On the latest episode of House of the Dragon, "Smallfolk," Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen gets a bright idea: what if she looked up noble-born people of Targaryen descent and asked them to try and claim a riderless dragon? That way she would have more people in her dragon air force and have a better chance of winning back the Iron Throne from her half-brother King Aegon.
As it happens, there was a person with Targaryen ancestry already on Dragonstone: Ser Steffon Darklyn, a knight of Rhaenyra's Queensguard. In a tense scene, the dragonkeepers summon Seasmoke with a song sung in High Valyrian, and Ser Steffon tries to calm the great beast with words of command in that same language. All seemed to be going well, but just as Steffon thought he had succeeded, Seasmoke reared up and burnt him to ash. Well, good try.
If you're wondering what everyone was saying in that scene, David J. Peterson — the man who made up the grammar and vocabulary of the High Valyrian language — posted a breakdown on his Ao3 page. Let's start with with the spoken bits:
- Ser Steffon: "Seasmoke, dohaerās." (Translation: "Seasmoke, serve")
- Dragonkeeper: "Lykirī, Embrōrbus, lykirī!" (Translation: "Calm, Seasmoke, calm!"
- Ser Steffon: "Rȳbās!" (Translation: "Obey!")
That goes on for a bit before Seasmoke gets annoyed, burns everyone and peaces out. "Henujagon. Sīr," says a dragonkeeper. Translation: "We leave. Now." Yeah, probably for the best. "Poor Sir Darklyn didn't do a bad job pronouncing what Valyrian words he was taught," Peterson notes. Too bad it didn't save him. Finally, it's interesting to hear that Seasmoke's High Valyrian name is Embrōrbus.
How to summon a dragon
Now let's talk about the song the dragonkeepers sing to summon Seasmoke in the first place, which is actually the same one Daemon sings to the enormous dragon Vermithor in the season 1 finale. Dragons like music, everyone knows that.
Peterson already translated this song when that earlier episode aired. The song was first written in English by House of the Dragon writer Ti Mikkel. Here it is first in High Valyrian:
"Drakari pykiros
Tīkummo jemiros
Yn lantyz bartossa
Saelot vāedis
Hen ñuhā elēnī:
Perzyssy vestretis
Se gēlȳn irūdaks
Ānogrose
Perzyro udrȳssi
Ezīmptos laehossi
Hārossa letagon
Aōt vāedan
Hae mērot gierūli:
Se hāros bartossi
Prūmȳsa sōvīli
Gevī dāerī"
And then in English:
"Fire breather
Winged leader
But two heads
To a third sing
From my voice:
The fires have spoken
And the price has been paid
With blood magic
With words of flame
With clear eyes
To bind the three
To you I sing
As one we gather
And with three heads
We shall fly as we were destined
Beautifully, freely"
High Valyrian is the traditional language of the Targaryen family, so we could hear more before the second season of House of the Dragon is over. New episodes drop Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.