Can Targaryens survive dragonfire? An investigation

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Dragon House Season 2.

The fourth episode of Dragon House Season 2 gave us our first proper dragon battle. (No offense, Luke, but you haven’t fought Aemond much.) “A Dance of Dragons” is a thrilling episode, but it also raises a number of questions about how, exactly, Targaryens and their dragons can cause harm to each other.

During the Battle of Rook’s Rest, Rhaenys’s dragon Meleys, who is on the older side, faces off against King Aegon’s Sunfyre and Aemond’s massive Vhagar. We rarely see dragons scratching each other. Daenerys’ dragons in The Game of Thrones were united in their purpose, and although Aemond’s dragon chased Luke’s dragon last season, they didn’t really come into conflict. The characters are ordering, “Dracarys,” which translates to “dragonfire” in High Valyrian, left and right. The dragons obey and belch fire at various troops, castles and, of course, each other.

Both Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) burn Rhaenys (Eve Best) during the battle, but she appears fine, if a little blackened – until she falls to her death. But it was the fall that killed her, not the fire. Aegon, on the other hand, is set on fire by his own brother, Aemond, in a move that is not only rude but also treacherous. Aegon appears flambéed at the end of the episode and it is unclear whether he survived the attack.

See more information: Who lived and who died after that huge Dragon House Battle

All this heat raises a big question: will the Targaryens survive the dragonfire or not? Those who watched The Game of Thrones I must remember that the show implied that the family (or, at least, Daenerys) was flame retardant. But as Daenerys’ ancestors fight, they are inflicting severe burns on each other. Let’s investigate.

Daenerys says: “Fire cannot kill a dragon”

Let’s go back to the first season of The Game of Thrones. That season, two Targaryens were put to the test. First, Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) poured liquid gold over the head of Viserys III (Harry Lloyd), Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) loathsome brother. It’s a particularly grotesque death. Daenerys’ response? “He wasn’t a dragon. Fire can’t kill a dragon.”

Daenerys later proves her point when, at the end of Season 1, she walks into the fire with her dragon eggs and emerges with her three adorable baby dragons, earning her the nickname “The Unburnt.” The implication, at least in the series, is that “true” Targaryens can survive fire and that Viserys was unworthy of his title.

See more information: Breaking down the complex Targaryen family tree into Dragon House

In season 6, she walks through fire again, emerging from a burning building without leaving any marks on her. (In Season 1, her clothes burn, and in Season 6, her clothes remain untouched by the flames, but we can chalk this up to contract renegotiations for Emilia Clarke between seasons rather than some magical properties of Daenerys’ clothes.)

But George RR Martin says Daenerys is the exception

O The Game of Thrones the show seems to have deviated from the books on this subject, or at least didn’t waste time giving the audience a full explanation. During an online Q&A session in 1999, A song of ice and fire author George RR Martin said it is a “common misconception” that Targaryens can survive fire. He apparently had a very strong opinion about this, using capital letters to make his point.

Later in the books, Daenerys seems to know that she is not immune to dragonfire. When Daenerys’ dragon, Drogon, helps her escape the battlefield in Meereen, Daenerys thinks, “If I run away from him, he will burn me and devour me.” She gets a little scalded by Drogon in that scene. Later, she realizes: “Her skin was pink and smooth, and a pale, milky liquid was leaking from her chapped palms, but her burns were healing.” Daenerys is never burned by Drogon in the show, escaping from the pits.

There are numerous examples of Targaryens being burned in the books. Maester Aemon’s older brother, Aerion Brightflame, drank a cup of fire to prove he was “a dragon in human form” and died as a result. (Ouch.) King Aegon V and Prince Duncan, both Targaryens, died in a fire that became known as the Summerhall Tragedy. Even Jon Snow, another Targaryen, burns his hand when he throws some flaming curtains at a creature in Castle Black.

In the show, Daenerys thought all Targaryens could survive fire, was wrong and got lucky or else the series changed the parameters of the magic surrounding the Targaryens. If The Game of Thrones Producers David Benioff and DB Weiss had some suspicion that Dany would eventually become the Mad Queen, perhaps they played along to hint at her growing self-confidence (or ego). Her self-confidence helps her raise an army and take King’s Landing—although it also condemns her to the role of Queen of Ashes.

Laena dies in the flames Dragon House

Dragon House is getting closer to George RR Martin’s books than The Game of Thrones when it comes to the issue of the burning of the Targaryens. Our first clue that the Targaryens are not immune to dragonfire comes in Season 1, Episode 6, when Laena Velaryon, daughter of Rhaenys Targaryen, realizes that she is doomed to die in labor. She takes her destiny into her own hands and walks in front of her dragon, Vhagar, and says, “Dracarys,” burning herself alive.

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This scene was a spectacle invention. The writers clearly wanted to underline the point that, for the women on the show, “birth is our battlefield,” as articulated by Rhaenyra’s mother, Aemma, in the first episode. But the death by fire scene communicates another message: the Targaryens in this show are not immune to flames.

House of Dragons’ contradictions about whether the Targaryens are fireproof

Despite the Leana scene, Dragon House It is unclear to what extent encounters with fire will result in injury or death. In season 1, for example, Daemon is hit by a flaming arrow during the War for the Stepstones. When he returns from the fight, he has a scar on his neck from the injury. That said, he also flies through an aerial fireball that season, but doesn’t look hurt at all.

Likewise, Rhaenys appears relatively unharmed after flying through the flames in the Battle of Rook’s Rest. The show’s creators might argue that neither Daemon nor Rhaenys were directly burned in these fights. They simply ducked as fire flew around them.

See more information: A Guide to All Dragons in Dragon House

Rhaenys probably could have killed Aegon and Aemond in Season 1

In one of the most controversial scenes Dragon House to date, Rhaenys frees her dragon, Meleys, during the coronation of King Aegon II. Meleys crosses the floor of the Dragonpit and faces the Greens. But instead of burning Aegon, Alicent, Aemond and the rest of her enemies alive, Rhaenys chooses to fly without causing any harm – well, save the dozens of innocent ordinary people she murdered when she destroyed the floor of the dragon pit in the first place.

Some have argued that if the Targaryens were immune to dragonfire, Rhaenys could not have done much harm to the clan. Of course, she may have killed Alicent and Otto Hightower and Ser Criston Cole (what It would have been worth it!). But she wouldn’t have killed Aegon or Aemond.

It turns out that this is not the case. Even in the unlikely scenario of Aegon or Aemond being a super-powered Targaryen like Daenerys, Rhaenys would likely have eliminated at least some of her enemies. Rhaenys missed her chance to end the war right then and there. As we saw in Season 2 Episode 4, she suffered the consequences of her inaction later when Aemond took his life in the Battle of Rook’s Rest.