House of the Dragon Makes Major Change to Important New Character

Hugh's big reveal on House of the Dragon represents a big change from Fire & Blood.

By Charlie Ridgely

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS from House of the Dragon Season 2! Continue reading at your own risk... House of the Dragon finally introduced its trio of oft-teased dragonriders in Sunday's penultimate episode of Season 2. Addam, Hugh, and Ulf have all bonded with dragons and look to add to Rhaenyra's numbers in the ongoing Targaryen civil war. All three of those dragonriders existed as part of the story in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, but House of the Dragon did make one massive change about their origins, specifically Hugh's.

In Fire & Blood, the Dragonseeds are revealed as people who may have some traces of royal Targaryen blood still in their veins, meaning they were likely connected to a lord or king generations prior. None of those connections were explained, because they were too far back to trace or completely unknown. In House of the Dragon, however, it was revealed that Hugh was actually a direct relative to King Jaehaerys, the Targaryen that sat on the Iron Throne just before Viserys.

Hugh told his wife that his mother worked in a brothel and was the sister of Jaehaerys, giving him a very clear connection to the Targaryen bloodline. That also helps explain why Vermithor chose to bond with him. Vermithor hadn't bonded with any human since the death of his previous rider: King Jaehaerys.

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(Photo:

Hugh (Kieran Bew) stands up to Vermithor

- HBO)

A similar situation played out with Seasmoke, who chose Addam of Hull as his next rider. Seasmoke had bonded with Laenor Velaryon, who we know now is Addam's half-brother. Not to mention Ulf has claimed to be the bastard half-brother of Daemon and Viserys, though he hasn't yet proven to be a reliable narrator.

So what's the point of all this? In Fire & Blood, the Dragonseeds just had some distant connections to the Targaryens (save for Addam). Nettles, who hasn't been on the show at all, wasn't connected to the family in any way that we know of. House of the Dragon is simplifying the story a bit with this new information about Hugh. We can now connected all of these new dragonriders directly to known Targaryen and Velaryon royals.

It seems like that theory may hold true when it comes to the dragon Sheepstealer. The wild beast has been teased on House of the Dragon, but its rider, Nettles, has yet to appear. Instead, Rhaena Targaryen seems to be getting the Nettles storyline, which would mean all four riderless dragons will have bonded with immediate Targaryen relatives.

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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. 

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