A new dragonrider has entered the fray on House of the Dragon — and it's not anyone Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) expected.
Season 2, episode 6 of House of the Dragon sees Rhaenyra put a bold dragonrider recruitment plan into action. With the help of the Targaryen family records, she seeks out members of other houses with Targaryen ancestors. The hope is that their weaker Targaryen lineage will still be enough for them to claim the riderless dragons residing on Dragonstone: Vermithor, Silverwing, and Seasmoke, the former dragon of Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan).
However, that plan disappears in a puff of (Sea)smoke when the first dragonriding attempt goes disastrously awry. Turns out Seasmoke is simply more interested in barbecuing Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan) than in bonding with him. Hey, that's just the risk you take when you try to claim a dragon.
Steffon's death forces Rhaenyra to abandon her plan, yet the episode ends on some intriguing news. Seasmoke has been spotted flying over Spicetown with a new, unknown rider. While Rhaenyra suspects this new dragonrider to be a member of Team Green, episode 6 has already given us his identity — and it could be a game changer for Team Black.
Seasmoke's new rider is none other than Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), the brother of Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). The two are the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). But while Corlys acknowledges Alyn, elevating him to the status of first mate, he has yet to say anything to Addam. You can bet that will change once he learns that Addam claimed his trueborn son's dragon.
While we don't see Addam actually getting on dragonback, we see everything else leading up to it. Seasmoke pursues Addam along the beaches of Driftmark, eventually cornering him. However, instead of burning Addam to a crisp like he did Steffon, Seasmoke approaches him with a soft curiosity. House of the Dragon cuts away before Addam can actually seal the bond, but since we hear about Seasmoke's new rider soon after, you can consider these dragonriding dots connected.
Addam being a dragonrider throws a bit of a wrench in Rhaenyra's initial plan, as he's not a Targaryen by blood. Instead, he's a Velaryon through Corlys.
Like the Targaryens, the Velaryons are a great family from Old Valyria, meaning Addam has Valyrian blood. Unlike Targaryens, the Velaryons were not dragonlords, so based on tradition and history, Addam shouldn't be a dragonrider either. Sure, there's a high chance Corlys Velaryon has a smidge of Targaryen blood due to some long-ago Targaryen-Velaryon marriage, or that Addam and Alyn's mother has some Targaryen ancestry. But there are other, more interesting explanations for Addam's new dragonrider status.
First, Rhaenyra believes that Seasmoke misses his bond with Laenor. What better way for him to replicate that bond than with another one of Corlys's sons? Remember, we've already seen Seasmoke circling over Addam's head in episode 2, so perhaps he already sensed the similarities to Laenor. Maybe Steffon's attempted claiming was the last push Seasmoke needed to seek Addam out, a draconic "screw it, I'll find my preferred rider myself" kind of moment.
Then, there's the simple possibility that Targaryen blood may not be the true key to riding a dragon. As Jacaerys (Harry Collett) tells Rhaenyra in episode 5, the Old Valyrian histories that highlight the importance of dragonlord blood were "written to gild [dragonlords] in glory." If the "dragonlord blood" narrative is just a tool to uphold Targaryen supremacy, could anyone try to be a dragonrider? Could Rhaenyra widen her pool of recruit candidates? (Might I suggest seeking out the Targaryen bastards we know are out there?)
Or, could it be the Targaryens aren't as powerful as they thought?
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
