Who is Addam of Hull, and why did Seasmoke choose him as his New Dragon Rider?

Episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 2 was rather slow moving, but we all had one common question in our minds, who would be the new dragon rider(s). It’s seems we have answer. Addam of Hull(played by Clinton Liberty) is the next dragon rider for Seasmoke the former dragon of Laenor Velaryon(played by John Macmillan)

Just to summarize episode 6 in case you missed it, Rhaenyra of house Targaryen, searches for records of her bloodline and tries to recruit a new dragon rider to fortify her strength for the upcoming war. She picks Ser Steffon Darklyn(played by Anthony Flanagan) as the potential rider for Seasmoke. Turns out, it wasn’t a very good plan. Seasmoke burns Ser Steffon Darklyn to ashes and proceeds to go on it’s way. We also see a rebel being strewed up amoung the commers in Red Keep. And there there was the romantic connect between Rhaenyra and Mysaria(played by Sonoya Mizuno).

Who is Addam of Hull?

Addam of Hull(played by Clinton Liberty) is the brother of Alyn of Hull(played by Abubakar Salim). Both Addam and Alyn are bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon also known as the Sea Snake(Played by Steve Toussaint). We have see in episode 6 that Alyn of Hull has been asked by Corlys to be his first mate in his ship. Addam has been kept low key and we don’t see much about him in the show, but from the books we can learn that, Addam and Alyn would go on to become legitimized bastards from Driftmark of Dragonseed descent. Addam would later become a knight and would be named heir to House Velaryon of Driftmark.

Why did Seasmoke choose Addam as his new dragon rider?

A dragon much like a horse can have anyone as their rider. The one thing that requires is a bond with the said dragon. It has been clearly establised once a dragon take someone as his dragon rider, the dragon will not allow anyone else to mount it. We have seen Rhaenyra Targaryen’s son Joffery Velaryon trying to mount Syrax(Rhaenyra’s Dragon) and Syrax shrugging him off, mid flight. Though once the dragonrider of a dragon is dead, the dragon may go on to take someone new as their new dragonrider. In case of Vhagar(Aemond’s Dragon), who is estimated to be over 300 years old, has had multiple riders over the years including Queen Visenya Targaryen.

Seasmoke had Laenor Velaryon as his former rider, Laenor and Addam are half brother and this could be one of the proposed reasons that Seasmoke picked Addam as his dragonrider. Rhaenyra in the books has reason to believe that Seasmoke misses Laenor and find Addam similar to Laenor and hence allowed Addam to mount as his dragonrider.

At this point in House of the Dragon, it is believed that bloodline from house Targaryen is the prerequisite for becoming a dragon rider, but according to the books, its actually believed Valyrian heritage that plays a part in being able to bond with the dragon. This is believed to be the most logical explanation for why Seasmoke took Addam as his rider. Rhaenyra’s son Jacaerys(played by Harry Collett) did mention that the Old Valyrian histories were “written to gild(dragonlards) in glory” and there is where we find the notion of Targaryen blood being the requirment for being a dragon rider. However, We know it for a fact that, Neither Valyarian nor Targaryen bloodline guarantees bonding with a dragon.

Dragons and their Dragon Riders

House of the Dragon is a prequel to the famous show Game of Thrones, based on the Book by George R.R Martin. A new episode is released every Sunday, at 9 pm(ET) in USA, or every Monday at 6:30 am(IST) in India. You can watch the series on HBO max or Jio Cinema .