In a recent pulse-pounding episode of HBO’s House of the Dragon, the fear didn’t stem from fire-breathing dragons but from a volatile human reaction. Lord Ormund Hightower, portrayed by James Norton, finds himself receiving distressing news via a scroll from Harrenhal. His mood shift is immediate and palpable, prompting his squire, Prince Daeron Targaryen, played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, to discreetly signal another page to leave the room. What follows is an explosive display of anger, with Ormund taking out his frustrations on an unsuspecting dinner table.

The decision by Alicent Hightower, played by Olivia Cooke, to send her youngest son to be raised in Oldtown instead of King’s Landing is now under scrutiny. Daeron’s apparent readiness for Ormund’s temper outbursts suggests that life away from King’s Landing might not have been much of a reprieve after all.

In an exclusive conversation with DECIDER, James Norton, who brings Ormund Hightower to life on the screen, shed light on the subtle cues in the episode. When asked whether viewers should suspect past abuses by Ormund towards Daeron, Norton offered insight into the layered complexities of his character’s dynamics.

“I think so,” Norton remarked. “It’s a moment charged with drama, highlighting the multifaceted nature of Ormund’s character.”

Delving deeper, he added, “Beyond the surface, it’s clear Daeron lacks a father figure or mentor in Oldtown, save for Ormund. Consequently, he’s been shaped by Ormund’s influence. When Daeron tells the servant, ‘Get out of here,’ it’s a protective instinct, knowing the chaos that ensues when Ormund spirals into rage.”

For Norton, Daeron’s instinct to send the other boy away hints at deeper levels in the characters’ “very complicated — and let’s be honest — abusive, toxic relationship.”

“I think there’s also that thing when children become their parents’ carer. Why doesn’t Daeron leave the room?” Norton asked aloud. “And I think possibly it’s because he’s protecting Ormund from himself.”

Norton went on to explain that although Daeron has been “the victim of that rage and the target of it,” it was important that it was obvious that some sort of love also had to be present in their relationship.

“One of the very first conversations I had with [showrunner Ryan Condal and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth] was that this relationship has to have love in it, and in that sort of Stockholm syndrome way,” he said. “Daeron is almost a prisoner, and yet when I grab him by the shoulders after the end of Episode 4, of that terribly distressing scene, I’m genuinely so proud of my boy.”

“What was amazing was having Ben — fabulous actor by the way, so good — he was looking at me and his eyes were welling up. He was almost crying, and he was looking up with such love because all he wants is to be held, is to be loved. He’s just desperate for a parent, and in that moment, it was very real. It was like, he’d just won the race at sports day,” Norton said. “There’s so much complexity in that relationship, which was really wonderful to eke out.”

So what does this mean for Ormund’s plans for Daeron and Tumbleton? You’ll just have to tune in to an all-new episode of House of the Dragon tonight at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max to find out…

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.

In a twist of fate, Paloma Del Real first encountered Aaron Lyon on MySpace in 2005, experiencing an eerie sensation of familiarity.

Lyon’s striking appearance—captivating blue eyes, a charming smile, and dark hair—stirred up a sense of recognition in her, yet she couldn’t quite place him.

“From the start, seeing his face felt like déjà vu,” Del Real disclosed in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail. “I’d say, ‘I think I know you,’ but it seemed impossible.”

At that time, the thousands of miles between them added to the improbability of their connection—Lyon was a 31-year-old residing in Los Angeles, while 22-year-old Del Real called Malaga, Spain, her home.

Interestingly, Lyon’s sense of nostalgia was rooted in a family holiday to Malaga 18 years prior. This cherished memory inspired him to reach out to Del Real on MySpace. He routinely connected with strangers from cities he had visited—a common practice in the formative years of social networking.

Perhaps, he suggested, they had crossed paths back then. Del Real would have been just four years old – she was certain it wasn’t that, just as certain as she was that she’d seen this handsome stranger before.

The connection felt so instant. And so they started communicating regularly until soon they were in touch daily. 

Then, a few weeks into their burgeoning relationship Lyon shared that he had been a teen model, and Del Real had a revelation.

She knew exactly where she’d seen him before. She first laid eyes on him well over a decade earlier when she was 12 years old playing Linea Directa, the Spanish version of Dream Phone, a toy she had begged her mother for after seeing non-stop TV commercials.

The popular ’90s electronic board game for teens and sleepover-aged pre-teens involved ‘calling’ boys on a hot pink plastic play phone to find out who your secret admirer was. Their pre-recorded messages would give clues, like in the game Guess Who?, prompting players to guess from a range of possible suitors, until a final voice would excitedly reveal: ‘You’re right! I really like you.’

Of course, it was not an actual phone, nor were the dial-a-date calls real, but the 24 models on the playing cards were indeed real people hired as the faces of the game.

Lyon was the standout heartthrob; Gorgeous George, whose image was emblazoned on the game packaging and was often featured in marketing as a firm fan favorite.

In fact, Del Real was one of those girls who crushed on him. She fondly remembered playing it ‘non-stop,’ mostly to increase her chances of hearing that George – or as he was called in Spain, Jesus – liked her.

