How Laenor Velaryon could return on House of the Dragon

The seventh episode of House of the Dragon, “Driftmark,” featured the single biggest departure from the source material yet. After a dramatic funeral on Driftmark, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen beseeched her uncle Daemon to help her absolve her marriage to Laenor Velaryon, Westeros style. Yet while the show leads us to believe that the two are conspiring to murder Laenor, the final twist is that he actually survives. Qarl, Laenor, Rhaenyra, and Daemon all conspire to fake the prince consort’s death, swapping his body out for a manservant’s at the last minute so Laenor and his lover Qarl can row off into the sunset.

In George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood, Laenor actually does die by Ser Qarl’s hand. The book leaves the exact reason ambiguous. Was Qarl jealous of a new paramour Laenor had his eye on? Did Daemon pay Qarl to murder Laenor so he could marry Rhaenyra? We just don’t know for sure. However, Laenor is stabbed to death in the middle of a public marketplace, so there’s not much room for confusion over whether it was actually him or not.

By sparing his life and sending him off to live in anonymity, House of the Dragon has created an interesting situation for itself. If we’re looking at the text of Fire & Blood, the easy assumption is that Laenor has just exited the show. But that’s at odds with television logic, which often dictates that if a character is still alive, there’s always a chance they could show back up.

The big question is how Laenor Velaryon could return without causing huge deviations in the story. His parents believe he’s dead, as does the rest of the world. According to the source material, his part in the story is done.

That said, there are a few pretty interesting theories for how Laenor may return to House of the Dragon, and it could work better than you might think. Obligatory warning that there will be SPOILERS from Fire & Blood ahead.

Theory 1: Laenor will die across the Narrow Sea

Most of the theories surrounding Laenor’s return center around one thing: Laenor left his dragon Seasmoke behind. The exact metaphysics of the bond between dragon and rider have never been completely defined, but it’s been generally seen in both Martin’s written works and Game of Thrones that dragons and riders have an almost supernatural connection. Dragons are often depicted as knowing when death befalls their rider, even if they can’t see them.

How will that apply to Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke? In Fire & Blood, Seasmoke goes into seclusion after Laenor dies, living in a cave on Dragonstone for around a decade. He’s eventually claimed by another rider, a bastard named Addam of Hull. How could Addam claim Seasmoke if Laenor is still alive?

For starters, while that bond between human and dragon is strong, we don’t have any real evidence that it can’t be broken by abandonment. Would Seasmoke still feel the bond with his rider after Laenor goes to live halfway across the world for a decade? We can only speculate.

There’s also a possibility that Laenor could one day meet his end in battle somewhere in Essos. We last saw him depart to go fight in the Stepstones with his lover Qarl. Since there are years still to go before Seasmoke will be approached by a new rider, the show could always bring Laenor back for a brief moment to show him dying in combat. The show might not even need to actually show Laenor, just show Seasmoke suddenly stricken by grief and wailing from his cave.

But that’s just one theory. The other focuses more heavily on Addam of Hull, and is far more intriguing.

Theory 2: Laenor Velaryon becomes Addam of Hull

As we mentioned, around a decade after Laenor’s death in Fire & Blood, Seasmoke will take another rider. This is during a period of the Dance of the Dragons were Prince Jacaerys decides the blacks need more dragonriders, and offers lands and titles to anyone who can claim one of the currently riderless beasts. Plenty of people take Jacaerys up on the offer and try to mount a dragon, though few are successful. These new dragonriders are known as “dragonseeds,” owing to the fact that Dragonstone has a lot of bastards with Targaryen blood running around. Targaryens have lived there for centuries, and the rite of the first night — where a king or lord could bed a woman in his domain on her wedding night — was practiced for a long time.

Addam is a special case. He and his brother Alyn of Hull are presented as bastards of Laenor Velaryon. While many people remember the fact that Laenor is gay, Corlys Velaryon quickly takes them under his wing and eventually petitions Rhaenyra to legitimize them as Velaryons. While Addam and Alyn’s mother claims they were fathered by Laenor, another prominent bit of gossip is that they are the Sea Snake’s own bastard children.

Whatever the true parentage of Addam and Alyn of Hull, they go on to become important in the Dance. Adam mounts Seasmoke. Alyn tries to mount a wild dragon named Sheepstealer and barely escapes with his life; eventually, he becomes the lord of Driftmark.

One of the more enticing theories about the show’s version of Laenor Velaryon is that he may return one day when the Dance is in full swing and claim to be this mysterious bastard named Addam of Hull. It would be a pretty compelling story beat for Corlys and Laenor to eventually be reunited, and could serve as a great reason for Corlys to so eagerly push for Addam to be legitimized. It would also explain why Addam is able to mount Seasmoke, because while a disguise might conceal Laenor’s identity from other people, the dragon would certainly see through it.

