House of the Dragon: Is There Really a Secret Targaryen in King's Landing?
Ulf the White has arrived on House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon is playing the long game with a couple of characters that figure to play major roles in the future of the Dance of the Dragons war. Addam and Alyn of Hull have appeared in a couple of scenes, as has Hugh the Hammer, though there have been very few hints regarding the parts the men will potentially play in the conflict. Another such character was given a fuller introduction in Sunday's new episode of the series (following a brief cameo in Episode 2), but he may not have been entirely truthful about his identity. WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for House of the Dragon Season 2! Continue reading at your own risk...
In last week's episode of House of the Dragon, an unnamed character in King's Landing gets an unusual amount of screen time, as he asks about the rat catchers that had been hanged in the street. That man, played by actor Tom Bennett, appears again in Episode 3, this time with a longer scene. At a pub, he sits down with some men from Braavos and reveals that he's the son of Baelon Targaryen, also known as Baelon the Brave. That would mean, he adds, that he is the brother of Daemon and the late King Viserys.
While House of the Dragon could narratively take this in a direction that's different from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, it does not seem as though the man in question is being truthful. Tom Bennett's character is actually a key figure in the Dance of the Dragons known as Ulf the White.
Ulf is one of two men known as The Two Betrayers, the other being Hugh Hammer, who the series has featured a couple of times already this season. In Martin's written history of Westeros, these men answered a call to become Dragonriders for Rhaenyra's army and were able to successfully pilot the fire-breathing beasts. After a key victory, the two men defected, taking their dragons to King's Landing to fight for Aegon II instead.
Right now, it's tough to see how Hugh and Ulf's story from the book will be brought to the screen, as both are currently in King's Landing, rather than Dragonstone. But a shot in one of the Season 2 trailers shows the two men seated at a table with Rhaenyra, so it appears as though they'll become dragonriders at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Based on George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood" book, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra, respectively. New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere every Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.
The cast for House of the Dragon includes Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.
