You've Already Met House Of The Dragon's Potential Dragon Riders

Tread carefully: This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "House of the Dragon" and spoilers for the book, "Fire & Blood."

If the ending of "House of the Dragon" season 2, episode 5, titled "Regent," is anything to go by, the next stage of the Dance of the Dragons is about to kick into gear, and it may forever alter the balance of power in the Seven Kingdoms. Those who've found themselves wishing for "more action" throughout this deliberately-paced season 2 so far could end up regretting those words — especially since, as we've seen, adding more dragons into the mix tends to come with dire results. Unfortunately, the main issue facing Team Black is an alarming lack of firepower to compete with the might of the one-eyed Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his fearsome beast Vhagar, particularly following the loss of Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) and her dragon Meleys in the Battle at Rook's Rest. Could the desperate gambit dreamed up by the royal mother and son prove to be the scheme that turns the tide?

At this point in Westerosi history, there are no shortage of dragons to go around; finding riders for them, however, is another matter entirely. Although it has been heavily implied throughout both "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon," this was the first episode to really underline the commonly-accepted belief regarding dragons. As Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) puts it to her son Jacaerys (Harry Collett), "A dragon will only accept a dragonlord to ride it, or so say the histories." As we know, the only dragonlords are those of Targaryen blood ... regardless of whether they're "trueborn" children of royalty or simply their illegitimate, bastard children. Luckily, there are several leading candidates to fill the role of these so-called "Dragonseeds" — and we've already met them.

Everyone has that relative in their family — you know, the one who tends to drink a little too much and is prone to espousing conspiracy theories at every reunion. Even "House of the Dragon" has its very own version of this in the form of Ulf, played by Tom Bennett. First introduced in episode 3, this shady figure is known for boasting to be a bastard grandson of King Jaehaerys Targaryen, the "Conciliator" glimpsed back in the prologue sequence of the first episode of "House of the Dragon," and the son of Baelon the Brave, who himself was the bastard brother of Daemon (Matt Smith) and the late King Viserys (Paddy Considine). Of course, it's easy to imagine countless nobodies in the slums of King's Landing making similar claims on a daily basis ... but the series writers are clearly focusing on this one in particular for a good reason.

This puts his life in danger, he claims: "A Dragonseed must watch his own neck when he has no white-cloaked guardsmen to do it for him," as he whispers to his friends over drinks. Granted, a skeptical companion points out that he doesn't look very much like his half-brothers Daemon or Viserys and noticeably sports grey hair rather than the famous, flowing locks of Targaryen silver. But if there's one thing that both "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" have taught us, it's that ancestry is a very tricky thing, wielding the power to shake the royal Houses to their very foundations. The coincidental arrival of Aegon himself to this humble establishment seemed to confirm the truth of Ulf's words, but for now we have no other proof to go on.

He'd easily be the franchise's strangest dragon rider yet, but desperate times and all...

"House of the Dragon" has expanded its cast to involve a dizzying amount of new characters, but one in particular might have struck viewers as a somewhat curious addition thus far. We first met the common-born blacksmith named Hugh (Kieran Bew) back in the season 2 premiere, pleading his case before King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on behalf of all of the smiths struggling to make ends meet in King's Landing while building weapons for Team Green's cause. He's since taken on a recurring role throughout the season, popping up every so often alongside his destitute family to remind us how much the commoners are suffering under the rule of Aegon. Now, we might just know exactly why he's become so sneakily important.

You're thinking what I'm thinking, right? Between his silver-white hair, the fact that he made his home in King's Landing, and his presence when the head of Meleys was paraded through the streets (where he makes the rather telling remark that dragons are "just meat"), it's not exactly a stretch to envision what Hugh's role might turn out to be. In the book, Hugh is "undeniably" a descendant of Targaryen blood. This has yet to be revealed in the show, though he has plenty of motive to turn his back on Aegon, who initially promised to pay Hugh and his smiths upfront to help lighten their load. But a lot has happened since then and with the King now suffering life-threatening injuries as a result of his own actions, there's nobody around to pay attention to the plight of smallfolk like Hugh.

Hugh and his family were prevented from fleeing King's Landing, so his path to getting on Rhaenyra's radar just became more complicated. But should he escape, bet on Hugh claiming a dragon of his own.

This is where things get really interesting. When Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) first appears early in season 2 as the sailor credited for pulling Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) out of the sea and saving his life in the midst of a previous battle, the series hardly even tries to hide his overt resemblance to the Sea Snake. Rhaenys all but puts the subtext into text when she arrives by the docks to remark on how "comely" he looks and wonder about how pretty his mother must've been, lowkey accusing her husband Corlys of fathering a child (or rather children, if we're including Alyn's brother Addam, played by Clinton Liberty) with someone other than his loyal, now-late wife. Whatever infidelities he committed in the past, however, the presence of Alyn and his direct lineage from Corlys' line – unlike the brown-haired Jacaerys, whose own questionable ancestry as the (likely) son of Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) caused Corlys and the Velaryons plenty of agita in season 1 – may reverberate throughout season 2.

There's nothing connecting Alyn to dragons just yet, but those who've read the book know that this "Dragonseed" storyline plays out in wildly unexpected ways. If all it takes is a drop of Targaryen blood (or, by extension, the close relatives of House Velaryon) to command influence over a dragon and a headstrong temperament to fly into danger in service of a greater cause, well, Alyn is more than suited for the task. He has the easiest journey to becoming a dragon rider out of anyone listed to this point, with Corlys only needing to pay him a visit on the Velaryon-controlled island of Driftmark to recruit his bastard son into the war effort. Keep a close eye on Alyn's future appearances in the episodes to come.

We saved this one for last because, frankly, this is entirely speculative based on the hints laid out in season 2 so far. In order to explain this last potential dragon rider, we have to talk about author George R.R. Martin's book "Fire & Blood," which is the source material for "House of the Dragon." The novel features a mysterious, lowborn, 16-year-old girl named Nettles who comes out of nowhere to play a huge role in the bloody Dance of the Dragons. Unlike the other Dragonseeds, she has no notable ancestry and claims her own dragon (a wild, untamed dragon named "Sheepstealer") through sheer guile, rather than force. You'll notice that nobody even remotely fitting her name and description has been featured in season 2, but perhaps we've already met her replacement in the live-action adaptation.

While one would imagine that Nettles would've at least been alluded to in the series by this point, it's more likely than not that showrunner and creator Ryan Condal has made the tough (but understandable) adaptation choice of combining her with a previously-established character: Daemon's daughter by the late Laena Velaryon (played by Nanna Blondell, who has reappeared as a series of ghostly hallucinations to plague her husband in Harrenhal), Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell). She notably has no dragon of her own, which is partly why Rhaenyra sent her away to the Eyrie to look after her youngest children and protect the last of the Targaryen dragon eggs.

But who's to say that she can't come across one in the wilds of the Vale, which we know from one particularly nasty Daemon insult is plentiful with sheep? (Sheepstealer's nickname isn't a coincidence.) This would be a somewhat controversial change from the source material, but one that has been set up fairly well.

Tune in Sunday on HBO and Max to see this Dragonseed storyline play out on the next episode of "House of the Dragon."