What Happens To Ulf The White: How He Dies & How House Of The Dragon Rewrites His Story
Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon's season 3 finale, "The Treasons of Tumbleton.""They will burn." Ulf the White made a dark promise to Ormund Hightower at the end of House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7, "The Dragon in Winter," and in the season finale he delivers on it and then some. Despite being a bastard rather than a member of the nobility, Ulf was able to claim the dragon Silverwing, which should've made him one of the most important individuals on Rhaenyra Targaryen's Team Black. However, the queen's treatment of him, compounded by Daemon Targaryen beating him in the street, caused him to turn cloak.
Even that, however, wasn't straightforward. House of the Dragon season 3's finale sees Ormund make the same mistakes, pushing Ulf to the ground when he's missing from the battle, kicking him, and calling him baseborn and useless. And thus, when Ulf finally takes to the sky on his dragon, he burns the host led by Daemon... but also makes sure to burn the Hightowers, directly burning Ormund himself (and Roderick Dustin, aka Roddy the Ruin).
After one of the most devastating and destructive displays of dragon power we've seen in the series so far, Ulf takes off away from the ruined town of Tumbleton, followed by both Vermithor and Caraxes. Having betrayed both sides of the Dance of the Dragons, Ulf faces a difficult future and a desperate bid for survival, and it's also a story that will have to make more changes to George R.R. Martin's book, Fire & Blood.
How Ulf Dies In Fire & Blood & What Happens To Silverwing
Warning: Major SPOILERS for the book from this point on.Ulf's death in Fire & Blood comes shortly after the Battle of Tumbleton... but the second, not the first. In the source material, Ulf is named Lord of Bitterbridge by Daeron Targaryen (who is not missing like he now is in the TV series), though he's not entirely happy with that as a reward. Still, he officially remains on the side of the Greens, alongside Hugh the Hammer, who, in the book, joins Ulf in betraying Rhaenyra and burning Tumbleton, and whose own TV future is now unclear.
Ulf and Hugh are known as the Two Betrayers, and stay at Tumbleton, not wanting to march back towards King's Landing. Their behavior, which includes Hugh declaring himself king, leads to a split in the Green host that remains in the town, and the formation of a group named the Caltrops. Made up of 13 nobles, they hatch a plot to kill both Hugh and Ulf, though their plans are disrupted by the arrival of Addam Velaryon (still Addam of Hull in the TV show) and an army of Team Black that arrives to recapture Tumbleton.
This leads to the Second Battle of Tumbleton, at which Hugh is quickly killed. Ulf, on the other hand, sleeps through the entire battle after getting drunk at a nearby inn, and so survives the events. Still, it's only a short reprieve. The surviving members of the Caltrops continue with their plot to kill Ulf, leading to Hobert Hightower, the cousin of Ormund who takes control of their host after his death, coming up with the idea to poison him.
Hobert presents Ulf with two casks of wine, one Arbor gold and one Dornish red, with the former having been poisoned due to it being the dragonrider's preferred vintage. Ulf was suspicious during the exchange and would only drink the gold wine if Hobert did so first. Hightower reluctantly accepted rather than giving away the plan, drinking a cup, which satisfied Ulf's suspicions. He drank three cups, and while Hobert tried to vomit up the wine, it was to no avail: both men died from the poisoning.
This leaves Silverwing without a rider. Initially, a reward is offered to any man who can claim her, but after a couple of them die in the attempt, interest soon wanes. Silverwing later becomes wild, living in the Reach and never taking another rider, though she is one of the only dragons to survive the Dance of the Dragons.
How House Of The Dragon Has Changed Ulf's Story
Ulf siding with the Greens was taken straight out of the pages of Fire & Blood, and probably wasn't a major surprise to non-book readers either, given his displeasure with how Rhaenyra was treating him, not even allowing him one (1) ale with the lads. However, his double betrayal was an invention for the show, giving the finale an extra plot twist. Some of the events remain similar: the town is destroyed by dragonfire, Ormund dies fighting Roddy, but Ulf is just working against the Blacks.
This change makes Ulf's future in House of the Dragon season 4 harder to predict. He obviously isn't remaining at Tumbleton, nor is he with Hugh the Hammer. Indeed, given the death of Hugh's wife, it's possible that Ulf will be among those he wants vengeance upon. It certainly seems impossible to imagine the Caltrops plot as part of the show's fourth and final season now, nor would there be any reason for Ulf to be involved in the Second Battle at Tumbleton (and, really, this does the whole "he sits out the battle" story anyway).
Because of that, it seems more plausible that Ulf will eventually be found, captured, and brought to whatever those who do so deem to be justice (or punishment), which will no doubt mean his death regardless of which side finds him first. It also raises the small possibility that Ulf simply survives, and is able to escape to a happy life of drinking, but it's hard to stay under the radar when you have a large dragon. It could even be that House of the Dragon still has Ulf poisoned, or just drinking himself to death, but it's going to be quite different from Fire & Blood, however it happens.