Of Dragons and Bloodlines

Published August 13, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey, guys!

I’ve been meaning to send something about this subject for a couple of days and I FINALLY had time to write it (it’s Father’s Day here in Brazil today, so I couldn’t be on the computer earlier).

HBO released taht snippet earlier today, with Jon facing Drogon, as I’m sure you’ve seen by now. This is another shot of Jon and a dragon in close proximity, and unless Drogon rips the King in the North’s head off his shoulders (which is extremely unlikely, since we saw footage of Jon and other in the North), this will be further evidence that Jon is actually Rhaegal’s son, even though it’s a circumstancial evidence.

Dragons can, indeed, “sniff” out or sense Valyrian blood, and that has to do with their long history with the people of the extinct Freehold. Despite the tales of the origin of the dragons being different depending on where one is in Essos, one thing is known for sure: the Valyrians where the ones who mastered raising and weaponizing dragons. They bound the will of the dragon to that of its rider via spells and magical horns. After the Doom of Valyria, the only remainig dragons were the Targaryens’, and they layed numerous eggs, some of which later hatched. These hatchlings had another form of bond: upon the birth of a Targaryen baby, a dragon egg would beplaced by its side; if the egg hatched, it meant the baby was a true Targaryen, and also the dragon and the infant formed a bond, later allowing them to be dragon and dragonrider (this “egg in the craddle” tradition continued even after the extinction of living dragons). The fact that Dany controls Drogon only with her will and words is atonishing, it really showcases the mother-child bond there is between them!

Even though the dragonriders of old used magic to bind and train a dragon, they could only do that to one single dragon, and that dragon wouldn’t accept another rider as long as his lived. The Targaryen dragonriders also rode only one dragon during their lifetime. This is why it’s so important for Dany to find another person in whom she can have utmost trust to ride her dragons alongside her. That present two problems: one, who can those people be, and two, how are they going to bind to the dragons.

There’s one plausible solution to both these problems: Valyrian blood, specifically Targaryen. We know from canon sources that dragons formed special bonds with some Targaryen children, as I mentioned above; they didn’t need magical resources. During the civil war known as Dance of the Dragons, one of the factions had way more dragons than dragonriders, and so riches and titles were offered to those who could successfully master a dragon. The ones who did were called dragonseeds, because they were bastards of Valyrian blood (there are still other families with Valyrian blood around Dragonstone, most famous are the Velaryons of Driftmark). The one known bonding method described during this time is the one in which a bastard girl named Nettles bonded with a wild adult dragon named Sheepstealer by feeding him a sheep each morning. The books also showcase that Dany’s dragons, particularly Viserion, have an affinity for a sellsword captain named Ben Plumm, who claims to have “a drop of Valyrian blood”. What I’d like to mention is that one doesn’t have to be a Targaryen to form a bond with a dragon, but since the Targaryens are pretty much the only Valyrian family still alive in the show, we can assume that if a dragon is friendly for no apparent reason with someone, that someone must have Targaryen blood.

These reports of affinity between dragons and Valyrians is main reason why so many people gave in to the theory that Tyrion is actually a Targaryen when he managed to unchain both Viserion and Rhaegal without dying in the process. Either way, having an extra Targaryen might come in handy for Dany, since it’s the one known thing that she has available to form a bond with a dragon. By the looks of what we can see from the trailers/teasers of Eastwatch, Jon will have this, uh, intimate moment with Drogon, and this will be further evidence that he’s fathered by Rhaegar Targaryen. So, I’m sorry (but not much) to tell Gene that if the Jon-Dany relationship escalates, it’s very likely that we’ll see Jon riding a dragon (and not just for fanservice reasons); I also bet that, if that’s the case, Jon will ride Rhaegal. I’m still unsure about Tyrion, but that’d be my other bet.

That would totally raise the question of WHERE THE HELL IS GHOST and what will happen to him?? But that’s a whole other can of worms that I’m not willing to dive into at the moment.

Cheers!
I’m looking forward to the episode and to your reaction afterwards.

PS: My sources are the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, The World of Ice and Fire companion book, and the entries “dragon”, “dragon egg” and “dragonseed” at http://awoiaf.westeros.org.

Thiago Waldhelm

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