WARNING! This article contains minor SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 6!
A growing House of the Dragon season 3 debate has now been addressed by Daeron Targaryen’s actor.
In House of the Dragon season 3, episode 4, it was confirmed that Benjamin Evan Ainsworth was playing the real Prince Daeron Targaryen, after Ormund sent a decoy silver-haired “Daeron” with Daemon in a false surrender to Rhaenyra. However, with Ainsworth’s new House of the Dragon season 3 character having red hair, similar to his mother Alicent and Hightower family members, a debate has circulated regarding whether Daeron’s hair is truly naturally red or silver, with a popular theory speculating that Ormund Hightower dyes the teen’s hair red to hide his Targaryen identity.
In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Jordan Williams for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 6, Daeron actor Benjamin Evan Ainsworth addressed the mystery surrounding Daeron’s true hair color by revealing he can’t confirm the truth either way. However, in response to the theory that Ormund is dyeing Daeron’s hair red, Ainsworth discussed how “ominous and creepy” the image of Ormund dyeing his hair each week would be, elaborating that doing so wouldn’t be “out of the realms of possibility” for a character like James Norton’s villain:
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth: “I mean, the thing is, it’s probably not far out of the realms of possibility for a character like Ormund Hightower. And there’s something quite ominous and creepy about the image of him dyeing my hair every week or something like that. Just that proximity is just odd. I can’t say that it’s true or not, but it’s certainly something interesting either way.”
With Ainsworth answering coyly about Daeron’s true hair color, it seems likely that House of the Dragon will provide an official answer and explanation by the season 3 finale. Either way, his hair color plays a significant role in the context of his upbringing, part in the Dance of the Dragons, claim to the Iron Throne, and connection with both Hightower and Targaryen family identities.
Daeron truly having silver hair that’s dyed by Ormund would offer a deeper look into the lengths the latter is willing to go to expunge the young Prince of his Targaryen qualities and make him more of a Hightower. On the other hand, Daeron being born with red hair would exacerbate Alicent’s hypocrisy against Rhaenyra, as Alicent and Aegon’s supporters used the fact that Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey have black hair rather than silver to undermine their parentage and claims to the Iron Throne.
As season 3 has progressed, the curtain has been drawn on just how twisted and warped the dynamic between Daeron and Ormund, as his father figure, has been throughout his time as the latter’s ward. Ormund has gone to brutal extremes to uplift Daeron as the King of Westeros rather than his brothers or Rhaenyra, all in an effort to secure his own power and influence over the realm. Meanwhile, Ormund has made his hatred of the Targaryens no secret, seemingly using Daeron’s Targaryen parentage as a way to obtain power while simultaneously striving to remove the Targaryens’ customs and influence from Westeros.
With Daeron having been raised in Oldtown away from his immediate family, the majority of the Targaryen culture and influence that he would have experienced in King’s Landing were already erased from his upbringing. Other than Daeron possessing the dragon Tessarion and the Targaryen name, Ormund has worked to make everything else about him a Hightower. As such, the question still remains of whether silver hair was yet another Targaryen trait Ormund erased from Viserys’ son in House of the Dragon.
New episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 release on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
- Release Date
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August 21, 2022
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel
- Writers
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Gabe Fonseca
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Fabien Frankel
Ser Criston Cole