Dragons we will not see in House of the Dragon

Balerion the Black Dread

Balerion the Black Dread was the oldest and largest of the Targaryen dragons. His dark flames matched the onyx scales that covered his body. Over his lifetime, four Targaryens from the royal line were known to have rode him, including Aegon the Conqueror, Maegor the Cruel, Aerea Targaryen and finally King Viserys I, whom we got to know on House of the Dragon.

When the Targaryens fled Old Valyria to make their home on Dragonstone, Balerion was the youngest of five dragons they took with them. The other four would die before Aegon’s Conquest, making Balerion the last living creature to see Valyria in its prime before it was mysteriously destroyed in the Doom. Aegon the Conqueror is the first known rider of Balerion and famously used the beast to bring Westeros to its knees.

Balerion participated in the many of the same battles as Meraxes and Vhagar, but did have a few battlefields all to himself. The most notable is the burning of Harrenhal. After making landfall on what would become King’s Landing, Aegon gave King Harren the Black until sunset to yield the castle of Harrenhal and bend the knee. When he did not, Aegon mounted Balerion and made an example of King Harren by burning his recently completed fortress with dragonflame, cooking the king and his sons alive within its walls.

After every battle of the war battles, Aegon would collect the discarded swords of his enemies eventually use them to create the Iron Throne. Legend says that Balerion’s fire was used to fuse the swords together.

After Aegon died, his son Maegor claimed Balerion and used him to terrorize the Seven Kingdoms for the entirety of his reign. During this time, the Faith Militant, which we saw reorganized by Cersei Lannister much later on Game of Thrones, rose up to oppose Maegor. In response, Maegor burned the Sept of Remembrance in King’s Landing and threatened to burn Oldtown if the Faith did not submit to him.

After Maegor died, Balerion made a lair on Dragonstone and remained there for years undisturbed. His next notable rider is Princess Aerea Targaryen, Aegon’s granddaughter. Bored on Dragonstone, the lonely Aerea eventually found and bonded with Balerion. After mounting him for the first time, Balerion flew away with Aerea on his back. They did not return for over a year. After unexpectedly showing up in King’s Landing, Aerea collapsed off of Balerion’s back and was taken to Grand Maestter Benifer. She was dying, ill with a fever, malnourished, her hair was matted and her eyes were bloody. The Kingsguard that found her said it seemed like there was something inside of her trying to get out.

Grand Maester Benifer and Septon Barth tried to cure Aerea. They described her skin as crackling and her body as burning from within. There was smoke coming from her mouth and her eyes cooked until they burst. Not knowing what to do, they put the girl in a bathtub of ice, whereupon worm-like creatures emerged from Aerea’s skin. Both she and strange creatures died.

The only words Aerea was able to get out before collapsing were “Please” and “I never.” While no one knows where she and Balerion went, it is likely that Balerion flew back to his original home  in Valyria, which was now a haunted wasteland. Perhaps Aerea picked up some strange disease there. Or maybe she fell ill on the continent of Sothoryos, which is covered in unexplored jungle.

Balerion was also injured when he and Aerea returned; he had scars along his side that were not there before and a fresh wound that was nine feet long and still bleeding. Again, we don’t know what happened to him. Maybe he got into a godzilla-like brawl with some enormous creature in Valyria or on Sothoryos.

This incident recalls something Viserys Targaryen tells his daughter Rhaenyra on House of the Dragon: “The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion.” This was indeed the case for Aerea, who no doubt did not mean for Balerion to fly her away for a year and to parts unknown where she would get infested with an Alien like worm parasite.

As it happens, Viserys would become Balerion’s final rider, having claimed him when the beast was well over 200 years old. Since Balerion was nearing the end of his life at this time, Viserys only rode the mighty dragon one time. Less than a year after their flight, Balerion died of old age.

Of these three dead dragons, Balerion is the most likely to appear in House of the Dragon, since one of his riders was a main character in season 1. Although Viserys died and Balerion is long gone, I think a flashback could be interesting; perhaps it was Viserys’ flight on Balerion that convinced him that Targaryen didn’t have the control over the dragons they think they do. Aemond Targaryen has already learned this the hard way. How many more need to learn that lesson, and how many will suffer in the meantime?

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