The first season of House of the Dragon is set over 100 years before Game of Thrones, back when the Targaryen dynasty was at the peak of its power and their dragons filled the skies. We met many in the first season, including Syrax, Caraxes and Vhagar. And we’ll meet more before the story is over.
But even though dragons can live for hundreds of years, some of the most famous are already dead by the time the show starts. Let’s meet of the ones we won’t meet on House of the Dragon…unless HBO decides to eventually take us even further back in time.
Meraxes
Meraxes hatched on Dragonstone and was claimed by Rhaenys Targaryen, one of the sister-wives of Aegon I Targaryen, better known to history as Aegon the Conqueror. Aegon, Rhaenys, and their other sister Visenya took over Westeros, brought the Seven Kingdoms to heel, and forged the Iron Throne, and they couldn’t have done it without their dragons.
Visenya rode Vhagar, who at the time of House of the Dragon is the largest dragon in the world. At the time of the conquest, Meraxes was bigger than Vhagar, second only in size to Aegon’s mount Balerion the Black Dread.
Soon after the conquest began, Rhaenys and Visenya captured the castles surrounding what would become King’s Landing. After this, Aegon sent Rhaenys and his friend Orys Baratheon to subdue the Stormlands, which was then ruled by King Argilac Durrandon. King Argilac refused the terms sent to him by Aegon and opted to meet the Targaryen forces in battle. A raging thunderstorm kept Rhaenys and Meraxes grounded for the fight, but they still tipped the scales in favor of the Targaryens, who were outnumbered two to one.
Rhaenys used Meraxes to burn the vanguard of Argilac’s army, and the last storm king was eventually slain by Orys Baratheon, who became the new lord of the Stormlands and founder of House Baratheon. After securing the Stormlands, Rhaenys hopped on Meraxes and rendezvoused with her siblings. Together, they would participate in one of the most decisive battles in Westerosi history: the Field of Fire.
Houses Lannister and Gardener combined forces and assembled 55,000 men to oppose Aegon and his sisters, who brought 11,000. Soon after the battle began, the Targeryan siblings took to the sky on their dragons and used them to light the dry fields of the Reach aflame. Four thousand men were burned alive, including the entirety of House Gardener, who were the Kings of the Reach until that point. Thousands more received burns or were injured. Meanwhile, the Targaryen casualties numbered in the hundreds.
Soon after, the North bent the knee and Seven Kingdoms were under Aegon’s control, save Dorne. Rhaenys was sent to conquer the desert kingdom, only to find all the cities and castles abandoned while she flew over on Meraxes. After arriving in the capital of Sunspear, Rhaenys found the elderly Princess Meria Martell, who warned her that the Targaryens would never conquer Dorne. Rhaenys promised fire and blood for the Martells, and the first Dornish War began.
At first, things appeared to go well for the Targaryens, who installed their own men in the empty Dornish castles. But the Dornishmen resurfaced and deposed all the Targaryen sympathizers in the country. For the next several years, every attempt to conquer Dorne resulted in the capture or slaughter of forces loyal to Aegon. That includes Orys Baratheon, who lost his sword hand in captivity. Wanting revenge and results, Aegon and his sisters descended on Dorne with their dragons and burned several castles. The Dornishmen refused to yield and utilized guerilla tactics against the dragons.
While attacking the castle of Hellholt, a scorpion bolt pierced Meraxes through the eye and took the mighty dragon out of the sky, with Rhaenys on its back. Apparently a significant portion of the castle was destroyed when Meraxes’ enormous body fell onto it. Although her body was never recovered, Rhaenys is all but confirmed to have died alongside Meraxes.
Unless HBO makes a prequel show about Aegon’s Conquest, it’s unlikely we’ll see Meraxes on our TV screens anytime soon. But there are plenty of good reasons to develop a TV show about Aegon’s Conquest, and maybe about the period immediately after…