Ulf the White's rise has been one of the strangest turns in House of the Dragon Season 3. What began with a boast about his Targaryen bloodline eventually became reality when the lowborn dragonseed claimed Silverwing, giving him the kind of power that could make or break entire armies.

But power was never enough for Ulf. He wanted recognition to go with it, and his growing resentment toward the people who had brought him into the Dance of the Dragons eventually pushed him toward a decision that would change the Battle of Tumbleton forever.

When Ulf arrives at Tumbleton, however, the question is no longer whether he will prove himself. It is whether anyone can actually control him once he takes to the skies on Silverwing.

Ulf does not die during the Battle of Tumbleton in House of the Dragon Season 3. Instead, his betrayal of Rhaenyra Targaryen turns him into one of the most destructive forces on the battlefield, with Silverwing's fire ultimately devastating both sides.

Ulf's condition when the battle begins is hardly what anyone would expect from one of the Greens' most valuable new dragonriders. After abandoning the Blacks, he spends the crucial opening moments drunk in a tavern, boasting about his future greatness instead of preparing for battle. Ormund Hightower eventually discovers him passed out in an outhouse and is furious that his supposedly valuable dragonrider is nowhere to be found.

The confrontation exposes just how quickly Ulf's relationship with the Greens has deteriorated. Ormund had previously given the dragonseed the recognition and status he craved, but his patience finally snaps. He insults Ulf as a “useless baseborn stump” and forces him back toward Silverwing, leaving the disgraced dragonrider with little choice but to join the fighting.

Once Ulf finally takes to the skies, however, Tumbleton descends into chaos. Ulf initially turns Silverwing against Daemon Targaryen's forces, confirming that his defection is genuine. But his attack soon becomes impossible for either faction to control. As Ormund and Roderick Dustin clash on the battlements, Silverwing descends and burns them both, killing commanders from opposing sides in the same devastating attack.

The destruction only escalates from there. Ulf unleashes Silverwing across Tumbleton, burning through soldiers, buildings and streets rather than fighting with any real distinction between Black and Green forces. By the time the devastation subsides, the battlefield has been transformed into a ruin, leaving Daemon's forces with little reason to continue fighting.

And Ulf survives it. That is what makes his role in Tumbleton so consequential. He does not die defending the Greens, nor does he fall as punishment for betraying Rhaenyra. Instead, he emerges from the battle alive after helping turn one of the Dance's most important confrontations into a massacre.

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But surviving Tumbleton does not mean Ulf escapes the consequences of his choices. His betrayal has given him unprecedented power while simultaneously making him a liability to the very people who welcomed him into their ranks.

Ulf's survival at Tumbleton is only temporary. In George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, his increasingly reckless behavior after the battle makes him a growing problem for the Greens, particularly as he begins to believe that possessing a dragon gives him a legitimate claim to power. Ulf's ambitions grow alongside Hugh Hammer's, and the two dragonseeds become increasingly difficult for the Greens to control. Their behavior eventually leads a group of Green loyalists, known as the Caltrops, to plot against them. The plan is to eliminate both men before their growing power becomes an even greater threat.

Ulf, however, manages to survive the Second Battle of Tumbleton almost by accident. He is once again too drunk to properly participate in the fighting, sleeping through much of the battle while the forces around him clash. His survival only delays the inevitable. Ulf's actual death comes after the battle, when Hobert Hightower attempts to poison him. Hobert brings him poisoned wine, but Ulf initially suspects that something is wrong and refuses to drink. Hobert then drinks from the cup himself to convince Ulf that it is safe. Once Ulf is satisfied, he finally drinks the wine — and both men die from the poison.

There is one major complication for House of the Dragon, though. The series has already changed the timeline and circumstances surrounding several characters, meaning the exact circumstances of Ulf's death from 'Fire & Blood' cannot simply be transferred onto the screen. Most notably, Hobert Hightower is already dead in the television adaptation, meaning someone else would have to take his place if the poisoning remains part of Ulf's story.

For now, then, Ulf the White's story remains unfinished. Season 3 leaves him alive after Tumbleton, but his survival comes with a dangerous new reality: he has gone from an insignificant dragonseed to a man with enough power to frighten the very people who helped put him on a dragon in the first place.

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Do you think his betrayal was always going to end in death, or could Ulf have survived the Dance if he had chosen one side and stayed loyal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!