George R.R. Martin’s ‘Fire & Blood’ will reveal the origin of Daenerys’ dragon eggs

Earlier this week, George R.R. Martin announced that Fire & Blood, the first volume in a two-book series exploring the history of House Targaryen, will come out November 20, 2018. Behold the cover:

Martin released the official synopsis for the book on his website, and it reveals that Fire & Blood will answer some long-held questions about the world of ice and fire. Check it out below:

"Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed."

As we all know, Daenerys received her three dragon eggs as a wedding gift from Illyrio Mopatis. They later hatched, birthing the dragons Rhaegal, Viserion and Drogon. Illyrio, for his part, claimed that they came from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. “The eons have turned them to stone,” he told her in A Game of Thrones, “yet still they burn bright with beauty.”

Fans, however, have long questioned if Illyrio was right, or if he was lying. Another explanation for where Dany’s dragon eggs came from is suggested in Martin’s The World of Ice and Fire. There, we learn that King Aegon V took his family to the Targaryen retreat of Summerhall to celebrate the birth of his great-grandson Rhaegar (Daenerys’ brother and Jon’s father). Aegon brought with him seven dragon eggs that he attempted to hatch using wildfire. Big mistake.

The experiment ended in tragedy when the wildfire burned out of control, killing King Aegon, his son Prince Duncan, and his closest friend, Ser Duncan the Tall, the Lord Commander of his Kingsguard. The fire burned so hot that it melted the castle, and the eggs were considered lost. Could Illyrio have gotten his hands on three of the seven eggs somehow? Perhaps Varys found their trail when Aerys summoned him to the Targaryen court years later and shipped them over to his friend Illyrio?

And another theory: The World of Ice and Fire describes Princess Elaena Targaryen, daughter of King Aegon III, as having a white and gold dragon egg, her most prized possession. That description roughly matches the egg from which Viserion was hatched: pale cream, streaked with gold. After her death, the egg was lost. On top of that, Aegon V had a green dragon egg, which roughly matches the description of the egg that birthed Rheagal (white with green swirls). Is there a connection here?

Finally, Drogon’s egg — described as black with scarlet ripples — could have once belonged to Lord Ambrose Butterwell, who makes an appearance in Martin’s novella The Mystery Knight, set after the dragons had died out but well before A Game of Thrones begins. He has a dragon egg described as “red, with golden flecks and black whorls”; it was a gift from to Lord Butterwell’s grandfather by King Aegon IV.

We’ll see if any of these theories are borne out when the first volume of Fire & Blood is released on November 20. And we wouldn’t mind knowing what exactly makes Valyria so hard to traverse, either.

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