Who Is Ser Steffon Darklyn From HotD Latest Episode and Why Is He Chosen to Claim a Dragon?
The show has just come up with its own new Dragonseed.
House of the Dragon season 2 has only 2 episodes left to show the approaching war between the Blacks and the Greens finally unfold, and it seems that the former are finally getting prepared for major battles by seeking allies in the best way possible.
The second installment’s episode 5 ends with Rhaenyra and Jacaerys coming up with a plan to look for potential Dragonseeds across Westeros, and the following episode is quick to prove that their work gave its first results, yet things don’t go that well further.
Still, episode 6 is the first to introduce Ser Steffon Darklyn, the Lord Commander of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard who gets the Queen’s permission to try claiming Seasmoke.
The character’s appearance came as something bewildering for the show’s viewers, and especially for those familiar with George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood.
In the episode, Rhaenyra grants Ser Steffon with a chance to prove himself as a dragonrider as, according to her, he’s a distant relative of the Targaryens and thus is capable of befriending a fire-spitting creature.
As Rhaenyra explains herself, she dived deeper into the connection between the Darklyns and Targaryens figuring out that Steffon’s “grandmother's grandmother, Aeriana, was born a Targaryen princess.”
Ser Steffon eventually has no other option but to agree to test his abilities, reassuring Rhaenyra that he’s aware that he may not survive.
As everyone has already seen, he indeed does not, though he seemingly did a good job trying to approach Seasmoke who at some point might have sensed Ser Steffon’s insecurity and punished him for it with a portion of fire.
However, in George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood, not a single phrase indicates Ser Steffon’s noble origin, as well as there’s no mention of House Darklyn being somehow related to House Targaryen.
Still, Ser Steffon dies the same way in there since he’s granted Rhaenyra’s permission to try mounting Seasmoke as one of her most loyal servants.
Additionally, Fire & Blood never said anything about Aeriana Targaryen either, but that’s probably because Ser Steffon’s alleged distant relative married into House Darklyn long before Aegon’s Conquest ever happened.