House of the Dragon is finally back! Its third season premiere, "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood," packed a powerful punch, plopping viewers right back in the middle of the action. The episode depicts the infamous Battle of the Gullet, starting the season off on a combat heavy outing, filled with naval battles, draconic warfare, and major character deaths.
Amid the massive set pieces, "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood" also features some smaller character moments, such as learning about Ulf's (Tom Bennett) backstory. Ulf is a lowborn commoner who bonds with and learns to ride the dragon Silverwing thanks to his Targaryen blood, but beyond that, audiences knew very little about him until this episode.
Ulf discusses how he knows about his Targaryen heritage, being the alleged bastard son of Prince Baelon. In his backstory, Ulf may hint at a connection to a fan-favorite character from Game of Thrones, despite House of the Dragon taking place around 200 years before its predecessor.
The Origins of Ulf
While waiting to ambush Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), Ulf describes his past to fellow lowborn dragonriders Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and Hugh (Kieran Bew). He talks about an encounter with a Red Priest who hailed from Essos. This priest paid Ulf to "do things," and told him he had King's Blood in his veins. From this point on, Ulf wore his potential royal heritage as a badge of honor.
However, there is clearly more to Ulf's story than meets the eye. He winces when discussing the red priest, and the usually boisterous and haughty Ulf goes into no details about what the priest had him do. As this backstory does not appear in House of the Dragon's source material, George R. R. Martin's 2018 book, Fire & Blood, this is all even the most dedicated A Song of Ice and Fire fans know about Ulf's origins.
The Red Priests
The "red priest" Ulf referred to almost certainly belongs to the same order as Melisandre (Carice van Houten), a.k.a. the "Red Woman" from Game of Thrones. Like the priest Ulf described, Melisandre also hails from Essos, and regularly discusses the power of king's blood.
Melisandre worships R'hllor, also known as the Lord of Light. Unlike the Seven most commonly worshipped deities of Westeros — the Father, Mother, Warrior, Maiden, Smith, Crone, and Stranger — R'hllor actually showcases his power several times throughout Game of Thrones, often channeled through Melisandre's magic.
Notably, Melisandre utilized the power of king's blood by collecting samples of Gendry's (Joe Dempsie) blood through leeches, then burning those leeches as an offering to her Lord of Light. Gendry, being the bastard son of Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), possesses the blood of a king in his veins. As Melisandre burns these leeches, Stannis (Stephen Dillane) names three usurpers: Robb Stark (Richard Madden), Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleason), and Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide). Sure enough, all three die shortly thereafter, connecting Melisandre's ritual and R'hllor's power to their deaths.
Given that Ulf uses the same phrasing, "king's blood," as Melisandre, it is likely that his red priest performed a similar ritual. Again, Ulf's encounter with a red priest is an invention for House of the Dragon, so little else can be confirmed, but perhaps the "things" he was paid to do resembled Gendry's notorious, leech-filled sexual encounter with Melisandre back in Game of Thrones season 3.
Does the timeline line up?
House of the Dragon takes place long before Game of Thrones, meaning appearances from characters from the original series are few and far between. Most of them were centirues away from being born, so when characters like Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) do show up in House of the Dragon, it's only brief cameos in visions.
However, Melisandre is far older than she appears. As revealed in Game of Thrones season 6, she is only able to maintain her youthful appearance thanks to her magical necklace. Without it, she reverts to her true form, an impossibly old woman estimated to be somewhere close to 400 years old.
As such, Melisandre would have been alive at the time of House of the Dragon, and could have possibly crossed paths with Ulf before the start of the series. However, audiences know for certain that she was not the specific red priest that hired him and identified his king's blood because Ulf uses traditional masculine pronouns when describing his encounter. However, given the similar diction and practices, it is entirely possible that this red priest knew Melisandre, further bridging the gap between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
Make sure to tune into House of the Dragon season 3, airing on Sunday nights on HBO Max.
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