Are the dragons up to the task? With House of the Dragon‘s Team Black fighting for their place on the throne, they’re looking to find more Dragonriders to help them out.
After the death of Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) and her dragon Meleys in the previous episode, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and her son Jacaerys Velaryon are looking for ways to beat their rivals. In season 2 episode 5 of the HBO series, Jace props up the idea to have the riderless dragons go up against Aemond and his fleet. “We have two large enough to stand against Vhagar. They are called Vermithor and Silverwing and they sleep beneath our feet.”
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“And if only they had riders, none would stand against me,” Rhaenyra replies. The thing about dragons is that they easily reject riders who aren’t of Valyrian blood and can nearly kill them in the process. Rhaenyra realizes there might be even more adjacent Targaryens in the kingdom, and Vermithor and Silverwing are bound to have riders for their battles.
Who rides Silverwing?
It’s expected that Ulf (Tom Bennett) will ride Silverwing in season 2 of House of the Dragon. The dragon used to belong to Alysanne Targaryen and has been riderless since her death. Ulf is a dragonseed who claims that he is the son of Baelon Targaryen, which would make him the half-brother of Viserys and Daemon. He’s introduced as a smith working in King’s Landing.
In the books, he and Hugh Hammer betray Rhaenyra and fight for the side of Aegon II. When Aegon was missing, he insisted that he would become king— only to have been poisoned by Hobert Hightower and Silverwing became riderless again.
Who rides Vermithor?
Vermithor, who was King Jaehaerys I Targaryen dragon, will be ridden by Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) who is also a dragonseed. Hugh is a smith who we met in the first episode of season 2 of the show. He petitions to King Aegon II for the rest of the smiths to be paid for their services. “The smiths are all proud to support your cause against Rhaenyra. But iron costs have grown. A lone Scorpion a [long-range artillery weapon] takes weeks to build. To put it simply, we are struggling. If we could have crown’s coin before we started work, it would bring great relief.”
Throughout the season, Hugh and the smiths have not been paid by Aegon, and he eventually becomes disillusioned by the monarch. They fight together for Rhaenyra’s cause, but betray her in the end. Vermithor eventually dies in the Second Battle of Tumbleton.
House of the Dragon airs on HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. and is streaming on Max.