‘I would play and play and play it because I wanted to get him [as my secret admirer],’ Del Real said. ‘I liked him and I liked another one – there were two cute ones.’

But once it clicked for Del Real that Lyon was George, she kept her discovery secret.

Tickled to be messaging with the real-life dreamboat, she didn’t want to scare him off. She was beginning to really fall for Lyon thanks to their deep conversations in those first few weeks.

The truth, Lyon told the Daily Mail, is that Del Real had nothing to worry about. He was already head-over-heels in love with her – even after she revealed that she had been ‘super in love’ with him during her Dream Phone playing days.

Lyon said: ‘I found my soulmate through MySpace, but after listening to her talk about the Dream Phone situation, maybe if I had never been in Dream Phone, I wouldn’t be sitting here. It’s funny and kind of cool how it all came together.’

After a year of chatting online daily, it was apparent to them both that their connection was real and worth exploring. 

Del Real had just finished university and became a flight attendant, knowing she could rack up frequent flier miles to visit Lyon in Los Angeles. Before she had even finished training, Lyon visited her in Barcelona, a week of electric chemistry that made them want to take the next step.

Seven days in Barcelona turned into multiple weeks in Malaga, where Lyon met Del Real’s family. 

Lyon knew that even after 11 years in California, his future was with Del Real in Spain, so Del Real visited him in Los Angeles and took a road trip to meet his family in New Hampshire. It was during that trip that she found out that she was pregnant with their first child, so Lyon sold his car and other belongings and made the move to be with her in Spain. In 2010, they got married.

Now, over 20 years after their first online meeting, the happy couple is more in love than ever, with 16 years of marriage under their belt, four children – aged 18, 17, 12 and four – and a houseful of pets.

‘It felt like it was meant to happen,’ Lyon, now 52 and working as a luxury real estate agent, said. ‘We’re very similar people with similar interests.’

‘From the moment I knew it was him [as George], I thought I better marry him and have babies,’ Del Real, now 43 and having recently returned to work as a flight attendant, said with a laugh.

Their extraordinary love story would have been a private, cherished memory for only the couple had it not been for, once again, social media. TikTok creator Hannah Young posted a video series about Dream Phone in the hopes of finding boys from the game and the post found its way to Del Real’s feed. There, Del Real revealed she was married to ‘George,’ who, judging by the comments, is still a fan favorite.

Lyon only became ‘Gorgeous George’ by chance. He was 17 in high school in 1991 when his mother, an amateur photographer, said that he wouldn’t have to get a summer job if he booked some modeling gigs. 

Lyon, intent on spending the summer surfing with his friends off the coast of New Hampshire, attended a casting call for the game. He got a call back and booked the shoot, which paid a mere $150 or $200 for a buyout for the entire shoot.

Lyon said: ‘The whole thing was really funny because I got paid like nothing for that job, so when the game came out, I thought I didn’t get paid enough – and that was way before I realized that it was a global game.’

Indeed, when the game debuted a few months after the shoot, it became a worldwide sensation. Though sales figures were never released by its maker, toy company Milton Bradley, it was a massive commercial success with international editions and, though long discontinued, it still resells online for hundreds of dollars today.

Lyon was shocked by the popular response. Strangers began approaching him, recognizing him from the board game. He had a seasonal job at the mall, where girls would come up to him asking him to sign autographs. He also remembers that for a period of time when he would attend school sporting events, girls would chant ‘George’ at him.

‘It was a terrible photo and no disrespect to anybody named George, but I was not a huge fan of the name they gave me either,’ he said.

‘It was just a normal photo shoot, so that’s why I didn’t think anything of it at all. It was just a one-and-done, really. I had done other things that I was more known for, but obviously I was very, very wrong.’

Before becoming one of the faces of Dream Phone, he was featured in Seventeen magazine as the winner of the ‘Best Boyfriend in America’ contest, which, ironically enough, led to a Dream Phone-esque experience in real life.

Along with the glory, the magazine published his full name and hometown of Rye Beach. When his family returned home from a vacation, their answering machine was inundated with giddy girls who found his number in the phonebook.

‘We went on holiday for a week and when we came back, the answering machine was totally full,’ Lyon said. ‘It was just girls giggling and girls saying call me back. I got all this mail, people sending me stuff they made for me and girls calling the house all the time. It was a funny thing.’

Despite being the object of girls’ affections across America he admitted that it didn’t necessarily translate to him being a ladies’ man in real life.

Lyon said: ‘I was really kind of shy at that age. To be completely honest, being a kid in high school, especially where I grew up, it gave me more trouble with the boyfriends of the girls that had the game and kind of gave me a lot of grief.

‘But I kept my head up. I enjoyed everything that I did and not having to get a full-time summer job was great.’

To this day, Lyon’s never played the game and is still a little confused as to how it works, despite Del Real’s attempts to explain it.

However, Dream Phone was the call of a lifetime for them both.

‘I hated the George photo. When I saw it, I was so bummed out, but luckily for me, Paloma didn’t think I looked bad,’ Lyon said. ‘Maybe if I hadn’t been on the game, I wouldn’t be where I am today. She’s my soulmate and we’ll be together forever without a doubt.’