House of the Dragon episode seven picks up where things left off, with Rhaenyra discovering who Seasmoke’s rider is: Addam of Hull, Corlys Velaryon’s bastard. Addam immediately pledges fealty to the Queen, who is stunned by him—Targaryens have long believed that they were the only House able to ride dragons. It’s this trait which makes them godly enough to rule the seven kingdoms. The apprehensive Queen invites Addam to Dragonstone. Addam conveniently leaves out his Velaryon parentage.
The rumor of a rider on Seasmoke has made it to King’s Landing and to the Master of Whispers, Larys. But the assumption that the rider is Rhaena makes Larys not believe it, so he shrugs it off and instead puts his efforts on Aegon and getting him well enough to walk.
Not everyone on Team Black is on-board with bastard dragonriders, but Mysaria’s guidance on the smallfolk (and the sheer number of Targaryen bastards in King’s Landing) leads Rhaenyra towards a whole new war strategy: “Let us raise an army of bastards.”
Addam gives Lord Corlys his two weeks’ notice on his shipmate job, avoiding the real conversation they should be having. And Corlys continues that avoidance by simply telling Addam, “Well done.” He is not beating the deadbeat dad allegations.
Daemon finally gets his comeuppance at Harrenhal in the form of the 14-year-old Lord Oscar Tullly. You see, Oscar did not forget Daemon’s subtle advice to kill his grandfather or his guidance to Lord Blackwood to wage horrific crimes against the Brackens. The gathering of all the Riverlords turns into a criminal court when Oscar boldly uses King Consort Daemon to dispense justice on his only ally, William Blackwood. Daemon finally sees the consequences to ruling with such violence. He further questions his ambitions when hallucinating an actively decaying Viserys who offers him the crown. We see Daemon hesitate in his thirst for power for the first time.
Elsewhere, Rhaena and the boy princes begin their journey from the Vale to Pentos, but she sneaks away in search of the dragon on the loose.
Throughout all the exciting developments in this episode, the writers have Alicent get so depressed she has to go camping. That’s it.
Jace confronts Rhaenyra about the dragonseed plot and gets out some of his own bastard-born issues. He doesn’t trust the lowborn, even though the original search for a dragonrider was his idea. If any low-blood/born Targaryen mounts a dragon and becomes a God, what’s there to say they won’t challenge Jace’s claim to the throne or Rhaenyra’s?
Alyn and Corlys have the yet another scene by the docks, where Alyn proclaims that he is “of salt and sea” and will not try to claim a dragon. But he does agree to play a part in the Team Black scheme to gather the King’s Landing bastards as a messenger.
The King’s Landing bastards all hear the rumors that Queen Rhaenyra is holding auditions for a dragonrider like she’s Simon Cowell and this is The X Factor. The local drunk, Ulf, who consistently brags about his connection to the Targaryens, needs to be hyped up by his friends in order to agree to go to Dragonstone. The blacksmith, Hugh, reveals his Targaryen heritage to his wife and seizes the opportunity to try his hand at dragon taming.
When the silver-haired smallfolk arrive at Dragonstone, the dragonkeepers do a company walkout. They refuse to help Rhaenyra use dragons as war playthings ridden by anyone regardless of status. Rhaenyra stays the course and lets her half-family know the risks of approaching a dragon.
The scene unfolds as expected, with Vermithor turning this audition into his private lunch. The dragonseeds attempt to escape. Hugh exhibits his pure heart by protecting a fellow dragonseed and going head to head with Vermithor, and this dragon likes the nice guys so he heels to Hugh.
Ulf escapes through the dragon caves until he comes upon Silverwing and I guess she has a thing for sloppy drunkards, because she lets him claim her.
The Green council meeting is interrupted when Ulf can’t resist riding Silverwing over King’s Landing to show the boys he got out of the hood. Aemond angrily runs to Vhagar and rides to Dragonstone, only to see Rhaenyra at the shore surrounded by dragons with riders. Aemond flees, outnumbered.
Team Black is up three, but will the dragonseeds keep their promises of loyalty? The dragon war begins next week on the second season finale.
House of the Dragon is streaming now on Max.
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