The first season of House of the Dragon left off on the edge of the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal Targaryen civil war. During a recent special screening of the show, showrunner Ryan Condal said that season 2 will begin production shortly, and that we can expect to meet five new dragons when it hits HBO and HBO Max.
The list of dragons we already met in season 1 includes:
- Syrax: Rhaenyra Targaryen’s dragon
- Caraxes: Daemon Targaryen’ dragon
- Vermax: Jacaerys Velaryon’s dragon
- Arrax: Lucerys Velaryon’s dragon, now deceased
- Vhagar: Aemond Targaryen’s dragon
- Meleys: Rhaenys Targaryen’s dragon
- Seasmoke: Laenor Velaryon’s dragon, now riderless
- Vermithor: riderless
There was one other dragon that we saw onscreen when Aemond wanders into the Dragonpit as a child. The large dragon angrily breathes fire before the boy runs off frightened. Because of this dragon’s size, it is theorized to be his sister Helaena Targaryen’s dragon Dreamfyre. We also saw another dragon onscreen briefly at Laenor Velaryon’s funeral, which was probably Aegon’s dragon Sunfyre. In any case, there are many dragons we will be seeing in the coming seasons of House of the Dragon, but here are the most likely candidates Ryan Condal was teasing for season 2.
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING FOR FUTURE SEASONS
1. Sunfyre
Like I said, we may have briefly seen Aegon Targaryen’s dragon onscreen in Episode 7, but I wouldn’t say we’ve “met” him yet. In George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, Sunfyre is described as “the most beautiful dragon ever seen in the known world” with golden scales and pale pink wing membranes. We need to see Sunfyre up close and personal.
Sunfyre is a likely candidate to show up in season 2 because he participates in one of the first major battles of the Dance at Rook’s Rest. At the end of season 1, Rhaenys Targaryens offers to guard the mouth of Blackwater Bay on the back of her dragon Meleys. However, she is lured onto the mainland when Criston Cole and a green army besiege Rook’s Rest. While she tries to fight off the army with her dragon, Rhaenys is ambushed by Aegon and Aemond on their dragons Sunfyre and Vhagar. The three dragons fight viciously with Meleys locking her jaws around Sunfyre’s neck, until Vhagar crashes into them and all three beasts tumble to the ground.
Because of Vhagar’s immense size, she walks away from the encounter unscathed. Meleys and Rhaenys both die in the encounter, and King Aegon and Sunfyre are wounded. One of Sunfyre’s wings is half torn from his body and he cannot fly. Cole orders men to stay behind to guard and feed the beast while it heals. Later, Rhaenyra’s forces take back Rook’s Rest and try to kill Sunfyre to no avail. With its wing mostly healed, the golden dragon flees and eventually reunites with Aegon.
Sunfyre has more to do after that, but probably not in season 2. Sunfyre is a very important dragon to this story, both in terms of what he does and what he stands for — he is the symbol of King Aegon’s reign — so we fully expect to get to know him better in House of the Dragon season 2.