadows of his soul, that he plays the part of the dragon prince but he isn't really feeling it. The conflict is that either he has to realize the errors of his ways and try to make some amends, or he has to sort of commit to being the dragonlord with all that entrails. Right now I am leaning towards the former. Which opens the room for Aemond to arrive later and have the opposite reaction.

Oh s--t...ever since Daemon left for Harrenhal, the episodes have repeatedly emphasized how he's failed to get in touch with anyone at Dragonstone. What if the reason for that is because he's been asleep?!?!!! Yo...lol that would be crazy. And who knows, maybe Daemon has found himself in a situation with Alys like Tom Hank's son's character in Dexter where he's seeing someone who's not actually there. Now I'll have to rewatch and see if anyone else interacts with Alys or if it's just Daemon. Nice, but trippy, video Gray.

aemond idiolizes daemon. he doesnt know him, but he knows all the stories he,s been told. also grayarea you rock girl!!! i always look forward to your videos every week and cant wait to watch them! Keep up the good work!!

The hour of the wolf told by Simon Strong refers to the arrival of Cregan Stark

My first thought was that the scene with the River Lords was a dream, but the fact that the Blackwoods committed their war crimes under Targaryen banners seems important plot wise, so idk But everything with Alys is super weird. Why does Daemon put up with her shit? Why did he drink the weirwood paste so easily & not say anything about it afterwards? Why is he the only one who ever interacts with her?

I also wondered if anyone else saw Alice, this is all trippy for me

Daemon is tripping out at Harrenhal. How much of it is really happening? Not sure, but I do think the last scene with Daemon and the River Lords is a dream.

These dreams of Daemon are making me question if Ive been dreaming.

I don’t think it’s all a dream. At one of the dinners, Simon Strong tells Daemon that Larys has taken all the family wealth to King’s Landing. Now, that’s true and it’s not information that Daemon would have likely dreamed up.

You should say "I'm back with the juice to get you through this Long Fight." 😂

I'm actually really enjoying the Harrenhal plotline. It's really exploring dreams/magic in a way that is unraveling some of the mechanics of the system in a very visual way.

Daemon & Rhaenyra Story Arc Season 2 : it's funny how i've saying for MONTHS that this is exactly what would happen, daemon with house bracken on harrenhal was him realizing he completely lacks the patience and the cautiousness needed to be king. rhaenyra at dragonstone is her realizing even her own council does not fear her or truly believe in her capability in times of war, she was too cautious and the enemy is now in advantage. daemon and rhaenyra's plot is basically them changing places, daemon is gonna have to learn to be cautious and rhaenyra will have to learn to be ruthless. daemon is gonna learn that rhaenya has the ability to trade with the common people that he does not. and rhaenyra is gonna learn that he has the commander in the battlefield and the sword ability that she does not. it's what emma said SEVERAL TIMES, daemon and rhaenyra can't show weakness in front of the other, and this is something they'll overcome. Showrunners Plans For Season 2) main goal for season 2. its so unprofessional. they created bullshvt, boring, sexually perverted, and misogynistic plots for the sole purpose of making ppl dislike character just bc they do, and were annoyed by his popularity. Hess replied: "I agree with you. He's become Internet Boyfriend in a way that baffles me. Not that Matt isn't incredibly charismatic and wonderful, and he's incredible in the role. But Daemon himself is ... I don't want him to be my boyfriend! I'm a little baffled how they're all, 'Oh, daddy!' And I'm just like: 'Really?' How - in what way - was he a good partner, father or brother - to anybody? You got me. He ain't Paul Rudd. What do you think, Clare?" 'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Will Make Viewers Switch Sides, Ryan Condal Promises 'House of the Dragon' Creator and Showrunner Ryan Condal explains his goal to make fans keep switching sides in season 2 and beyond.

The fact that you don't know what's going on and are frustrated by it is the point, they're meant to be disorientating 😉

So Aemond is what everyone feared Daemon would be

I'm glad somebody else sees that the Riverlords scene isn't real. So many reviewers are taking that as truth even though earlier in the episode Daemon was told that the Brackens bent the knee.

Daemon is the greenseer before Bloodraven. I'm convinced.

He is going to spend the entire season High on poppies isnt he 😅😅😅😅😅

This whole Daemon/HH is weird and dragging along. This is not like Damon at all. I’m ready for it to end, like yesterday.

Good god please; I hope it was all just a dream. Otherwise Daemons entire story won't make any sense anymore.

