House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 7, “The Red Sowing,” ends with the thrilling revelation that Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) has accomplished the impossible: she’s found three new dragonriders among the common folk.
**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 7, now streaming on Max**
Early in the episode, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) joins their cause as Seasmoke’s new rider. This gives Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) the clever idea that Rhaenyra should approach the many Targaryen bastards in King’s Landing to see if any of them want to try riding a dragon. While many of these royal bastards perished while trying to claim a dragon, both Hugh the Hammer (Kieran Bew) and Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) manage to tame Vermithor and Silverwing, respectively.
While Ulf admits to his friends that he’s not entirely sure his story about being Prince Baelor’s bastard is true, Hugh the Hammer admits with absolute certainty to his wife Kat (Ellora Torchia) that his mother was a Targaryen and there’s a good reason he’s kept his lineage a secret for so long.
“I never met my father. That’s true,” he says. “But I did meet my mother. I hid that from you. And I regret it.”
“She worked… in a pleasure house. She was given more freedom than most because of who she was and because rich men paid more to fuck a silver-haired woman.”
At this point, it’s not entirely clear whether Hugh’s mother was simply another Targaryen bastard, but saying that she had more freedom “because of who she was” suggests that she may actually have been a Targaryen. Hugh’s next words seemingly confirm this, and place her as one of the most infamous princesses in George R.R. Martin’s saga. Fire and blood.
“She used to tell me that I was no different from her brother’s sons, Viserys and Daemon,” Hugh reveals. “But I was ashamed of her.”
If you’re a die-hard fan of Martin’s world, you should know exactly who Hugh’s mother is supposed to be: Saera Targaryen! House of the Dragon Star Kieran Bew, who has been reluctant to officially confirm or deny the connection, shared that there is no one else Hugh’s mother could be.
“I actually don’t know if I’m allowed to confirm this, but it can’t necessarily be someone else,” Bew said, before sharing House of the Dragon Showrunner Ryan Condal essentially confirmed it is Saera.
“He told me who my mother is and that immediately gave me a great backstory, a great motivation. Because I went through the book looking for information,” Bew said, before warning that Fire and blood leaves the truth open to interpretation.
“But I learned a lot about her and her offspring and where I fit into that group. And that’s a huge boost to who he is and where he is and what we’ve seen of him so far. To me, it’s like the best gift. It was the best birthday present because I couldn’t believe it, you know?”
“I don’t know if I’m confirming or denying it,” he said, laughing.
So who exactly is Saera Targaryen? Why is Hugh’s mother so important? And how might she help explain why Vermithor surrendered to Hugh and not any of the other would-be dragonlords?
Who is Hugh the Hammer’s mother? House of the DragonEverything you need to know about Saera Targaryen
Based on Hugh’s description of his Targaryen mother, a secret sex worker, it’s pretty obvious that he is one of Saera Targaryen’s bastard children. Fire and bloodWe are told that she was the ninth daughter of King Jaehaerys “The Conciliator” and the “Good” Queen Alysanne. She was extremely beautiful and intelligent, but she was also arguably the most troublesome of all her children.
From a very early age, Saera is said to have been a great troublemaker. She played cruel pranks and wished to be the eldest or even the only child of her parents. She craved attention and was happily disobedient. When she was young, Jaehaerys spoiled her, which is important later on…
By the time Saera became a teenager, she was really, really, really into boys. Over time, it came out that she and her tight-knit group of young nobles were basically having sex parties. Saera suggested that she could marry the three young men she’d been sleeping with, comparing herself to Aegon the Conqueror, which angered her father. She was confined to her room, but snuck out and tried to steal a dragon. Afterwards, she was put under house arrest, while one of her lovers was killed in a trial by combat against Jaehaerys. (Saera was wild, and dad Jaehaerys was angry.)
For a year or so, she suffered at the hands of the septa. Think Cersei’s Walk of Shame, but repeated over and over again. She was told she would have to become a Silent Sister, one of the septa who handle funerals in Westeros. Since that was clearly unappealing to someone like Saera, she fled to Lys and became a prostitute. The decision horrified Alysanne, who nonetheless kept a secret eye on her daughter. Jaehaerys, however, disowned her.
Saera soon became a sort of queen of the underworld in Lys before moving to Volantis. She was incredibly wealthy and, according to the books, had at least three bastard children. Although her reputation was ruined, she seemed to enjoy her new life, with all its wealth and “freedoms.”
We are told that as Jaehaerys neared death, he mistook a young Alicent Hightower for Saera, suggesting that he still longed for reconciliation with her.
Considering that Vermithor was Jaehaerys’ dragon, it is interesting that he ultimately chose Saera’s son Hugh as his new rider. Perhaps he was not only taken with Hugh’s courage, but also with the sense that he was Saera’s son.
In any case, by claiming Vermithor, Hugh finally takes over his lineage as the son of Saera Targaryen, making him the heir to one of the most fascinating figures in House Targaryen. Something that Jugo Mobile will cover in more detail with Kieran Bew in the coming days…
