HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon has a lot going for it, including excellent actors, gorgeous production values and some excellent source material in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. But the biggest draw may be right there in the title: the dragons. We've met over a dozen on the show so far, and the series has done a great job of giving them all their own personalities and looks. It's possible for everyone to have their favorites. Do you like Rhaenyra Targaryen's eagle-like mount Syrax? Maybe her husband Daemon's noodle-decked war dragon Caraxes? Or how about Aemond Targaryen's fearsome Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon around during this time?
Talking about House of the Dragon recently, showrunner Ryan Condal told us exactly how many dragons are out there during this time in Westerosi history, over 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones. "There are 17 dragons that exist in the world at this point. We haven't met all of them yet."
That got me thinking: exactly how many dragons have we met on the show? And once we figure that out, can we figure out which ones we haven't met yet? Let's make a list!
Dragons we've seen on House of the Dragon
- Syrax, Rhaenyra's dragon
- Caraxes, Daemon's dragon
- Vhagar, Aemond's dragon
- Vermax, the dragon bonded with Rhaenyra's son Jace
- Moondancer, bonded with Daemon's daughter Baela
- Seasmoke, a grey dragon formerly ridden by Rhaneyra's late husband Laenor Velaryon, now bonded with Laenor's illegitimate half-brother Addam of Hull
- Vermithor, a massive dragon bonded with the Targaryen bastard Hugh Hammer
- Silverwing, bonded with the Targaryen bastard Ulf White
- Stormcloud, a small dragon bonded with Rhaenyra's young son Aegon III
- Tyraxes, another small dragon bonded with Rhaenyra's son Joffrey. Both Tyraxes and Stormcloud
- Sheepstealer, a large dragon living in the Vale that Rhaena Targaryen finds at the end of season 2. "Sheepstealer" is the name given to this dragon in Fire & Blood, although the show hasn't named it yet
- Tessarion, a blue dragon ridden by Alicent Hightower's son Daeron Targaryen
- Sunfyre, the golden dragon ridden by King Aegon II Targaryen. The show has made it sound like Sunfyre is dead, but he's still very much alive in the book and we haven't seen a body, so I'm going to assume he's still around and include him in this count
We also know that Helaena Targaryen is bonded with a dragon named Dreamfyre, whom we may or may not have seen. Regardless, Dreamfyre has been mentioned, so we know she's around and I'm adding her as dragon #14.
So that leaves us three dragons shy of the "17" number that Condal quoted above. I'm going to assume he's not counting dragons we have seen die on the show, including Arrax (bonded with Rhaenyra's late son Lucerys Velaryon) and Meleys, bonded with the late Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen Who Never Was. I'll also assume that Condal isn't talking about Morning, a dragon who has yet to be born at this point in the story.
By my count, that leaves four dragons unaccounted for. They are:
- Grey Ghost: A wild, reclusive dragon who lives on Dragonstone. According to Fire & Blood, they are never claimed.
- The Cannibal: Another wild dragon living on Dragonstone. The Cannibal is also not claimed within the space of this story. They get their name because they're known to eat other dragons.
- Morghul: A young dragon who, in Fire & Blood, is bonded with Helaena's young daughter Jaehaera.
- Shrykos: Another young dragon, this one bonded with Helaena's young son Jaehaerys, who'll you'll remember was brutally murdered in front of his mother in the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere
So by my count, if three of these four dragons appear on House of the Dragon, we'll reach the Condal's quota of "17," which means that one of them is going to be cut. It would be pretty easy to merge Grey Ghost and the CannibShrykosal, since both serve more or less the same role in the story. As for Morghul and Shrykos, I'm not sure either of them exist in the world of the show. In Fire & Blood, they're bonded to the young twins Jaehaera and Jahaerys respectively, but we get a glimpse of these two in the season 2 premiere, it looks like they're both sleeping with dragon eggs under their beds, which suggests that their dragons haven't hatched yet.
Still, Morghul and Shrykos take part in a fairly important set piece later in the story, so one or both of them may yet show up. Hopefully Condal has the details figured out in his head. We'll see what he and his team have dreamed up when House of the Dragon season 3 airs on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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