Hugh Hammer

During the Dance of the Dragons Rhaenyra tried to recruit dragonriders to her cause. Among them was a blacksmith's bastard Hugh Hammer or Hard Hugh. Vermithor, the dragon of the Old King Jaehaerys I, Rhaenyra's great-grandfather, allowed Hugh to ride him.

Hugh fought at the Battle of the Gullet for the Blacks and was named Lord of Bitterbridge. However at the First Battle of Tumbleton he and another dragonrider, Ulf the White, defected to the Greens, helping to defeat the Black army. For this they became known as the Two Betrayers.

Rhaenyra's half-brother Aegon II was missing, his children were infants, his next brother Aemond had died in battle with Daemon Targaryen, and the youngest brother Prince Daeron the Daring was still a young man. Hugh said he should be King, his right being a dragon. Daeron threw wine in his face and Hugh threatened to beat the boy. When Hugh appeared with a crown of black iron Ser Roger Corne knocked it off, and Hugh nailed three horseshoes to his skull. The ensuing fight between Hugh's and Roger's supporters led to three dead and twelve wounded. A conspiracy among the Green Commanders, known as the Caltrops, decided to kill the Two Betrayers, Daeron agreeing to the plot.

When Addam Velaryon launched the Second Battle of Tumbleton at night, taking the Greens by surprise, one of the Caltrops Ser Jon Roxton stabbed Hugh dead and was killed by their men. Shortly after Ulf was himself murdered.