David Bridges
A brand new dragonrider has entered the fray on Home of the Dragon — and it isn’t anybody Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) anticipated.
Season 2, episode 6 of Home of the Dragon sees Rhaenyra put a daring dragonrider recruitment plan into motion. With the assistance of the Targaryen household information, she seeks out members of different homes with Targaryen ancestors. The hope is that their weaker Targaryen lineage will nonetheless be sufficient for them to say the riderless dragons residing on Dragonstone: Vermithor, Silverwing, and Seasmoke, the previous dragon of Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan).
Rhaenyra Targaryen wants extra dragonriders. Listed here are the three most certainly candidates.
Nonetheless, that plan disappears in a puff of (Sea)smoke when the primary dragonriding try goes disastrously awry. Seems Seasmoke is solely extra focused on barbecuing Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan) than in bonding with him. Hey, that is simply the danger you are taking while you attempt to declare a dragon.
Steffon’s demise forces Rhaenyra to desert her plan, but the episode ends on some intriguing information. Seasmoke has been noticed flying over Spicetown with a brand new, unknown rider. Whereas Rhaenyra suspects this new dragonrider to be a member of Workforce Inexperienced, episode 6 has already given us his identification — and it could possibly be a sport changer for Workforce Black.
Who’s Seasmoke’s new rider?
Clinton Liberty and Abubakar Salim in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO
Seasmoke’s new rider is none aside from Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), the brother of Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). The 2 are the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). However whereas Corlys acknowledges Alyn, elevating him to the standing of first mate, he has but to say something to Addam. You may guess that may change as soon as he learns that Addam claimed his trueborn son’s dragon.
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Whereas we do not see Addam truly getting on dragonback, we see every part else main as much as it. Seasmoke pursues Addam alongside the seashores of Driftmark, finally cornering him. Nonetheless, as a substitute of burning Addam to a crisp like he did Steffon, Seasmoke approaches him with a delicate curiosity. Home of the Dragon cuts away earlier than Addam can truly seal the bond, however since we hear about Seasmoke’s new rider quickly after, you may think about these dragonriding dots related.
How can Addam of Hull be a dragonrider?
Addam being a dragonrider throws a little bit of a wrench in Rhaenyra’s preliminary plan, as he is not a Targaryen by blood. As a substitute, he is a Velaryon by way of Corlys.
Just like the Targaryens, the Velaryons are an ideal household from Previous Valyria, that means Addam has Valyrian blood. In contrast to Targaryens, the Velaryons weren’t dragonlords, so primarily based on custom and historical past, Addam should not be a dragonrider both. Certain, there is a excessive probability Corlys Velaryon has a smidge of Targaryen blood attributable to some long-ago Targaryen-Velaryon marriage, or that Addam and Alyn’s mom has some Targaryen ancestry. However there are different, extra fascinating explanations for Addam’s new dragonrider standing.
First, Rhaenyra believes that Seasmoke misses his bond with Laenor. What higher means for him to copy that bond than with one other one in every of Corlys’s sons? Keep in mind, we have already seen Seasmoke circling over Addam’s head in episode 2, so maybe he already sensed the similarities to Laenor. Possibly Steffon’s tried claiming was the final push Seasmoke wanted to hunt Addam out, a draconic “screw it, I am going to discover my most popular rider myself” type of second.
Then, there’s the straightforward risk that Targaryen blood will not be the true key to driving a dragon. As Jacaerys (Harry Collett) tells Rhaenyra in episode 5, the Previous Valyrian histories that spotlight the significance of dragonlord blood have been “written to gild [dragonlords] in glory.” If the “dragonlord blood” narrative is only a instrument to uphold Targaryen supremacy, might anybody attempt to be a dragonrider? Might Rhaenyra widen her pool of recruit candidates? (May I counsel in search of out the Targaryen bastards we all know are on the market?)
Or, might it’s the Targaryens aren’t as highly effective as they thought?
New episodes of Home of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
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Daniel Mercer
