Is Daemon The Most Poorly Written House of the Dragon Character?

The illustrious author continues his success as the best fantasy writer of our time after his latest book, Fire & Blood, was turned into another hit HBO series. Fans can't get enough of House of the Dragon, with many claiming it's as good as Game of Thrones, if not better.

The story of two branches of the Targaryen dynasty fighting for the Iron Throne was initially constantly compared to the original Westeros series, but it soon proved its worth by featuring dragons and allowing viewers to see the Seven Kingdoms two hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones. And while fans generally loved the series, they found one big flaw: Daemon Targaryen.

As fans debate on Reddit about the show's worst-written character, many agree that Matt Smith's suave prince is sorely lacking. Despite the British actor's superb acting, Daemon has some serious character development issues, with the writers constantly trying to paint him as cool and morally ambiguous but failing miserably.

Everything about him is nonsensical. His triumphant Stepstones victory seemed cartoonish to many, and his relationships with women come across as being driven by infatuation rather than love.

On the one hand, he is portrayed as evil and capable of doing anything to retain his power and standing in the court, but the writers also try to show his good side, depicting him as a caring family man. The intention is solid, but the execution falls short, with fans claiming that the poor writing made Daemon an impossible character to relate to or care about.

When his wife Laena Velaryon decides to commit suicide by having herself and her unborn child killed by her dragon, Daemon looks on in indifference as she implements her plan.

In the book, the prince finds his wife's dead body later and takes the corpse to their room to mourn her. The HBO writers may have a different plan for Daemon Targaryen, but so far, it's not looking very good.