Was Daenerys Targaryen the Prince That Was Promised? House of the Dragon‘s season 2 finale certainly makes a strong case for it, years after Game of Thrones largely avoided the matter. The prophecy was referenced a few times throughout the show and speculated to be a big deal in Game of Thrones‘ ending, but the White Walkers came and went without their identity being confirmed.
Its prequel has since taken the Prince That Was Promised prophecy and integrated it into its own storyline, blending it with Aegon the Conqueror’s dream of the White Walkers. Still, that had seemed largely contained, until House of the Dragon season 2’s ending. Daemon Targaryen has a vision of Daenerys, and it has major implications for the prophecy.
House Of The Dragon Strongly Suggests Daenerys Is The Prince That Was Promised
Daemon’s Vision Implies A Big Game Of Thrones Reveal
Daemon’s vision transitions into Daenerys Targaryen first with a red comet, which is a major clue that she is the Prince That Was Promised (or Princess, I suppose). A red comet, or bleeding star, is a herald of the prophesied savior in both the Prince That Was Promised and Azor Ahai legends.
While technically they are two separate things, they are often conflated as one and typically believed to be the same thing. This may not be the case for the book, but for the show universe, which only mentioned the Prince That Was Promised, it makes more sense. At the very least, that the Prince That Was Promised is the reincarnation of the legendary hero known as Azor Ahai seems a reasonable way of explaining the discrepancies and different terms.
Azor Ahai is said to wake dragons out of stone, which is what Daenerys did when she took her three petrified dragon eggs into Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre…
Then there are her dragon eggs in the flames, before Daenerys herself appears with her baby dragons. Azor Ahai is said to wake dragons out of stone, which is what Daenerys did when she took her three petrified dragon eggs into Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre, and emerged with three dragons.
The broader context of Daemon’s visions also seems to be suggesting Dany is the Prince That Was Promised. He also sees a White Walker and the army of the dead, the exact foe the savior is said to defeat. It also very much links this back to Aegon the Conqueror’s song of ice and fire prophecy, which itself includes “the Prince That Was Promised” as part of it, inscribed on the catspaw dagger.
It makes a clear correlation between Aegon’s dream, the Prince That Was Promised, and the defeat of the White Walkers, with Dany very much at the center of it.
The vision is the catalyst for Daemon bending the knee to Rhaenyra, because she needs to sit on the Iron Throne in order for this prophecy to come to pass. Daenerys is related to Daemon and Rhaenyra (they are her sixth great-grandparents) and, while that makes Jon Snow a direct descendant as well, he notably isn’t in the vision. It makes a clear correlation between Aegon’s dream, the Prince That Was Promised, and the defeat of the White Walkers, with Dany very much at the center of it.
There Was Already A Strong Case For Daenerys Being The Prince That Was Promised
It’s Most Likely Her Or Jon Snow
Although there are several candidates for being the Prince That Was Promised and/or Azor Ahai, it typically comes down to one of two people: Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. They are, after all, the two main characters of the story. That’s even more likely with Aegon’s dream, which clearly believes the hero needs to have Targaryen blood, further establishing these as the most likely candidates.
Daenerys has plenty working in her favor, fulfilling a lot of the criteria. As mentioned, there’s the red comet, which appeared after she hatched the dragons, and she wakes dragons from stone. She was also “born amid salt and smoke” – having been born on Dragonstone, which sits on the Narrow Sea (salt) and then “reborn” as the Mother of Dragons from Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre (smoke). It’s also said they will be of the line of Aerys & Rhaella Targaryen: Jon Snow is their nephew, but Dany is their daughter.
…It’s specifically stated it could be a Princess instead, and the only reason to do so is to further raise the possibility it is Daenerys.
Game of Thrones and the A Song of Ice and Fire books also go out of their way to make sure that the gendered aspect of the prophecy is addressed. This came from a mistake with the translation, because dragons are believed to be able to change between male and female, and thus it isn’t a gendered term. This is then applied to the Prince That Was Promised, meaning it’s specifically stated it could be a Princess instead, and the only reason to do so is to further raise the possibility it is Daenerys.
Will Daenerys Be The Prince That Was Promised In The Books?
George R.R. Martin Will Probably Do More With The Prophecy
Of course, Game of Thrones season 8 didn’t confirm who the Prince That Was Promised Was. While House of the Dragon certainly offers up more clues in favor of Daenerys, and makes me confident that’s who it is according to this show, that can’t be taken for granted when it comes to the books.
There’s plenty of evidence [it’s Daenerys], and what’s most intriguing to me is that Maester Aemon believes it is her.
Again, there’s plenty of evidence to support either claim. Jon Snow himself fulfils the “salt and smoke” criteria when he dies in A Dance with Dragons, ahead of his expected resurrection in The Winds of Winter. Jon has dreams of fighting the Others with a red sword in his hand, which could signify Lightbringer, the flaming weapon Azor Ahai is said to bring forth. And when Melisandre looks for signs of Azor Ahai in the flames, she sees only “snow.”
But there is an equally good chance it will be Daenerys, if, indeed, it is anyone at all. There’s plenty of evidence, and what’s most intriguing to me is that Maester Aemon believes it is her. Unlike, say, Melisandre, who changes her mind with the flickering of flames, Aemon is shown to be a great judge of things and extremely wise. He may not have visions, but if Martin is telling us something through his character, it’s worth listening to.
Even more intriguing is that, when Aemon is revealing his belief of Daenerys being the Prince(ss) That Was Promised, he cites Septon Barth’s writings on dragons and how they can change from male to female, saying he had the right of it. In a post on his Not A Blog site, when discussing how more about dragons will be revealed in his upcoming books, Martin said: “Septon Barth got much of it right.”
Now, that could be a simple comment about dragon breeding and bonding, but there is a clear line here: Aemon supports Barth, and so too does Martin. If the author is telling us that Barth was correct, is he also going to pay off that with Aemon having been correct thanks to Barth’s works?
It is debatable, and there’s a question of whether the prophecy will even be addressed so directly when, often, they’re self-fulfilling, but there’s a good chance Daenerys will be the prophesied savior (likely with a twist) in A Song of Ice and Fire, just as she now seemingly is in Game of Thrones.
