House of the Dragon pulls a Daeron Targaryen switcheroo that isnt in Fire and Blood

House of the Dragon Season 3 has finally introduced Prince Daeron Targaryen, the youngest son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine). Or has it?

Episode 3 opens with Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton) meeting with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and pledging his fealty to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy). One of the conditions of his pledge is that he gives up his ward, Daeron. He presents Daemon with a young boy (Charlie Gordon) dressed in Hightower green and rocking the Targaryens' signature silver hair.

However, by the end of the episode, House of the Dragon reveals that this is not Daeron Targaryen at all. Instead, he's a child whom Ormund compelled to pose as the young prince. Ormund changed his hair and demanded him not to give up the ruse, otherwise he'd have the boy's mother hanged.

Where is the real Daeron Targaryen?

Now that Ormund's trick has been unmasked, where is the actual Daeron Targaryen? We know that he has to be traveling with the Hightower army, as his dragon Tessarion is situated at their camp. (In the episode's opening sequence, Tessarion is notably rider-less.)

Perhaps the show has already introduced Daeron. In Season 3's first episode, Ormund is accompanied by an unnamed boy (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), also dressed in Hightower green. Due to his closeness to Ormund and the fact that he takes Ormund's orders, it seems like this boy is Ormund's squire, which is the role we've heard Daeron has taken on. Ainsworth's character was missing from the meeting with Daemon, so if he is the real Daeron, perhaps Ormund was keeping out of sight to ensure his switcheroo went off without a hitch.

Is the fake Daeron plot in Fire and Blood?

Ormund does not try to pull a fast one on Rhaenyra in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, so his fake Daeron trick is a show-only creation.

By this point in Fire and Blood, Daeron is out in the field, fighting alongside the Hightower host. During the book's Battle of the Honeywine, a fight which House of the Dragon appears to have cut, Daeron and Tessarion turn the tide for Team Green and vanquish the combined forces of House Beesbury, House Tarly, House Rowan, and more. In the celebrations that followed, Ormund knighted Daeron and dubbed him Ser Daeron the Daring.

In keeping Daeron close — or perhaps even hiding in plain sight — Ormund might have other plans for his young ward. After all, the smaller Tessarion is no match for Rhaenyra's dragon army, so it's best not to unleash him just yet and let him lay low. Still, we're expecting the real Daeron face reveal any episode now.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.