00:00Welcome back everyone.
00:06It is Amelia.
00:07I hope you are fine.
00:08Sea Smoke has a new rider in House of the Dragon, choosing to bond with Adham Afal.
00:13The dragon was flown by Lena Valerion in season 1 and after Lena faked his death and left
00:19Westeros, it's been unclear what would happen to the creature.
00:22It became a bigger talking point in the first few episodes of House of the Dragon season
00:272, with Sea Smoke making some appearances and even circling around Adham previously.
00:32Rhaenyra Targaryen is looking for riders for some of the unclaimed dragons in House of
00:37the Dragon and that includes Sea Smoke.
00:39Her initial choice, Ser Stefan Darklyn, is unfortunately set alight and killed, but Sea
00:45Smoke is much more approving of Adham, actually seeking him out and chasing him down.
00:50House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 ending doesn't outright show them having bonded.
00:55But any doubt over what happened is answered by George RR Martin's Fire and Blood.
01:00Just like in Fire and Blood, Adham Afal is Sea Smoke's new dragon rider.
01:05Adham only made a few appearances before bonding with Sea Smoke, often alongside his brother,
01:10Alan.
01:11Played by Clinton Liberty in House of the Dragon's cast, Adham is a shipwright who lives
01:16on Driftmark and serves as part of the House Valerion fleet.
01:19As confirmed previously, Alan and Adham are Koli's Valerion's bastard children.
01:24House of the Dragon has made a few key changes to Adham's character.
01:28In the book, he's only around 15 years old when he's introduced, whereas he's seemingly
01:33in his mid-to-late 20s in the show.
01:35Liberty is 26 in season 2.
01:37The book also creates more of a mystery around their parentage, with some claims they are
01:42actually Laena's bastard children and others claim they are Koli's.
01:46The first attempt at claiming Sea Smoke with Stefan Darklyn did not go very well.
01:51To put it mildly, the dragon initially seemed to accept the knight as his new rider but,
01:56as he got closer, clearly decided against it.
01:59Perhaps he sensed Stefan's fear or that he wasn't a Valerion like his previous rider.
02:04The exact thoughts and feelings of dragons and why they choose certain people are mostly
02:09mysterious.
02:10What is clear, though, is that Sea Smoke has been taking an interest in Adham for some
02:14time.
02:15House of the Dragon season 2 episode 2 showed him flying in the sky above or watching Adham
02:20Hinting at their potential bond, it may be that there's something in Adham who appears
02:24to be genuinely decent that reminds him of Laena.
02:28That they're half-brothers certainly helps.
02:30If Sea Smoke misses his former rider, then Adham may well be the next best thing.
02:35Of course, it's reasonable to ask why Adham and not Alan, given the latter has been a
02:40little more prominent in the show.
02:42This could simply be because Adham is the older of the two, at least based on the book.
02:46Now Alan is being set up as Corley's successor, not just in plot terms, but that at his core
02:52Alan is, as Bela put it, salt and sea, which means he may not be destined to bond with
02:57a dragon.
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