‘House Of The Dragon’ S2 Episode 7 Recap And Spoilers: Who Are Vermithor And Silverwing’s Riders?

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The Dragonseed plot finally picks up pace as the seventh episode of the second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon highlights a game-changing gamble that puts the Blacks in a formidable position during the ongoing Targaryen civil war. Previously, Rhaenyra’s initial attempts to find a suitable dragonseed failed big time, as Ser Darklyn was burned to death while trying to bond with Seasmoke. However, Laenor Velaryon’s former steed found a rider in Alyn of Hull—unbeknownst to Rhaenyra, who ventured out with Syrax to Driftmark to check up on the situation. On the other hand, Daemon’s misery in Harrenhal persisted, but eventually his prolonged stay was fruitful as the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, Grover Tully, breathed his last, leaving his heir, a young Oscar Tully, as the chief of his house, whom Daemon can easily coerce into swearing allegiance to the Blacks. Mysaria’s strategy of turning the Smallfolk of King’s Landing to the Blacks’ side is implemented successfully, which puts the Greens in a disadvantageous position. The seventh episode of the season, titled “The Red Sowing,” somewhat compensates for the lackluster last couple of episodes.

Spoilers Ahead


In Search of More Dragonseeds

The episode begins with Rhaenyra and Syrax confronting Alyn of Hull and Seasmoke on the seashore of Driftmark. Alyn reveals that the dragon sought him out on his own, and quickly swears allegiance to the queen. Rhaenyra questions Alyn about his parentage and gets no satisfactory answer about any Targaryen connection, but his mention about providing service to the Velaryons might have intrigued the queen enough. She asks Alynn to try and bring Seasmoke to Dragonstone, as his miraculous claiming of the dragon has reignited her hope of seeking out dragonseeds. Rhaenyra decides to give Alyn a place in royal palace at Dragonstone, which unsurprisingly doesn’t sit well with the Black Council, who raise their concerns and suspicions about such a decision. Even Jace goes on to question her mother’s decision of deeming lowborn shipwrights like Alyn, or as spoilt royal brats like him like to call them, ‘mongrels,’ fit to ride Targaryen dragons. Actually, being a bastard of Harwin Strong himself, having a dragon of his own was a signifier for Jace that let him stand tall above all the conspiracies and allegations of detractors. But now that lowborn Targaryen bastards are revealed to be dragonriders as well, there is no marker of differentiation that exists any longer. 

Only Mysaria is of the opinion that when the queen’s own blood has turned against each other, depending on lowborns, Targaryen bastards, and smallfolks—who built the foundation of the realm anyway—would not be such a bad idea. Upon Rhaenyra’s request, Mysaria spreads word in King’s Landing that the rightful queen demands the presence of bastards of Targaryen ancestry in Dragonstone, whom she aims to turn into dragonriders.

Thanks to Mysaria’s actions in the previous episode, Rhaenyra’s call is answered promptly as almost two dozen Dragonseed decide to venture to Dragonstone. Among them, Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer are also present. While Ulf is hyped up by his bar-mates to join such a daring mission, Hugh, who is grieving the death of his daughter, joins to secure a better life for his wife. Viewers also learn that Hugh Hammer’s mother was of Targaryen ancestry, and she was Viserys and Daemon’s sister. On the other hand, Corlys, who is surprised after learning about the recent events, meets Alyn to congratulate him and later goes to Addam to acknowledge their parentage. Unlike his brother, who aimed and soared high, Addam likes to keep himself grounded and doesn’t mention much about the intricacies of Valyrian ancestry.


Daemon Secures Riverlands, At The Cost Of His Dignity

After weeks of haunted loitering in the ruined remains of Harrenhall, Daemon Targaryen finally has the chance to return to Dragonstone after securing the Riverlands for the Blacks, but that too came at the cost of his dignity. Daemon finds a young Oscar Tully is not as easily swayed by him into swearing allegiance, as he insists first on regaining the trust of the smaller houses of Riverlands through swift justice. Daemon’s actions in destabilizing House Bracken by encouraging Willem Blackwood, Lord of the rivaling house, to take nefarious steps, have only earned him absolute hatred from other houses. To serve justice as the present Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and also for other houses to take his position with as much gravity as his late grandfather, Oscar Tully implores Daemon to rectify his mistakes, and the rogue prince has no other option than to behead Willem Blackwood to gain the support of a unified Riverland. Turns out, Harrenhal has curbed Daemon’s edge so much that he is being schooled by a pipsqueak like Oscar Tully. 

On the other hand, the news of Seasmoke claiming a shipwright for a rider reaches King’s Landing, as Lord Jesper informs Clubfoot about the situation—who doesn’t pay much heed to it, considering it to be a rumor. Instead, he has much more important matters to attend to, like ensuring the recovering King Aegon becomes strong enough to return to the Iron Throne so that the sniveling opportunist Clubfoot once again returns to the stronger political position from which Aemond has kept him distanced. Neglected by everyone in her close circle, Alicent decides to drown in her melancholy. As escorted by Ser Rickard, she goes to Kingswood to spend some time alone.


Who Are the Riders of Vermithor and Silverwing?

While returning from the Vale with the rest of the Targaryen family members, Rhaena gets distracted—as she seems in search of the wild dragon hovering around the valleys of Eyrie, Sheepstealer. In the original source, a lowborn girl named Nettle had claimed Sheepstealer and was one of the most important members of the Dragonseed. However, that seemingly has been tweaked in the series, and Rhaena will most probably claim one of the three wild dragons. On the other hand, at Dragonstone, the dragonkeepers step down from their position after refusing to desecrate the dragonpit by letting dozens of lowborn dragonseed enter and claim dragons. Rhaenyra takes it upon herself to bring them in front of the third largest ever dragon of Westeros, Vermithor, the Bronze Fury, and leaves after deciding to let the dragon choose his suitable rider. Things go south pretty quickly as Vermithor becomes agitated and unleashes fury by burning down, devouring a majority of the dragonseeds. Rhaenyra helplessly watches the massacre as Vermithor picks its victims one by one until, facing imminent death, Hugh Hammer shows great resolve to confront the dragon right in the burning dragonpit while saving a girl—who perhaps reminded him of his recently deceased daughter. Vermithor calms down and accepts Hugh as his rider, much to Rhaenyra’s surprise and relief. 

Ulf the White had strayed further inside the Dragonpit while fleeing from Vermithor’s rampage and came across Silverwing, who doesn’t show much aggression and almost immediately accepts him as her steed. In his unsteady first flight as a rider, Ulf takes Silverwing directly to King’s Landing, drawing the attention and ire of Aemond Targaryen, who decides to chase him to Dragonstone. However, despite having the current largest dragon, Vhagar, with him, this time Aemond has no option except to retreat, as he sees Rhaenyra defiantly standing at the edge of a cliff with three large dragons standing behind her, all with new riders. As the episode ends, it seems Rhaenyra’s long and enduring struggle to find dragonriders has turned into a success, and like she had wished, now she can force the usurper Greens to negotiate terms simply by outnumbering their dragon counts. However, situations might not get resolved as easily as they seem, as the dragonseeds can turn the tide of the battle to either side, depending upon their allegiance.


Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.


 

 

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