House of the Dragon Season 2: How Dragons Work in Westeros

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Almost 170 years later game of Thronesthe new season of House of the Dragon will chronicle the early days of the violent conflict known as the Dance of the Dragons, a war of succession that broke out between the Targaryen rulers. Following the death of King Viserys I Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine), the Iron Throne was contested by rival factions known as the Blacks. who supported the claim of Viserys’ eldest daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) — and the Greens, those who supported her younger half-brother, Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney).

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The prequel spinoff series is based on the companion novel The Chronicles of ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Fire and Blood< /em>, which details how the Targaryens destroyed themselves from the inside out, pitting dragonrider against dragonrider during the Dance, all but guaranteeing the eventual downfall of their House. As Fire & Blood explains: “It’s no easy thing for a man to be a dragon slayer. But dragons can kill dragons, and they did.”

< p>Here’s what you should know about how dragons work in the world of Westeros before the Targaryen Civil War fully kicks off in Season 2. House of the Dragon.

Dragons and their riders

How things currently stand Dragon House, the Blacks have five dragon riders with combat-age dragons – Rhaenyra and her dragon, Syrax; her uncle-husband Daemon (Matt Smith) and his dragon, Caraxes (Harry Collett) and his dragon, Vermax; daughter Baela (Bethany Antonia) and her dragon, Moondancer and Viserys’s cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best) and her dragon, Rhaenyra’s youngest son Joffrey (Oscar Eskinazi) are also bonded to a dragon, Tyraxes, but they are both too young to. Additionally, there are several unclaimed dragons hidden throughout Dragonstone that could come into play in Season 2.

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On the other side, the Greens have Aegon II and his dragon, Sunfyre; his younger brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon, Vhagar – the largest and possibly most powerful dragon alive – and his sister-wife Helaena (Phia Saban) and her dragon, Dreamfyre.

As legend has it, some 5,000 years before Aegon I Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros, the Valyrian people of Essos first discovered dragons nesting in a chain of volcanoes on their peninsula using ancient blood. magic, the Targaryens and other Valyrian dragonlords were then able to tame the dragons, ride them to fly, and harness their fire-breathing abilities.

Thousands of years later, roughly a century after the Targaryens and their dragons moved to Westeros to avoid the prophesied, Aegon the Conqueror decided to unify Westeros under his rule. He achieved this thanks to the unparalleled power of the dragons bound to him and his two sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys.

Featuring the dragons Balerion the Black Dread, Meraxes, and Vhagar—the same Vhagar who appears in House of the Dragon—at his disposal, the three Targaryen brother-spouses conquered six of the Seven Kingdoms with relative ease (Dorne was spared). Aegon I then melted the swords of his defeated enemies to forge the Iron Throne, establishing the Targaryen dynasty that would remain in power for nearly 300 years, until Aerys II “The Mad King” Targaryen was killed during Robert’s Rebellion – the revolt that triggered the events of game of Thrones.

As the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria and settle in Westeros, the Targaryens and their dragons were positioned to rule as long as their House maintained a united front. But after Aegon’s conquest, it took just over a century for the Dance’s infighting to begin and dragons to begin killing other dragons – starting with Aemond and Vhagar murdering Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) and her dragon. , Arrax. . From that point on, the Targaryens’ position as the ruling house of Westeros was irrevocably weakened.

In a season 1 interview with House of the Dragon 2nd season

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The Nature of the Dragon Bond

Sometime after the conquest of Westeros, House Targaryen made it common practice to place a dragon egg in the cradle of a newborn baby in the hopes that it would hatch and grow alongside its rider, strengthening their bond. However, this doesn’t always work out, as was evidenced in the first season by neither Aemond nor Daemon’s youngest daughter, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), having a dragon before Aemond claimed Vhagar.

Once a dragon bonds with a rider, that dragon will not allow anyone else to ride it alone while its rider is still alive (although a dragon can allow someone else on its back as long as its rider is also present). A new knight can only tame a dragon after its previous knight dies – as we saw Aemond do to Vhagar after the death of his previous knight, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell).

However, no knight, despite the strength of their bond, has ever had complete control over a dragon. As Viserys told a young Rhaenyra in the House of the Dragon series premiere, “The idea that we control dragons is an illusion. his conviction. If we don’t care about our own stories, he will do the same to us. Targaryens must understand that this is King… or Queen.”