4 Attachment(s)
Game of Thrones: Why Drogon May Not Be The Last Dragon
Dragons were once believed to be extinct in the world of Game of Thrones, but it's possible that Daenerys Targaryen's loyal son, Drogon, is not the last of his kind. Like his siblings, Rhaegal and Viserion, Drogon was hatched from a clutch of three petrified dragon eggs that were given to Daenerys as a wedding gift. Viserion was killed by the Night King and Rhaegal was (controversially) shot down by Euron Greyjoy, leaving Drogon as the last surviving dragon at the end of the series.
Drogon was last seen furiously melting the Iron Throne into molten steel before flying off with Daenerys' dead body. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss later confirmed that Drogon went to Volantis, a southern coastal city in Essos that was founded by ancient Valyrians.
Dragons were once a key part of the balance of power in George R.R. Martin's fantasy realm - tied not only to the strength of House Targaryen but also to the existence of magic. It's because of their absence that magic has become so sparse by the time Game of Thrones begins, which is also why the warlock Pyat Pree attempted to imprison Dany and her dragons in the House of the Undying. With all but one of Daenerys' children dead at the end of the series it seems like dragons are effectively extinct in Game of Thrones. However, it's possible that the mysterious and powerful creatures could return in greater numbers.
Are All Of Daenerys' Dragons Male - And Can They Lay Eggs?
Game of Thrones never had the time to get into the intricacies of dragon reproduction, and if you're close enough to a dragon to see what's between its legs then you probably have much bigger problems to worry about. Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon are all referred to using male pronouns in the series, but dialogue from the books reveals that dragons are actually gender fluid. In A Feast For Crows, Maester Aemon tells Samwell Tarly that he believes Daenerys is the prince that was promised, and that the reference to a "prince" in the original prophecy is actually a mistake in translation from Valyrian:
Quote:
"What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years."
This means that Daenerys' dragons may have been both male and female at different points in the series, which brings us to the question of whether they might have lain eggs. Rhaegal and Viserion were imprisoned beneath the Great Pyramid of Meereen for some time during Dany's rule, and the two dragons may well have occupied themselves by mating. If that's the case, then there could easily be a clutch of dragon eggs lurking somewhere in the darkness of the catacombs. Alternatively, dragons might reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis (like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park), in which case Drogon could have produced his own eggs after flying off to Volantis with Daenerys' body.
Daenerys' Dragons May Not Have Been The Last Of Their Kind
Aside from the possibility of Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon having offspring, it's also by no means confirmed that theirs were the last dragon eggs in existence. Dragons have reached a point of near-extinction at least twice before in Game of Thrones' history. The Doom of Valyria almost wiped them out, but the Targaryens were later able to repopulate their numbers using just five dragons. Most of the Targaryen dragons then died in battle during a great civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, and after that dragons grew smaller and weaker in captivity. In A Feast For Crows, Archmaester Marwyn reveals that it was the maesters who finally conspired to kill off the last of the dragons. However, thanks to Daenerys they made another comeback.
Game of Thrones lore teaches two key details about dragons: that their eggs are notoriously difficult to hatch, but also that it's possible to cultivate a large population of dragons from a very small starting number (like the Targaryens, dragons appear to have no qualms about incest). Even if Daenerys' dragon eggs were the only ones to find their way into the hands of humans, it's likely that there are more unhatched eggs hidden away elsewhere - for example, in the ruins of Valyria. Daenerys' eggs were eons old, which means that dragon eggs that have laid dormant for thousands of years can still be hatched under the right circumstances.
Finally, it's worth noting that the world of Game of Thrones has not been completely mapped. The southern continent of Sothoryos is largely unexplored and, as Arya notes when she sets out on her journey in the season finale, no one has yet discovered what lies west of Westeros. Just because dragons are absent from the world we've seen so far, it doesn't mean there aren't more out there in the undiscovered lands.
Is The Age Of Dragons Over In Game Of Thrones?
A common trope in fantasy fiction is to have the age of magic and dragons die out and make way for a new and more modern age. Dragonheart assigned this significance to the death of the last dragon (before the sequels, anyway) and the How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy uses the refrain "There were dragons when I was a boy" to bookend a story of how dragons eventually disappeared from the world. This is frequently used in fantasy tales that are ostensibly set in our own universe - like adaptations of Arthurian legends - to explain why the magic depicted in these stories no longer exists in modern times.
While Game of Thrones doesn't take place on Earth, the series finale does signal that Westeros is moving towards a more modern age, with kings elected by lords rather than inheriting the throne through birthright. Sam even suggests a completely democratic society where everyone gets a vote, and though the other members of the council laugh off the idea, it sows the seeds for a future that might look similar to our own modern world. In addition to Daenerys dying and Drogon flying away, the final season of the show also sees the Red Priestess Melisandre shrivel up into an old woman and collapse into the snow after the Battle of Winterfell. All of this symbolizes the idea that magic is dying and a new era is being ushered in.
While there are plenty of ways in which dragons could return - whether by Rhaegal and Viserion having produced eggs, Drogon producing eggs of his own, older eggs lying dormant, or dragons surviving in unseen places of the world - thematically Game of Thrones treats Drogon like he is the last of his kind. Dragons are intrinsically tied in the series to the Targaryen bloodline, and with Daenerys dying and Jon renouncing his Targaryen heritage and embracing life as a man of the north, it looks like we've seen the last of the Targaryens - and therefore perhaps the last of the dragons as well.
Nonetheless, after Daenerys' fiery conquest the people of Westeros will probably be keeping one wary eye on the skies for many years to come.
