SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for HBO’s “Home of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 7, titled “The Crimson Sowing,” now available on Max.
In the closing moments of Sunday’s episode of “Home of the Dragon,” Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) finally got the upper hand on the Greens with the delightful revelation that she’s found three new dragonriders to join the Black cause: Hugh (Kieran Bew), Ulf (Tom Bennett) and Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) — one of the illegitimate sons of her Hand, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint).
The information is revealed (out loud) to Rhaenyra’s brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), the Prince Regent, while his brother King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is recovering, when Aemond sees a dragon flying over King’s Touchdown — and then heads to Dragonstone on his great dragon, Vhagar. Upon reaching Rhaenyra’s base, Aemond turns around, realizing that even his fearsome beast is no match for the estimated six dragons Rhaenyra now has under her control. (Or seven, if Matt Smith’s Daemon returns home.)
As we approach next week’s Season 2 finale, two of the people most important to Rhaenyra’s trigger are Addam and his brother Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). Addam is now the rider of Seasmoke, a dragon that once belonged to Rhaenyra’s first husband, Corlys’ son Laenor Velayron. In Season 1, Laenor faked his death and fled with his lover, with the help of Rhaenyra and Daemon, leaving his dragon behind. Alyn was Corlys’ go-between for smuggling dozens of Dragonseeds—people with supposed Targaryen ancestry, who Rhaenyra assumed had the best chance of bonding to a dragon—from King’s Touchdown to Dragonstone.
Here, Liberty and Salim talk to Selection regarding the Hull brothers’ roles in A Dance with Dragons as the end of Season 2 of “House of the Dragon” approaches.
At the end of the episode, what do you think it takes to connect with a dragon — Targaryen blood, power, or something else?
Clinton Freedom: I really feel like it’s a mix of a lot of issues, as a result of as we noted, Steffon Darklyn, he had the blood and the kind of noble family. However, Seasmoke could sense that the essence of the human wasn’t exactly what Seasmoke was looking for, which made me realize, “Oh, it’s more than just blood — it’s also the essence of who the human is.” As a result, if we look at Laenor and Addam, yes, they both share the same blood and comparable blood, but when you look at them as people, they’re really just very good, kind, beautiful human beings.
And it’s funny to say that in a world of hard-hearted people who find themselves trying to say glory, winning doesn’t matter the rate. I really feel like that’s also a necessary question for a dragon deciding on a human to bond with, because dragons are very intelligent. They know who the essence of the human is behind the facade that the human is trying to paint. So I feel like it’s a combination of blood — but it’s also who that human is.
How much do you think it’s partly because Addam is secretly Laenor’s half-brother through Corlys?
Freedom: We’re all technically family. And there’s a way you’re in the Hull/Velaryon family, and it just leaks out. I really feel like Seasmoke, having been connected to Laenor before, senses that in Addam. But he also senses this kind of person who wants to achieve these wonderful things in a sincere way, and never tries to kill anyone. He senses the purity in Addam.
Have you ever been instructed whether Laenor is actually useless — who died on screen — and that’s how Seasmoke was able to bond with Addam as a new knight? Or does Seasmoke simply assume he’s useless?
Freedom: You know who this might be a good question for: (“House of the Dragon” showrunner) Ryan Condal. That’s the man you want to talk to. To be honest, when I was involved in this, all I was really focused on was the character’s thoughts, because Addam doesn’t know.
Addam is just relaxing — trying to live his best life, trying to fish, catching crabs, hanging out on the beach peacefully. He doesn’t know anything about the politics behind what’s going on. So this is an introduction for him to the life of a dragonrider, to the life of what’s going on with Queen Rhaenyra and the rest of Westeros and King’s Touchdown.
Even in the scene with Addam and Rhaenyra, we see that he’s on his toes, he’s not answering questions completely. He’s being opaque, because he knows that if he deals with the wrong factor, he could actually be set on fire, you know? So it’s a whole new world for Addam. And I took that for myself — to not delve too deeply into the story of what was going on, and just kind of look at it through Addam’s eyes.
Can you decipher what Addam is feeling when Corlys wraps his arms around him and congratulates him on joining Seasmoke? When he becomes a dragonrider, and Corlys just says, “Well done,” before walking away?
Freedom: Those two sentences, “successful,” mean more to Addam than anyone could ever say. As a result, at Addam’s core, he simply wants validation from his father. His whole life, he’s been striving for it. He’s always needed that relationship with his father and mother, and he never had that with his father. That’s one of the reasons he wants to achieve so much, and he’s tried to get Alyn to take the throne of Driftmark and have a better life — so that, sooner or later, he can be close to his father. In that scene, that’s the first time he’s had any real dialogue with his father, and it’s also the first time his father, Corlys, has praised him in any way. Moving forward, he’s trying to prove himself a lot more, so that he can have more of that — because he’s craving that relationship.
He simply wants his family to be pleased with him. He wants his people to be pleased with him, whether it’s the queen, his father, or his brother. I feel like he wants to achieve good things—and the riches, the throne, and the servants—it’s all to show his father or his queen that, “I am someone of importance. Please just see me as an individual.”
This is all he has ever needed, and the only one who has ever seen it was his brother. Yet now he craves this recognition from the world, and more significantly, from his father and the queen as well.
When Addam teams up with Seasmoke, Corlys engages Alyn and asks if he wishes to try his luck as a Dragonseed as well, Alyn refuses this concept, choosing to help in another way by bringing the Dragonseeds from King’s Touchdown. Why does he do this?
Abubacar Salim: For Alyn, we’re seeing his life being turned upside down, especially. The thing he needed—the eye, the power of Corlys, that he’s been craving for a while—is coming, his brother fulfilling his needs. It’s almost like, in Alyn’s eyes, it’s a little too much. And the thing Alyn does is deal with what he’s good at—working in the shipyard, working on the ships, being salt and sea. And that’s where my character’s head is at.
He’s very protective of his brother, and he loves him very much. So to hear now that his brother should not only be involved in the war, to some extent, but at such a high level as a dragon knight, it’s a lot to take in. And I feel like that’s why he’s like, “I have to be in this more than ever, because I just don’t want my brother to fail.”
Do you think Alyn could have bonded with a dragon if he had tried? In “Hearth & Blood,” he tries—unsuccessfully.
Salim: You recognize what? Yeah, no matter what I put in my head, man! I got this.
The thing is, though, it’s Abu saying it. I feel like with Alyn, it just doesn’t even cross his mind. Particularly with this representation that we’re giving him in the present — like, I really feel like it’s not in my mind, it’s just not a factor, because it’s not something that Alyn is interested in. His mindset, the way he grew up, is that dragons are for royalty, this lifestyle is all for royalty. And that’s been made very clear to him, he’s no a member of royalty, and doesn’t even deserve a place there. So he’s like, “Screw it. I know where I belong, and I’m good at where I belong.”
Where are things going for Alyn now that he is so separated from his brother going into the final? They are actively working for the Blacks at this level.
Alyn put a lot of love and energy into his brother, Addam, as a result of which he is the only private person he has. Every time I had a scene with Clinton, we always talked — how long has it been since (Addam and Alyn) last saw each other? Where do we go from here? What do we have now to meet and discuss?
This is valuable time. Now that there’s a dragon inside the harvester, you’re like, “OK, what’s the moment going to be like now? Our lives are going to unfold in some really fascinating ways and other ways.”
And I feel like that’s what’s going to make all the pieces even more tense in the end.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.