Warning: Spoilers ahead for episode three of season three of “House of the Dragon” and the book “Fire & Blood.”

The elusive Daeron Targaryen finally joins the fray in “The House of the Dragon.”

Daeron is the youngest son of Alicent Hightower and the late King Viserys Targaryen, his fourth child after Aegon, Helaena and Aemond. Like his brothers, Daeron is a dragon rider, bonded to a young blue dragon named Tessarion.

However, unlike his brothers, Daeron left King’s Landing when he was a baby. He was sent as a ward to Oldtown, the seat of House Hightower, and is barely known to the royal family. For the first two seasons of the HBO show, Daeron stays away from the action.

In the second season of “House of the Dragon”, Daeron is mentioned as a potential threat to his half-sister, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, and as a promising pawn in Aegon’s army, especially once Tessarion has grown enough to fly into battle. Daeron is also mentioned in a conversation between his mother and his uncle, Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), who also grew up in Oldtown.

Gwayne tells Alicent that 16-year-old Daeron is hardworking, intelligent, and kind, which sets him apart from his cruel and bloodthirsty brothers.

In season three, Daeron finally makes his on-screen debut, marching with Hightower’s army and taking orders from his mother’s cousin, Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton), that is, until episode three, when Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) interrupts his campaign. Now that Rhaenyra has ascended the Iron Throne, the king consort plans to take Daeron hostage as part of the Hightower’s terms of surrender.

“It would be rather careless to allow one of Prince Aegon’s heirs to roam the Reach with his dragon, no less,” Daemon tells Ormund. “We will treat him kindly, as we would any son of Viserys. As long as you behave.”

At the end of episode three, viewers discover that Ormund has deceived Daemon and Rhaenyra, handing over a fake blonde imposter to be taken hostage and keeping the real Daeron at his side.

As showrunner Ryan Condal previously confirmed, Daeron will have a role to play in the ongoing civil war, but if you’re eager to find out why Daeron might become important in “House of the Dragon,” read on to find out what happens to him in the original book, “Fire & Blood.”

Daeron, the most beloved of Alicent’s children, becomes a major threat to Rhaenyra’s reign.

According to “Fire & Blood”, Alicent gives birth to Daeron around the same time that Rhaenyra gives birth to her first child, Jacaerys, and he enters the Dance of Dragons at age 15.

Daeron is described in the book as “gentle and soft-spoken”, the most charming and beloved of Alicent’s children. His “beautiful blue dragon”, Tessarion, is known as the “Blue Queen”.

When Ormund is overwhelmed in the Battle of Honeywine, Daeron saves him by attacking with Tessarion. They win an improbable victory, prompting Ormund to knight him “Ser Daeron the Bold.”

Led by Ormund on foot and Daemon on dragonback, Hightower’s army continues to win victories across the Reach, primarily using Tessarion to force surrender. As they advance toward King’s Landing, Prince Daeron the Bold becomes known as the greatest threat to Rhaenyra’s reign, “crushing the queen’s loyalists” and “forcing every lord who bends the knee to add their strength to his.”

Eventually, Rhaenyra decides to send two of her dragon seeds, Ulf White and Hugh Hammer (joined to Silverwing and Vermithor, respectively), to end Daeron’s campaign. The duo fly to Tumbleton, a city southwest of King’s Landing, the last bastion lying between Hightower’s army and the city, with orders to kill Daeron and Tessarion when they arrive.

Daeron’s fate is tied to Tumbleton’s betrayals.

Once Daeron arrives in Tumbleton, Ulf and Hugh decide to switch sides.

In what is known as the Tumbleton Betrayals, the bastards-turned-dragonriders betray Rhaenyra and join Hightower’s army. The book doesn’t give a definitive answer as to why: “It may be that it was the idea of ​​attacking Tessarion that made them hesitate,” it says, “although both Vermithor and Silverwing were older and larger than Prince Daeron’s dragon and would therefore have been more likely to prevail in any battle.”

“Others suggest that it was greed, not cowardice, that led White and Hammer to betrayal,” the book continues. “Honor meant less and less to them; what they craved was wealth and power.”

In fact, Ulf and Hugh were knighted after the Battle of Gullet and the fall of King’s Landing, but both hoped to have a manor or castles of their own. It seems they became dissatisfied with Rhaenyra’s rewards while emboldening themselves with their own powerful dragons. Targaryen history books immortalize them as the Two Traitors.

Ormund is killed in the ensuing battle, killed by the Northern soldier known as Roddy the Ruin, but Daeron survives.

Daeron remains in Tumbleton as the city descends into violence and chaos. Despite his prowess on dragonback, Daeron is too young and inexperienced to take on Ormund’s leadership role and fails to stop his soldiers from plundering.

Finally, Addam Velaryon (formerly Addam of Hull) flies to Tumbleton on his own dragon, Seasmoke, determined to take the city back from the Two Traitors and “prove that not all bastards need to be traitors.”

The book says that Daeron is asleep in his tent when the attack begins. Some sources say he died in the flames, while others claim he briefly escaped before being killed, either by a mercenary or another unknown man-at-arms. Either way, Daeron dies in the Second Battle of Tumbleton.

Tessarion also fights Seasmoke and Vermithor, and all three dragons die as a result. Addam and Hugh also die in the battle.

Ayomikun Adekaiyero and Palmer Haasch contributed to an earlier version of this story.