Diksha Sundriyal
While HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ primarily focuses on the conflict within the Targaryen family, it also expands the story by focusing on the characters who always seem to remain in the background. Despite them not receiving as much screen time, these characters often show up in the most crucial of circumstances and prove themselves indispensable to the story. The character of Mysaria is one of them.
Introduced in the first season as the paramour of Daemon Targaryen, she quickly adapts to the changing tides of Westeros and turns herself into a force to be reckoned with. Both the Blacks and the Greens have to admit that it’s better to have her on their side rather than against them. She knows how to survive in the toughest of times, and her scars testify to her perseverance. SPOILERS AHEAD
Mysaria’s Scar Relates to Her Dark Past
While a lot of characters in ‘House of the Dragon’ are open books, there are some, like Mysaria, about whom next to nothing is known. On the surface, it might seem you know who she is and what she wants, but there is no way of knowing what is going on under the surface, and that’s what makes her such an intriguing character. All we know about her past so far is that she hails from the far kingdom of Yi Ti and used to be a slave before she ended up in Westeros and took control of her life. At one point in her conversation with Daemon, she hints that she has been through some very difficult things and that her past has taken her through a harrowing journey, but she never quite shares the details.
Based on this enough, we can say that the mark around her neck is a mark she received as a slave. The use of collars to claim slaves is not unheard of in the ‘Game of Thrones’ universe. With Mysaria spending the early years of her life as a slave, we don’t yet know the extent of the horrors inflicted upon her. In any case, her past in slavery certainly has to do with the scar. It was either the mark left behind by the collar itself or the reminder of something that was done to her by her then-master, something that haunts her even now.
When we meet Mysaria in the early episodes of ‘House of the Dragon,’ she doesn’t want anyone to see the scar. She hides it under her cloak and dress collars, or she wears necklaces to cover it up. But after she separates from Daemon, following the debacle about her fake pregnancy and the dragon’s egg he stole when they left for Dragonstone, she walks a completely different journey. By the time we see her again, she is no longer some sex worker waiting for a prince to waltz by and curry her favor.
Instead, she has established a reputation as the White Worm and has her spies all over the city, who feed her all the information, making her one of the most powerful people in Westeros, even when she remains in the shadows. So, when she shows up again, especially for a meeting with Otto Hightower, she no longer hides her scar. This shows that she is not trying to hide her past anymore. Instead, she claims it and turns it around as something that empowers her rather than brings her down. With Daemon, she had been looking for liberation from fear, but now, she is clearly not afraid anymore, and her not hiding the scar anymore proves that.
Read More: House of the Dragon Season 2 Opening Credits Sequence, Explained
