House of the Dragon: Who Can Be Dragonseeds and How They Work?
Who Can Be Dragonseeds and How They Work? Things are about to change in the House of the Dragon, as the war is leaving the Targaryens desperate to find the best strategy to win. For Rhaenyra, this means stepping outside the boundaries of her own family to find new dragon riders. In Season 2 Episode 5, Rhaenyra discovers that if she wants to win the war, she’s going to need more dragons (because Vhagar is unstoppable and Aemodn is a psychopath), so Jace convinces her to find other Targaryens, who don’t carry the family name, to try to claim the riderless dragons.
Who Can Be Dragonseeds and How They Work?
Jace talks about Vemithor and Silverwing, which are ancient dragons that belonged to other Targaryens years ago, but there is also Laenor Velaryon’s dragon, Seasmoke (found in Driftmark), and there are some wild dragons that, according to legend, were already on Dragonstone long before the Targaryens arrived on the island. Additionally, there is also The Cannibal, who is the largest dragon after Vhagar, but is much more powerful and dangerous, although that is a dragon that does not let itself be claimed by a rider. What Rhaenyra and Jace are after are the Dragonseeds, who are the only ones who can get close to the dragons and try to claim them.
What Are Dragonseeds in House of the Dragon?
Dragonseeds are people who have dragon blood. Targaryens have dragon blood and Dragonseeds are bastards of the family (who are recognized only if they manage to become riders). Rhaenyra says that Targaryens who married into other families and had children with other surnames might not be ideal for claiming dragons, as their blood is diluted and not really dragon’s blood at this point, so bastards, like Hugh the Hammer and Ulf the White, are the best option they have.
Hugh the Hammer, the blacksmith who has appeared several times in the series, is the one who gets to ride Vermithor, while Ulf the White becomes the rider of Silverwing. In the books, Nettles also appears, a teenage girl of unknown origin, who becomes the rider of the wild dragon Sheepstealer. But, it’s not just the Targaryens who have dragon blood, this is why Laenor Velaryon was also a dragonrider, and this means that other bastards can also claim dragons, as is the case of Addam of Hull, the bastard son of Corlys Velaryon who ends up riding Seasmoke.
Which Families Have Valyrian Blood?
Families that may have dragon blood are those that come from old Valyria, such as the Targaryens, whose destruction eventually led Aegon I to make his conquests and unify the kingdom. Other families of Valyria are the Velaryons, the Macklyns, and the Barlaeris, the problem is that many of these families disappeared after the destruction of Valyria, so technically only the Targaryens and the Velaryons remain, and it is their acknowledged children and their bastards who could claim dragons.
Now, being a Targaryen doesn’t guarantee you can own a dragon (Aamod didn’t get one until he claimed Vhagar after Laena died), which is why Rhaenyra needs as many potential Dragonseeds as she can find, because some are doomed to fail and die trying. In the books, some characters end up eaten, burned, or mutilated after trying to claim dragons, and this is because dragons also have the right to accept or reject a potential rider.
