What to Know About Vermithor, Who Daemon Sings to in ‘House of the Dragon’

HBO‘s House of the Dragon Season 1 ends with our first look at dragon warfare. The hulking Vhagar makes short work of ripping the much younger and smaller dragon Arrax into pieces, ensuring that all-out war is inevitable. But the first season finale of House of the Dragon has even more dragon action beyond the chilling moment where Aemond “One Eye” Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) massacres his nephew Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) namechecks a whole bunch of other dragons hanging out at Dragonstone and even introduces us to one. A big dragon named Vermithor.

So is Vermithor the biggest dragon in the world of House of the Dragon? Nope, that honor still goes to Aemond’s ancient dragon Vhagar. Is Vermithor bigger than most of the dragons we’ve met so far? Yes, Vermithor was historically the third largest dragon in House Targaryen history. Is Prince Daemon singing lullabies to Vermithor so he can ride Vermithor? Well, that’s complicated and goes into spoiler territory.

Still confused about Daemon’s torch-lit interlude with a mysterious dragon in House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 10 “The Black Queen”? What’s the deal with the Valyrian song Daemon was singing? And what’s Vermithor’s whole deal? Here’s everything you need to know about Vermithor, House of the Dragon‘s new dragon…

WHO IS VERMITHOR? THE DRAGON DAEMON SINGS TO IN HOUSE OF THE DRAGON?

Let’s get this out of the way: who is Vermithor, anyway? Why is he living in a cave on Dragonstone? Where did he come from? Why is he such a big boy?

Vermithor was born in the decades immediately following Aegon I’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. He was considered to be the third biggest dragon of his age, after Aegon’s Balerion the Dread and Visenya’s dragon Vhagar. By the time House of the Dragon airs, Balerion is dead and his massive skull is kept as an honorary totem in the Red Keep. Vhagar has taken a few riders after Visenya’s death, including Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) and her current rider, Aemond. Vermithor, however, has been riderless for decades.

Vermithor was originally the dragon of King Jaehaerys the Wise. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Jaehaerys was the old king who asked the realm to vote on his successor: grandson Viserys (Paddy Considine) or granddaughter Rhaenys (Eve Best). Jaehaerys ruled the realm for decades and after his death, no one claimed Vermithor. So Vermithor just retired to Dragonstone along with Silverwing, the dragon whom Jaehaerys’s beloved queen Alysanne rode.

When counting the dragons they have in their camp, Daemon includes six dragons without riders. Seasmoke is on Driftmark, Vermithor and Silverwing are somewhere on Dragonstone, and there are three wild dragons whom we’ll likely hear more about in Season 2. Rhaenyra is skeptical of Daemon’s claim that they have these dragons on their side because who will ride them???

SPOILERS: WHO WILL RIDE VERMITHOR IN HOUSE OF THE DRAGON?

Because House of the Dragon makes a big deal of following Daemon as he cozies up to Vermithor, you might be wondering if Daemon will be the massive dragon’s new rider. However, that’s literally impossible in the world of George R.R. Martin. As Daenerys muses in the book A Dance With Dragons, dragons live so long that they can take multiple riders. However a single Targaryen can only bond with one dragon in their whole life. (This explains why Viserys never claimed another dragon after Balerion died.)

Daemon is already bonded to Caraxes. So who will ride Vermithor in House of the Dragon? For the answer to that question, we’ll have to go to the book Fire & Blood. SPOILERS ahead, friends!

Because the Blacks have more dragons than legitimate Targaryens to ride them, they basically promise their rider-less dragons to anyone bold enough to tame them. This, naturally, results in a lot of idiots dying. However, there will be some folks — many of whom claim to have bastard Targaryen and Valyrian blood — who manage the feat. The feats of these common-born dragonriders are known as “The Sowing of the Seeds” or “the Red Sowing” in Fire & Blood.

If House of the Dragon Season 2 follows the book, Vermithor will be eventually claimed by a blacksmith’s bastard named Hugh the Hammer.