House Of The Dragon’s second season is three quarters of the way over, and many questions remain about some of the show’s biggest conflicts—and newest characters.
Many viewers may be wondering what the significance is of characters like Ulf White (Tom Bennett) and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew)—and many may not even remember what their names are. The scenes with these characters have been peppered throughout Season 2 but in many ways feel detached from the rest of the story. We’ve also spent some time with the brothers Addam and Alyn of Hull (Clinton Liberty and Abubakar Salim) though their significance is more obvious—especially after this week’s episode.
Forbes'House Of The Dragon' Season 2, Episode 6 Recap And Review: The Flight Of The DragonridersBy Erik Kain
The first hints at how these characters might come into play have been scattered throughout the season, but I’ll go into a bit more depth here. Some of what follows is speculation, some is spoilers territory as I draw from the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. Hopefully it will help you understand these seemingly random new characters and their place in the story, but obviously turn back now if you’re worried about spoilers. I won’t spoil what happens to all of these characters in the end, but I will tell you why they matter.
Who Are The Dragonseeds?
In Episode 5, Jace (Harry Collett) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’arcy) come up with a plan. They have several dragons—Vermithor, Seasmoke and Silverwing—that are laying about without riders to fly them, and finding riders would turn the tide against the Greens. Currently, with Daemon and Caraxes off at Harrenhal, even the combined forces of Rhaneyra/Syrax, Beala/Moondancer and Jace/Vermax would not ensure a victory over Aemond and his ancient, giant dragon Vhagar—at least not without risking both the Queen and her heir.
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So they devise a plan to find nobles with Targaryen blood in their veins and see if they’re able to bond with these dragons instead. The first nobleman Rhaenyra chooses is one of her most loyal knights, Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan) of the Queensguard. Rhaenyra is surrounded by old men who question her every move, but Steffon is loyal and brave and doesn’t constantly talk down to his Queen. So naturally he has to die.
Darklyn is burned to a crisp by the dragon Seasmoke—formerly bonded to Laenor Velaryon, son of Corlys and Rhaenys and ex-husband of Rhaenyra.
Addam of Hull
After Darklyn’s tragic and fiery death, Seasmoke flies free and we later see the pale silver-grey dragon playing a fun game of tag with Addam of Hull who doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself as much as the dragon:
Not long after that, Rhaenyra is informed that Seasmoke has been spotted flying about with a rider on his back, which we as viewers immediately assume must be Addam (unless the dragon ate him and found another rider soon after, which seems unlikely) but the Queen has no inkling of who it could be and assumes the Greens stole this dragon as well.
The reality is that Addam is a Dragonseed—someone who has a great deal of Valyrian blood (not just Targaryen) because he is one of the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon along with his older brother Alyn, who we saw shaving off his telltale white hair in this week’s episode. Addam is the first Dragonseed to take flight, but not the last. He and his brother will both ultimately be legitimized by their father, with Alyn becoming heir to the Driftmark Throne. As to their fates in this story, I’ll leave that question unanswered. So let’s take a look at the rest of the Dragonseeds, beginning with a certain blacksmith.
Hugh Hammer
In the books, Hugh Hammer was a blacksmith on Dragonstone, but in the show we see him in King’s Landing where he first shows up to ask King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) for payment upfront for all the smithing he and his colleagues have been doing for the war effort. We see him later with his wife and sickly daughter, and we learn something of his character. He is proud—too proud to go to his wife’s family for charity—and he is not above thieving. In this week’s episode he encounters another citizen on the street who tells him that Rhaenyra sent ships filled with food from Dragonstone. Instead of going to find his own heads of lettuce, Hugh robs the poor man without a moment’s hesitation.
Hugh Hammer is a Targaryen bastard, though I’m not sure the show version even knows this—and doesn’t go by ‘Hammer’ just yet—and will eventually make his way to Dragonstone where he will bond with and mount the great bronze dragon Vermithor. Vermithor is the third largest dragon in Westeros, behind Balerion (the largest, but also dead) and Vhagar. By the time the Dance of Dragons takes place, Vermithor is already a century old. This has made the great beast very accustomed to humans and more tolerant of new riders, having been through his fair share. The great beast is about three times the size of Seasmoke in the books.
Ulf White
Unlike Hugh Hammer, in the show Ulf White is very aware of his heritage and even goes about town bragging about it. Ulf has had a bit less screen-time than Hugh at this point, so we know less of his character, but as with every other small detail in House of the Dragon, this is probably important. People who loudly brag about something (and then caution their audience to keep quiet about it since they’d end up in prison or dead if it was discovered) are likely not entirely trustworthy. We shall see.