I definitely don't think Alys is real in the show. No one but Daemon has acknowledged her existence. Either she isn't real or Simon Strong and his sons aren't real. When he comes back from a dream and Simon is taking up him, Alys always has a look like who are you talking to.

The only time of clarity he's had was when he was with Caraxes away from Harrenhal. That's the only scene i trusted to be real tbh.

The dream camera colors. That blue/grey filter is what I was trying to follow.

I like the confusion of it, it keeps us on our feet. Everyone thought they knew the story but they're giving the book readers unexpected aspects. I like the parallels between aemond and Daemon as well. I think they're nailing it. I love that idea that he wakes up from a coma and the castle is completely empty. The show creators have us coming up with all sorts of theories and I think that's why the show succeeds

That is what I had been saying, that Cole raised Aemond, of course he a jealous psicopath.

Aemond is definitely off the rocker, he’s made a fantasy of Daemond in his mind. One he wants to defeat and become. And Daemond is in a dream world, I think. Today’s only Monday and can’t wait for Sunday night. 😆

I’m so glad u covered this because when that lady started talking about how harrenhal was an ancient place watched by the old gods and the new, I was like hmmmmm

Those river lords didn't even say their names.

ok, this makes way more sense to me. The thing they seem to bring home with these dreamers, is that they can't really control it and they don't necessarily know how to interpret or make sense of what they are seeing. So if Daemons dreams are actually eluding to Aemonds thoughts, feelings and actions because their fate is intertwined, that would make a lot more sense then them insinuating that Daemon wants to usurp the throne. Thanks Gray.

To me it looked like at dinner the blood was dripping into weirwood paste.

Aemond is my favorite character.

I KNOW you caught Hugh Hammer’s wife talking about taking off to go stay with her family in Tumbleton…… bet anything they use that as his reasoning for turning his cloak, or at least part of it.

It’s so fun to be back with you. Feels like the old days, when thrones was good. The real old days.

And.... in the dreams, Daemon is telling ppl to call him King. Now, Aemond IS King Regent. 😳😳😳

The whole thing reminds me of Avalon in the Authurian myth. When you enter the land of the fey, time doesn't work the same way. A week with the Fey can be a century in the normal world. It could be foreshadowing Daemon's fate.

Love you girl! Everything you said in this video I was feeling too!

My man Daemon doing some war crimes

You are the GOAT. Thanks for transcribing the High Valarian; great work, and you're always on point. Thanks for all you do for us.

It’s almost like he is being shown what he’s capable of doing so he convinces himself to sacrifice himself. Removing himself from the redwood timeline of events. Imagine an Easter egg of bran whispering or his crow watching lol

I've been wondering if they're going to pull the "it's all a dream". However, if they go this route, they better be damn sure the payoff is worth it.

Unfortunately this reminds me of season 7 and 8 when people were coming up with all these amazing theories to explain things that were just bad writing

I definitely think they’re tryna pull a “the sixth sense” on us.

Re Daemon: As a therapist, I use confrontation to help clients face and work through difficult truths about themselves. During the confrontation, discrepancies, inconsistencies, or defenses in the client's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are directly addressed. I feel like Daemon's inner struggles are being explored, so when he is out of that haunted castle, he will be healed mentally and at peace with himself.

i love listening to your input, it fascinates me!

I've been thinking on it and I feel like the visions are Daemon's "you need to be better" moment because the monster they say you are, and that you portray yourself as, they are what your nephew is truly turning into. And he learned it from stories about you. You can't be this absolute monarch, unrestrained, unquestionable dragon lord. Sometimes, you need to concede and compromise with the wills of the goverened. But their doing a very clumsy job of portraying it and need to wrap it up. Daemon, sir, you need to return your wife's texts and go home.

Daemon entertaining dreams of usurping make sense given his elder brother died just a couple weeks ago in the story. If he had been named heir this would've been his time to ascend the throne. I wish grief was given more airtime, these people could be a bit more relatable.

“Ate the cat that he came out of” was cold blooded! Sheesh 🔥

They've made Daemon a toothless character & they've ran this Harrenhal angle into the ground. .

Saying that Daemon knows how to keep his darkness under wraps, in the show at least, is definitely not true. He murdered his first wife in cold blood, and smiled about the murder of Jahaerys which he probably ordered.

I thought the exact thing when he took that cup from her. She has the effect of the Dune high speech just chatting normal.

It was all a dream. I used to read word up magazine. I see you girl.

“Damon is in there dolo TRIPPING” 😂😂😂

Lol the spend the night bag.

