"House of the Dragon": What it means when a dragon swipes right

The cat distribution system is a familiar meme to the very online, perhaps less so to “House of the Dragon” viewers. That concept plays into the very real phenomenon of the pet owner who doesn’t plan to be. Sometimes we see the beginning of the coerced adoption process, with a person filming their first encounters with some adorable fuzzball up to the moment they decide to take them home.

Others jump on Instagram or TikTok to proclaim that they always hated kittens until one perfect little love nugget materializes at their doorstep and hypnotizes them into bending the knee.

This is all to say that the eventual match between Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and Seasmoke, the riderless dragon Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan) left behind doesn’t need much explaining to some. Seasmoke has been restless since Laenor pretended to die, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) once remarked to her confidante (and paramour?) Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), shrugging it off with a “Who can say why?”

Mysaria theorizes, “Maybe he’s lonely.” Turns out she was on to something. Addam is restless too, you see, evident from his constant kvetching to his brother Alyn (Abubakar Salim). Ever since Alyn saved Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) from drowning during the Stepstones campaign, and Corlys has been approaching Alyn offering praise and promotion, Addam’s been pushing his brother to demand his due from the Lord of Driftmark.

For what, exactly? Episode 6, “Smallfolk,” dispenses with the too-subtle hints the show has been dropping since these two first appeared to show Alyn shaving silver stubble from his head. These two are Corlys’ unclaimed sons. Now that Corlys’ Targaryen wife Rhaenys (Eve Best) is gone, along with their two legitimate children, Addam and Alyn are his only remaining children. Alyn would prefer to fly under the radar.

Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull and Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull in "House of the Dragon" (HBO)Addam, meanwhile, is sick of being an anonymous shipwright, as one would be if one knew the head of a great house was their father. Earlier in the second season we see him stare at a dragon sailing through the sky above him and express his desire for an inheritance that guarantees he won’t have to dig for clams in his dotage. Lo and behold, in a development tailored for the “manifesting” crowd, one of the most prized assets in the realm drops down from the sky, lands in front of him and wordlessly says, "Mount me."

“Who rescued who,” am I right?

“Smallfolk” is one of those “House of the Dragon” episodes in which nothing major seems to happen. Rather, that may be how it seems to anyone who hasn’t read “Fire & Blood” or other George R.R. Martin works, we should say.

Even so, this episode marks a couple of crucial shifts. First, it further clarifies why we’re being made to invest in what’s happening to these two heretofore lowborn randos along with Hugh the Blacksmith (Kieran Bew) and some barfly named Ulf (Tom Bennett). Second, and perhaps most importantly, it changes our common thinking about who gets to ride dragons in this mythology.

“Game of Thrones” makes it seem as if the ability to bond with dragons is solely the province of Targaryens, which may be a function of the Velaryons’ absence in Daenerys’ time.

Rhaenyra also holds to this theory, but it doesn’t pan out as she plans. At this point in the war, Rhaenyra is reminded the Blacks have no ground forces, only dragons. Her faction's largest and most battle-hardened, Meleys, was lost along with her rider and the would-be-queen’s most loyal advocate Rhaenys in the battle of Rook’s Rest. The remaining formidable beasts on her side are her Syrax and Caraxes, the fearsome Blood Wyrm bound to her uncle-husband and King Consort Daemon (Matt Smith).

Caraxes in "House of the Dragon" (HBO)

That may not matter since Daemon is making moves on behalf of Daemon and not Rhaenyra, his niece-wife his brother named as the heir to the Iron Throne.

These considerations, along with the obvious disrespect shown to her by her supposed allegiant lords, have made Rhaenyra desperate to find more dragonriders. So when her son Jace (Harry Collett) suggests putting out the call to recruit anybody with possible Targaryen lineage, Rhaenyra checks her own house first.

