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House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 finally brought forward the much-anticipated event of The Red Sowing, a pivotal turning point in George R.R. Martin's prequel novel, Fire and Blood. As hinted two episodes before, the series was taking a turn towards giving riders to its riderless dragons, which would strengthen Rhaenyra's (played by Emma D'Arcy) side in the impending battle.
This episode finally delves into the infamous red sowing, which sees death and destruction, especially at the hands (paws?) of Vermithor (who is boldly depicted as the biggest dragon after Vhaegra), before two dragonriders emerge. The ones who have read the novels already know who the two people are to claim the big dragons.
House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 reveals that Vermithor is claimed by Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), who bravely confronts the dragon and comes out on top. The other big dragon is claimed by Ulf the White (Tom Bennett), who is not as graceful in his moment of claiming a dragon, but it seems Silverwing chooses him as the rider (like last week's Seasmoke and Addam of Hull).
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In the closing moments of House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7, we witness the first sign of fear in Aemon Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), which serves as quite a satisfactory closure to the penultimate episode.
House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7: Hugh the Hammer stands out in Vermithor's chaos
The bloody Red Sowing commences in House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7, where Rhaneyra's most effective warrior so far, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), gets the word out to the smallfolk of King's Landing that the Black side would be picking dragon riders for some of their most fearsome dragons.
This probes the bastard Targaryen children, as well as other unconnected ones, to step up and reach Dragonstone. They are introduced to Vermithor by Rhaneyra after the dragon keepers walk out on the queen for this rather insulting experiment. However, Rhaenyra wishes to go through with this to bolster her chances of victory.
The experiment does lead to extremely tragic consequences, as Vermithor goes rogue and rains fire on the people trying to claim it. Instead of finding a rider as Rhaneyra had hoped, Vermithor aggressively bites, claws, and burns his innocent victims, giving one of the most cinematically pleasing scenes in House of the Dragon so far.
Yet, when push comes to shove, it is Hugh Hammer who steps up to save another life. But it ends up in Vermithor bowing down to the man who anyway looked the more certain Targaryen.
A more unlikely Dragonrider joins the rank
As for Ulf the White, his story is completely different. Unlike Hugh Hammer, who showed glimpses of a great Targaryen warrior and Addam of Hull, who was at least brave during his interaction with Seasmoke, Ulf tries to outrun Vermithor out of fear but luckily reaches a dragon's lair.
Here, he encounters Silverwing, who, unlike what most would expect, takes a liking to Ulf. Before long, we see Ulf the White defying all expectations and claiming a ferocious dragon as he soars through the sky.
Aemond Targaryen feels fear?
Soon after mounting Silverwing, Ulf goes over the skies of King's Landing, attracting the attention of practically everyone there. This prompts the King Regent to take on his horse and ride to his insanely big dragon, Vhaegar.
As Vhaegar and Aemond chase Ulf, Ulf flies toward Dragonstone, where Aemond notices Vermithor and Syrax, also waiting. This, for the first time in the series, sees Aemond turn around and back away from a fight.
This ending of House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 finally tips the balance of the war towards Rhaenyra's side, who now have the big dragons, and their riders, and are ready to take on Vhaegar, who seemed to be the biggest issue for the side.
With the Red Sowing over, House of the Dragon season 2 has nearly reached its conclusion. The eighth and final episode of the show is due next Monday.
Meanwhile, House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 is now streaming on Max.
