House of the Dragon season two certainly had its fair share of ups and downs, but my god the amount of time we spent with Daemon in Harrenhal playing haunted renovation simulation was too much for my liking. It would have been one thing having Daemon there for a few episodes, but pretty much the entire House of the Dragon season he spent at Harrenhal.

Aside from having his weird visions and bonding with Alys Rivers, his extended vacation in Westeros’ creepiest castle did seem slightly pointless at times. But now, producer Ryan Condal has explained exactly why it was so important for Daemon to be at Harrenhal for all that time.

Via HBO

During a press conference, Ryan Condal explained how his time at Harrenhal helped him realise his loyalty to Rhaenyra. He revealed: “I think it’s the kind of real thing that Daemon needed to be able to hang his hat on. And I think, you know, Daemon’s decision to bend the knee, swear again to Rhaenyra, reaffirm his loyalty to her, one event doesn’t lead to that. It’s a confluence of factors.

“It’s a whole complicated equation that he experienced over the course of the season that led him to that point, and we were really interested in humbling Daemon, for lack of a better word, over the course of the season, to bring him to a place where he’s more evolved, and in many ways, at least to his enemies, more dangerous. Because now we have a very focused Daemon with a singular goal, which is to put Rhaenyra on that throne.”

Via HBO

All those hours spent alone at Harrenhal were also key for his personal growth and helped to reframe his relationship with Viserys in a more positive light. Ryan added: “And I think he’s been filled with power and self-belief and belief in Rhaenyra, and those are the things that we wanted to kind of arm him with moving, and, you know, moving into the future and again, give him this thing that was undeniable to him, that he saw and shook him and made him realize that Viserys wasn’t just, you know, full of history and nonsense, as Daemon probably saw it.

“And there is a harmony between what Viserys believed and what Damon believed about Targaryen exceptionalism. And there is, as with everything, it’s not one or the other. It’s somewhere in the middle of the two.”