After two full seasons of build-up, House of the Dragon made the surprising decision to bench a crucial character during his most important inflection point from the book. The show's season 3 finale culminated with the Battle of Tumbleton, a brutal clash between the Hightower army and Daemon's River host at a once-thriving market town in the Reach. It was as spectacular as it was terrible, marking what is arguably the best battle sequence the series has ever produced.
Part of what makes Tumbleton so engrossing is the personal stories happening in the middle of the choas. This moment features the greatest betrayal of the war, when Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) decides to burn both the Black and Green armies out of spite, and the city of Tumbleton along with them. But believe it or not, this event, known as the Treasons of Tumbleton in the book, is actually even more horrific than it was in the show.
The main change that House of the Dragon made to this sequence is the omission of Hugh the Hammer (Kieran Bew). In Fire & Blood, it's not just Ulf who betrays Rhaenyra, but Hugh as well. Together, they and Daeron Targaryen dominate the sky over Tumbleton and torch the Black army, which holds the upper hand in the city. Ever afterward, Hugh and Ulf are known as the Two Betrayers. I guess in the show Ulf can just be The Betrayer.
House of the Dragon set up Hugh's betrayal, then abandoned it
House of the Dragon seemed like it had been building toward Hugh's heel turn since early in season 2, when he lost his daughter to starvation. We got to know his wife, Kat (Ellora Torchia), a new character for the television series who gave Hugh's life prior to becoming a dragonrider so much more depth than in the book. In Fire & Blood, we know nothing about Hugh's past, beyond that he was a blacksmith. Kieran Bew's character in the television series is far more of a full human being.
After spending most of season 3 apart from his wife, Hugh finally found Kat in episode 306 — only for her to push him away out of resentment for abandoning her to the horrors of war. This brought out a brutish side of Hugh, where he tried to abduct Kat by force. That hint of darkness is key for the character, because in the book at least, he does quite a lot of awful things after the First Battle of Tumbleton. We needed to get an inkling he might be capable of atrocities.
Going into season 3 episode 8, I wasn't sure how House of the Dragon would handle Hugh's betrayal, but it felt like there were options. Surely, Kat would be involved, probably dying to push Hugh over the edge. Perhaps Ulf would be the one to bring him in on it, convincing him that Ormund Hightower (James Norton) might actually be able to help him more than Rhaenyra, who still hadn't provided even basic amenities for her new dragonriders.
The one thing I didn't expect at all, however, was for the show to basically cut Hugh's betrayal altogether — or even worse, lean on its old friend, tragic misunderstanding as a plot device.
How Hugh's "betrayal" will impact him in House of the Dragon season 4
While Hugh didn't burn Tumbleton, he did still betray Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) in a manner of speaking. After hearing the news that Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and his dragon Sunfyre are still alive, Rhaenyra panics and orders Hugh, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), and Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) to guard the Dragonpit with their dragons in case the wayward Green king decides to attack King's Landing with his brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).
Considering that the Battle of Tumbleton is afoot and Hugh's wife is still in the city, he understandably chafes at this order. If Rhaenyra had been thinking a little more clearly or compassionately about the dragonseed, she probably would have realized that keeping Hugh away from Tumbleton was a mistake. But since Rhaenyra treats her dragonriders as little more than tools, she ordered him where she wished and thought no more of it.
Hugh, however, can't stand by while his wife was in danger. He shows up on Vermithor in the middle of the battle, and then proceeds to join the charge into Tumbleton on foot in hopes of finding his wife.
He arrives too late. The final scene we get of Hugh in season 3 shows him finding Kat's corpse, and screaming in anguish while he cradles her in his arms.
Hugh's arc has become a tragedy, and while that's compelling in its own right, the way the show will likely handle his future has me wary. In the book, Hugh takes up residence in Tumbleton with Ulf after their betrayals, and decides that perhaps he should be the king of the Seven Kingdoms, since he rides the biggest dragon aside from Vhagar. The show will need to lean much more into Hugh's darkness now that Kat is gone to sell that kind of a turn for him, but I do think he'll likely remain in Tumbleton with Ulf — because he really doesn't have any better options.
In her paranoia, Rhaenyra is likely to brand Ulf and Hugh both as as traitors, since Hugh abandoned his post at a crucial time, endangering the safety of King's Landing. I wouldn't be surprised if the show does still call these two dragonseeds the Two Betrayers, even though Hugh's "betrayal" is about as bland as they come. He didn't really betray Rhaenyra at all; he flew to try and protect his wife after the queen gave him a careless, paranoid command without any thought whatsoever of his or Kat's own well being.
This continues House of the Dragon's long trend of treating major tragedies in the war as misunderstandings or accidents; that's exactly how it handled Aemond's murder of Lucerys, the Blood and Cheese incident, and Rhaena causing Jacaerys' death at the Battle of the Gullet. It's a shame that the show decided to go that route here with Hugh, considering how much groundwork had been laid for him to make a fateful decision one way or another. With a bit more focus in the finale, him actually deciding to burn Tumbleton on Vermithor could have worked.
Instead, I imagine Hugh will stay in the city with Ulf, spiraling ever farther into darkness in season 4. But even then, it won't hit quite the same, since Hugh never made a conscious decision to turn his back on Rhaenyra. He didn't attack his allies; on the contrary, he fought valiantly at their side with his warhammer in order to save the woman he loves. If that's a betrayal, it reflects more on Rhaenyra Targaryen than it does on Hugh the Hammer.
All eight episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 are now streaming on HBO Max.
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