Who is Hugh Hammer’s mother in House of the Dragon? Rhaenyra’s secret relative explained

(Image credit: HBO)

The final episode of House of the Dragon season 2 is right on the horizon but, first, we need to unpack the absolute bombshell that dropped in episode 7. You may have missed it, but dragonseed Hugh Hammer revealed something extremely important relating to his true identity: His mother.

Warning, major spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 7 follow, so make sure you are all caught up with the series before reading on.

The penultimate episode saw Rhaenyra round up all of the dragonseeds in King's Landing, with the help of The White Worm, to see which of them could claim dragons and strengthen her army. One who responded to her call and tamed the second biggest dragon in The Realm was Hugh. But before the Blacksmith set off on his way to Dragonstone, he told his wife of his true heritage.

"I never knew my father. That much is true. But I did know my mother," he started, before revealing that his mother was a prostitute with long silver hair, believed to be the aunt of Rhaenyra’s late father. "She used to tell me I was no different to her brother’s boys, Viserys and Daemon," Hugh added. "But I was ashamed of her."

With such a cryptic description, we can’t decide at this point whether Hugh’s mother was King Jaehaerys I Targaryen’s bastard daughter, or a full-blooded Targaryen. But if the series is following George R.R. Martin’s works directly on this one, Hugh’s mother just may well be Princess Saera Targaryen.

Who is Saera Targaryen?

Kieran Bew as Hugh Hammer in House of the Dragon season 2 — (Image credit: HBO)

In Martin’s Fire and Blood, Princess Saera Targaryen was the ninth child of King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne. But Saera was defiant and extremely promiscuous, sleeping with many of her kingsguard and with other men at court. Her behavior led her to be imprisoned by her father and later disowned. She was sent to the Silent Sisters to live out her life in celibacy, but escaped to a brothel and took a job as a prostitute. It is said she then opened her own pleasure house and never went back to her royal life again.

In terms of The Targaryen family tree in relation to the characters we know, Saera was the sister of Alyssa Targaryen (Viserys and Daemon’s mother), and Aemon Targaryen (Rhaenys’ father), making her Viserys, Daemon, and Rhaenys’ aunt, and Rhaenyra’s great aunt. There is little chance of her making an appearance in the show though as she died a year before her father did in Martin's works. And of course, Hugh used past tense when speaking of her in episode 7.

So, what does this mean for Hugh? If the show does decide to stick with Hugh’s mother’s origin, that means that Hugh is as much of a Targaryen as Jacaerys Velaryon is, with both of their mothers being of Valyrian decent and their fathers not. This is probably why Vermithor allows Hugh to tame him, as he smells his strong Targaryen blood. Also, as Vermithor’s last rider was Saera’s father (Hugh’s grandfather) this probably helped Hugh too.

House of the Dragon season 2 continues weekly on HBO in the US and Sky and NOW in the UK. For more on the show, check out our deep dives on: