Talk:Dragons

Known dragons
I have been looking back on previous episodes of Game of Thrones and I have discovered other mentioned Dragons mentioned by Viserys. Since no official caption for the series is currently available, these are my best guesses on how to spell them. These names can be found in episode 4 of Game of Thrones.
 * Arkanay
 * Esovias
 * Vemathrex
 * Vallion
 * Gisgarr

Umm, pretty sure they're the ones mentioned in the book series.
 * Yup, I was aware of these but since we don't know how they're spelt it's difficult to put them into the Wiki. I could try Tweeting the episode's writer, see if he lets us know how they're written.--Werthead 10:06, June 17, 2011 (UTC)

Description
I do belive this article should have a 'Description' section, of the average apperancce of Dragons and their characteristics. Id love to do it myself. Noc noc... whos their? Darknesssss 20:47, June 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a reasonable idea to me, go ahead if you would like. Please can you base it on the show's depiction of them.--Opark 77 21:27, June 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Done. like it? Noc noc... whos their? Darknesssss 04:19, June 6, 2012 (UTC)


 * Good start, thank you. I have given it a copy edit.--Opark 77 08:27, June 6, 2012 (UTC)


 * Shouldent it be mentioned that they are Wyverns and can form close bonds to humans? Noc noc... whos their? Darknesssss 08:30, June 6, 2012 (UTC)


 * I think that wyvern is an esoteric term that will not explain much to our readers. I think the description itself is more meaningful than comparing them to another mythical creature. Where in the show is it established that they can form close bonds to humans?--Opark 77 09:55, June 6, 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, i would base their abilities to form close bonds due to the dragons relationships's to Daenerys, since she raised them they obey her, and jump in happyness when they see her. Plus, Daenerys even said to Doreah that Drogon loves her, and she helped with raising him, id call that a bond. Plus, where not comparings them to other mythical creatures, the dragons in the books and show are Wyverns, many people who know the different types of dragons can quickly identify them, since they have all the qualities of a Wyvern. Noc noc... whos their? Darknesssss 02:34, June 7, 2012 (UTC)

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Tubes
When I watched the episode I noticed the tubes in their throats; my guess is that this is the same principle as in the 2002 film Reign of Fire: they don't just suddenly blast "fire" out of both tubes. Instead, they expel two different reactants out of each tube - sort of like epoxy. When both reactants mix it produces flame.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 07:24, May 14, 2013 (UTC)

Dragon names from episode 1.4 have been superseded
Apparently the TV series just made up names for dragons in episode 4 of Season 1, "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things".

The short novella The Princess and the Queen reveals the names of all Targaryen dragons, and they don't use the names that the TV series mentioned in passing in a single early episode.

Viserys specifically says his father gave him a candy if he could remember the name of each dragon as they passed their skulls....but I think it a fairly minor retcon to say that these are the names of various Valyrian dragons from many centuries ago, long before the War of Conquest - and that they didn't actually have their skulls in the Red Keep.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 00:03, November 11, 2013 (UTC)

An Index of Dragons
Much has been made of the statement that the Red Keep was decorated with the skulls of nineteen dragons after they died out. This isn't necessarily every dragon who ever lived as some may have died at sea and their remains were not recovered. This is an attempt to list them all, and possibly develop a genealogy of dragons.

The original Targaryen dragons
When the Targaryens first colonized Dragonstone a century before the War of Conquest (and only twelve years before the Doom of Valyria) they took with them five Valyrian dragons. Of these, four actually died during the next one hundred years, making Balerion the only surviving Valyrian-born dragon. The others had left eggs behind, however, from which hatched Vhagar and Meraxes.

Also of note is that there were actually several dragons who died as hatchlings, and who therefore are not particularly remembered in historical texts. Some may have never been formally named, or if they were, they had such little impact on history in their short lives that they are not well remembered.

Dragons who died before the Dance of the Dragons

 * Meraxes - killed in Dorne during the reign of Aegon I. Took a Dornish crossbow bolt to the eye. This apparently also killed Queen Rhaenys.
 * Balerion - died at some point late in the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. This may have been the incident that killed Baelon Targaryen, sparking off a succession crisis resolved two years before the Old King's death (in 103 AC), at the Great Council of 101 AC (which again chose to skip over the "Queen Who Never Was", Princess Rhaenys.
 * Quicksilver - this is a curious situation. Quicksilver is noted as being the dragon of King Aenys I, older brother of Maegor the Cruel and father of Jaehaerys. No mention is made of Quicksilver during the Dance of the Dragons leading to the strong implication that it may have died earlier, possibly during the Faith Militant uprising (or perhaps, the incident that killed Balerion?)

The Dance of the Dragons: The Blacks and the Greens
The Dance of the Dragons was the disastrous Targaryen civil war fought from 129 to 131 AC. The two factions were known as the Greens, led by the usurper King Aegon II (and his mother, Queen Alicent Hightower), and the Blacks, led by Queen Rhaenyra. Jaehaerys I was succeeded by his grandson Viserys I, who originally married a woman of House Arryn, but she later died and their only surviving child was their daughter Rhaenyra - who thus grew up as the heir designate and was expected to succeed her father. Viserys I later remarried, however, to Alicent Hightower, who gave him three sons and a daughter - all half-siblings of Rhaenyra.

The Greens:
 * Queen Mother Alicent Hightower, second wife of King Viserys I
 * King Aegon II, her first son.
 * Prince Aemond One-Eye, her second son.
 * Prince Daeron the Daring, her third and youngest son.
 * Queen Helaena, sister and wife of Aegon II.
 * Jaehaerys and Jaehaerya, male and female fraternal twins, six years old at the beginning of the Dance.
 * Maelor, a two year old son.

The Blacks

The Blacks have a convoluted genealogy because three major members remarried, and had children from both marriages.

Viserys I's mother was Princess Rhaenys (named after Aegon I's wife, her ancestor). She was called the "Queen Who Never Was" because she was skipped over in line of succession, by decision of Jaehaerys I in 92 AC and again at the Great Council of 101 AC. It's not clear yet who Viserys I's father was. Princess Rhaenys was the daughter of one "Aemon Targaryen" and Lady Jacelyn Baratheon. Rhaenys had two sons in her first marriage: Viserys I was the elder, while the younger was Prince Daemon Targaryen - a warrior and adventurer of boundless energy who became one of the Blacks' greatest champions.

While King Viserys I and Prince Daemon were the product of her first marriage, Rhaenys later remarried to Corlys Velaryon, and had two children by him: Laenor and Laena Velaryon. As per the incestuous marriage practices of the Targaryens, Daemon married his younger half-sister Laena Velaryon, while Rhaenyra married Laenor (who was the half-brother of her own father). Both Rhaenyra and Daemon had children by these first marriages. Rhaenyra had three sons, Jace, Luke, and Joff, though it was rumored (with varying accuracy) that one or all of them were fathered by her lover Harwin Strong. Daemon had two daughters with Laena: Baela and Rhaena of Pentos (so called because she was born in Pentos, due to her father frequently spending time fighting in foreign wars).

Both of the Velaryon siblings later died, so Rhaenyra and Daemon remarried - to each other. Their marriage produced two more sons, who were only children at the time of the Dance: Aegon the Younger (the future Aegon III), and Viserys the Younger (the future Viserys II).

Rhaenyra actually had several loves during her life, and some said that one (or both) of her marriages was purely political. In her early years she was loved by Criston Cole, who became Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, but after their breakup he became one of the chief supporters of the Greens - to the point that he helped crown Aegon II. She was later rumored to have a longrunning affair with Harwin Strong of Harrenhal, even as she was married to her own half-uncle Corlys Velaryon. Finally, she remarried to Daemon, her full uncle. As for Daemon, his rumored affairs would make Oberyn Martell blush.


 * "Queen Who Never Was" Rhaenys Targaryen, mother of Viserys I and Daemon, later remarried to Corlys Velaryon and by him the mother of Laenor and Laena Velaryon (both deceased).
 * Rhaenys's husband Corlys Velaryon was still alive at the time of the Dance, despite his advanced age, and was known as the Sea Snake. He served as Rhaenyra's Hand of the Queen. Corlys was both Rhaenyra's father-in-law (from her first marriage), and her step-grandfather.
 * Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, daughter of Viserys I

By her first marriage, to her half-uncle Laenor Velaryon, she had three sons (all rumored to actually have been fathered by Harwin Strong):


 * Jacaerys "Jace" Velaryon
 * Lucerys "Luke" Velaryon
 * Joffrey "Joff" Velaryon

By her second marriage, to her full uncle Prince Daemon Targaryen, she had two sons (both of whom where only children when the Dance occurred):


 * Aegon the Younger (later Aegon III)
 * Viserys the Younger (later Viserys II)

Daemon Targaryen had two daughters from his previous marriage to his half-sister Laena Velaryon:


 * Baela Targaryen
 * Rhaena Targarhen - called "Rhaena of Pentos" due to being born and raised there.

Dragons and their riders
Dragons controlled by the Greens:


 * Vhagar - ridden by Prince Aemond One-Eye
 * Sunfyre - ridden by King Aegon II. Called "Sunfyre the Golden" due to the color of his scales.  Held by many to be the most magnificent Targaryen dragon who ever flew in the skies over Westeros (though Vhagar was still stated to be the biggest and most powerful, so Sunfyre must have been considered more beautiful).
 * Tessarion, the Blue Queen - ridden by Prince Daeron the Daring
 * Dreamfyre - ridden by Queen Helaena. Originally belonged to Princess Rhaena, older sister of Jaehaerys I and Alysanne.

The Greens also controlled two young dragons not yet big enough to ride:


 * Morghul - bonded with Jaehaerys, son of Aegon II.
 * Shrykos - bonded with Jaehaerya, twin of Jaehaerys and daughter of Aegon II.

Dragons controlled by the Blacks:

The Blacks actually "possessed" fourteen named dragons, compared to the Greens' four, but even the Blacks realized from the outset this advantage existed in name only. At the beginning of the Dance, only three of the Blacks' dragons were old and powerful, battle-ready dragons with riders (Syrax, Caraxes, and Meleys). Four others had riders but were only young striplings barely able to fight an adult dragon (Vermax, Arrax, Tyraxes, and Moondancer), and another was practically a hatchling and not nearly old enough to be ridden at all (Stormcloud). Another three dragons were old and powerful, but they were currently riderless. A final group of three "wild" dragons had no previous riders and would be difficult to tame.


 * Syrax - ridden by Queen Rhaenya. Called a "she-dragon", possibly another egg-layer.
 * Caraxes - ridden by Daemon Targaryen. One of the largest and most battle-hardened dragons of its day, due to Daemon's extensive foreign campaigns in the Stepstones.
 * Meleys, the Red Queen - ridden by Queen-That-Never-Was Rhaenys, Viserys I's mother and Rhaenyra's paternal grandmother.
 * Moondancer - ridden by Baela Targaryen, Daemon's daughter from his first marriage to Laena Targaryen. His younger daughter Rhaena had a dragon at one point, but it died as a hatchling before the Dance.

Rhaenyra's three older sons, from her first marriage, all possessed dragons. They were all very young, however, and only the oldest two had dragons capable of flying. Their ability to fly long distances with a rider technically made them count as "battle-ready" but even Rhaenyra and Daemon were wary to send them into combat against other dragons:


 * Vermax - ridden by Rhaenyra's eldest son Jacaerys "Jace" Velaryon. Sent on a mission to the Eyrie and the Winterfell to rally them to Rhaenyra's side.
 * Arrax - ridden by Lucerys "Luke" Velaryon. Sent to Storm's End to try to sway it to Rhaenyra's side, only to accidentally arrive at the same time that Aemond arrived on the great dragon Vhagar, also seeking the same goal.
 * Tyraxes - bonded with the youngest of Rhaenyra's oldest three sons, Joffrey "Joff" Velaryon, a boy of twelve. Tyraxes was barely old enough to support a rider's weight for short distances and could not really fly for long distances reliably - much less fight another dragon.

Rhaenyra's sons from her second marriage, to Daemon Targaryen, only had one dragon, too young to even consider using:


 * Stormcloud - belonged to Aegon the Younger (the future Aegon III). Aegon himself was still only a child, and Stormcloud was too young to carry his weight at all. Rhaenyra was so concerned for her youngest two sons' safety, and Stormcloud was deemed to be so young, that all three were sent away to the Free Cities to remain in safety while the civil war erupted.

"Retired" and "wild" dragons

If a dragon's original rider dies it may reject any future riders before accepting another. At the time of the Dance, there were so many dragons that there were actually more than the current number of Targaryens. These "retired" dragons lived on Dragonstone island, awaiting new riders:


 * Vermithor - once ridden by King Jaehaerys I
 * Silverwing - once ridden by Good Queen Alysanne, Jaehaerys I's sister-wife.
 * Seasmoke - once ridden by Rhaenyra's first husband, Laenor Velaryon.

If a dragon does not bond to a rider between when it hatches and when it grows to maturity, it will become extremely difficult to ever tame it. These "wild" dragons lived on Dragonstone (along with the "retired" dragons), awaiting the day that a brave Targaryen would attempt to master them. Similar to the retired dragons, the wild dragons occurred during this generation alone because for once, there were more dragons than living members of the Targaryen family. Because they didn't have riders they were just given informal monickers for names by the smallfolk whose livestock they hunted. The wild dragons included:


 * Sheepstealer - a ferocious beast, so-called because he developed a taste for mutton, and hunted across the shores of Blackwater Bay to seize sheep from local flocks. He was hatched during the early years of the reign of Jaehaerys I. He was very much a sharp contrast with the earlier, regal-looking dragons with impressive-sounding names: half-abandoned by the Targaryens, he had only the derisive nickname "Sheepstealer", and unlike the regal, beautiful color-patterns of past dragons, he was noted as having a bland, ugly, mud brown coloration. Very much the discarded mutt of the Targaryen dragons, he was nonetheless close to eighty years old by the time of the Dance, meaning he had grown to impressive and dangerous size.
 * Grey Ghost - a shy beast afraid of humans, with a misty grey coloration. It nested alone in a cave in the side of the Dragonmont. In contrast to Sheepstealer, Grey Ghost had a taste for fish, and would hunt for long hours over Blackwater Bay scanning for prey. A very reclusive animal, it was barely seen by men - particularly because unlike Sheepstealer, it didn't come near livestock herds to feed itself, actively avoiding people to take what it needed from the seas. The difficulty in bonding a rider to Grey Ghost wasn't that it had a ferocious personality, but that it was so reclusive that people have great difficulty even finding it - Grey Ghost was barely glimpsed by human eyes, except the occasional sighting by smallfolk out at sea.
 * The Cannibal - the most ferocious of the wild dragons. It was so-called because, if left unguarded, it actively attacked the dragon nests and hatcheries on Dragonstone, to feast on eggs and young hatchlings. Something was wrong with its mind or temperament: it frequently attacked other dragons as well, and would certainly have tried to eat them if it could have overpowered them. Nor was this simply aggression, but a positive taste for the flesh of other dragons: it even devoured the carrion-flesh of dead dragons if a corpse was left unguarded (from other hatchlings, etc.). It is possible that, in a parallel to the Targaryen madness, generations of compound incest among the Targaryen dragons (which all descended from only three originals) had produced some instability in the Cannibal's sanity. It was the oldest and thus largest of the wild dragons; it was therefore older than Sheepstealer and possibly born before the reign of Jaehaerys I even began.

Dragonseeds

Realizing that they had more riders than dragons, the Blacks began searching for bastard Targaryen children, said to be "born of dragonseed" - they were called the "seeds" for short. In some cases they were the sons or grandsons of original bastards. Most were found in or around the smallfolk villages of Dragonstone island itself. Many died attempting to bond with the six unclaimed dragons, in an event known as "The Sowing" of the Dragonseeds. No one was foolish enough to even attempt riding the Cannibal, and several tried to simply find Grey Ghost but it hid from all human presence. The "retired" dragons were at least used to the presence of people - though they still killed many who attempted to ride them. Sheepstealer was far more challenging, because it had never known a rider at all - many more died attempting to master it. Nonetheless, four dragonseeds successfully bonded with these four dragons:


 * Vermithor - ridden by a blacksmith's bastard, a towering man known as Hugh the Hammer, or Hard Hugh, or Hard Hugh Hammer (his name was not "Hugh of House Hammer", there is no "House Hammer").
 * Silverwing - ended up bonding with a pale-haired man-at-arms known as Ulf the White, or "Ulf White" (again, there is no "House White", this was just a shortened form of his nickname). Ulf was a drunken buffoon, also known as "Ulf the Sot" due to his drinking. He spent more time drunk and unconscious than he did riding Silverwing, but no one else could be found who would bond with the beast. Due to his drunkenness no one took Ulf as a serious threat, though he became the viciously loyal lackey of Hard Hugh Hammer. Quite probably the only reason that Silverwing survived the Second Battle of Tumbleton, in which so many other dragons died, is because Ulf was so thoroughly drunk and passed-out when the surprise assault began that he slept through the entire battle, remaining unconscious despite the noise of the battle and screams of dying dragons outside of his tent. Silverwing was therefore able to avoid the battle entirely.
 * Seasmoke - bonded with a young fifteen year old boy named Addam of Hull. Prince Jacaerys and Lord Corlys were so impressed with the boy that they both petitioned Queen Rhaenyra to legitimize him and remove his taint of bastardy, after which he became known as Addam Velaryon. Addam's brother Alyn of Hull attempted to bond with Grey Ghost but could not catch the beast, and then attempted to bond to Sheepstealer - who nearly killed him, but Addam's timely intervention on Seamoke managed to scare the wild dragon away.
 * Sheepstealer - Sheepstealer killed more attempted riders than the other three, having never known a rider before. For a time, it appeared that none could master him. ironically, as the cast-off, ignored, "ugly duckling" of the dragons, Sheepstealer did eventually bond with a forgotten and ignored bastard girl who was living as a commoner and did not know of her royal bloodline. This teenaged bastard girl, named only "Nettles", was of a kindred spirit with Sheepstealer and bonded with him. Suddenly she shot from being a forgotten nobody to a major figure in the entire war. The bastard girl "Alys Rivers" was also discovered in the search for the dragonseeds, but she was ultimately not a dragonrider but a seer, strongly influenced by the Targaryen tendency to have prophetic dreams.

Fate of Dragons
Before the Dance of the Dragons:


 * Meraxes - killed in Dorne by sustained crossbow bolt fire to its eyes. Died with Queen Rhaenys.
 * Balerion - died due to unspecified circumstances near the end of the reign of King Jaehaerys I.
 * Quicksilver - apparently died before the Dance of the Dragons (this remains an open question)

During the Dance of the Dragons:


 * Arrax - killed in a duel with Vhagar at the very beginning of the war. Prince Luke had ridden Arrax to Storm's End seeking an alliance in the upcoming war at the same time that Aemond One-Eye arrived at the castle pursuing the same goal. As Luke was an ambassador and protected by Guest right, Borros Baratheon asked them to leave the hall to fight outside, and both agreed to the duel while riding their dragons. Unfortunately one of the Stormlands' infamous rainstorms was battering the castle, and such a young dragon had to exert all of its strength simply staying airborne, robbing it of what little advantage in agility it had over the largest and most powerful living dragon.
 * Meleys, the Red Queen - killed along with Queen Who Never Was Rhaenys by King Aegon II while riding his dragon Sunfyre, near Rook's Rest. This was not the one-sided fight that Vhagar had enjoyed against the stripling Arrax. Instead, it was a pyrrhic victory: before it died, Meleys nearly tore one of Sunfyre's wings from its socket. It was months before it was able to fly again, and even so, it remained half-maimed for the rest of its life. It did eventually recover the ability to fly but was ungainly: it had nearly lost the wing, and it healed back at a clearly incorrect and unusual angle. Aegon II himself was badly burned and had to spend months sedated from the pain. The sacrifice of Meleys and Rhaenys helped knock Aegon II and Sunfyre out of the war for months, enabling the later strike by the Blacks against King's Landing itself.
 * Vermax - killed while fending off the massive assault against Dragonstone launched by a sellsail army which the Greens hired from the Free Cities. Sustained arrow fire and harpoons struck Vermax like a flying whale, tearing open its belly. It crashed onto the ship which it was tethered to. It was still alive but too weak to fly as the ship sank, was pulled under with it and drowned. Prince Jacaerys would not abandon his mount and died as well.

With the Greens' naval power destroyed, Aegon II and Sunfyre knocked out of the war for months, and with new dragonriders, the Blacks followed up by launching an assault on King's Landing itself. Their land army fought its way to the capital in the First Battle of Tumbleton (in the very north of The Reach), while the dragons flew over the bay. Vhagar and Tessarion were off leading armies in the Riverlands, Sunfyre was grounded at Rook's Rest, leaving only Dreamfyre to defend the capital - but Queen Helaena was judged to be no warrior. Moreover, while the dragonseeds were untested in combat, Jace had hoped that the addition of four new dragons to the Blacks' side was hoped to tip the balance back into their favor. As it turned out, so many of the City Watch were still loyal to Prince Daemon (from when he was their Lord Commander) that there wasn't even a siege: they flung all seven gates open, as the dragons landed inside the city and burned the remaining Green garrison.


 * Grey Ghost - killed and partially devoured by the Cannibal. Soon after the Blacks captured King's Landing, the corpse of Grey Ghost was found on the eastern base of the Dragonmont near the shore, completely ripped into two pieces. Fishermen said they earlier seen the Cannibal fighting with Grey Ghost out at sea. While before the Cannibal had eaten eggs and hatchlings, it had now reached the point where it would kill and feed on other adult dragons. Subsequently the Cannibal was held to be the foe of man and dragon alike, but with bigger concerns for the time being, the best the castellan at Dragonstone could do was to forbid fishing ships from traveling to the eastern side of the island, in the hope that the Cannibal would leave them alone.

After Dowager Queen Alicent and Queen Helaena were executed, the Blacks had put all of the younger dragons together in the Dragonpit - the Greens' Dreamfyre, Shrykos, and Morghul, as well as the Blacks' own young Tyraxes, which belonged to Prince Joffrey. The larger Black dragons were not contained within the domed structure.

Unfortunately, without control of the Reach, and with the Riverlands burned out, the Blacks had no way of feeding the population of the capital city - which was already devastated by uncontrolled fires caused by the dragon flames. With roving mobs of looters moving throughout the city, it wasn't long before a city-wide riot began. Arguably what sparked it was when Rhaenyra started executing the members of the Greens whom they had taken prisoner in the fall of the city, her own royal kin. Rhaenyra was embittered after the loss of her two eldest sons Luke and Jace, and she wanted Dowager Queen Alicent - who had started the entire coup - to know what it felt like to lose those she loved before she died, so she saved her first last. First young Prince Jaehaerys was tortured to death, as the boy was slowly impaled (his twin Princess Jaehaerya had escaped the fall of the city). Queen Helaena was also executed, though her death was mercifully quick because when thrown into a pit of spikes one pierced her head. Soon street riots began breaking out, which over days grew and combined into neighborhood-wide riots. Urged on by a street preacher known as the Shepherd, the thousands of rioters became convinced that to take back the city they had to destroy all of the dragons, who were monsters before the Seven.

A human tidal-wave of starving peasants with nothing to lose assaulted the dragon pit. From the Red Keep, Prince Joffrey saw the fires of the rioters advancing on the Dragonpit. In extreme haste, he attempted to ride Syrax herself to the Dragonpit - it is possible that his intent was not to try to master the great dragon in combat, but simply to use it to quickly reach his own dragon, the young Tyraxes, so he could free it. Whatever the cast, he flew too high and too fast, Syrax became annoyed at the unfamiliar rider, and turned over in mid-air to brush him off. Joff fell hundreds of feet to his death in the city streets.

Meanwhile, the human wave of rioters assaulted the guards of the Dragonpit and forced their way in - but the noise of their assault woke all of the beasts, who were spewing flame and ready for a fight when they entered. Over 2,000 peasants died, but in the end, they managed to kill all four dragons. Dreamfyre was young but still the largest of the four, and managed to tear her way out of her chains and fly about inside of the dragonpit. Even so the heavy gates were barred and there was no way she could force them open, so she turned on her attackers, managing to kill more of them than the other three dragons had put together. After a glancing shot from a crossbow bolt destroyed one of its eyes, in desperation Dreamfyre attempted to break through the ceiling of the dome itself. The structure had already been weakened by all of the dragonflame being spewed out below, and the entire megastructure collapsed, killing Dreamfyre and untold hundreds of other smallfolk. Enraged, the Blacks ordered the Dragonpit to be left in ruins and for the thousands of corpses underneath the rubble - who had dared harm dragons - to rot where they fell. Even by the War of the Five Kings 170 years later, the Dragonpit remains in ruins, with heaps of weathered human skeletons strew about the rubble.


 * Shrykos - young dragon not yet old enough to ride, killed in the assault on the Dragonpit. Swarmed by a human wave of rioters like a lion covered in ants, a man jumped onto the back of its head and hammered won an axe until he finally cracked open its skull.
 * Morghul - young dragon not yet old enough to ride, killed in the assault on the Dragonpit. A warrior known only as the Flaming Knight charged headlong at the beast, and continued to advance and repeatedly drive his spear into the beast's eyes even as the dragon poured flames onto him and his flesh literally roasted inside of his armor. Even the steel plate of his armor was found melted on his corpse.
 * Tyraxes - killed in the assault in the Dragonpit. Managed to put up a longer fight than the younger dragons, and retreated back within its personal lair within the Dragonpit, forcing the rioters into a choke point. So many were killed trying to force their way in that they formed a pile of corpses which those after them had to climb over, as the pile rose higher and higher, until a quite literal wall of burned corpses completely blocked the entrance. Unfortunately there was also a back entrance which some other rioters managed to enter through while Tyraxes was distracted by those at the front entrance, and they managed to kill the dragon.
 * Dreamfyre - killed in the assault on the Dragonpit. Managed to break free of its chains and fly about within the dome, but it was still within bowshot range and was soon stuck full of over a dozen wounds. It finally died when in desperation it attempted to crash through the ceiling of the dome, already weakened by the flames, which ended up bringing down the entire structure and killing it.

Soon, the Blacks set out to find and destroy the Greens in the field:


 * Vhagar - killed by Caraxes in an epic duel at Harrenhal. Prince Daemon, riding Caraxes, attacked Aemond One-Eye from his blind side. As the beasts grappled in mid-air, the largest living dragon faced off against one of the most battle-hardened. In the end, Daemon apparently leaped onto Vhagar, climbed up to Aemond, and drove his sword Dark Sister through Aemond's blind eye so forcefully that it came out the back of his skull (judging from how his corpse was found). Vhagar and Caraxes were so badly entangled that they then crashed into Gods Eye lake from hundreds of feet into the air. Nothing could have survived such a crash and nothing did.
 * Caraxes - while Caraxes did managed to kill Vhagar in the fall into Gods Eye lake at Harrenhal, it wasmortally wounded in the exchange. Of the two men and two dragons which fell into the lake, only Caraxes briefly emerged, but having sustained massive internal injuries. It managed to pitifully crawl up onto shore of the lake before expiring.

Through a series of events, the dragonseed Hard Hugh Hammer betrayed Rhaenyra, in the hopes of setting himself up as king, given that he was now an acknowledged Targaryen bastard. He was aided by his drunken lackey, Ulf the White. He joined forces with Prince Daeron to betray Rhaenyra. Realizing that Addam Velaryon would stay loyal to Rhaenyra, they framed him for treachery in an attempt to kill him.

The combined Green/Betrayer army then camped at Tumbleton, at the site of the previous battle which decided the fate of King's Landing. Outside of the camp were their three dragons: Hugh's Vermithor, Ulf's Silverwing, and Daeron's Tessarion. Complicating matters is that Prince Daeron and the Greens had no real intention of allowing the bastard turncloak Hard Hugh to set himself up as king. Daeron's allies, chief among them Lord Unwin Peake, plotted to kill Hugh and Ulf in turn.

Unbeknownst to them, however, Addam Velaryon had escaped death and rallied a loyal army, with him in the lead mounted on his dragon, Seasmoke. The Second Battle of Tumbleton was one of the most grueling and destructive of the entire war. More dragons died in a single day there than in any other battle: three adult dragons engaged in full combat (the assault on the Dragonpit had killed four dragons, but they were young and chained up, and it wasn't a formal battle). The assault took the enemy camp by surprise, and Hard Hugh Hammer was not even able to mount Vermithor before he found a traitorous sword thrust through his belly, opening him from the groin to the throat. Ulf was so drunk that he could not be roused to consciousness at all. The Green/Betrayer army consisted of the bulk of the original force of House Hightower, which had once marched in grand procession from Oldtown.

Differing accounts give different versions, but multiple layers of treachery were at play within the Green/Betrayer camp: each was attempting to use the last-ditch assault by Addam's small Black army as a convenient opportunity to kill off their co-conspirators. Whatever the case, in the battle itself, Addam Velaryon's assault was desperate but it took the Hightower army by surprise. Silverwing flew off at the beginning of the battle and hovered on the high winds above it out of bowshot, avoiding the fight. Addam on Seasmoke was still outnumbered by one dragon against two, yet Vermithor and Tessarion were riderless. Addam died and Vermithor killed Seasmoke by ripping his head off, and attempting to fly away with it in his jaws, yet he had been badly wounded by Seasmoke in turn and could no longer fly. Vermithor flapped his wings in vain and soon died of his injuries. Tessarion had also been badly wounded by Seasmoke and could not fly. It lasted longer than Vermithor, but eventually archers were placed just outside of the range of its dragonflame. The half-crippled and flightless dragon was an easy target, and they peppers its eyes with arrows until it perished.

Addam Velaryon, Hard Hugh Hammer, and Prince Daeron were dead. When Ulf the White finally awoke, Unwin Peake invited him to his council table. Ulf stupidly believed that Peake would simply change the plan and march on King's Landing anyway, to put Ulf on the Iron Throne, given that he possessed their only remaining dragon. Ulf wondered for a moment why Hobert Hightower looked so nervous when the three of them drank glasses of wine to seal the deal. Within minutes Ulf passed out dead from the tasteless poison in the wine. Within a few more minutes, Hobert Hightower stared at Lord Peake in shock, and Hobert desperately tried to gag himself, but the poison his alleged ally Lord Peake had also slipped into his wine was already taking effect, and he died by that night. Peake offered a massive reward for any man who could claim Silverwing but it killed those who attempted to ride it. Meanwhile, the Hightower army had taken crippling losses, and began to degenerate into brigandage.


 * Seasmoke - killed at the Second Battle of Tumbleton by Vermithor.
 * Vermithor - mortally wounded by Seasmoke at the Second Battle of Tumbleton and quickly died of its injuries.
 * Tessarion - badly wounded by Seasmoke at the Second Battle of Tumbleton, and while half-crippled and flightless, picked off by archers who shot it through the eyes.