Rhaenyra also made mention of Visenya and it's funny that Daemon wields Dark Sister but Aemond rides Vhagar lol definitely can't see Alys, Simon didn't look at her but past her like an odd shadow

One thing thats trippy to me its no one other than Daemon has have interactions with Alice . Im going to have to go back and watch her scenes but i dnt think anybody has

Yes, mama! This is what I was sayiiiiiin. I think so much of what he’s experiencing at HH is illusion, including much of what we think is real. I was clocking all the clues, bizarro situations and weird behavior of everyone there but missed the glowing signal you pointed out. And the supposed Daemon betrayal of Rhaenyra is just Alys messing with him by exploiting his tendencies and it’s really Aemond who’s gonna ultimately be driven mad by Alys/HH. Daemond and Aemond are an example of a particular personality type and the divergent paths possible with that kind of pathology. Only Daemond is solid enough to resist HH/Alys.

The whole "Daemon" wants the throne for himself is just ridiculous. Daemon would behead Rhaenyra in a fit of rage but he would never ever usurp her. It's so out of character. Caraxes is going to leave with Rhaenyra and Syrax. "I'm going home with mom and Syrax".

I have no idea why they wanted to focus so much on all this Harrenhal stuff, and then completely forget about Jace, and all of his escapades in the north, and there are really several other things that they could have included. Besides, there’s not a lot of source material for when Damon was at Heronhall in the first place.

This channel is highly underrated

The Daemon revisionism is kinda crazy. "Daemon is not cruel" and "knows how to keep the darkness sheathed within him" are straight up wrong. Are we really gonna forget about him rounding up innocent civilians and dismembering them for no good reason? Or him outsourcing war crimes to the Blackwoods? Or his assassins killing a child and him not showing an ounce of remorse? Or him sullying his future wife just to get back at his brother? Or him celebrating the death of his nephew? Stop glazing Daemon just because you don't like Aemond. They're two sides of the same shitty coin.

They said on one of the behind the scenes they spoke about lighting it differently or using a different types of lenses then they just decided nah we will just do it normal and let people figure it out cause it should be obvious 😅

Yeah, a marker would be nice. Excellent breakdown!

I think the events for deamon being a dream is a good theory. I'm gonna rewatch!

Idk what the Daemon x Alyssa sex scene was for (except from shock value)... Why everyone wants to sleep with their mothers? Parent -Child incest was too much even for the Targs

I think the visions would have made more sense if it were with Viserys. Especially since last he argued with Rhaenyra they spoke about his brother.

Do you think Master of Whispers Strong knows Alys Rivers which is why he is capable of knowing so much, and says things such as "ghost in harrenhal" references?

Gray it was actually you that turned me on to this… when you said that the Rogue Prince not burning those who rejected his threat to burn them made no sense for his character. That’s when it clicked in my head, maybe the reason for that is because this is all a dream, or mostly a dream… it would redeem this “Harrenhall side quest” and it’s weird turns in my mind. The next episode will be pivotal. Excellent video as always and thanks for the full transcription of what Weirwood dream young Rhaenyra said! Keep the juice coming!

You may be right. I've become so confused I'm waiting for the scene to change and Daemon becomes himself again

8:49 If he needs his rest to win that place to his side, I think it makes more sense that Alys used the drink to torment him to-keep-him-from-resting, so he won’t win the place to his side. She’s scared of Daemon and will ultimately be on Aemon’s side. The drink is her way of disabling Daemon.

Your videos are fire 🔥

thanks for spoiling the season for me, much appreciated.

The events of Harrenhal have me intrigued. I never considered the River Lords being part of the dreams till you pointed it out. IMO, the show is going for a supernatural mysterious vision motif that will reshape Daemon. The "Bend the knee to me" scene likely occurred. I'll watch it again to make better sense of it.

I was down with the dreamy stuff til this episode. I thought it was having him confront his issues to do better. But now he goes and threatens the brackens with fire and blood but doesn’t follow through, wtf. Stupid move for anyone to make a threat then not follow through but it’s something I don’t believe Daemon would ever do. Then sending the blackwoods to commit atrocious war crimes, again wtf. So he obviously hasn’t learned anything cause this is just as bad as the jaherys mishap. It’s just gonna make Rhaenyra look bad and turn ppl against her. Not to mention making house Blackwoods look dishonorable which I don’t like. Then he says he’s taking the throne for himself cause no man will follow Rhaenyra anyway, wtf. If that’s really where they are taking this I’m like pissed. So I really do hope the whole damn thing has been a dream, but time has been moving, things are happening elsewhere and I don’t think he’s been asleep for a month straight. So what the hell is going on. There’s only 8 episodes they don’t have time to keep dragging this on and making it more complex. And I love the magic n lore don’t get me wrong. We’ve never got to see this much talk of old gods stuff. But make it make sense please. Right now it’s so up in the air I don’t know what’s going on and it’s frustrating. They have to make it make complete sense like they can’t just have him dump on the dragon n fly away like nothing happened. If they do that they have ruined the damn show and I’ll be furious. So they have to explain this and quick cause it looks like he’s leaving next episode.

