The seed planted in the beginning of House of The Dragon season 2 by the makers has begun bearing fruit in episode 6, “Smallfolk.” The dragonseed are coming. We got glimpses of these new characters and their relatively inconsequential lives between the Targaryen royal drama. But now it is finally their time to shine.
Content warning for discussion of rape. Also, spoilers ahead.
Who are dragonseed in House of The Dragon?
The dragonseed are bastards of Valyrian descent, born of illegitimate dalliances of Targaryens and Velaryons with the smallfolk of King’s Landing, Dragonstone, and Driftmark, and capable of becoming dragon riders.
In House of The Dragon season 2, we’ve already met the characters that are dragonseed, about to become the new dragonriders in Rhaenyra’s Black army. There’s the more obvious Alyn and Addam of Hull, revealed in episode 6 to be bastard sons of the Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon. But there are going to be two more—Hugh, the blacksmith from King’s Landing with a sick daughter; and Ulf, a drunk, who was present at the tavern, overhearing Mysaria’s girls talk about Prince Aemond living lavishly while the smallfolk in the city had nothing to eat.
The dragonseed might seem like a great solution to the problem at hand for the Blacks. But their existence ought to be a matter of utter shame for the House that often thinks of itself as closer to Gods than men.
The reason why dragonseed exist is actually terrible
You could simply attribute the existence of dragonseed to Targaryen and Velaryon kings and lords’ visiting brothels, as Aegon II did in HOTD season 1, or having affairs with the smallfolk, like any other house’s men would. But there’s a sickening ancient tradition that is actually responsible for the Targaryen bloodline to exist beyond the confines of their halls.
In Westeros, during the age of the First Men, the right of the First Night was a marriage custom that allowed mighty heroes to bed a bride on the night of her wedding before her husband. Such brides were considered to be “blessed” *rolls eyes* and if a child was born of such a union, then the husband was to consider it an honour to raise the child as his own.
When the Andals came over to Westeros, they continued the tradition. Their lords and kings could take the bride from any wedding to bed, even the wives of their own vassals and bannermen. It was deeply resented for obvious reasons. Most astute kings and lords in Westeros would refrain from exercising it, because it was the cause of strife amongst their subjects if their wives were thus “ruined” and they had to raise another’s child as their own. Many lords were even murdered by disgruntled husbands seeking revenge.
Targaryens adopted the Right of the First Night but also abolished it
When the Targaryens came to Dragonstone, they allowed the custom of First Night to persist. But unlike the rest of Westeros, the people on Dragonstone and Driftmark still considered it a blessing for the brides. Children born of such union were showered with gifts and riches by their lord fathers. And those with the unmissable white hair and purple eyes of Valyrian lineage came to be known as dragonseed or simply seed.
When Aegon the Conqueror united the Seven Kingdoms, he allowed the custom to continue. But years later, it was the good Queen Alysanne (Viserys and Daemon’s grandma) who petitioned the small council of her husband King Jaehaerys I to abolish the right of the First Night. She was on a visit to The Wall in the North, when she decided to hold one of her women’s courts at Mole Town. There she heard the story of a prostitute who was once a bride who was thus claimed by her lord, and became pregnant. Her angry husband couldn’t hurt the lord, so he beat her until she miscarried.
Queen Alysanne reminded the council that this was a different age, and the lords exercising the right of the First Night were no longer heroes but men who were often old, diseased, unkempt, filthy, and abusive, and no woman felt blessed by them. Finally, the custom was abolished, and it was declared that a bride’s maidenhead (virginity) would belong to her husband alone, and not to any lord. Feminist Queen Alysanne was a total hit with the smallfolk for this!
If the lord’s right to First Night was abolished, why do bastards still exist?
Well, because, men. Of course, some lords still continued to exercise their rights, often forcefully or due to the power imbalance where the women had to oblige, especially in regions where the people still followed the old ways. In fact, our most hated Game of Thrones villain, Ramsay Bolton, was the result of such an act of violence against women.
In the books, Ramsay’s father Roose Bolton tells Theon Greyjoy that he didn’t like Queen Alysanne because she took away the Lord’s right. He reveals that some houses, like the Umbers and Boltons in the North, continued to practice the tradition. He himself had done so after a miller married without his permission. He hung the miller from a tree and “claimed his rights” with the miller’s bride beneath the same tree, and of this act, Ramsay Bolton was born.
King Aerys II Targaryen (the Mad King) even joked during the wedding of Tywin Lannister with Joanna that it was a pity that the right of First Night was abolished, an insult that Tywin did not forget till the very end, and hated the Mad King for.
The ‘Right of First Night’ isn’t just a fictional custom
George R.R. Martin may be writing a fantasy and the brutality and violence against women in his stories might often seem too graphic, blunt, or brutal. But history (and the current reports from war-ravaged countries) will tell you, men are capable of such terrible brutality against women.
The Right of First Night is a real legal right that appears to have existed in medieval Europe, referred to as jus primae noctis in Latin and droit du seigneur (right of the lord).
The existence of this right is a highly debated one by scholars, with some believing that there is sufficient anthropological and literary (see Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 2) evidence that this right existed to some extent across the world in medieval cultures including France, Ireland, England, Spain, China, and across Africa. Others argue that this was merely a monetary fine of sorts, a merchet or bride price paid to the lord, the king, or sometimes even to the church by those marrying or their father, brother, or uncle.
Published: Jul 23, 2024 01:28 pm