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House of the Dragon reveals the reason behind Fire & Blood’s most infamous betrayal
The latest episode of House of the Dragon season 3 reveals the motive behind Ulf the White's infamous betrayal of Queen Rhaenyra, one of the pivotal moments adapted from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. The episode centres on Ormund Hightower's scheming to undermine Rhaenyra's rule after the Blacks seized King's Landing, including his capture of the town of Tumbleton, which he uses as a shield against dragon attack while he works to turn both smallfolk and dragonriders against the queen. This sets up a major twist expected to shape next week's season finale.
Ormund identifies Ulf the White, one of Rhaenyra's newly acquired dragonriders and rider of Silverwing, as an easy target because Ulf has long felt disrespected and undervalued by Rhaenyra's court despite his importance to her claim on King's Landing. Ulf lacks noble manners, resents being given only a knighthood rather than greater status, and is spotted by Daemon Targaryen in circumstances that expose his vulnerability to Ormund's manipulation. With the Greens short of usable dragons (Vhagar and Aemond missing, Sunfyre and Aegon presumed dead, Tessarion too young), turning a rider like Ulf becomes a crucial strategy for Ormund to weaken Rhaenyra ahead of an anticipated battle over Tumbleton.
In short
- Episode 7 explains why Ulf the White betrays Rhaenyra
- Ormund Hightower manipulates discontented dragonriders against the Blacks
- Sets up major twist for season 3's finale
Explained simply
Ulf the White is a minor character in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the source history behind House of the Dragon, and his defection from Queen Rhaenyra to her rivals is one of the book's most notorious moments. Season 3 has been building towards this switch, and the latest episode fills in the reasoning that the source material leaves comparatively thin.
Rhaenyra is one of two rival claimants to the Iron Throne, having recently taken King's Landing from the opposing Hightower-backed faction, known as the Greens, led by her half-brother Aegon. Ormund Hightower is a Green commander working to claw back the city, using the captured town of Tumbleton as a base while trying to turn both ordinary people and Rhaenyra's dragonriders against her. Ulf is one of several low-born men Rhaenyra recently gave a dragon to ride, and his resentment at being treated as beneath his new status makes him a target for Ormund's efforts to weaken her side.
The dragons matter because they are the decisive weapon in this civil war, often called the Dance of the Dragons, and both sides are short of riders and beasts able to fight. With several of the Greens' own dragons dead, missing or too young to fly, winning over a rider like Ulf offers Ormund a way to even the odds without a battle, which is why his betrayal is being built up as pivotal to the story's next stage.