Near the end of the war, Aegon II attempted a last-ditch strike against Dragonstone, sending in men to infiltrate the castle and kill the Blacks in their sleep. Baela Targaryen had grown up on Dragonstone, however, and knew the layout better than the attackers, so she was able to slip out of her window, alight atop the rooftops, and reach the stable where her dragon Moondancer was kept. Moondancer was young but now battle-ready, and while Sunfyre was older and more powerful one of its wings was half-crippled from its fight with Meleys - once the most magnificent dragon ever to fly in the skies of Westeros, it was now a broken thing, covered in scars and wounds that opened when it moved, and it had lost an eye. Due to its half-healed wing, Sunfyre could only stay aloft with great effort, and many marveled that it was able to fly across the bay Dragonstone at all - as it turned out, it was Sunfyre, and not the Cannibal, who had been seen fighting Grey Ghost earlier (though the Cannibal consumed part of Grey Ghosts's corpse).

Aegon II swooped down to Dragonstone, expecting to enter in triumph and unopposed - only to see that Baela, fierce as her father, was flying up on Moondancer to meet him in combat.

Fates unknown

 * Quicksilver - this one is the real curveball. What the heck happened to him? Killed in the Faith Militant uprising? Were there other dragons born after the War of Conquest who didn't live to see the Dance? (more than just hatchlings who were unnamed)
 * Syrax - may have died when Rhaenyra was captured, I don't have details.
 * Sheepstealer -....Daemon was having an affair with Alys Rivers and she was heavily pregnant when he died at Harrenhal. Yet Rhaenyra believed that Daemon was having an affair...with Nettles. Maybe he was having an affair with both. There's a point when Rhaenyra sends out orders to Maidenpool to have Nettles and Sheepstealer killed in their sleep, but the lord of the castle won't because she explicitly commanded him to kill a guest under his roof (and violate Guest right).
 * The Cannibal - Oh God, the Cannibal...what the hell was wrong with him? He wasn't just aggressive to other dragons...he was an actual cannibal, who preferred to eat dragon-flesh, even eggs. He'd even go after unguarded carcasses. He's like...the Aerion Brightflame or Aerys II of dragons. Not sure what became of him.
 * Silverwing - she survived to fairly late in the war, but I'm not sure what became of her. After Second Tumbleton she was simply left riderless, held by Unwin Peake but none could ride her.
 * Stormcloud - I suspect that Stormcloud was actually the stunted "last dragon" whose skull we later see. I get the impression that it was with Aegon III in Pentos, riding out the entire war in safety.
 * Don't know how the final Sunfyre vs Moondancer battle ends.

As for the Blacks and the Greens, by Second Tumbleton the Blacks had lost Princess Rhaenys, all three of Rhaenyra's older sons, and Daemon himself. Aegon III and Viserys II were safe in the Free Cities (and as we know, survive the war). It is unknown what happened to Lord Corlys Velaryon, and Daemon's two daughters Baela and Rhaena Velaryon. As for the Greens, all of Alicent's children except Aegon II were dead (Helaena, Aemond, Daeron). I'm not actually sure when (or even if) Alicent died. From the way its phrase I think she was captured in the fall of King's Landing, but that Rhaenyra simply had Helaena killed first to make Alicent suffer (at first I thought she'd kill Alicent first - but where't the poetic justice in that?). Prince Jaehaerys was tortured to death. No word on two year old Prince Maelor. They explicitly state that the Blacks failed to capture Jaehaerya, who apparently was later married to Aegon III to seal the breach in House Targaryen (though as we know...the marriage was childless and he later remarried a woman of House Velaryon - possibly Baela or Rhaena? Though their names were "Targaryen"). As for the dragonseeds, I only know of the four dragonriders, Hugh, Ulf, Addam, and Nettles. Addam had a brother named Alyn, and another bastard girl named "Alys Rivers" (a seer) is mentioned (pregnant with Daemon's child?).

What strikes me most is how much of a non-entity Aegon II was for so much of the war. He was a petulant jackass who rode out to fight Rhaenys on Meleys, lost, and spent months unconscious and recovering from severe burns. Worst is how he just ran his dragon ragged - Sunfyre is a quite pitiful beast by the end, covered in fresh wounds that open when it moves, with a half-crippled wing, but Aegon II just keeps driving it into danger over and over again.

--The Dragon Demands (talk) 19:21, November 24, 2013 (UTC)