Clearly, there was some connection between Rhaenyra and Harwin – after all, they had three children together. But some fans of House of the Dragon think they would have made a far more suitable couple than Rhaenyra and Daemon.
It’s easy to see why when you consider that Ser Harwin has, in the words of Ryan Corr, “lived a lot of his life in the shadows” and is happy to do so. Ok, so Rhaenyra lusted after Daemon and, once again, there was a clear chemistry between them. But he was hardly the sort to settle down and live a sensible life, was he?
But then neither was Rhaenyra. Because she had a tremendous capacity to make bad decisions. You might even argue that one of these was to sleep with Ser Criston and produce three children by him. This was a risky move that could have had serious implications for him and his father as well as Rhaenyra.
Of course, much of their relationship took place in a decade-long time jump so we didn’t see it develop. And while they had very little screen time together, the few seconds we did see showed an obvious shared affection.
Harwin is loyal, trustworthy and would no doubt have stepped in to defend Rhaenyra without a moment’s thought. And yes, I realise that describing a man who had an affair that spawned a complete family as loyal and trustworthy, but I’m talking specifically in regard to Rhaenyra here.
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Looking at the nature of their relationship (in so far as we can) it definitely appears that it would have been a better one for Rhaenyra. But there is still that feeling that her knack for self-destruction is such that she wouldn’t have been content with being…well, content.
So, you do need to question whether this is a relationship that remained strong because of its forbidden fruit element. For as long as Rhaenyra was ‘with’ Harwin, she had the best of both worlds.
And her relationship with Daemon made for great TV. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to have seen a bit more of Rhaenyra and Harwin together on screen and to actually see the actors play out some of it. Because there is so little interaction between them that you could be forgiven for not even noticing it.
Now, the showrunners might argue that just a few looks were sufficient given the clandestine nature of the couple’s affair. But a few more scenes in which we saw them having to respond to one another more directly would have provided an opportunity for a little more exploration of their relationship and whether they really were the ideal couple.
