House of the Dragon Season 2 has been a fantastic source of information for Fire & Blood readers that were unsatisfied with the book’s vagueness. George R. R. Martin liked to keep things open for interpretation for the readers, but that’s not enough for House of the Dragon. In Season 2, Episode 7, “The Red Sowing,” the series nearly confirms that Saera Targaryen is the mother of one of the dragonseeds Rhaenyra recruits.
Some of House of the Dragon’s claims contradict Fire & Blood‘s legitimacy entirely, like Steffon Darklyn being related to Aeriana Targaryen, who does not exist in the book. But in the dragonseeds’ case, some careful consideration has been taken. It’s theorized that Baelon Targaryen is the father of Ulf White, and Baelon is at least a character that House of the Dragon didn’t make up. The writers also pulled another character from the official Targaryen family tree to shine a light on Hugh Hammer’s parentage: Saera Targaryen, the sister of Baelon and daughter of Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
A Young Saera Targaryen Was a Free Spirit
One thing to know about Saera is that she got caught in her fair share of scandals back in the day. Saera was born in 67 AC as one of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s 13 children. Being the ninth child of 13, Saera resorted to attention-seeking measures to not be ignored. She was stubborn, bad-tempered and mischievous. It’s said that her first word was “No,” which she learned to use repeatedly and loudly. Saera learned how to get what she wanted from her father, but her mother didn’t appeal to Saera’s disobedience. Although her older brothers found her rebellious personality humorous, her sisters didn’t like Saera much.
Saera was also a bit of a prankster in her youth. She once dyed all the white cloaks of the Kingsguard pink and subjected the court fool Tom Turnip to be her victim. She never grew out of her stage of antics, but she did turn to a life of spontenous romance in her youth. She dreamed of being a queen like her mother and wanted to wed either the Prince of Dorne or the King Beyond-the-Wall. But Saera also got bored by men very quickly. When she was a teenager, she had three favorite men: Jonah Mooten, Roy Connington and Ser Braxton Beesbury. She became close friends with them alongside Perianne Moore and Alys Turnberry. But it was these friendships that caused one of the biggest scandals during Jaehaerys’ reign, and one of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s biggest heartbreaks.
Saera Led a Life of Scandal in Westeros and Essos
When she was 17, Saera allegedly sent Tom Turnip to a brothel where Mooten, Connington and Beesbury laughed at the fool as he was surrounded by sex workers. The king questioned the three men and Saera’s friends, who admitted it was Saera’s idea. The girls revealed something far more pressing for a Targaryen princess — that she had practiced kissing with all her friends and supposedly lost her virginity to one of the men. Saera admitted to having sex with all of them, and couldn’t answer which one she lost her virginity to. Still, she never took responsibility for what she did to Tom Turnip and instead compared herself to Aegon the Conquerer and Maegor the Cruel and demanded she marry all three boys.
As punishment for this deed and attempting to steal a dragon, Saera was sent to Oldtown to become a silent sister. The silent sisters are a religious organization who swear vows of chastity and silence to the Stranger, and prepare deceased bodies for funerals. Clearly, this was not the lifestyle Saera imagined for herself. After a year and a half of living with the silent sisters, she fled to Lys and became a sex worker who pretended to lose her virginity to every patron. Alysanne was devastated by the news and begged Jaehaerys to bring her home, but he refused. Saera continued her work in Lys until she opened her own brothel in the free city of Volantis. She became tremendously wealthy in both riches and freedom, despite her reputation being ruined in Westeros. But at least she had the independence she always begged her parents for in her youth.
Hugh Hammer Claims to Be Saera Targaryen’s Illegitimate Son
Fire & Blood claims that three illegitimate sons of Saera advocated for the Iron Throne at the Great Council in 101 AC, which was around the same time Saera died. It’s unclear if the same events played out on House of the Dragon, but there’s strong evidence that Saera mothered at least one illegitimate child who kept himself hidden. In Season 2, Episode 7, “The Red Sowing,” Hugh talks about his mother, whom he hid details of from his wife:
“She worked…in a pleasure house. She was granted more freedom than most because of who she was. And because rich men paid more to f–k a woman with silver hair.”
He further presses that his mother would talk about her brother’s boys, Viserys and Daemon, who she said Hugh was no different from. The resemblance between Saera and Hugh’s description of his mother is pretty spot on. There’s no denying that she’s his mother. Even actor Kieran Bew admitted that it “can’t necessarily be anyone else.”
So what does this all mean for Hugh? For one, this shows that Saera at least took care of her children and tried to provide them with a decent life. Hugh didn’t even know his father, and it sounded like Saera used to tell him stories of her family. There’s a good chance Hugh was also raised in Volantis, but moved to King’s Landing when he got the chance because he was ashamed of Saera.
In the end, there’s a touching element to Vermithor choosing Hugh as his new rider. As Jaehaerys’ former dragon, Vermithor could probably sense that Hugh was Saera’s son. Near his final days of life, Jaehaerys would often mistake Alicent Hightower as Saera. He may have disowned her, but she was still his daughter. Vermithor choosing Hugh rekindles the love between Jaehaerys and Saera, and reiterates that Targaryens will always find each other in another life.
The Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon premieres next Sunday at 9 PM ET on HBO.
