I’m obsessed with House of the Dragon, and one thing I love about the characters is that I feel like all of them fit into modern dating archetypes, even though the show is written to be set in 101 AC, about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones began taking place.

These characters were meant to be living life at a completely different time, yet they somehow fit the mold for some of the modern dating scenarios single people see all the time.

I have a lot of thoughts about the way the House of the Dragon characters fit into this conversation based on all their very obvious red flags.

Daemon → avoidant situationship king

Daemon is the definition of an avoidant lover who dominates as a situationship king. He’s the type to build chemistry almost immediately with a girl he’s into, with possible eventual consistency, but she just never really knows. He loves intensity way more than he loves stability. He craves those highly passionate, intense, sexual moments more than the idea of settling down straight out the gate.

One thing I noticed about Daemon is that he pulls away when intimacy starts feeling like more of a responsibility. He’s the type of guy who wants devotion but resists fully being vulnerable and known with his partner.

The problem with guys who operate like this is that you can’t expect someone to remain fully devoted to you if you’re not willing to wear your heart on your sleeve with them. His expectations aren’t reasonable in my opinion.

He’s also the type to give grand gestures when he needs to get back in a woman’s good graces rather than just maintaining consistent communication along the way. If he proved himself to be a solid and consistent partner all along, he wouldn’t need to rely on grand gestures to get by.

The conflicting thing about Daemon is that he’s deeply loyal, but he still comes across as super emotionally unavailable.

Watching him emotionally abandon Rhea whenever their power dynamics shifted gave the modern equivalent of “I’m not ready for labels.” It gave the modern equivalent of a guy disappearing for two days, going MIA off the grid, and then randomly sending a paragraph of sweet words or showing up with a bouquet of flowers.

You never know if he wants forever or just the FEELING of forever.

Aemond → Male loneliness epidemic final boss

There’s so much to say about Aemond.

But a woman approaching him for a relationship in this modern world would probably look at him as the “I can fix him” final boss, even though he’s impossible to fix.

Plenty of women might look at him and see him as a romantic prospect with tons of potential. That’s because he does come across as emotionally stable until about episode eight. But he is that quiet guy who’s low-key brimming with rage and revenge issues.

He’s the type of guy to sign up for a gym membership instead of seeking out therapy. He’s also the type of guy your friends would totally warn you about. The type to say “I’m fine” and then start a war. The type to act nonchalant while clocking everything, taking note of everything, and remembering everything to bring up to you later in an argument.

On the surface, he portrays the energy of being a low-maintenance partner, but he actually requires far more intensity and depth than that.

The scary thing about Aemond is that he’s seemingly turned his insecurities into his entire personality. He mistakes having control over things for having peace, even though peace and control are very different things.

In a modern relationship, he would likely come across as a super-controlling partner who doesn’t see the relationship as a good one or a peaceful one unless he’s the one calling the shots.

He would rather conquer a situation than communicate, and he definitely comes across as the final boss of the male loneliness epidemic.

He has every reason to feel bitter resentment and rage over losing his left eye as a child. But the trauma inside him festered, and he manifested into a ruthlessly calculated character with a vicious need to prove himself and constantly overcompensate.

I would be scared if one of my friends said she was dating a guy who was the modern equivalent of Aemond.

Alicent → tradwife to rebel pipeline

Alicent got married too young and instantly lost herself in becoming a wife and mother.

The modern equivalent to Alicent today would be a tradwife who got married before her frontal lobe fully developed and finally realized she made a mistake after getting a little older.

Alicent built her entire life around obligation instead of desire, happiness, or personal fulfillment.

Her father pushed the narrative that she needed to seduce the king and get married young, and she made that happen. But because of it, she sacrificed her happiness.

She thought marrying the king would guarantee a level of happiness, but that happiness actually never came.

She ended up becoming a nurse and caretaker to her much older husband toward the end of his life. And before that, their marriage was one of duty, not attraction.

And on top of that, she lost her friendship with Rhaenyra over it.

Since she got married so young, she kind of sort of has no idea who she really is outside of relationships.

She feels she followed all the rules and still ended up disappointed, which is a common sentiment from tradwives who thought they were doing everything right by getting married young.

So many tradwives have come forward on social media to admit how much they regret their decision.

Alicent jumped into a steamy affair with Criston after she got older, which isn’t surprising when you consider the way former tradwives today sometimes hit a rebellious streak when they break free of their marriages.

Rhaenyra → romanticizes red flags

The modern dating archetype for Rhaenyra is the fact that she romanticizes red flags.

She’s the queen of the “I’ll make it work” mentality.

She follows her heart and then deals with the consequences later.

For her, connection comes down to all chemistry, no logistics.

That’s why she hooked up with Daemon in that brothel surrounded by witnesses. She wasn’t thinking ahead.

That’s why she had her makeout session with Mysaria.

She falls into romance in the moment, knowing she’ll deal with the consequences later on.

She’s the type who craves freedom and commitment at the same time, even though freedom and commitment don’t necessarily work well together.

She confuses intensity with compatibility, which is very common for a lot of people who are single and putting themselves out there right now.

It reminds me of Cassie from Euphoria, who loved the intensity of her secret affair with Nate behind Maddy’s back.

The intensity of it hit her so hard that she felt she and Nate were super compatible and super in love, when really it was just the intensity of the affair getting to her head.

Rhaenyra is extremely passionate, but she is highly impulsive, which makes her love life one of the most interesting ones to follow on the show.

I feel like a lot of people can relate to her in modern dating because no one wants to have a boring relationship. No one wants to feel like their love life is monotonous.

But when you don’t think things through, it often lands you in hot water.

Falling first and thinking about where you’re gonna land later might work out in some cases, but not always.

Criston Cole → incel energy… never got over his ex

Criston is definitely one of the most toxic characters on House of the Dragon, and his modern dating archetype comes down to the fact that he literally never got over his ex.

Guys like him really give off incel energy.

He’s mad he got his heart broken, so he allowed that to turn into his villain origin story.

It reminds me of the trope about guys getting their heart broken in middle school and then taking it out on women of the world for the rest of their life.

It’s immature and ridiculous.

Rhaenyra wanted a one-night stand with him, and he took offense to that.

I get that he was hurt by the fact that he defied his oath to be with her sexually, but the level of rage he continued harboring toward her way past that point has been out of control in my opinion.

Criston takes rejection personally. He struggles to separate disappointment from betrayal.

If he were a little more emotionally mature, he would be able to view whatever happened between him and Rhaenyra in a way that didn’t completely consume him.

The modern equivalent of Criston Cole’s behavior is a person who romanticizes what could have been.

He pictured what life could have turned out like if Rhaenyra had actually wanted to be with him.

And a lot of people do that.

However, most people let go of the fantasy when they realize it’s not plausible.

For him, he was never able to let it go.

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