Three-Headed Dragons and Dragon Riders

Published August 16, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Afternoon gentlemen.

So I’ve been a listener for awhile, but I am a first time writer. What I wanted to talk about is the importance of Jon and Drogon. I know you all have most likely explored at length the three headed dragon theory, but for posterity sake, I wanted to review it here and extend it to something else. So, as we know, when Daenerys entered the House of the Undying in the books, her brother Rheagar is there and he says to her, The dragon has three heads. This three is repeated over and over in the series and books to further instill the trifecta of dragons when it comes to Danny and anything Targaryen. The Targaryen sigil bears a three-headed dragon. Dany has three dragons, and when Aegon Targaryen flew into and conquered Westeros he did so with his two sisters, making three dragons and three dragon riders.

Rheagar himself was also obsessed with the notion of three. In the books, we know that Elia (Oberyn’s sister and Rheagar’s first wife) could not give him any more children because she was in pretty poor health. That could be the reason for the annulment that Gilly tells us about this episode. Lyanna would have to be married to Rheagar in order for his third child to be legitimate, so the marriage to Elia was annulled, and Lyanna became his wife and bore Jon to make the third head of Rhaegar’s dragon, or line of succession. Beyond this, though, that moment in the books gives us a bit more detail. The quotes goes like this, The fifth room, finally, shows a man very much alike her brother Viserys, except that he is taller and has eyes of dark indigo rather than lilac. He is speaking to a woman who is nursing a newborn babe, telling her that the child’s name should be Aegon and saying that “What better name for a king?”. The woman asks him if he will make a song for the child, and he replies that he has a song and that “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire. That last bit, the song of ice and fire is the important part. Jon’s story is the song of ice and fire. In truth, he is the ice dragon. He is of both Stark and Targaryen blood. He is born from the north and has the fire of the south. He is obviously the second rider alongside his aunt, and that little meet cute with Drogon I think confirms that in this episode.

That being said, everyone is pretty much leaning toward Tyrion as the third rider. All three (Jon, Dany and Tyrion) are outcasts for various reasons, their mothers all died in child birth (Joana Lannister, Lyanna Stark and Rhaella Targaryean), all three have dead fathers and all three are the third child of their families (Tyrion is the youngest out of he, Cersei and Jaime/ Daenerys is third after Rhaegar and Viserys/ Jon is the third after his half-brothers Rhaenys and Aegon). Also, Tyrion does not have to be Targaryen to be a dragon rider. There are many instances throughout Westerosi history where dragon taming has nothing to do with being unburnt like Dany. Instead, feeding, taking care of, taming the dragons can be done by those not just of Targaryen blood. Since Tyrion already showed us that he can be around the dragons without being eaten (when freeing them in previous seasons), it is possible for him to ride without his Lannister bloodline coming into question. So I think all that considered, there is a pretty decent set of facts for us to think that Tyrion could be number three.

Leaving that behind, we can’t forget that GOT is always about balance. Thus, it can be assumed that if there is a three headed dragon on the fire side, there must be a set of three somethings on the ice side. The Night King is one, but who are the other two? Could it be Bran? Will they have dragons? There already is a lot of basis to believe there is an ice dragon in the wall that will be born when it comes down. Also, in other stories written by Martin, specifically the story The Ice Dragon, an ice dragon melts into water and makes a frozen pond. Winterfell hosts a pretty big frozen pond. Could there be a dragon there?

Finally, I love the Harry Potter connections you guys have been making with Snape and Littlefinger, but I think you are forgetting another fun crossover perhaps. In the Harry Potter story, Neville Longbottom and Harry both could have been the chosen one. Voldemort chooses to go to Harry’s house because he believes he is the chosen one, but it isn’t until Voldemort himself makes that choice that it becomes so. What if the legend of Azor Ahai is the same? It has been made clear that it is the prince or princess promised thanks to Missande’s translation assistance. Thus, what if it could be either Dany or Jon? Maybe it will come down to who is willing to make the sacrifice of their Nessa Nessa. After all, the support for both being the one that is promised is pretty strong and that is the point. Maybe it will all come down to who makes the decision to sacrifice the one they love. They both have the potential, but it will all come down to choice. In essence, the real Azor Ahai will became the one that is promised due to their choice to do so.

Anyhow, love the podcast. Love your commentary. Thanks for your time and discussion. After all, the night is dark and full of theories. Together (and with a little help from old R’hllor) maybe we will find a little light to see our way through to the season end.

Until then. We’ll prep for the Long Night.
Ashley from Houston, TX

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