Although it is on the verge of concluding, House of the Dragon season 2 is still effortlessly continuing to leave fans at the edge of their seats with bombshell revelations like no other. Even the recently revealed episode 7, The Red Sowing, brought forward a surprise nod at one character that fans only know from the books: Saera Targaryen.
As unexpected as this surprise nod was, it came out through Kieran Bew’s Hugh the Hammer in one of the most awe-inspiring moments in the entire lore after he managed to tame the “Bronze Fury.” And as per what all the dots connect to, Saera is the very daughter of King Jaehaerys who went on to become a prostitute in the books.
House of the Dragon Nods at Saera Targaryen Being King Jaehaerys Daughter
In the recently released episode The Red Sowing, Kieran Bew’s Hugh the Hammer comes forward with an epic confession for his wife, Ellora Torchia’s Kat: He hadn’t been all that truthful about his heritage to his wife. As it turns out, while it’s true that he didn’t know his father, he actually knew who his mother was, but he hid it from Kat.
As he continued to disclose information about his mother, of whom he claims he was “ashamed,“ in the episode:
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.
While this piece of information doesn’t directly disclose who this mystery lady was, the fact that Hugh said she received “more freedom than most because of who she was“ directly points at one thing: If anything, she could have been a Targaryen herself. But what came next further nailed the hammer on just who this mystery character could have been.
Hugh reveals that his mother “used to tell me I was no different to her brother’s boys, Viserys and Daemon.” All of this is more than enough hint to let all the bookworm fans out there, who are fairly acquainted with George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood saga, identify that the real identity of this character is just indeed may be that of Saera Targaryen.
For those who may be unversed, Saera was actually the effortlessly beautiful and incredibly clever (and spoiled) ninth child of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne. Growing up as a rowdy teenager, her s-x parties with her clique of youths and attempt to steal a dragon while being confined to her room led to her getting put on house arrest, eventually suffering at the hands of septas.
But the future ordained for her about her having to become a Silent Sister didn’t sit well with Saera and she escaped to Lys and became a prostitute. This newfound freedom then saw her becoming incredibly wealthy in the books as well as the mother of 3 bastard children. And judging from Hugh’s description of his mother, Saera just might be the one he was talking about.
Additionally, as was further seen in episode 7, Hugh manages to tame Vermithor after Rhaenyra calls for the Targaryen bastards in King’s Landing to try their hands at claiming dragons. Since Vermithor belonged to King Jaehaerys during his lifetime, his taking Hugh as his rider further connects the dots between Saera and Hugh.
Then there’s Kieran Bew himself who seemingly confirmed that all this speculation around Saera being Hugh’s mother just might be true.
Kieran Bew Seemingly Confirms Saera Targaryen’s Presence in HOTD
During a recent interview with Decider, Bew was asked to confirm if it was indeed Saera whom his character was talking about as his mother, and if they were truly trying to confirm this through Hugh’s moment. Plus, he was also asked that, if true, just how much Hugh knows about his mother and their backstory. To this, Bew candidly confessed:
In truth, I don’t know if I’m allowed to confirm, but it can’t necessarily be anyone else. The thing is, for me, Ryan did tell me, because he gave me that scene and I was just so excited about it and I was reading the book. He told me who my mum is and it immediately gave me a huge backstory, huge motivation.
So showrunner Ryan Condal seemingly already came clean to Bew about it, and then Bew put it all out for the fans. However, as the actor continued to share, although he “scoured the book for information,” there are still “events that may or may not have been true or happened.” That being said, Bew concluded, “I don’t know if that’s me confirming or denying.”
Well, in all honesty, all of these speculating points and surprise revelations only point at Saera Targaryen being the daughter of King Jaehaerys and the mother of Hugh the Hammer in the live-action series. But what would actually be done about this piece of information going forward in the show is something yet to be seen through the upcoming events of the saga.
You can stream House of the Dragon on HBO.
