Few houses in Westeros symbolize the intersection of glory and survival as vividly as the Velaryons. Of Valyrian origin, with a naval empire unlike any other and wealth rivaling the royal coffers, the Velaryons were the invisible hand propping up the Targaryens. No king could truly rule without the maritime power of Driftmark. And yet, it was precisely this power that placed Lord Corlys — the legendary Sea Snake — at the center of the Dance of the Dragons, torn between loyalty, betrayal, and pragmatism.

In the series House of the Dragon, portrayed by Steven Toussaint, Ser Corlys is an ambitious and hardened man, yet also loyal. But is his destiny truly tied to the Targaryens?

The Early Ties to the Targaryens

Ser Corlys’s involvement with the Targaryens predates the civil war. Married to Rhaenys Targaryen, daughter of King Jaehaerys’s designated heir, she should have become Queen when her father died — but her grandfather chose her uncle instead, clinging to the tradition of male succession.

When that uncle also died, Rhaenys — already with her first son by Ser Corlys — believed she now had the male heir for the Crown. Yet Jaehaerys called for a Great Council, and once again Rhaenys was set aside, watching her cousin Viserys be crowned instead. Ser Corlys, both in support of his wife and out of personal ambition, never hid — not even from Viserys — that he had never truly accepted the Council’s verdict.

Over the years, he bristled at Ser Otto Hightower’s influence as well as at Viserys’s endless indecision in matters of politics and economy. When Viserys finally named Rhaenyra his heir, Ser Corlys swore loyalty to her. He even tried to put forth his daughter as queen if Viserys had agreed to wed her — though she later married Daemon. When Rhaenyra became his daughter-in-law, Ser Corlys doubled down on his allegiance.

Thus, from the very start, Ser Corlys was the cornerstone of the Black cause. His support for Rhaenyra — even after the “death” of his son — was because he saw in her children the continuation of the Velaryon line, even if the court whispered about their bastardy. This is made far clearer in the series than in the book.

His fleet consolidated the power of the “True Queen,” giving her tangible strength before a divided realm. Yet as the war dragged on and Rhaenyra lost ally after ally, what once seemed unbreakable was corroded by death, resentment, and the harsh realization that fighting at her side meant condemning his own House.

The Sea Snake’s Central Role

As we will see in season three, the role of Ser Corlys Velaryon in the Dance of the Dragons is absolutely central — and often underestimated when we focus solely on the dragons. War is not decided in the skies alone: the sea is the backbone of any throne in Westeros, and Ser Corlys, as the legendary Sea Snake, was its master.

Naval and Economic Power

Even before the war erupted, Ser Corlys was already the richest man in Westeros, thanks to his legendary voyages that brought back fortunes from Essos, Yi Ti, and even Asshai. That wealth transformed the Velaryon fleet into the most powerful in the realm. His decision to support Rhaenyra was decisive: not just the promise of dragons, but the guarantee of supply routes, a naval blockade of King’s Landing, and an economic chokehold on Aegon II. Without the Velaryons, the Black cause would have been a castle of sand. This was addressed in House of the Dragon’s second season.

At the war’s outset, when Rhaenyra was proclaimed at Dragonstone, Ser Corlys organized a naval blockade that starved the capital. No ship could enter or leave King’s Landing without facing the Velaryon fleet. This was as vital as any dragon battle: without food, the people began to turn against Aegon II.

Ser Corlys also acted strategically to neutralize the Hightowers. His fleet controlled routes near Oldtown, limiting their ability to reinforce the Greens and safeguarding the Blacks’ western seas.

The Battle of the Gullet

When we return to Westeros, the tragedy of the Battle of the Gullet will loom large. Here, Ser Corlys truly shines as a commander. The Greens, desperate to break the blockade and bring aid from Essos, launched their fleet against the Velaryons. The clash was brutal: dozens of ships burned, dragons joined the fight, and tragedy struck as young princes Viserys and Aegon (the future Aegon III) were captured, and Lucerys Velaryon was killed. Despite the grief, the Velaryons secured victory, proving the Sea Snake’s tactical brilliance and consolidating Black control of the Gullet.

Defending Dragonstone

Throughout the war, Dragonstone remained a Black stronghold, thanks to Ser Corlys’s fleet preventing any direct assault. It may not be remembered as a “battle,” but this strategic defense was entirely his doing.

Economic Warfare

Fire & Blood also recounts that Ser Corlys used his fleet to strike merchant vessels and cut off trade routes, sustaining Aegon II. This economic warfare was as crucial as open conflict, bleeding the Greens’ coffers and unsettling their allies. But it also planted the seeds of a rift.

