@yeahiwasintheshit I think I can explain this in a way that isn't too fanservicey.
I think first off, let's establish the number one reason why "Characters didn't do that" is for the convenience of the plot. If he demanded the dragon, it would lead to a situation where Daemon would hop on his dragon and "light the way" for the Hightower host, effectively ending the green threat (and naturally creating more problems than anyone could possibly imagine in your typical Daemon way). So the thing happened so the other things could happen.
You might see that as a bit of lazy storywriting, and HOTD hasn't been immune from the occasional... errors. But I think it makes sense within story.
We can all agree that Daemon was looking for a fight. He was "ordered" by Rhaenyra to accept Hightower fealty, but those weren't the words and action of someone who wants peace. He wanted to provoke Ormund into a Field of Fire 2 situation. I don't think he had a concrete plan for surrender. He had more of a plan to fuck with him, which is why he waited until Ormund's back was turned to demand Daeron.
We can also attribute this to Daemon's tendency to think he's the smartest guy in the room despite multiple examples of Otto Hightower running circles around him.
Ormund Hightower broke his oath. Can't be understated. I know everybody goes out of their way and breaks their back fucking each other over, but this is different. He bent the knee. He promised to take his forces back to Oldtown. It's like Guest Rights and Kinslaying, it's one of the big no no's in this universe (And should be a bigger thing in ours). By the rules of standard conduct, Daemon didn't need to examine things further.
You know what's funny... This thing is unprecedented. I don't think there has been a "peaceful" surrender of a dragon rider in this way in modern Westerosi history. Daemon doesn't have an army at his back, just Ulf and Hugh, so there's no way of chaining this wild animal up and wheeling him back to KL. And I'd like to see who tries to do that, because...
Dragons are uncontrollable, as we've seen. Even Daemon had trouble with Caraxes the other day. Plus, Dragons can fly away or attack. It's like accepting his surrender and asking him to hop onto his 5-35 to fly peacefully to his execution. Daeron might agree to this, but will his dragon?
All of this leads to, I think, the most important point. Daemon didn't NEED Daeron's dragon. It was more important to capture a rival claimant to the Iron Throne. As far as he knows, a dragon without a dragon rider is fucking useless to the green's army. Tessarion isn't exactly the second coming of Balerion the Black Dread, he just started to take flight. Has no real battle experience. So even if they took real Daeron back, put his fucking head on a spike, Tessarion would still have to bond to a new dragonrider. And you saw how hard that was for the Blacks. And the blacks live in a region with no shortage of Targaryen bastards.
Does that work? I think it does. In Daemon's mind, all he's leaving the Greens with is a giant burden that eats a fucking ton and would be fucking uncontrollable without his bonded rider. I think there's an idea of asking for the dragon back once they've secured the throne. His biggest problem was not recognizing Tessarion's double take when fake Daeron approached it. Dragon was like "Who the fuck is you?"
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