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The seas are an instrument for House Velaryon’s sustenance. An ancient family of seafarers, the head of the House, Lord Corlys, worries about the security and the stability of the shipping lanes at the beginning ofHouse of the Dragonand goes as far as to wage a full-scale war in the Stepstones (without the crown’s aid) to rid the region of the Triarchy and gain control over the Narrow Sea.
In his youth, before inheriting the title of Lord of Driftmark from his grandsire Daemon Velaryon, Corlys brought the world home in a series of Nine Great voyages on the Sea Snake - the ship that he designed, built, and captained.House Velaryon is the richest in the realm, more so than the Lannisters and the Hightowers, and Corlys owes his vast fortune to the sea. The question remains why did he sail to faraway locations, and what happened on those expeditions?
The Nine Voyages
The Sea Snake’s Voyages To Essos
Maester Mathis covers the minutiae ofthe nine voyages made by Lord Corlys Velaryonin an eponymous text. As seen inHouse of the Dragon, the ambitious and hardworking Lord Corlys has truly earned the moniker - the Sea Snake. He is an eternally proud man, and he talks about his self-made fortune to Daemon in the show:
But unlike the Targaryens, we were not dragonlords. For centuries, my House had to scratch out an existence from the sea with grit and luck. When I ascended the Driftwood Throne, I knew what I wanted. So I went out and seized it.
Since Corlys led House Velaryon, he was in a position to replace their ancestral seat, i.e.,the damp Driftmark in the Crownlands. The nine expeditions had made him the realm’s richest, and so he built a new seat, High Tide, on the opposite side of Driftmark and moved the Driftwood Throne there. The Velaryon fleet, Lord Corlys' extensive knowledge of the seas, his massive wealth, his influence at court, and a new fortification made his family the most powerful in the Seven Kingdoms and a maritime superpower.
It’s fairly common for members of House Velaryon to go on expeditions in their youth, and Corlys stuck to his family’s tradition. Moreover, he explored lands that had never been visited by Westerosi mariners before.Game of Throneslore doesn’t say when Corlys undertook the first of the Nine Voyages, but what’s known is that he went farther to the Jade Gates, reaching Yi Ti and Leng. The treasures (spices, silk, and jade) he acquired doubled the wealth of the Velaryons.
On Corlys' second voyage, he dared to go farther, and although he lost half of his crew, he’d set the record as the first Westerosi mariner to travel to the mysterious port city ofAsshai-by-the-Shadow. Corlys made his third voyage to the Shivering Sea. This time he’d set the record as the first Westerosi to sail to the eastern part of the Shivering Sea, i.e., the archipelago known as the Thousand Islands, and to see the small kingdom of N’ghai and the forested region of Far Mossovy in northeastern Essos.
By the time Corlys went on the last of the Nine Great Voyages, he was a seaman of repute. His ninth expedition made him the richest nobleman in all of Westeros, surpassingthe generational wealth of the Lannisters. He brought home silk and gold and added twenty ships to his fleet at Qarth. He also suffered massive losses as only fourteen Qartheen ships made it to Driftmark and the elephants aboard the ships couldn’t survive the sea.
Who Does Lord Corlys Velaryon Side With In House Of The Dragon?
As seen inHouse of the Dragon, Lord Corlys Velaryon wants Rhaenyra’s sons (who are only Velaryon in name) to carry forward his legacy, and he doesn’t care whether he shares blood with them:
What is this brief mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?
He rues the Great Council of 101 AC that stole his wife’s right to ascend the Iron Throne as the Old King’s eldest descendant and elected Viserys as the new Prince of Dragonstone instead. He says to his wife,Princess Rhaenys Targaryen:
History does not remember blood. It remembers names.
After Laenor Velaryon fakes his death inHouse of the Dragon, Lord Corlys is briefly angry at Rhaenyra and blames her for everything that went wrong, but he joins the Blacks at Rhaenys' insistence, knowing his grandchildren will never be safe so long as the Greens have the Iron Throne. He wants to protect Laenor’s legal heirs and Laena’s daughters, who will be bound in marriage.
Lord Corlys will be Rhaenyra’s guiding light in the kin strife inHouse of the Dragonseason 2. He will use the Velaryon fleet to blockade the Gullet, leading to the Greens under Otto reaching out to the Triarchy, and the ensuingBattle of the Gullet.
Rhaenyra correctly praises Lord Corlys' excellence in the maritime domain:
There’s no port on the Narrow Sea would dare to make an enemy of the Velaryon fleet.
House of the Dragon
House of the Dragon is HBO’s prequel series to Game of Thrones. Set hundreds of years earlier, the show follows the inner machinations and rivalries of the Targaryen royal family. The show was created by Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin, and stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, and Olivia Cooke.
