Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is stepping into the spotlight on House of the Dragon, and the timing could not feel more electric. Season three has already stirred plenty of noise around the Targaryen camp, and now the young actor is ready to add his own voice to the conversation. Every scene involving Daeron Targaryen this season has carried a certain weight, one that fans have been dying to understand. Ainsworth is finally breaking that silence.

While Daeron Targaryen has stayed silent through two full seasons, Ainsworth is ready to explain exactly what pulls the young prince between two families and one impossible loyalty.

Daeron Targaryen has always stood between two families, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth confirms that divide now defines the character. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he explained the pull directly.

"There is this inherent conflict of power, as well, within Ormond's relationship," he said.

He then added, "I act as his squire, and I'm a Hightower, and I dress in the Hightower colors, but I'm also a Targaryen, and I have this dragon behind me," capturing exactly what makes Daeron Targaryen so complicated.

Entertainment Weekly notes that Ainsworth learned of his Legend of Zelda casting on the first day of filming House of the Dragon, a twist he still remembers well. Before Daeron Targaryen ever spoke on screen, viewers met Charlie Gordon, a decoy dressed by Ormund to keep the real prince from Rhaenyra Targaryen's grasp. Alicent Hightower originally sent Daeron  Targaryen to Oldtown under Hobert Hightower, and only after Hobert Hightower's death did Ormund Hightower become his guardian, shaping the loyalty tested through season three.

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While Benjamin Evan Ainsworth reveals his own path to the throne room, George RR Martin has never hidden how differently he pictured Daeron Targaryen's rise.

George R. R. Martin, author of the source material Fire and Blood, has openly disagreed with several choices made across House of the Dragon. He felt the earlier seasons had sidelined Daeron Targaryen entirely, even though the prince carries real weight once the Dance of the Dragons begins. Martin also criticized the removal of Prince Maelor, arguing his absence weakened the emotional stakes of the Blood and Cheese sequence and the choices that followed for Helaena.

Martin has also pushed back on how the show reshaped Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon's marriage into something warmer than the book ever allowed, along with Aegon Targaryen's conquest being framed around a single prophetic dream. He remains most vocal about Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower's friendship, a bond he never wrote as anything but rivalry. Yet showrunners appear to be listening, giving Daeron Targaryen the exact spotlight Martin always wanted, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is finally the one carrying that overdue weight forward.

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What are your thoughts on Daeron Targaryen's growing conflict with Ormund Hightower this season? Let us know in the comments.