Ever since Brienne of Tarth executed Stannis Baratheon at the end of Game of Thrones season 5, thus ending the line of true-born Baratheons, fans started to wonder if Gendry — the bastard son of King Robert Baratheon — could be legitimized. In that scenario, Gendry could inherit the Baratheon castle of Storm’s End, and have bannermen from the Stormlands swear him allegiance. That might come in useful if someone — say Daenerys Targaryen or Jon Snow — wanted to unite the Seven Kingdoms under one rule so it could fight the White Walkers. Gendry would probably be thankful to whoever stepped up and legitimized him.
So far, nothing like this has happened, but now that Gendry is back in the story, fans are wondering if he could have a bigger part to play. That brings us to Fire & Blood, George R.R. Martin’s history of the Targaryen dynasty, out on store shelves now. The chapter “The Dying of the Dragons” is about the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart. Early on in the conflict, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon realized that his side had plenty of dragons but not enough riders, so he offered lands, riches and knighthoods to whoever could tame the beasts. These people came to be known as “dragonseeds.” One of them was Hugh Hammer, a guy who has a few things in common with Gendry:
The son of a common blacksmith, Hammer was a huge man, with hands so strong that he was said to be able to twist steel bars into torcs. Though largely untrained in the art of war, his size and strength made him a fearsome foe. His weapon of choice was the warhammer, with which he delivered crushing, killing blows. In battle he rode Vermithor, once the mount of the Old King himself; of all the dragons in Westeros, only Vhagar was older or larger. For all these reasons, Lord Hammer (as he now styled himself) began to dream of crowns. “Why be a lord when you can be a king?” he told the men who began to gather round him. And talk was heard in camp of a prophecy of ancient days that said, “When the hammer shall fall upon the dragon, a new king shall arise, and none shall stand before him.” Whence came these words remains a mystery (not from Hammer himself, who could neither read nor write), but within a few days every man at Tumbleton had heard them.
Obviously, Hugh and Gendry aren’t exactly matches, but there are some commonalities there: they’re both bastards, their lives involve blacksmithing, and they have the potential to rise far above their station. (Hugh was betrayed and killed before the end of the Dance of Dragons, FYI.)
Also, Archmaester Gyldayn — the man who “wrote” Fire & Blood — points out that Hugh “undeniably possessed some Targaryen blood.” Usually, Targaryen blood is a prerequisite to ride dragons. Think of the time Drogon let Jon Snow touch him on Dragonstone; that probably wouldn’t have happened had Jon not had a secret Targaryen lineage. As a Baratheon bastard, Gendry likely has some too, since the Baratheons and Targaryens intermarried for years.
But it’s that prophecy that has us really interested. “When the hammer shall fall upon the dragon, a new king shall arise, and none shall stand before him.” Hmm.
One idea is that this prophecy already played out when Robert Baratheon killed Rhaegar Targaryen with his warhammer on the Trident, ousting the Targaryen dynasty and then ruling the Seven Kingdoms for over a decade.
Another idea is that this prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, and that Gendry is the guy to make it happen. Interpreting it literally, might Gendry actually kill a dragon with his warhammer? What if Gendry, a skilled blacksmith who now knows that dragonglass is the key to killing wights and White Walkers, forges a new warhammer that incorporates dragonglass, and then kills Viserion, the undead dragon raised anew by the Night King, at some point over the next six episodes? And his Targaryen blood could help him get close enough to land the killing blow. After that…a new King Gendry arises?
This doesn’t seem the mostly likely of outcomes, but we know Gendry will be around, so there’s a chance. What do you think?
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h/t Esquire
