Hugh Hammer's Mother Was a Pure-Blooded Targaryen Named Saera Targaryen

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for season 2, episode 7 of House of the Dragon.

The seventh episode of Season 2 of House of the Dragon gave Rhaenyra Targaryen the firepower she needed. Rhaenyra's plan to find dragon riders for the unclaimed dragons on Dragonstone paid off when she found dragon riders for both Vermithor and Silverwing.

Following the revelation that Ulf and Hugh Hammer are both dragonriders, many House of the Dragon viewers want to know more about the lineage of each of Rhaenyra's new riders, and about Hugh Hammer in particular. Here's what we know about Vermithor's rider and his parentage.

In the episode, Hugh, who works as a blacksmith in King's Landing, told his wife some of the details about his heritage.

"I never knew my father. That much is true. But I did know my mother," he explained, saying that his mother was a prostitute who was given special latitude because of her long hair and her noble birthright. "She used to tell me I was no different to her brother’s boys, Viserys and Daemon," Hugh continued. "But I was ashamed of her."

While that description doesn't explain exactly who Hugh's mother is, it does suggest that she was a Targaryen. And, if the show follows George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, then we know exactly who Hugh's mother is.

Princes Saera Targaryen was the ninth child of King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne, and a defiant, promiscuous child. She was eventually imprisoned and disowned by Jaehaerys because of her promiscuity.

She was then sent off to the Silent Sisters to live her life in celibacy, but then escaped and took a job at a brothel. It was rumored that she eventually opened her own pleasure house, and never returned to her royal life.

Saera was the sister of Alyssa Targaryen and Aemon Targaryen, which made her an aunt to Viserys and Daemon Targaryen, as well as to Rhaenys Targaryen. Hugh, then would be a cousin to Daemon and Rhaenys, even though he's not of noble birth.

Saera died a year before her father in Fire & Blood, and given that Hugh describes her in the past tense, it seems clear that she has died in the world of the show as well.

Hugh, then is basically half Targaryen, which may be why he was able to claim the second-biggest dragon in the realm. It also doesn't hurt that Vermithor's last rider was Hugh's grandfather.

Hugh's story has just begun in the world of House of the Dragon, but now that he has one of the realm's most powerful dragons at his command, and has thrown his support behind Rhaenyra, she is in a much more powerful position. Aemond, who rides the realm's biggest dragon, was himself too intimidated to approach Dragonstone now that she has so many dragons at her disposal. The tables have turned.