Daemon and Rhaenyra's Relationship

About

Daemon and Rhaenyra's Relationship refers to a series of ironic memes and expressions of support revolving around the relationship between two related characters from the TV show House Of The Dragon created by HBO and George R.R. Martin. The memes started being posted on TikTok and Twitter since the show premiered in August 2022, showing interactions between Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen and focusing on their possible relationship, even though they are both biologically related (similar to Cersei and Jaime Lannister's relationship in Game Of Thrones.

Origin

Two of the main characters from the show House Of The Dragon, Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, have a perceived sexual tension between them that fans quickly compared the uncle and niece chemistry with Cersei and Jaime Lannister's relationship. Their incestuous relationship was already mentioned in the original Game of Thrones show and the book that inspired the spin-off Fire And Blood^[1]. One of the first viral videos romanticizing the couple was posted by @vitoriatargaryen on TikTok^[3] on July 25th, 2022, with "I Wanna Be Yours" by the Arctic Monkeys as the soundtrack. The video received 1.2 million views in three months.

Spread

After the premiere of the show on August 21st, 2022, fans shared their thoughts about Daemon and Rhaenyra's relationship, like this meme posted by @strawgaby on TikTok^[4]on August 29th, 2022, in which she is shipping the "new" couple, even though years ago she found it "disgusting when it was Cersei and Jaime." The video has 867,000 views in three weeks.

The post by the Twitter^[5] user @JustMe___xd from September 12th, 2022 also shares the same feelings in favor of Rhaenyra and Daemon's relationship after "judging Cersei and Jamie for 8 seasons in a row." The tweet earned 4,000 likes and 899 retweets in less than 24 hours.

2019 me watching 2022 me being in favor of Rhaenyra and Daemon's relationship after judging Cersei and Jamie for 8 seasons in a row cuz that's not what family does #HouseOfTheDragonEp4 #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/VNvqAYiaQA

— It'sMe (@JustMe___xd) September 12, 2022

On September 11th, @shouldah posted a TikTok^[6] video with the "Let me tell you something!" viral audio, trying to explain to non-Game Of Thrones fans why she ships the relationship, arguing that is "normal" in the context of the show's lore and fictional world. The video earned 345,000 views in one day.

Fancam

Daemon and Rhaenyra's relationship also has a number of fancam videos posted mostly on TikTok. As of September 2022, the hashtag #daemonandrhaenyra has accumulated over 8.9 million views on the platform, which includes videos of the characters with visual effects such as filters, music lyrics and transitions. This TikTok^[7] by @hsfallie, from September 12th, 2022, shows a clip of the characters with a sped-up version of The Weeknd's music Lost in the Fire^[2]. The post has received 72,000 in less than 24 hours.

Search Interest

Various Examples

External References