(Matt Smith) has spent the last few episodes of “House of the Dragon” Season Two soul searching in the Riverlands while his wife, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), strategizes. Why does he long to be king? After ceding his ambitions years prior to his brother, can he do so again to a ? His walkabout seems to end in , thanks to his first encounter with a weirwood tree. The tree is located in the godswood of Harrenhal.
Godswood are enclosed wooden areas within the castles of the Seven Kingdoms. Typically, at the center of the godswood is a weirwood tree with a face carved into it, called a heart tree. These trees, in the universe of George R.
R. Martin’s books, are places of worship for those who pray to the old gods and are thought to have magical powers. If a castle doesn’t have a weirwood, another type of tree will be used to fill the role of a heart tree.
Viewers of “Game of Thrones” will remember the importance of these red-leafed trees. Bran Stark had many a vision brought on by touching the bark of a weirwood. The scene in “House of the Dragon” at the Riverlands is reminiscent of Bran’s journeying.
Daemon, at Alys Rivers’ (Gayle Rankin) urging, touches the tree so that he can finally learn his fate. “Do you wish to learn, then, what is given to you?” Alys says. “All your life you’ve sought to command your own fate.
But today you are ready.” Daemon touches the tree and up, up, up and away he goes, into the past and future. He gets a glimpse at .