House of the Dragon sure is delivering on its draconic promise, as Ep 2 depicted a teased showdown between two iconic dragons: Daemon’s Caraxes and Rhaenyra’s Syrax. What’s more, we have a lot more dragons waiting for us on the show.
With so many dragons on our screen, it’s but natural to wonder about their power play. Who is the biggest? Who has the most kills? Who would stand out as the strongest dragon of them all?
Well, I’ve given this question more than a little thought, and come up with a list of the most powerful dragons you’ll see on the screen. (Also, don’t worry, this is as spoiler-free as possible).
Without further ado, here are GOT and HOTD’s top 10 most powerful dragons:
10Rhaegal
Rhaegal is one of Daenerys’ dragons, who later becomes a mount for Jon Snow. Like his siblings, Rhaegal possesses incredible strength and speed, but is much, much calmer than Drogon.
Although he was supposed to be the smartest of his siblings, his performance paled in comparison to them, as well as the other major dragons present in HOTD. This is why he’s placed lowest on the list.
9Syrax
Syrax, as we see in HOTD Ep 2, is Rhaenyra’s mount. Rhaenyra uses her to scare Daemon, but in reality, the dragon would be a poor match for Caraxes.
The problem is that although Syrax is huge, powerful, and brimming with potential (much like Caraxes), she never gained any experience as she was always kept within the Red Keep, in chains most of the time. She is not flown out much during the civil war, either.
Because of this, she grows lazy and does not have a tactical mind, making decisions that will bring on her doom.
8Meleys
With her scarlet and pink scales, Meleys looked majestic but she sadly suffers the same fate as her mount, “The Queen Who Never Was”. She never gets a chance to be in the spotlight, despite being swifter than Vaghar and Caraxes.
She fights in only one battle during Dance of the Dragons. But her loss is guaranteed, as it is against Vhagar and Sunfyre. It is believed that she could’ve defeated Sunfyre on her own, but being attacked by the mighty Vhagar took the wind out of her.
7Sunfyre
Sunfyre could easily be the poster boy of the Targaryen dragons. No, he wasn’t the biggest or scariest-looking. On the contrary, he was golden bright as the sun and a majestic sight across the skies.
As Aegon II’s mount, Sunfyre will be quite pivotal during the Dance of the Dragons. His good looks were accompanied by the experience he gained during the Targaryen civil war. He aided Vhagar in one dragon kill, and has two other kills of his own.
6Vermithor
As the third biggest dragon in Westerosi history, Vermithor served as King Jaehaerys’ mount. Once again, size does come in with a great advantage as it helped Vermithor to be vastly undefeated during his battles.
You also have to remember that he didn’t have any prior battle experience as Jaehaerys’ reign was quite peaceful, yet he dominated his opponents during the Targaryen civil war.
Vermithor’s claim to fame is killing one dragon and fatally injuring another.
5Caraxes
Caraxes made his full-fledged appearance in HOTD’s Ep 2 when his rider Daemon reminds Otto what could happen if he decides to cross the line.
The dragon immediately invoked fear in everyone who beheld its sight—and with good reason. Caraxes has had the most successful battle experience than anyone on this list. Be prepared to get amazed by him in HOTD!
Now Caraxes doesn’t have any dragon kills, but when he battled against Vhagar, they both caused so much wreckage that it killed both of them. Even a draw in the world of Game of Thrones has to be appreciated.
4Vhagar
Vhagar is one of the three dragons who helped Aegon I during his conquest, which already cements her legendary status. She hasn’t yet appeared on HOTD, but we’ll see her soon as Aemond “One-Eye” Targaryen’s mount.
At this point in time, she’ll be as big as Balerion once was and commands the same respect as he does, thanks to her ferocity. What is even more commendable is that during the Targaryen civil war, Vhagar is way past her prime, fighting battles at the old age of 170+. Despite this, she is able to give younger dragons like Caraxes a run for their money.
She also has two dragon kills under her belt.
3Resurrected Viserion
So here we’re strictly talking about the Viserion from the show. The sad truth is that Viserion would be quite low on the list had he not been resurrected as a wight for the Night King.
No doubt, he was fearsome when alive, but like Rhaegal, he didn’t have enough experience or accomplishments to rank high on the list. Plus, he was the first of Dany’s dragons to die.
Still, the wight version of Viserion made for a really formidable enemy and invoked fear in everyone who saw the dead dragon resurrected, blowing icy blue flames. In this form, he was also strong enough to bring down the Wall.
Had folks not discovered how to kill the Night King, Viserion would’ve laid great waste to Westeros.
2Drogon
As Daenerys’ mount, Drogon is everyone’s favorite dragon. He was known as Balerion’s protege, which is high praise. This was perhaps because his scales and build resembled the Black Dread himself. Plus, Drogon was way bigger than his siblings.
Drogon did show off his strength and durability when he destroyed the Lannister army and was able to continue fighting despite being hit by a scorpion harpoon. As the only known surviving dragon in GOT’s present timeline, Drogon also has the capacity to grow bigger and stronger as he ages.
1Balerion
We may have not seen Balerion in the flesh, but his skull was enough to portray how powerful the legendary dragon was. A nickname such as the Black Dread is enough to make him top my list!
Balerion was a mount for Aegon the Conquer and then went on to serve three more Targaryens: Maegar, Aerea, and the current King Viserys I. He was the last dragon to see the Valyrian Freehold and one of the three dragons who aided in conquering Westeros.
Balerion was ginormous, with a wingspan that could shadow a town. He was equally strong and powerful and his black flames that could easily melt metal were to be reckoned with! He also killed one dragon during his battles, but some say it was an easy win as Quicksilver was four times smaller than him.
Although a few of the dragons on this list would’ve proved to be worthy opponents to Balerion, I still think the Black Dread takes the crown.
About House Of The Dragon
House of the Dragon is the prequel series to HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood.
Set three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon will show Westeros under the Targaryen family’s rule before the dragons went extinct. It will follow the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war between siblings Aegon II and Rhaenyra, who fought for the throne after the death of their father, Viserys I.
Directed by Ryan Condall and Miguel Sapochnik, the show stars Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Craney as Aegon II Targaryen, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole, and Graham McTavish.
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