House Of The Dragon 2.02 // Game Of Thrones 3.03

house of the dragon 2.02 // game of thrones 3.03

VALYRIAN COUPLES: PART 6

by jota.saraiva.art on instagram

featuring: King Aerys II/Queen Rhaella (1) and Jon Snow/Queen Daenerys (2)

This song reminded me so much of them and I’m feral, frothing at the mouth for season 2 already so here’s a gif set to keep me sane

DAENERYS APPRECIATION MONTH 2021: ↳ Day 28: Targaryen legacy (ft. Jon Snow)

She felt very lonely all of a sudden. Mirri Maz Duur had promised that she would never bear a living child. House Targaryen will end with me. That made her sad.

Daenerys Targaryen

traditional fanart , colored with promarkers and pencils

Dany's names for her dragons, and her reasoning behind them, are pretty interesting. What I find most interesting though is that she ends up claiming and riding Drogon, the dragon named for her first husband who bought and raped her. We aren't given any reasoning behind his naming but I believe it must come from Dany's dragon dream. In this dream, her physical and emotional pain is burned away and she is then able to reconnect with life and those around her.

"'Khaleesi,' Aggo murmured, 'there sits Balerion, come again.'

'It may be as you say, blood of my blood,' Dany replied gravely, 'but he shall have a new name for this new life. I would name them all for those the gods have taken. The green one shall be Rhaegal, for my valiant brother ... The cream-and-gold I call Viserion ... His dragon will do what he could not.'

'And the black beast?' asked Ser Jorah Mormont.

'The black,' she said, 'is Drogon.'"

Viserys is another of Dany's abusers but her explanation for naming a dragon after him makes some sense. All she ever wanted was for Viserys to take care of her as a brother should, now she has a chance to fulfill that need in another way. She'll care for Viserion as his mother and eventually Viserion will care for her.

It also might offer some foreshadowing for Viserion's fate. If I had to guess which dragon would die, I would predict it'd be Viserion dying to protect Dany. This would fulfill Dany's wish that he 'do what [her brother] could not,' which is to say that Viserion will protect and care for Dany. I'm not totally convinced any of the dragons are going to die but, again, if I had to guess then I would say Viserion will shield Dany from some danger and die as a result. Viserys died because he threatened Dany's unborn child, Viserion might die to protect Dany (and possibly another unborn child).

This might also be foreshadowing for whoever ends up riding Viserion. Viserion's rider will do what Viserys could not - they'll protect and love Dany. I've always thought Jon should bond with Viserion (if he gets a dragon) because 1) Viserion is cream and gold which matches the colors Jon is usually associated more than Rhaegal's green and bronze and 2) Jon will do what Viserys couldn't. That's pretty much a given, Jon will love and protect Dany. Something Viserys never could. Viserys also planned on marrying Dany, something he couldn't do, and it also seems likely Jon will marry Dany.

Based on the above passage alone, one might assume Dany would eventually ride either Viserion or Rhaegal. Viserion will do what Viserys could not, he'll love and protect Dany. Best way to do that is as her mount. The bond they never had as brother and sister will manifest as rider/mother and dragon. Rhaegal is named for Dany's "valiant brother" whose memory gives her strength several times throughout the series. She even has visions of herself in Rhaegal's armor, fighting men in ice armor on the Trident - foreshadowing future battles against the Others in Westeros.

Yet she ends up riding Drogon first - the largest and fiercest of the three. "Balerion, come again." There's foreshadowing in that as well. Balerion was the Conquerors dragon and Daenerys will be a conqueror in her own right. She'll be known as "Aegon the Conqueror with teats." With this, it does make sense that she would eventually ride Balerion's reincarnation. Drogo also was a well-renowned warrior, he never cut his braid, and had a khalasar of 40,000 mounted warriors. Naming Drogon for Drogo might be a way for Dany to keep some of Drogo's strength with her. His strength had been her protection when he was alive.

She named her three dragons for "those the gods have taken" but Dany could just have well named Drogon after another member of her family. Her father, mother, or even Aegon the Conqueror. She could have named him after Ser Willem Darry, the only real caretaker she ever knew. There's no explicit explanation given in the text for Drogon's naming so we're left trying to piece it together. Or, I'm left because this is has been bothering me for years now. Let's look at the dragon dream that I believe is the catalyst for Dany naming Drogon after Drogo.

"She would kill herself rather than go on, she decided one night … Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again ... There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet ... She opened her arms to the fire ... let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce. And the next day, strangely, she did not seem to hurt quite so much...

She touched one, the largest of the three ... Black-and-scarlet, she thought, like the dragon in my dream...

From that hour onward, each day was easier than the one before it. Her legs grew stronger; her blisters burst and her hands grew callused; her soft thighs toughened, supple as leather."

The dragon dream is the turning point for her. Riding her Silver becomes easier and she "began to notice the beauties of the land around her." The dream manifests in reality when Dany's physical pain alleviates and she begins to grow stronger each day. Her experiences with Drogo begin to change as well - she begins to experience pleasure during their sexual interactions, just as she begins to find pleasure and joy in life with the Dothraki. Drogo does nothing to help her, these changes come from Dany (and her dragon dream) alone. She even begins to take control in their sexual encounters (or as much control as a bridal slave can, I guess). Their relationship changes and they become more affectionate to each other. All of this stems back to her dragon dream - cleansing her, tempering her, and scouring her clean.

Dany seems to realize it is the black-and-scarlet dragon she dreams of ("Black-and-scarlet, she thought, like the dragon in my dream..."). This specific dragon is reaching out to her, despite not yet being alive, at her lowest - when she has resolved herself to suicide. This dragon transcends death and life to connect with Daenerys and burn her pain and weakness away. Dany may have claimed Drogon in the fighting pit but it feels like Drogon claimed her first. She claimed him as a mount but he claimed her first, as his mother.

Since she recognizes her black-and-scarlet as the dragon from her dream, the dream that took away her pain from Drogo's rape and led her to gain some control in their sexual encounters, Dany associates this specific dragon with Drogo. With the pain he inflicted on her, the resilience she needed to survive, and the flames in her dream that didn't burn but left her stronger than before. She also places the black-and-scarlet egg by Drogo's heart on his funeral pyre - a place of intimacy and love but this also reminds me of Dany eating the stallion's heart to give Drogo's unborn son strength.

I've always wondered about the dragons breastfeeding from Dany when the pyre was ashes. Maybe, before they started breastfeeding, they ate Drogo while he burned. They do eat cooked meat, after all. This will probably never be confirmed but I love the idea of Drogon eating Drogo's heart to gain his strength.

Drogon specifically is the dragon Dany recognizes from her dragon dream. He burned away Dany's pain (inflicted by Drogo) and made her strong enough to change her relationship with Drogo. He woke beside Drogo's heart and possibly ate his heart too. Dany fears and loves Drogon, as she once feared and loved Drogo.