House of the Dragon: Lady Mysaria, explained

House of the Dragon Episode 8 features a brief, but suspicious scene with Lady Mysaria – what’s going on with her, and will she play a role in the Dance of the Dragons? Let’s dive in.

We first saw Mysaria in Episode 1, with Daemon paying her for sex amid his frustrations with Viserys after he was chastised for the City Watch slaughter in King’s Landing.

For a time, it seemed like Daemon and Mysaria would be somewhat of a power couple, but that quickly fell apart as Daemon got rid of Rhea Royce, married Laena Velaryon, and pursued his niece Rhaenyra.

Right towards the end of the episode, just before Alicent tends to Viserys, there’s a brief scene with the return of Lady Mysaria. While she doesn’t really say anything of note, it seems she’ll come to the fore again soon.

House of the Dragon spoilers to follow…

House of the Dragon: Who is Lady Mysaria?

Lady Mysaria is introduced as a prostitute in King’s Landing, played by Sonoya Mizuno.

She was once a slave in Essos, but she made her way to Westeros where she went from sex worker to brothel proprietor, and eventually developed a close relationship with Daemon.

Mysaria also operates a close network of spies around King’s Landing, leading a number of informants who refer to her as the “White Worm.”

HBO’s character breakdown of Mysaria reads: “She came to Westeros with nothing, sold more times than she can recall, and she could have wilted… but instead she rose to become the most trusted – and most unlikely – ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.”

House of the Dragon: What has Lady Mysaria done so far?

After the first episode, Daemon takes Mysaria with him to Dragonstone after Viserys learned he celebrated the death of his baby son, the “heir for a day.”

During a confrontation with Otto Hightower, Daemon tells him he’s going to marry Mysaria, and that she’s pregnant. There’s just one problem: he never told her that, so she leaves him and returns to King’s Landing.

HBO

While we don’t see her handiwork, it’s known that Mysaria spends the next few years building her spy network in the region, which is what brings her into contact with Daemon again. One of her informants tells her they saw him and Rhaenyra in the pleasure house together, so she gives Daemon a safe place to sleep instead of being caught in the streets.

Daemon blurts out that she’s a “common whore”, but Mysaria is above his petty comments. She just wanted to make sure he was safe, and leaves him to face Viserys back at the Keep.

We then see her in Episode 8, noting the chaos of the day to one of her informants. It may seem inconsequential, but if the show follows the book, there’s much more to come.

If you don’t want to know what may happen with Mysaria, don’t read on.

House of the Dragon: What happens to Mysaria in the book?

In George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, Daemon enlists Mysaria to seek revenge for the death of one of Rhaenyra’s children. The assassins who carry out Daemon’s wish are caught and tortured, and eventually reveal they were hired by a woman known as “Misery.”

During the Dance of the Dragons, Mysaria becomes Daemon’s mistress of whisperers and even serves as Rhaenyra’s queen mistress in all but name. We won’t go into too many other details, but you can expect her to be another major player in Season 2.

House of the Dragon Episode 9 will be available to watch on October 16 in the US and October 17 in the UK.