Where is the Biggie drop? “It was all a dream”

I love Baby Daddy Strong but Simon Strong is a bit shady too.

Oh no. It's a dream that lasts for 2 episodes..? No way.. that would be a huge waste of time and nonsense story

It seems Daemon is out of his depth. He clearly does not understand the Riverlands and his plans are backfiring. It seems he is acting like Aemon wouldvand perhaps the dreams are also a warning to him to take a diffetent path.

Daemon failing Aemond is a angle I previously didn’t consider. In this whole thing the father figure who was missing from all these kids is DAEMON. The uncle that never was he failed all the kids chasing glory. He’s starting to realize it. Daemon is worst than Aemond because he actually grew up in a time of prosperity his own father was Baelon The Brave and his damn Brother was one of the well tempered kings ever. He’s the tragic story of this whole show of fumbling all of your opportunities. He’s the WORST of them all.

I just think we’re not meant to understand some stuff until the story is finished and that is okay. I am very interested to see where Daemon’s story goes

I agree with every point you make in this one.

If Alys is really a ghost, then having her in the shot would be a marker

At 06:38, the still of Alyssa Targaryen (Daemon's mom) shows she has a bloody collarbone. What's up with that? She died in childbirth, I thought. There has to be some significance here- why would makeup bother putting blood there?

Once again, absolutely spot on! I hope the whole Harrenhal dream situation has a worthy payoff!

Haven’t watched the video in full yet, but wanted to answer the question at the beginning concerning how I felt about all this. Apologies in advance for the long comment. I’m not entirely able to discern the purpose of what Daemon’s been going through at Harrenhal. I initially assumed that it was meant to a), reveal to us parts of his psyche that he either struggled to accept and emotions he didn’t want to face or deal with, illustrated through the lense of increasingly disturbing and provoking visions, and b), ultimately lead to him having a more complete sense of himself, what he wants, and what he needs to do. I didn’t think it would change him completely and utterly, and I figured he would struggle against what he was being faced with, but I felt it was ultimately supposed to be transformative as an experience for him, in a manner that could be plainly seen and foil him to Aemond in an interesting way. I’m not sure what the purpose of this is now, especially with this episode, and the next, seeming to really be pushing for the angle of him legitimately wanting to and trying to usurp Rhaenyra, which…I don’t think I have to tell you is contradictory to his character and his established motivations in a number of ways. I felt that during this most recent episode that the visions and dreams must’ve been driving him not a little bit mad, explaining his increasingly more caustic behavior. The scene with him and his mother particularly gave me the vibe of something driving him towards feeling or acting in that manner. But again, I feel it’s quite murky and kind of inconsistent with what we’ve been shown of Daemon’s character. We know he is mercurial, and clearly conflicted, which he has always been to some extent, but for him to do such a harsh heel face turn against Rhaenyra doesn’t feel terribly earned, I suppose. The episode overall was clunky and quite rushed feeling, which I feel can largely be chalked up to having different writers for each episode, and a lack of time to properly flesh out plots like this. The inconsistency in the characterization of not just Daemon, but other major characters, has been immensely distracting for me at times. I’m unsure of what it was they are intending with the Harrenhal storyline, as it is increasingly feeling like a dead end with no foreseeable purpose, besides making Daemon a less interesting and dynamic character. I suppose I’m most bothered by the implication that he is all in now for just usurping Rhaenyra and taking the throne, when I felt like it was always a little more complicated for him than that. Edit: Broke up the paragraphs a bit lol

Yes,thank you GrayArea for this stream 🙏🔥I am sooo in agreement, this was what I also was saying: it was a dream/weirwoodtrip ? all of it ,yes.and you also notice that Simon stares at Alys(where Daemon stares),Though it seems he(Simon,) doesn't get it ,he can't understand what Daemon sees..and all the talk about the Old Gods ...very interesting 🔥

lol at Sea Smoke “you smell like my old daddy”