House of the Dragon Teases an Important New Dragonrider

The Targaryen civil war being depicted in House of the Dragon is commonly known throughout George R.R. Martin’s texts as the Dance of the Dragons. While human beings are the ones competing for the Iron Throne and making decisions to take out family members on the other side, the war will continue to come back to the might of the dragons at the disposal of Rhaenyra and Aegon II. That makes dragonriders indispensable for both the greens and the blacks, and Sunday’s new episode of low key introduced a new, important dragonrider to the fray.

The Season 2 premiere of introduced a character named Alyn of Hull, played by Abubakar Salim. Episode 2 introduced Alyn’s brother, Addam of Hull, played by Clinton Liberty. Very little is known about these characters on the show, other than the fact that they are sailors who fight for Corlys Velaryon. When you dig into Fire & Blood, the book that House of the Dragon is largely based on, you learn that these two brothers have massive roles to play in the Dance of the Dragons, as well as the future of Westeros.

That future was hinted at in a brief scene in the new House of the Dragon episode, when Alyn was digging through the sand at Driftmark, looking for crabs. A dragon flew overhead and caught Alyn’s attention. That riderless dragon is none other than Seasmoke, the beast that was once ridden by Corlys Velaryon’s son, Laenor, who is believed to be dead. 

Fire & Blood‘s historical accounts say that Alyn went on to become a dragonrider, bonding with Seasmoke and riding him into war as a soldier of Rhaenyra’s army. House of the Dragon, but showing Alyn spotting Seasmoke over the waters in this week’s episode was a big hint that he’ll follow a similar path on screen.

There is another small character in House of the Dragon this season that becomes a dragonrider in the events of Fire & Blood, but there haven’t been any heavy hints with him like there were with Alyn. That man is Hugh, the smith that asks Aegon for money to buy more steel in the premiere. In Martin’s texts, Hugh is known as Hugh the Hammer, and he actually works in Dragonstone, not King’s Landing. The book version of the character actually defects from the blacks to join the greens after becoming a dragonrider.

In the show, Hugh is already working in King’s Landing under the rule of Aegon, so there’s likely no betrayal coming from his character. But he could still become a key dragonrider for Aegon’s armies down the line.

Based on George R.R. Martin‘s “Fire & Blood” book, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra, respectively. New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere every Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.

The cast for House of the Dragon includes Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.