Finding her most loyal Queensguard member Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan) is a distant relative — the great-great-grandson of Aeriana Targaryen – she asks him to attempt to bond with a dragon, and he enthusiastically accepts the request. His father, the Lord of Duskendale, was recently beheaded by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and he’s thrown in with a ruler whose half-brother has stolen her inheritance. If she fails, he dies anyway, so why not test himself with dragonfire?

Unfortunately for good Ser Steffon, out of all the available options in the pit, including Vermithor and Silverwing, Seasmoke is the one who swipes left. Their meeting seems to go well at first, but alas, our Ser was too careful in responding to Seasmoke’s overtures, and their only date ends not with a match, but a toasty Darklyn death.

But this story has a happy ending. Once Seasmoke realizes what Rhaenyra is up to, he decides to reveal to the boy he’s been sniffing around (or stalking, if you want to be blunt about it) that Addam’s the one he wants and needs. Since Laenor is half-Velaryon and half-Targaryen, two families with direct ties to old Valyria (where dragons are said to have originated) this tracks.

If a special relationship with dragons is about bloodlines, Seasmoke may sense something similar in Addam to what connected him to Laenor.

Allowing Seasmoke to make that choice brings attention to an aspect of the series that has been woefully underdeveloped until this point, which is that these dragons have personalities, moods and a level of agency that extends beyond sensing fear in potential riders.

We’ve come to expect that “House of the Dragon” does not introduce or distinguish its secondary or tertiary characters as well as its HBO predecessor did. If you’re faithfully watching this show you’re probably in it for the dragons, or to see Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) malevolence rebound on her. Maybe you're celebrating the prequel’s glorious queerness, boosted yet again when Rhaenyra and Mysaria (finally) got to first base.

But really, those dragons and the potential damage they can inflict keep a lot of us coming back. A somewhat traumatized Ser Criston says as much when he tells Alicent the war belongs to them now.

Therefore these CGI beasts, along with their size, age, and temperament, matter more as “House of the Dragon” plods on. Never mind how to train them; how in the heck do we tell them apart? The answer now and always has been various wikis or handy fan-created charts like this one:

Barring those, the writers have made reading about these Targaryen traditions something of a prerequisite, if not fundamental.

Here's something worth knowing. Targaryens often place dragon eggs in cribs with their highborn babies with the hope that their hatchlings will naturally bond with them, which doesn’t always happen.

Other dragons are claimed, as Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) does with Vhagar, the largest in the realm and the dragon who reluctantly killed her rider Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell), Daemon’s first wife, out of mercy. Vhagar has feelings, you see. So when Aemond made a pass at her right after Laena’s funeral she accepted, because what did either of them have to lose?

Daemon’s younger daughter Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell), another half-Velaryon, did not get lucky in the same way.

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Charged to care for Rhaenyra’s youngest sons, along with the Blacks’ smallest dragons and four eggs – three of which will eventually pass to Daenerys – she’s spirited away to the Eyrie under the care of Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin, Salim’s “Raised By Wolves” co-star) while petitioning a prince in Pentos for their wardship.

Phoebe Campbell as Rhaena Targaryen in "House of the Dragon" (HBO)In the previous episode, the Lady of the Eyrie grouses about not having any full-grown dragons to protect them. “Smallfolk” changes that tune somewhat when Rhaena, who resents being a nursemaid while her sister Baela (Bethany Antonia) gets to play “Top Gun” with Moondancer, stumbles on evidence that a mature if wild dragon is hunting nearby.

Assuming we’re being shown this for a reason, that places Rhaena in the position to assume the role of a “Fire & Blood” human character who hasn’t shown up yet, and may not need to. Rhaena fits that character’s description and has untapped drama potential, and if said dragon is the one we think it is, Rhaena might have a reason to make her sister envious.

Who can say if the dragon distribution system will be as generous to Rhaena as it’s been to Addam Hull? All we know is that she’s just a girl standing in proximity to a feral dragon, asking it to love her. Sticking around to see how that pans out makes it worth sticking with this show a little longer if only to enjoy the rescue memes.

New episodes of "House of the Dragon" premiere at 9 p.m. Sundays on HBO and on Max.