Dragon Roll Call: Taking Stock of the ‘Game of Thrones’ Universe’s Dragons

A guide to every dragon we’ve seen so far

Dragonriders may be synonymous with high spice-level romantasy now, but before “Fourth Wing,” there was “Game of Thrones.”

HBO has put a lot of resources into rendering its dragons over the years. What began as three dragon eggs in “Game of Thrones” has expanded into nearly twenty full-grown beasts over the course of the prequel series “House of the Dragon.” “HotD” just came back for its third season last weekend, so let’s take stock of every dragon we’ve seen in the franchise so far.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon,” so read on with caution. If you want to check out other “GoT” content, feel free to bail and read one of our other watch guides instead.

Dragons in ‘Game of Thrones’

Drogon

After years of struggling to control her dragon children, Daenerys Targaryen finally becomes Drogon’s dragonrider in Season 5. Drogon is the most brutal of her three dragons, and had previously burnt a child to death. But she gets over that pretty quickly—after all, she uses him to commit her own atrocities in the final season.

Rhaegal

As soon as we found out that Jon Snow was a Targaryen prince, it was inevitable that we’d see him flying a dragon. Call it Chekov’s Big Lizard. And that moment finally came when he rode Daenerys’s dragon child Rhaegal, now fully grown, to defeat the Night King during the final season. Unfortunately, Rhaegal does not live very long after the battle.

Viserion

You know that thing in Marvel movies where the bad guy is just a mirror image of the good guy with an Evil Filter over them? That’s sort of what happened with Daenerys’s third dragon, Viserion. After Viserion’s death, the Night King resurrects him as a Night Walker. Night Flyer? He died for a second time when the Night King was defeated.

Dragons in ‘House of the Dragon’

Syrax

As the show’s name implies, there are a crap ton of dragons in “House of the Dragon.” But let’s start with our favorite girlboss since Daenerys. The whole show opens with a shot of Rhaenyra Targaryen flying through the sky, and the princess makes it very clear that she’d rather be riding Syrax than hanging out at court, pouring wine for her father.

Caraxes

The dragons in this show tend to match their riders’ temperaments. So the world’s shittiest uncle Daemon Targaryen ends up with Caraxes, a nasty looking beast with red spots and a toothy sneer. It’s quite the departure from his previous ride, the TARDIS.

Seasmoke

Like its predecessor, “House of the Dragon” has a bit of a body count, so dragons end up with more than one rider over the course of the show. Seasmoke started out as Laenor Velaryon’s mount, but after his death the dragon was claimed by his bastard half-brother, Addam of Hull.

Vhagar

If this was “Fourth Wing,” this would be the ultra-strong and rare dragon that the frail chosen-one main character rides. Vhagar is extremely old and extremely large, and we first see him being ridden by Laenor’s sister Laena Velaryon. But after Laena’s death, the dragon ends up on the other side of the family, and Alicent Hightower’s second son Aemond joins forces with Vhagar to become a formidable threat.

Sunfyre

R.I.P. to a real one. Alicent Hightower’s eldest son, King Aegon II, used to ride a golden dragon named Sunfyre. But only one of them made it out of the second season alive. (Hint: it was the human.)

Meleys

Another dead dragon, Meleys made quite the impression when she was alive. Laenor and Laena’s mother, Rhaenys, rode this massive red dragon to confront King Aegon II at his controversial coronation. This is just more proof that “The Queen That Never Was” could have been great if the Westerosi lords weren’t so damn sexist all the time.

Vermithor

Vermithor was a previous king’s dragon, but doesn’t appear until late in Season 2. This time around, he gets claimed not by a royal or noble, but by a bastard: the “dragonseed” Hugh Hammer.

Silverwing

Silverwing is the third dragon to go to a bastard instead of a noble. She belonged to a previous queen (Alysanne Targaryen, if you’re following along with a family tree) but was claimed by another dragonseed, Ulf (the) White.

Even more dragons in ‘House of the Dragon’

Okay, these Targaryens are officially having too many kids. It’s speed round time. We’ve already covered Aegon II and Aemond, but let’s look at all of the other next-gen dragonriders duking it out in the war for the Iron Throne:

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