House of the Dragonis set nearly two centuries before the eventsthat take shape in Game of Thronesand adapts the Dance of the Dragons period of Targaryen history from George R.R. Martin’s expansive book titled Fire & Blood. The novel covers all Targaryen succession from Aegon the Conqueror to King Aegon III Targaryen.

While the show does tend to deviate from the book at times,the lineage and references to the Targaryen family treecertainly can’t. In the penultimate episode of Season Two, the writers drop a huge character bombshell that’s tied to one of the most tragic and ill-fated figures in House Targaryen’s past – Saera Targaryen.

The following entries use information from the novel ‘Fire & Blood’ by George R.R. Martin.

Spoilers for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon below.

Who Is Saera Targaryen?

Saera Targaryen isthe daughter of King Jaehaerys I Targaryenborn in 67 AC. She is the fifth daughter and ninth overall child of 13 siblings born to Jaehaerys and his wife Queen Alysanne.

In Fire & Blood, she is depicted asa problem child from birth, who entered the world screaming and was spoiled and throwing tantrums when she didn’t get what she wanted. And as Saera’s own septa once said about her: “She is an evil child.”

Saera craved attention, was jealous of her older brothers and sisters, and was easily ignored in such a giant family. This set her on a path of defiance and delinquency that dishonored her house and ultimately her royal standing.

What started asinnocent pranksof dying the white cloaks of the Kingsguard pink, constantly messing with her sister Daella, and stealing desserts from the kitchens, turned intomore sinister and downward-spiraling actsthat led to Saera’s undoing.

By age 12, Saeragrew more clever, cruel, and manipulative, believing she could get away with anything, and also turned to drinking. A lot of that cruelness was directed at Jaehaerys' court fool,Tom Turnip.

Saera would often try to humiliate Tomby forcing him to get naked in front of others in court, and at one point, she even got him to sit on the Iron Throne naked, which led to terrible injuries and cuts. But the last straw came when she gave others the idea of forcing Tom to engage in lewd acts in front of everyone at a brothel.

Then, came another bombshell for Saera. All this time, right under King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne’s noses, Saera has been influencing her handmaidens,Lady Alys Turnberry(nicknamed ‘Sweetberry’) andLady Perianne Moore(nicknamed ‘Pretty Peri’) to seduce men, even practicing with each other.

This ultimately led Saera, along with Sweetberry and Pretty Peri, to strike a romantic fling withRed Roy Connington,Braxton ‘Stinger’ Beesbury, andJonah Mooton, the same men who are jailed by the king for their participationin the brothel incident involving Tom Turnip.

While Lady Alys became pregnant as a result of the group’s promiscuity,Saera, now aged 16, confessed to her father the King that she indeed slept with all three menand joked that she wouldn’t mind a polyamorous marriage like her terrible ancestor King Maegor the Cruel.

No longer a maiden, Saera’s lack of remorse about the situation is what upset Jaehaerys the most, andhe was quick to disown her for the disgrace she brought to the family name, going so far as to say: “She is no longer my daughter.”

Why Is Saera Targaryen Not Active In The Dance Of The Dragons?

The aftermath of her actions led to an even far graver fate and life change for Saera Targaryen. She didn’t take her father’s punishments welland even once tried stealing a dragonfrom the Dragonpit to escape with, which led her to be imprisoned in a tower.

To rub further salt into his daughter’s wound, King Jaehaerys allowed her lover, Ser Braxton Beesbury, to have a trial by combat in which he would fight Beesbury. The duel ended with Jaehaerys slaying Beesburywhile Saera was forced to watch from the tower.

The next course of action for Saera’s punishment was for herto become a silent sister of the Faith, which is akin to sending their daughter off to a monastery but with a vow of silence. There, Saera is joined and trained by her sisterSepta Maegelle(another one of Jaehaerys' daughters delivered to the Faith).

Saera’s time as a silent sister only lasted a brief year and a half when she ultimately escaped from her sept in Oldtown in 85 AC and got on a boatto sail to Lys to end up working in a pleasure garden, where she would use her act as a silent sister in her sex work.

Despite Queen Alysanne’s fervent pleas to her husband, King Jaehaerys would not be moved to get Saera back from Lys, specifically saying in response: “She’s dead. Bury her.” So, it’s there in the pleasure garden where she would remain untilSaera eventually decides to relocate to Volantisand amass more wealth by starting her own brothel.

The Events Of The Dance Of The Dragons

Princess Saera Targaryen isthe aunt of Viserys I Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen, as they’re the children of Saera’s siblings, Baelon and Alyssa Targaryen, as well as the aunt toPrincess Rhaenys Targaryen, or ‘The Queen Who Never Was.’

The Dance of the Dragons kicks off around 129 ACwith Viserys' death and the ensuing conflict for succession betweenKing Aegon II Targaryen, the Hightowers, and the greensand Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and the blacks (the rightfully named heir).

Fire & Blood doesn’t specify the details of Princess Saera Targaryen’s fate, but it’s saidshe was alive and well around 101 ACwhen three of her bastard children came from Essos to lay a claim to the dying Jaehaerys' throne, and when she herself showed no interest it by infamously saying:“I have my own kingdom here”(not that she would’ve been chosen anyway).

You can assume she’s still living out her life in Volantis now in her 60s, enjoying what’s left of the rest of it and not meddling in a war between the House that discarded her. Plus,dragons were never her interest anyway.

The Saera Targaryen Connection In House Of The Dragon, Explained

Since House of the Dragon begins well after all the drama that transpired between Saera and her father, Jaehaerys, with Viserys I Targaryen’s rule,Saera has gone unmentioned in the show, and only her sister, Alyssa Targaryen, has so far been revealed.

But, inSeason 2, Episode 7 of HBO’s House of the Dragon, the time came for the illegitimate children of the Targaryen line, or the so-called ‘dragonseeds,’ to be summoned to Dragonstone andattempt to claim the riderless dragons Silverwing and Vermithorto aid in Queen Rhaenyra’s quest in taking back her throne from the greens.

One such dragonseed brave enough to attend wasHugh Hammer, a light-haired blacksmith living in poverty in King’s Landing with a wife and a sick young daughter. However, before he left his family, he confessed to his wife his true parentage.

Though never mentioning his mother by name, he goes on to say she hadsilver hair,worked in a pleasure house, and would always tell Hugh that he “was no different toher brother’s boys, Viserys and Daemon.“Hugh would, of course, be talking about Saera Targaryen.

The dragon Hugh claims would precisely be Vermithor, the former mount of his grandfather, King Jaehaerys I, which makes sense given the lineage and Vermithor’s bond. Therefore, Saera still got to see a part of herself involved in the battle after all.

In Fire & Blood, Hugh Hammer was never officially confirmed to be a bastard of Saera Targaryen, and he resided in Dragonstone with no family.