Highlights
- The Blacks seek baseborn individuals of Valyrian descent or bastards to mount unclaimed dragons for the upcoming war in House of the Dragon.
- Seasmoke, Vermithor, and Silverwing play crucial roles in battles during the Dance of the Dragons, each with a unique fate and rider.
- The wild dragons, Cannibal, Sheepstealer, and Grey Ghost, remain enigmatic, unclaimed, and often terrifying during the tumultuous era.
Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon‘s season 1, episode 10 “The Black Queen” presents a rough count of the dragons the Blacks could take to war. His tally includes the names of both claimed and unclaimed dragons, and he is overly ambitious while suggesting that the three wild dragons of Dragonstone can be tamed on a whim. Later, Daemon enters Vermithor’s lair and sings to him in High Valyrian in an attempt to bring him over to his side.
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The Blacks might have more dragons than the opposing faction – the Greens, but the latter still have the largest dragon in the world – Vhagar. The Blacks will send out calls for baseborn men and women of Valyrian descent or bastards who claim Valyrian descent to step forward, mount an unclaimed dragon, and join them in the war. The question remains, which unclaimed dragons will take a rider, and which will remain riderless in House of the Dragon?
Warning: Spoilers from the lore ahead!
1 Seasmoke
Laenor Rows Away With Qarl And Deserts Seasmoke
Daemon’s memorable House of the Dragon monologue opens with the very mention of Seasmoke:
Seasmoke still resides on Driftmark. Vermithor and Silverwing dwell on the Dragonmont, still riderless. Then there are the three wild dragons, all of whom nest here [Dragonstone].
As seen in House of the Dragon, the Sea Snake’s son, Laenor, rides the pale silver-gray dragon, Seasmoke, into the War for the Stepstones. He descends on the Triarchy soldiers from above in the climactic event of the war, namely the Siege of Bloodstone. Seasmoke is rendered riderless after Laenor fakes his death to make way for his wife, Princess Rhaenyra, to remarry. Laenor paddles away with his lover, Qarl, without a care in the world. In lore, and most likely in House of the Dragon, Seasmoke will be claimed by a Dragonseed named Addam of Hull (later legitimized as Addam Velaryon).
Addam, a bastard of unverifiable Dragonseed descent, is rumored to be the Sea Snake’s bastard son from Driftmark. He bonds with Seasmoke and flies him into the Battle of the Gullet against the Triarchy’s fleet. Addam and Seasmoke are a match made in heaven, and quite interestingly, Gullet marks the second time that Seasmoke will deal a blow to the Triarchy.
2 Vermithor
Last Rider: King Jaehaerys I
Vermithor, also known as the Bronze Fury, briefly appears before Daemon in House of the Dragon‘s “The Black Queen.” He inhabits the smokey caverns of the Dragonmont volcano, unfazed by the war heating up around him.
Vermithor is almost 100 in lore and is more open to taking a new rider by the Dance of the Dragons. Many try their luck, but he takes to a blacksmith’s bastard named Hugh the Hammer. Vermithor burns Lord Gormon Massey but allows Hugh to mount him. The duo takes part in the Battle of the Gullet, and like Seasmoke, Vermithor sets ablaze the Triarchy’s ninety warships that sail under the banners of the Three Daughters.
It is pertinent to mention that the Triarchy allied with the Greens during the Dance of the Dragons. While Vermithor breaks the Triarchy’s presence in the Gullet, the battle reaches a stalemate, and both sides suffer heavy losses. Hugh (and Ulf) ultimately defect to the Greens in the First Battle of Tumbleton. Hugh stays behind with the Hightower host and is assassinated. Meanwhile, Vermithor fights Seasmoke and Tessarion to death during the Second Battle of Tumbleton.
3 Silverwing
Last Rider: Queen Alysanne Targaryen
Vermithor and Silverwing flew alongside each other during the peaceful reign overseen by King Jaehaerys I and his Queen, Alysanne. But good times rarely last in the menacing universe of Game of Thrones, and Silverwing doesn’t take another rider until a so-called Dragonseed and a man-at-arms named Ulf the White appears on the scene. Silverwing and her rider partake in the epic Gullet battle that ensues from the Triarchy ambushing the Gay Abandon (carrying Aegon the Younger and Viserys).
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The irony of the tale is that the realm-wide kin strife affects people and dragons alike. In the aftermath of the Second Battle of Tumbleton, Silverwing is said to have tried to lift Vermithor’s wing three times to bring him back to life. Three dragons die in this battle, and Ulf is poisoned. Silverwing survives Tumbleton and the Dance of the Dragons and lives as a wild dragon on an isle of Red Lake, northwest of the Reach.
4 The Cannibal
An Untameable Menace
The Cannibal feeds on the flesh of his own kind and resides on Dragonstone during the Dance of the Dragons. A few theories have been spun about the Cannibal, including one popular with the smallfolk: that he lived on Dragonstone before the Targaryens took it for themselves.
The Cannibal has a coal-black body and green eyes and lives wildly, feeding on dead and newborn dragons and dragon eggs. He is the largest of the three wild dragons of Dragonstone and is left unbothered during the Sowing because of his menacing reputation. He outlives many Targaryen dragons and is one of the four surviving dragons of the Dance of the Dragons.
5 Sheepstealer
Lives As A Wild Dragon Until Nettles Claims Him
Sheepstealer loves mutton and that’s pretty much how a baseborn woman of Valyrian descent named Nettles is able to claim him. She conditions the dragon to freshly slaughtered sheep every morning until one day he bends his neck to her. Nettles is his first and probably last rider in lore.
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Sheepstealer likes to devour sheepdogs but doesn’t harm shepherds on Dragonstone. While he is over 50 by the time the Dance of the Dragons breaks out, he is still younger and smaller than the Cannibal. He, however, doesn’t remain riderless and bonds with Netty. They fly to the Gullet, King’s Landing, and Maidenpool in the Dance of the Dragons.
6 The Grey Ghost
Wandering Among The Clouds
The last of the wild Dragons, the Grey Ghost, is hard to spot and thus, to tame. He is of pale gray-white coloring and smaller than the Cannibal. The dragon rarely makes an appearance on Dragonstone but sometimes catches fish in the waters of the Narrow Sea.
The Grey Ghost dwells on the eastern side of the Dragonmont, and like the Cannibal, doesn’t take a rider in his lifetime. Addam’s brother, Alyn of Hull, tries in vain to seek him during the Dance of the Dragons. Out of the three wild dragons of Dragonstone, Sheepstealer is the only one bound to a rider, while the Grey Ghost and the Cannibal remain riderless.