The Rupture with Rhaenyra

According to Archmaester Gyldayn’s chronicle, the breaking point between Ser Corlys and Rhaenyra is recorded in terse, almost bureaucratic fashion. Eventually, after years of fighting for her, Ser Corlys was accused of conspiring to crown Addam Velaryon — the dragonrider of Seasmoke — in Rhaenyra’s place.

Septon Eustace condemned this as outright treason, while Mushroom suggested it was desperate pragmatism: not usurpation, but a bid to save House Velaryon’s honor and survival as everything crumbled. By then, Rhaenyra believed she had lost nearly all her children — Jacaerys slain, Viserys kidnapped by pirates and presumed dead, and Joffrey, her last son by Laenor, killed in King’s Landing.

The death of Joffrey Velaryon severed Ser Corlys’s last familial bond to Rhaenyra. The wound deepened when she ordered Addam executed for treason, though he was innocent. That was the breaking point: the Sea Snake was thrown into prison.

Imprisonment and Survival

Rhaenyra’s imprisonment of Corlys was emblematic. For a moment, it seemed she had cut away the last thread of legitimacy she possessed. His fleet threatened revolt, but Corlys was not executed. Why? The answer is simple: no one could govern without him.

When Aegon II seized the throne after his half-sister’s fall, he did not dare destroy the Velaryons — instead, he released Ser Corlys and drew him into his regime. The Sea Snake survived not from mercy, but because he was indispensable. During Aegon II’s brief reign, it was clear: killing Corlys would be political suicide. The Velaryon fleet remained essential to maintaining control of the seas. So he was freed, absolved, and absorbed into the Green regime.

Crucially, he never became Aegon’s active commander. He was a pragmatic survivor, keeping his House alive by refusing further resistance.

The Conspiracy Against Aegon II

When Aegon II’s tyranny deepened, discontent brewed. A conspiracy formed to assassinate him in King’s Landing, exploiting chaos and unrest, and to crown a more “consensual” monarch: young Aegon, Rhaenyra, and Daemon’s son.

Septon Eustace claims Corlys consciously joined the plot to poison Aegon II. Mushroom insists he was more of a sympathizer, turning a blind eye rather than plotting murder himself. Archmaester Gyldayn, as usual, leaves judgment open: Corlys’s exact role remains unknowable.

The Hour of the Wolf

When Aegon II died, likely poisoned, the war ended with Aegon III’s ascension. Cregan Stark, Warden of the North, marched late to the war but arrived with such force that no one dared oppose him. Taking office as Hand of the King, he demanded swift justice against those responsible for the bloodshed. This purge became known as the “Hour of the Wolf.”

Corlys stood among the accused. He had been imprisoned by Rhaenyra for treason, freed by Aegon II, and had survived under both factions. To Cregan, a man of unyielding honor, Corlys was a traitor to both sides.

But politics intervened. Even diminished, House Velaryon was still indispensable: its fleet kept trade flowing and seas secure. Killing the Sea Snake would have destabilized a realm desperate for peace.

Through compromise — and at the urging of Alysanne Blackwood, whom Cregan would marry — Corlys was spared. Others were executed swiftly, but the Sea Snake survived, his name forever marked as the embodiment of political pragmatism: a man who betrayed and was betrayed, yet never broke, for he knew that Westeros could not survive without the sea, and the sea belonged to House Velaryon.

Book vs. Series

Fire & Blood presents this in ambiguity: betrayal or pragmatism? It leaves the answer to the reader.

House of the Dragon reframes it with emotional depth. Rather than a shadowy conspirator, the series shows Corlys as a man torn between loyalty and survival. As husband of Rhaenys and grieving grandfather, he gains moral weight and personal tragedy. Leaks suggest season three will dramatize his rupture with Rhaenyra in direct confrontation — transforming a footnote into high tragedy.

The Legacy of the Sea Snake

The contrast is striking:

• The book offers a riddle — did he betray or not?
• The series paints a tragedy — a man who does not want to betray, but cannot watch his House perish.

Ultimately, the fate of House Velaryon proves that political survival demands flexibility. Even after the Dance, though diminished, they endure. By the time of A Song of Ice and Fire, they remain a naval force, though never regaining the splendor of Corlys’s golden days.

The story of Ser Corlys is, in truth, the story of the war itself. The Dance destroyed dynasties, burned cities, and slew dragons — but it did not extinguish the Velaryons. Because one thing is certain: kings and queens may die, but the sea endures. And in Westeros, the sea has always belonged to House Velaryon.