The Game of Thrones prequel – House of the Dragon arrives on HBO in summer 2024. It will bring back the old characters, as well as breathe life into a few more of the lore. New players in the show will fight for King Aegon II and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen.
House of the Dragon is centered on the Targaryen civil war that takes place after Viserys I’s passing. Key players gird their loins, and entrants vow to fight for them. Known as the Dance of the Dragons in lore, this war divides the realm between factions known as the Greens and the Blacks. The spillover of the Dance is inevitable, and it sets up exciting plots and the arrival of new characters.
10 Addam Of Hull
Clinton Liberty Plays Addam
Much has been made of the Blacks’ attempt to claim riderless dragons and utilize them in the Dance. In House of the Dragon season 1, Daemon Targaryen took stock of the dragons of his faction (the
Daemon plans to take dragons to war, and in the upcoming season, Rhaenyra’s eldest, Jacaerys Velaryon, will come up with a solution to claim a few serpentine beats. He will call upon the bastards of Valyrian descent, who are supposedly fathered by Targaryens and who reside on the Islands in the Blackwater Bay.
Jace offers them riches and titles in exchange for mastering dragons and fighting on their side. Such men and women are known as Dragonseeds in lore, and Addam of Hull who is reportedly spotted in House of the Dragon season 2 teaser trailer is an example. He tames Seasmoke and is legitimized as Addam Velaryon for his services.
9 Alyn Of Hull
Abubakar Salim Plays Alyn
Addam’s younger brother, Alyn, also joins the Blacks in the Dance. He tries in vain to seek the wild dragon, Grey Ghost, and nearly pays with his life while trying to tame Sheepstealer. The second beast breathes fire at Alyn’s cloak, but Addam comes to his rescue and douses the flames with his. Alyn sustains burns but survives the dragon-taming incident.
The Black Queen takes heed of Lord Corlys Velaryon’s petition and legitimizes the Hull brothers. Addam Velaryon is named heir to Driftmark.
8 Ulf The White
Tom Bennett Plays Ulf
Ulf is another Dragonseed who gets the name “White” after his pale hair. He starts off the Dance of the Dragons as a man-at-arms and mounts Silverwing during the war.
Ulf fights beside dragonriders such as Addam in the epic naval battle known as the Battle of the Gullet, which marks the end of Jacaerys Velaryon. Later, Ulf and another dragonrider named Hugh Hammer defect from the Blacks during the First Battle of Tumbleton. Game of Thrones lore recognizes them as the Two Betrayers.
7 Hugh Hammer
Kieran Bew Plays Hugh The Hammer
An illiterate and another betrayer, Hugh is also known as Hugh the Hammer in lore. He wields a Warhammer and the lore describes him as “tall and huge” and a person of immense strength. He is a Blacksmith’s bastard, living in the Blacks’ stronghold of Dragonstone.
Hugh answers Prince Jacaerys’ call and ends up mounting the late King Jaehaerys I’s Vermithor. The duo fights in the Battle in the Gullet, and Hugh eventually self-styles as Hugh Hammer. History recognizes him as the second betrayer of the Blacks in the Dance.
6 Silver Denys
Robert Rhodes Plays Denys
Silver Denys from Dragonstone puts forward the claim that he is a descendant of Maegor the Cruel’s bastard son. He has pale hair and purple eyes and, despite his Targaryen appearance, his claim is questioned because Maegor was unable to impregnate numerous fertile women.
It is largely believed that Denys may have descended from a person of Valyrian origin. He loses his arm in trying to mount Sheepstealer and as his sons tend to him, the wild dragon named the Cannibal devours all of them.
5 Simon Strong
Simon Russell Beale Plays Ser Simon
A knight of House Strong, Simon is the great-uncle to the same Lord Larys Strong who had his father and older brother killed in a fire at the castle of Harrenhal in House of the Dragon season one. He surrenders the castle of Harrenhal to Prince Daemon and his serpentine beast, Caraxes.
Simon is freed when Ser Criston Cole takes back Harrenhal. However, after the fall of King’s Landing, Prince Aemond takes Simon for a traitor, forces him into a duel, and has Vhagar devour his corpse. Aemond also orders the killings of every Strong at Harrenhal, except a woman named Alys Rivers who ends up as his paramour in the Dance.
4 Alys Rivers
Gayle Rankin Plays Alys
Aemond spares the bastard of House Strong – Alys Rivers, who is the rumored child of Lord Lyonel Strong. She served as a wet nurse to children at the Strong Castle during the Dance.
Game of Thrones lore, more specifically, Aemond claims that Alys can see visions in pools, storm clouds, and fire. Some consider her a “woods witch” while others a “slattern.” Alys and Aemond are lovers in the Dance of the Dragons.
3 Gwayne Hightower
Freddie Fox Plays Ser Gwayne
Gwayne Hightower, as the name indicates, is a knight from House Hightower of Oldtown. He is the eldest son of Aegon II’s first Hand – Otto, in House of the Dragon. Stunt performer, Will Willoughby, portrayed the said character during the Heir’s Tournament, during which he jousted and lost against Prince Daemon.
Fox’s Gwayne sides with the Greens during the Dance and is named the second-in-command of the Gold Cloaks by Otto. He is asked to keep a close eye on the Commander, Ser Luthor Largent who Otto suspects is loyal to Daemon. Gwayne dies during the Fall of King’s Landing at the hands of none other than Ser Luthor in the lore.
2 Blood
Sam C. Wilson Plays Blood
Blood is the name of a butcher who, in lore, was hired by Mysaria, to assassinate a son of the Greens. He once served in the Gold Cloaks but lost his name and fame because he got blackout drunk and beat a woman to death.
Blood’s actual name remains unknown and he and another assassin named Cheese will kill Aegon II’s six-year-old son, Prince Jaehaerys, during the Dance. He is caught in lore and killed at the Gate of the Gods by the Gold Cloaks, but Cheese escapes unharmed.
1 Cheese
Mark Stobbart Plays Cheese
Blood and Cheese infiltrate the Red Keep because the latter has know-how about its hidden tunnels. Cheese is a ratcatcher, and together the duo carry out the assassination known as Daemon Targaryen’s Blood and Cheese plot.
Unable to catch the second assassin, the incompetent wastrel, Aegon II, orders the executions of ratcatchers throughout King’s Landing. Stobbart is spotted in House of the Dragon season 2 teaser trailer, holding Helaena Targaryen at knifepoint.
A prominent addition to House of the Dragon ensemble includes actor Tom Taylor’s Cregan Stark, who will host Jacaerys Velaryon at his ancestral seat in the upcoming season. Cregan will be loyal to the Blacks until the end of the Dance and will briefly serve as Aegon the Younger’s Hand upon his ascension.
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