Can we all agree that all wars merely a display of “mine is bigger than yours”? In House of the Dragon too, as the Greens and Blacks rumble for the Iron Throne, it matters, at least in the beginning, who has the bigger army and the largest dragon.
At the start of the war, the Blacks may have had a smaller army, but they clearly had the advantage with the number of dragons on their team. They lost Arrax early on when Lucerys died. But they still had Meleys (Rhaenys), Syrax (Rhaenyra), Caraxes (Daemon), Vermax (Jaecaerys), Moondancer (Baela), and Tyraxes (Joffrey Velaryon).
Dragonstone, the HQ of the Blacks, is home to a bunch of unclaimed and wild dragons. The deceased Ser Laenor Velaryon’s Seasmoke, King Jaehaerys’ Vermithor, and his wife Queen Alysanne’s Silverwing remain unclaimed, while Grey Ghost, Sheepstealer, and The Cannibal are wild dragons that have never been claimed.
In contrast, the Greens have only three dragons on their team. There’s King Aegon II’s golden boy, Sunfyre; Queen Helaena’s Dreamfyre who we have not yet seen on screen. And Prince Aemond’s old formidable gal, Vhagar. The show has name dropped Alicent and Viserys’ fourth child, Prince Daeron, being fostered with the Hightowers. But even if he does show up, with Helaena incapacitated by her grief, Daeron’s Tessarion would still only make three fighting dragons for the Greens.
With the scales thus unbalanced, why is it that the Blacks don’t just throw a barbecue party and win the damn war already? Well, because while they might have more dragons, the Greens have the biggest baddest b***h in town!
Who has the largest dragon in House of the Dragon?
The biggest, most experienced dragon in Westeros during the Dance of the Dragons is Vhagar, and she is claimed by Prince Aemond Targaryen.
Vhagar was named after one of the gods of Old Valyria. While there’s no official description of what she looked like in the books, the concept artist working on Vhagar’s illustration sought more information from George R.R. Martin, and was told by his team that she is “bronze with greenish blue highlights and bright green eyes.”
Vhagar is quite literally a war veteran. A she-dragon, she belonged to Visenya Targaryen, one of the sister-wives of Aegon The Conqueror. Together with Aegon’s Balerion (the largest, most fearsome dragon ever) and Rhaena’s Meraxes, Vhagar helped conquer the Seven Kingdoms, literally putting the fire in Aegon’s fire and blood conquest story. In fact, when King Aegon I died, it was Vhagar’s flames that lit his pyre.
Ironic then, that once again, it was Vhagar’s flames that burnt another Aegon in HOTD! But wait, there’s more.
After Visenya’s death, Vhagar remained unclaimed for almost three decades until Baelon ‘The Brave’ Targaryen, father of Viserys and Daemon, claimed Vhagar. After their marriage, his sister-wife Alyssa, claimed the dragon Meleys. It can only be assumed that Baelon and Alyssa would’ve ridden together on their dragons. The book also mentions that Alyssa would strap her sons Viserys and Daemon to her chest and take them riding on Meleys. So watching Vhagar kill Meleys in season 2 episode 4 was heartbreaking; they were practically family for ages!
After Baelon’s death, Vhagar was claimed by Lady Laena Velaryon, daughter of Princess Rhaenys and Lord Corlys, at the young age of 12. By then Vhagar had grown as big and ferocious as Balerion, and was the biggest, and oldest dragon alive.
After Laena’s death, a 10-year-old Prince Aemond, younger than Laena was when she claimed Vhagar, managed to bond with the dragon, and ended up losing an eye in the process He considered it a fair price to pay for winning the biggest dragon of all.
Does it matter that Aemond has the largest dragon?
Vhagar is formidable, experienced, and ruthless. Despite her size, we’ve seen her mount a sneak attack twice and win. Both times, she has chomped on Arrax and Meleys, without so much as a scar on her. In comparison, all the other dragons are babies.
You could say that size doesn’t matter, it’s all about how you use it. Even Vhagar gets defeated eventually. But until she does, there’s a lot of destruction that she’s going to leave in her wake. Especially with Aemond Targaryen as her dragonrider, Vhagar is an even bigger threat. Together, they will go on to cause some of the most catastrophic events in the Dance of Dragons.