In the book, Ulf is a man-at-arms on Dragonstone but in the show he, like Hugh, is first revealed to be in King’s Landing where he vocally supports Rhaenyra, taunts the city guard and boasts. Somehow he will make his way to Dragonstone where he will bond with and mount the silver-scaled she-dragon, Silverwing. Silverwing and Vermithor often coiled together (cute) and Silverwing was known as a fairly friendly dragon as far as dragons go.
Silverwing is smaller than Vermithor, but only two years younger. According to the legends, Vermithor was hatched from a dragon’s egg that had been placed in the cradle of young Prince Jaehaerys (grandfather of Viserys and Daemon) by his sister Rhaena in 34 AC. Silverwing hatched from an egg Rhaena placed in Alysanne Targaryen’s cradle in 36 AC. (Jaehaerys and Alysanne would later wed in quite a dramatic story; Jaehaerys is one of the most fascinating and impressive kings in the Targaryen line).
Nettles
Now we must enter the realm of speculation and controversy, because after this week’s episode—in which Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) discovers obvious signs of a massive dragon stealing sheep in the Vale—it seems clear (or at least highly likely) that the show is combining Rhaena’s character with the book character known as Nettles. This makes sense for the show, which has enough characters to follow already with all these new additions (and more to come) but it creates some issues with the story that are a bit hard to reconcile.
Nettles—also called Netty—is described pretty much how Rhaena looks: A small, skinny brown-skinned girl. Only she has black hair. And she’s a bastard of uncertain birth who may or may not have noble blood (let alone Targaryen or Velaryon blood) running in her veins. Many have speculated that her ability to ride a dragon puts the lie to Targaryen claims that this is required for dragonriding, but I’m not sure since it’s never really proven one way or another and we know that even Targaryens can be born with black hair.
In any case, Nettles (and likely Rhaena in the show) is able to bond with and mount the wild dragon called Sheepstealer by bringing it fresh sheep to eat each day until the two form some kind of trust. Nettles fights for the Blacks and eventually makes her way to Daemon Targaryen. In the book, it’s speculated that the two become romantically involved which leads to other issues. I won’t say more than that here. But hey, just because she’s Daemon’s daughter doesn’t mean that can’t happen—they’re Targaryens, right? My guess is that if Rhaena and Sheepstealer do go over to Daemon, there is no romance in the show.
What I’m curious about is whether Rhaena hides her identity. Will she pretend to go to Pentos with Rhaenyra’s sons and then disguise herself as an urchin with black hair and claim Sheepstealer? The problem with this is if she encounters basically anyone from her past—Rhaenyra, Baela, Jace, etc.—that would blow her cover. Perhaps they’ll have her go directly to Daemon instead, and word will get back to Rhaenyra that he’s taken up with some new dragonrider woman named Nettles, deepening the rift between them. Who knows! This is one reason I like this show so much. It’s one of the few shows that changes the book in a way that makes the entire experience more fun and unpredictable.
There are two other important dragons in the offing as well, so before you read further, some spoilers follow.
The first is the blue she-dragon Tessarion whose rider is Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) youngest son, Daeron who we still haven’t met in the show. Tessarion is described as very beautiful with dark cobalt wings and claws, crest and belly scales the color of bright, beaten copper. Even Tessarion’s flames were cobalt blue. I’ve been excited to see this dragon for a long time, as I always pictured her as the most beautiful of all the dragons. (Though Aegon’s Sunfyre was also described as one of the most beautiful, the show didn’t quite do the dragon justice). Tessarion, along with Helaena’s Dreamfyre—a silver-and-blue she-dragon known to be quite the layer of eggs—are the only dragons the Greens have other than Aemond’s Vhagar.
The last dragon is a wild dragon known as The Cannibal, a fearsome and deadly beast that is so wild and terrifying and huge that nobody even attempts to ride the beast. It is speculated that the dragon may have been in Westeros before Aegon’s conquest, and may even come from a different lineage of dragons altogether, though this is never proven. Despite being very old, the dragon is said to be slightly smaller than Vermithor—perhaps more evidence, along with its lack of tolerance for humans and Targaryens—that it comes from some other line of dragons.
Of course there are also Rhaenyra and Daemon’s sons, Joffrey and Aegon. Joffrey rides the young dragon Tyraxes. Rhaena is supposed to bond with the dragon Morning, but I’m not sure if there will even be a Morning if she is merged with Nettles. And Aegon—well, that’s a story for another time.
For now, hopefully this little guide has helped you understand all these strange new characters and their importance to the story. Of course, how the show plays out is often quite different from the book so things could change. I’ve also left out many of the gory details.
You can read my review of House Of The Dragon’s latest episode right here.