Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen) confirms House of the Dragon book theory

We’ve been keeping a sharp eye on House of the Dragon filming updates for months now, but in recent days the excitement for the show’s return has reached a new level following the release of its first official trailer. Dragons and armies are going to war, and Rhaenyra Targaryen will have her throne!

Did Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen) just confirm a book theory for season 2?

House of the Dragon covers a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, one of the most brutal conflicts in Westeros’ history. Over the course of a few bloody years, the Targaryen family will go from being at the height of its power to a mere shell of itself, with far fewer dragons and heirs to go around. It’s going to be rough.

George R.R. Martin wrote about the Dance in his book Fire & Blood, which means we have a decent idea of what’s to come even if we aren’t sure about all the details. For example, we know that season 2 will introduce Alyn and Addam of Hull, two peasant brothers who are drawn into the conflict, played by Abubakar Salim and Clinton Liberty respectively.

The Hulls have an interesting connection to the Velaryons, one of the most powerful families in Westeros. In Fire & Blood, it’s claimed that they’re both bastard children of Laenor Velaryon, who dies several years before the Dance begins. However, it’s a well-known bit of court gossip that Laenor is gay; instead, many believe that Addam and Alyn are bastards of Laenor’s father, Corlys Velaryon, who’s played by Steve Toussaint in House of the Dragon.

We haven’t known quite how the television show would handle Alyn and Addam’s parentage, but we may have just gotten a big hint from Bethany Antonia, who plays Corlys’ granddaughter Baela Targaryen. The sleuths on the r/HouseoftheDragon subreddit saw Antonia sharing an Instagram story reacting to Abubakar Salim’s emotional speech at this year’s Game Awards, which she captioned “Gwarn uncle.”

In both the show and the book, Baela is the child of Corlys’ daughter Laena. So if House of the Dragon goes the route of making Alyn the bastard son of Corlys Velaryon, that would indeed make him Baela’s uncle.

Antonia’s post doesn’t go so far as to outright spoil anything, but could serve as a fun wink to book readers. It’s a nice way to stoke the fires of hype without getting HBO snipers after you.

“Gwarn” is slang for “go on,” just in case you didn’t know. And yeah, if Salim could just keep talking, I’d be behind that too. Before he appeared as the android Father in Raised By Wolves, Salim’s big break was as Bayek of Siwa, the main character of the video game Assassin’s Creed Origins. Since then he’s been building his own game studio, Surgent Studios, and at The Game Awards he revealed what they’ve been working on: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, a sidescrolling action adventure game rooted in African mythology. Salim’s speech was a highlight of The Game Awards, where he reflected on how the loss of his father (who got him into gaming) inspired Tales of Kenzera.

Corlys Velaryon’s “past deeds come back to haunt him” in season 2

As for Alyn and Addam of Hull, Antonia’s cryptic Instagram story lines up with some other rumblings we’ve been hearing about House of the Dragon season 2. In particular, Steve Toussaint said at CCXP that “a lot of [Corlys Velyaron’s] past deeds come back to haunt him, and he has to be very humble.” Considering that Corlys and Rhaenys Targaryen are one of the very few examples of a healthy, functional couple in Westeros, the discovery that he has a few adult bastards could certainly qualify as past deeds which might throw a wrench into things this season.

We’ll see how things play out when House of the Dragon season 2 lands on HBO in summer 2024.

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