The heartbreaking behind-the-scenes story of Drogon’s mourning whimpers

Paula Fairfield has long been one of the most fascinating crew members on Game of Thrones. She’s in charge of sound production for the show, and always spent a lot of time with the dragons. And she cared, putting herself into the sounds into a truly moving way. That continued in season 8, as she recently explained to Syfy Wire.

For season 8, Fairfield recorded several new animal to mix into the dragons roars, many of which she recorded at the White Oak animal preserve in Florida. “I recorded for two days,” she recalled. “They introduced me to the wide selection of animals they have, I learned about their programs, and I learned about what we’ve done to this world and to these beautiful creatures. Humans are horrible monsters. We really are. And it was heartbreaking to hear the stories of what’s happening, especially to rhinos.”

Fairfield was particularly taken with the rhinos; she rolled the sounds they made into Rhaegal’s aural palette. “When you’re flying with Jon on Rhaegal, you’ll hear this big, burly-chested, roly-poly sound that makes you feel the size of the dragon, and that’s the rhinos.”

"[T]he rhinos entered into Rhaegal’s sound because I didn’t want him to sound exactly the same as Drogon. He got rhinos, bison, a few things like that. When Rhaegal gets killed, you hear this hideous screech, a combination of pain and surprise all at the same time. The screeches are from the Mississippi Sandhill Crane."

And of course, Drogon went on an emotional journey in season 8, getting more vulnerable than we’d ever seen him in the scene where he finds Daenerys’ body in the Red Keep throne room. For that moment, Fairfield mixed in sounds she recorded at the Cochrane Ecological Institute in Canada. Specifically, she used the voices of Charlie and Maskwa, tho orphaned bear cubs who hibernated who were hibernating on the property. “We got some really cool stuff,” Fairfield remembered, “lots of snoring, lots of shaking, lots of sniffing, even some bear heartbeats when one of the bears got up close. They were sleeping during the day, but then at night they were having snacks, getting up and tumbling, all this stuff…And their bellies were growling, so they had some snacks, and there were even some excellent bear farts. It’s hilarious.”

"And when Drogon mourns Dany, his sniffs, moans, and groans come from the orphaned bear cubs. If you think about the sounds they made with their own mother, when she was dead, it’s a beautiful metaphor."

I know the sounds of Drogon mourning his dead mother messed me up, at least. And it gets even sadder when you hear the rest of the story:

"Cochrane was forced to release the bears in June, and within 12 days the young male, Charlie, was shot and killed. I think about his beautiful little voice we have on these recordings, and for f***’s sake, what the hell are we doing? These gorgeous creatures, their voices are disappearing. We are killing them constantly. We have complete and blatant disregard for their presence in our world. It’s absolutely heartbreaking."

As you can tell, Fairfield is passionate about animals, and recommends that everyone who can see them at their best in places like White Oak. “These places supported the show by allowing the animals to be in it,” she said. “And all of these conservation and rehab places, they’re funded with grants and donations, and they’re struggling. If you care, then help support the work that’s going on. At the very least, inform yourself. I think anybody who loves the dragons is an animal lover, or else you wouldn’t have allowed yourself to believe that they exist, and allow their story to live in your heart. And we can make a difference.”

Drogon didn’t have a “voice actor” exactly, but Fairfield clearly put as much of herself into him as any flesh-and-blood actor did into their character. And it was just as hard to say goodbye. “[O]ne of the last things I worked on was his screech to the sky, because I went back over that a little bit, just to adjust for music and other things,” she said. “I think the most jolting was the last wing slap. It was like, ‘Oh no! Come back!'”

"And I hope that Drogon knew where to take Dany. One of the Red Woman’s pals who can bring people back. Maybe they did that, and then he went off and found a nice girlfriend or boyfriend for himself, and just lived a nice life. I wish him happiness."

We wish him happiness, too. And maybe a spinoff.

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