There are a few big snags in this theory, however. One is that Addam of Hull is only around 15 years old in the book. But since the show has already changed things with Laenor, it’s not unreasonable to think that Addam’s age is another thing it’d be willing to toy with.

On the other hand, there’s also the fact that Addam has a younger brother named Alyn. How would that work, if Addam is Laenor in disguise?

Theory 3: Laenor and Qarl become Faceless Men

Now it’s time to break out our tinfoil hats and get a bit wilder with the theories. If Laenor Velaryon returns to House of the Dragon as Addam of Hull, there are a few ways the show could deal with his brother Alyn. The first is that it could cut him entirely, though I hope not because Alyn does have a part to play and the relationship between the two is interesting.

The second idea being tossed around on the Internet is that Laenor and Qarl could head to the House of Black and White in Braavos during their adventures in Essos and learn the ways of the Faceless Men. There’s a part of me that wants to outright dismiss this idea; using the face-changing magic of the Faceless Men is one of those things that gets thrown out way too often when theory-crafters try to justify outrageous ideas, and it very rarely pans out.

However, it could make a certain amount of sense for Laenor given what we’ve seen of him in House of the Dragon so far. He’s already assumed a life of anonymity by going into exile; this is pretty similar to the first step in Arya Stark’s journey as well, where she pretended to be a peasant boy in order to avoid being captured by Lannister soldiers. That idea of giving up your identity is a central part of the Faceless Man ideology, and Laenor has already begun that process. In fact, Laenor’s whole escape in Episode 7 hinged on the idea of burning the face off a corpse so that it would become unrecognizable. The potential foreshadowing is interesting to ponder.

Having the ability to wear another face could also make the age difference easier between Addam and Laenor easier to pull off, since he could masquerade as a younger person. And if Qarl was able to do it as well, he could be Alyn. This would add a little more weight to the idea that Addam is able to mount a dragon and Alyn is not.

If Laenor returned as a Faceless Man, he could reveal his secret to his father Corlys. This would give them a powerful emotional moment to reunite, after so much has gone so horribly wrong in the Dance of the Dragons. And it would certainly explain Corlys’ rush to legitimize Addam of Hull.

As for legitimizing Alyn, that could be something Laenor insists on. Based on what we’ve seen of Corlys, it’s not a stretch to think that he’d be so happy to see his son again after so many years that he might agree, especially considering some of the other tragedies that befall his family during the Dance. He does think history remembers names, not blood, after all. But in this case, he could have both with Laenor.

The fate of Addam of Hull

There is one potential fly in the ointment when it comes to the theory of Laenor becoming Addam of Hull that we need to discuss, and it’s a big one. Let’s get into MAJOR SPOILERS for Fire & Blood.

After claiming Seasmoke, joining the blacks, and becoming legitimized as a Velaryon, Addam helps Rhaenyra take the city of King’s Landing. However, at this point in the Dance, her faction has been betrayed by several of the other dragonseeds. Descending into a fit of paranoia, Rhaenyra decides that all of the bastard dragonseeds cannot be trusted, and orders Addam to be taken prisoner. Corlys Velaryon insists Addam is true to their cause, but Rhaenyra doesn’t listen. Not wanting his heir to suffer an ill fate, Corlys warns him ahead of time; Addam escapes, Corlys is captured in his place, and dark days reign for the blacks.

In response to the accusations, Addam resolves to gather an army and take back the city of Tumbleton, which was lost when the other dragonseeds defected. What follows is a bloody affair involving a lot of dragons. When the dust settles, Tumbleton has been reclaimed for the blacks at the cost of Addam’s life. He’s eventually interred on Driftmark, where his brother Alyn writes the word “LOYAL” on his grave as a testament to his unwavering commitment to the cause.

Imagining all that playing out with Laenor and Qarl in disguise would still be pretty compelling, but it would require Rhaenyra not to know Laenor’s true identity. There are still ways the show could play this off, but no matter how it shakes out, it would be complicated. She might not know right down to the last. Corlys might recognize that she has fallen too far into paranoia and not trust her with the information. Or he might tell her, and the fact that Laenor had lied about his identity for so long and returned to Westeros against her wishes could force her to become more paranoid.

Whatever awaits Laenor Velaryon on House of the Dragon, it is by default a different fate than he met in Fire & Blood. He’s still on the board. The only question is what, if anything, the show will do with him.

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