‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 5 “Regent” Ending Explained: Who are the Dragonseeds? How Many Dragons Does Rhaenyra Have?

“I need dragons,” Rhaenyra Targaryen Emma D’Arcy) complains at the end of HBO‘s House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 “Regent.” Vhagar has killed Team Black’s strongest dragon, Meleys, and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has spirited his large dragon Caraxes to the Riverlands for his own purposes. So what’s a would-be Targaryen queen to do? How can she win a war of dragon fire when it’s too risky to send herself to battle?

**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 “Regent,” now streaming on Max**

As it happens, it’s Rhaenyra’s son and heir Jace (Harry Collett) who helps her come up with the “mad thought” to share a sacred power House Targaryen alone had clung to for centuries so they can win the Iron Throne.

“We have no dearth of dragons,” Jace tells his mother, before explaining that they have two massive dragons, Vermithor and Silverwing, resting in the caves below Dragonstone. In fact, that’s not all.

At this point in House of the Dragon Season 2, Team Green might boast the largest dragon in Westeros, but Team Black secretly has the most dragons. The issue, as Rhaenyra puts it, is there aren’t enough dragon riders. The only of-age Targaryens without dragons on Team Black amount to Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), who has almost died in the attempt to claim one, and no one else.

So what to do? How can Rhaenyra use the dragons roosting on Dragonstone to her advantage if there’s no one around capable of riding them? Jace — the Targaryen prince who has spent his life dogged by rumors that he is a bastard (which he is) — comes up with the plan that’s been “seeded” from the beginning of House of the Dragon Season 2. But it’s possible it flew right over your head.

Basically, there are Targaryens who are not “Targaryens” in Westeros. Either they are the descendants of Targaryens who married into other Westerosi families, such as the Mallisters and Tarlys, or they were almost wholly forgotten. You know, bastards.

We know from House of the Dragon Season 1 that Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) alone has a bunch of unclaimed silver-haired moppets running around the fighting pits of Flea Bottom, but there has also been a new character, Ulf (Tom Bennett), bragging about being a “dragonseed.” So who are the dragonseeds and how does House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 “Regent” set their storyline up?

House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 Ending Explained: Who Are the Dragonseeds?

In House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 “The Burning Mill,” a man named Ulf brags to a group of dudes at a tavern that he is the bastard son of Prince Baelon the Brave, making him the illegitimate brother of Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Daemon (Matt Smith). Although he expresses support for Rhaenyra’s cause, he immediately cowers when Aegon arrives. Whether or not he’s telling the truth is up for debate. That said, he’s not lying when he says that it’s dangerous to be a dragonseed.

“Dragonseed” is a phrase used in George R.R. Martin’s books to describe someone who has Targaryen blood, but isn’t considered a Targaryen. Sure, they can be Tarlys or Mallisters, but more likely they are bastards or the children of Targaryen bastards.

Rhaenyra’s side is losing the war, but they have a handful of massive dragons hanging out, unclaimed, on Dragonstone. Jace mentions Vermithor, who was King Jaehaerys the Conciliator’s dragon, and Silverwing, who belongs to his queen, Alysanne.

There’s also Laenor’s old dragon Seasmoke, who has been seen soaring over one Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty). Addam and his brother Alyn (Abubakar Salim) are the bastard sons of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). While that doesn’t make them obvious Targaryen bastards, the Velaryons are an old Valyrian family who intermarried in the past with the dragonriders. So there’s some magical blood there.

(George R.R. Martin’s books also share that there are three additional “wild” dragons on Dragonstone nicknamed Sheepstealer, Grey Ghost, and Cannibal. However, House of the Dragon has yet to mention them or the character most strongly associated with one of them, Nettles. So let’s not worry about them for now.)

All of which is to say, Rhaenyra has three large, battle-tested dragons who need riders. House of the Dragon Season 2 has already introduced four new characters with the potential to claim one of these magical beasts. There’s Ulf, who may or may not be a Targaryen bastard, Corlys’s two secret sons with Valryian blood, and finally a silver-haired blacksmith who’s currently losing patience with Team Green. Yup, Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) should also be considered a dragonseed. The silver hair, man!

Book readers might already have a sense of where the next few weeks of House of the Dragon will take these four characters, but we’ll have to wait and see if the HBO show sticks to George R.R. Martin’s version or if they mix things up. Either way, expect Rhaenyra’s plan to open up the possibility for some lower class dragonriders entering the war…