Vhagar
Clearing the lane for the oldest and most fearsome beast in House of the Dragon
Note: This week The Weekly Raven is eschewing its usual column + dragon of the week format in favor of an extended version of the latter weekly feature on Vhagar — which seems appropriate given the developments of this week’s episode
Dragon of the Week: Vhagar
At long last it is time for Vhagar. The other two dragons that helped the Targaryens conquer the Seven Kingdoms are both deceased at the time of House of the Dragon yet, Vhagar still lives. In the show’s present Vhagar is the oldest and largest dragon in the known world and thus quite the prize for young Aemond Targaryen.
Unlike Balerion, Vhagar was not among the dragons the Targaryens brought with them when they fled from Valyria but instead was hatched on Dragonstone in the century prior Aegon’s conquest. The bronze-scaled beast was claimed by Visenya, the older and more stern of Aegon’s two sister-wives and played a crucial role in the Targaryen conquest of the Seven Kingdoms.
While Vhagar’s flames assisted in securing Aegon’s rule, perhaps the most entertaining story involving the dragon involves the fire and blood-less conquest of the Vale. When the Arryns reinforced the gates of the Eyrie, Visenya simple descended on the castle’s inner courtyard atop Vhagar. Queen Sharra Arryn returned to find her son and heir sitting atop Visenya’s lap admiring Vhagar. Sharra bent the knee and Visenya in turn indulged young Ronnel Arryn’s request to fly with her—circling the tallest peak in the Vale three times with the young boy atop Vhagar before returning him to his mother unharmed.
Vhagar would go on to light the conqueror’s funeral pyre, help secure the reign of Visenya’s son Maegor, and even come to the brink of turning Oldtown into another Harrenhal when the High Septon condemned Maegor’s polygamous marriages. Visenya would eventually pass at age 73 during her son’s reign, which would leave the tyrant without his staunchest ally and her formidable mount.
Vhagar would not be claimed until Prince Baelon — father of Viserys and Daemon — bonded with her 29 years later. Following Baelon’s untimely death, Vhagar retreated to the coast of the narrow sea, where she would live in isolation until she eventually bent the neck to the bold young Laena Velaryon. As we witnessed last week Laena eventually married Daemon Targaryen and gave birth to twin daughters Baela and Rhaena. While last week’s episode only provided a glimpse to the bond between Laena and Vhagar — the old but fearsome beast’s initial reluctance to incinerate her rider and eventual acquiescence upon detected Laena’s suffering lends insight into the relationship between the two.
It would have been poetic for Laena’s dragonless daughter Rhaena to bond Vhagar following her mother’s tragic passing but as one might expect with George RR Martin, the poetic endings rarely happen. Instead Aemond Targaryen finally claimed a dragon, but did so at the expense of an eye. The lost eye of Alicent’s younger son may have incited a couryard kerfuffle, but with Vhagar the one eyed prince is suddenly one of the most formidable people in the Seven Kingdoms, in his words “a fair exchange”. Vhagar may be old and slow, but in the air she has the capacity to unleash unparalleled devastation.
The newly reappointed hand Ser Otto also recognizes the implications of the “greens” adding Vhagar to their arsenal — if the dragons are can be viewed WMDs then Vhagar is a hydrogen bomb. Prior to the events of “Driftmark”, Rhaenyra’s side (also know as the “blacks”) had an enormous edge in dragon firepower over the greens. But between Aemond claiming Vhagar and Laenor’s “death” leaving Seasmoke unclaimed1 the opposing factions of the brewing conflict are much more evenly matched.
Laenor surviving is the biggest departure thus far from “Fire and Blood” and one that both makes sense from a meta perspective of dodging the “bury your gays” trope and also probably doesn’t do much to alter the long term narrative of “House of the Dragon”. However the change does create an interesting dilemma with regards to Seasmoke. In the book following Laenor’s actual death Seasmoke is left riderless and thus able to be claimed by another. As dragons may only bond with one rider will Seasmoke thus be taken off the map? Or was Laenor’s mount also deceived? Ultimately it will be a question for a later season of the show to answer but hopefully the rationale will be more thought out than Daenerys “forgetting about the Iron Fleet.”