‘Home of the Dragon’ Season 2, episode 7: Why did Vermithor select Hugh?

Home of the Dragon Season 2, episode 7 performed out like a very bloody instalment of Tips on how to Prepare Your Dragon, with Vermithor and Silverwing selecting Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) and Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) as their new riders, respectively.

However what made second-largest-dragon-in-Westeros and authorized lowfolk diner, Vermithor, decide Hugh Hammer as his new human buddy? Was it the truth that Hugh stood courageous and risked his personal life to avoid wasting one other of Vermithor’s would-be snacks? Or one thing else?

Hugh Hammer’s mom could also be why Vermithor selected him

We discover out in episode 7 that Hugh’s mom was the sister of Baelon Targaryen, that means her father was King Jaehaerys the Concilliator himself — the very first rider of Vermithor.

Despite the fact that Hugh does not inform his spouse Kat (Ellora Torchia) what his mom’s title was, he does reveal that she labored in a pleasure home.

Hugh (Kieran Bew) and Kat (Ellora Torchia).
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO

“She was granted extra freedom than most ‘cuz of who she was,” he says. “She used to inform me I used to be no totally different to her brother’s boys: Viserys and Daemon.”

The truth that Hugh’s grandfather was Vermithor’s first rider absolutely performs a component in why the dragon selected him — but when we take a look at George R.R. Martin’s Fireplace and Blood ebook, there could also be much more to it than that.

Hugh’s mom had a troublesome relationship together with her father

Though Hugh solely provides us restricted info within the present, it appears almost certainly that his mom is Saera Targaryen, who fled Westeros and labored at a pleasure home in Lys after a falling out together with her dad and mom.

Within the ebook, Saera and King Jaehaerys have a troublesome relationship that ends in him sending her away to stay with the Religion as punishment for her sleeping with Ser Braxton Beesbury. After she flees throughout the slim sea the 2 turn into estranged, however Jaehaerys errors his carer for Saera when he is on his deathbed, pondering she’s lastly come again to him.

Is it doable that Vermithor felt a particular connection to Hugh due to who his mom was? That perhaps he selected Saera’s son as a result of he knew how a lot she secretly meant to Jaehaerys?

New episodes of Home of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.