House of the Dragon star just made me anxious for season 3’s biggest battle (and it’s not the Battle of the Gullet)

The third season of House of the Dragon draws ever closer, and with it, the hype levels continue to rise. The third season of HBO's Game of Thrones spinoff is set to tackle one of the most brutal periods of the Dance of the Dragons civil war, where Targaryen dragonriders and their armies tore the Seven Kingdoms asunder. By the time of Thrones, the dragons will be all but gone, and this conflict is the root cause of that decline.

But before we get to that point, we'll spend more time with the dragons and their riders. At the start of season 3, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) has more dragons under her control than any other Targaryen monarch in history, including six fully grown, battle-tested beasts. That's largely thanks to a bold gambit at the end of season 2, where three bastards with traces of the blood of Old Valyria managed to claim riderless dragons. They are known as the dragonseeds: Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), and Ulf White (Tom Bennett).

The dragonseeds have a major role to play in the war ahead, and will be the cause of much drama that unfolds. For Addam of Hull in particular, that means a "journey of internal conflict" as he experiences war for the very first time.

"It's a journey of internal conflict, because war brings out the worst in people, and Addam of Hull has never been in a war scenario before. And he doesn't understand how the politics effects people, and shows the bitter side of people," Clinton Liberty told Deadline. "So throughout the whole season, Addam is fighting if he wants to retrain his morality and be a good person, or betray himself for the validation of his peer group. So it's a big internal conflict, and he kind of finds out who he is by the end of the season, so I'm excited for people to see that."

Addam and his brother Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) are the bastard children of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). They've had an interesting family dynamic so far, and Toussaint has already teased how this will continue in season 3, now that Corlys has lost so much and is "trying desperately" to rekindle these familial relationships. I'm looking forward to seeing what that means for Addam.

This quote from Liberty is interesting for a few other reasons, but to discuss them, we need to get into MAJOR SPOILERS from George R.R. Martin's book, Fire & Blood.

Addam of Hull will prove he is loyal in House of the Dragon

One of the major setpieces that we know is coming in House of the Dragon season 3 is the First Battle of Tumbleton, a horrific clash between Rhaenyra's forces and those of Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton) that features so much dragonfire and carnage that Fire & Blood calls it "the Field of Fire writ small," a reference to the single most devastating dragon battle of Aegon's Conquest, where Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters scorched thousands of soldiers alive on their three dragons.

In the book, Tumbleton is held by Rhaenyra's forces, including the dragonseeds Ulf and Hugh. Ormund's army vastly outnumbers them and includes the young Targaryen prince Daeron, along with his dragon Tessarion. Still, the forces seem relatively well-matched...until Hugh and Ulf defect, and set Tumbleton aflame. From that point on, they stay camped there with the Greens, mulling their prospects with the supporters of King Aegon II instead of Rhaenyra.

The sack of Tumbleton is one of the most horrifying, brutal parts of the entire Dance of the Dragons. The city never recovers, which is why you never hear about the location in Game of Thrones. It also has a profound effect on Rhaenyra, launching her from mild paranoid into full-blown delusions. Addam of Hull remained in King's Landing during these events, but that didn't save him from Rhaenyra's wroth. She tries to have him arrested because she decides she can't trust any dragonseed, he flees, and some time later, he proves his loyalty at the Second Battle of Tumbleton, where he's instrumental in liberating the city.

Thus far, I've assumed we were going to get the First Battle of Tumbleton in season 3, and the Second in season 4. But Liberty's comments have me wondering if House of the Dragon could take a totally different tack all together.

How will House of the Dragon handle Tumbleton?

The two battles and sack of Tumbleton form a thorny, complex storyline in the middle of the Dance of the Dragons, that is utterly crucial to the overall story. Numerous dragons, dragonriders, and other important characters meet their end in the ruins of the city, it plunges Rhaenyra into her absolute darkest period of mental instability, and it gives figures both heroic and villainous a chance to show their true colors.

Addam of Hull is the former sort of character, whose valor is so steadfast that his brother Alyn of Hull ultimately has his grave inscribed with the word "LOYAL," in honor of the fact that he stayed loyal to Rhaenyra's cause right down to the last, even when she suspected him of treachery. But he doesn't get the chance to display that heroism until the Second Battle of Tumbleton; as I mentoined, he isn't even present at the first, which is what I've been assuming will form one of the climactic events of season 3.

The fact that Liberty says Addam "finds out who he is by the end of the season," after a journey of internal conflict where he debates betraying his values for the "validation of his peer group" makes me think the show will change things quite a bit. Unless Liberty is referencing something smaller, the idea of Addam finding out just what he's made of lines up pretty neatly with the Second Battle of Tumbleton, where he proves himself beyond any doubt. If that happens by the end of the season, the show is going to have to speed through the First Battle pretty quickly...unless it somehow combines them.

The other side of that statement, about Addam being tempted by the "validation of his peer group," makes me wonder if he will in fact be present at the First Battle of Tumbleton, where Hugh and Ulf defect. If so, it's entirely possible that House of the Dragon might change the clashes at Tumbleton from two terrible battles into a single enormous one later in the season. Considering how much of the Dance of the Dragons there is left for the show to get through in its fourth and final season, I wouldn't be surprised if Tumbleton served primarily as a season 3 storyline, which wrapped up the tale for the dragonseeds as well as characters like Ormund Hightower and Daeron Targaryen. It may simply be that the show has too many other large events to tackle to break Tumbleton up the way it is in Fire & Blood.

My book reader instinct is that that would be a huge misstep for the series, but at this point it's far too early to make any real judgements. After all, Liberty could be referring something else (though I kind of doubt it). But no matter how House of the Dragon handles the Battles of Tumbleton, expect this storyline to serve as a major turning point for season 3 and the show as a whole.

House of the Dragon premieres its third season June 21 on HBO and HBO Max.

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