When Daenerys Targaryen emerged from the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo with three baby dragons in the Season 1 finale of Game of Thrones, it was clear that the game had changed. History had relegated dragons to icons of the past, terrifying relics of a dynasty long gone and a magic that no longer existed. Over the course of the series Dany and her dragons have only become more powerful, but now that the series finale looms it’s starting to seem like the only way this story ends is with all of Daenerys’ flappy little fire-children dead.
Even as one dragon has fallen to the Night King (and then fallen to Arya, who felled the Night King), Dany’s two remaining dragons are dramatically overpowered. They’re amazing allies to have in a war, but regardless of how the dust settles on Westeros there’s historical precedent that shows the world is nearly always better off without dragons. In fact, the two times dragons have previously died out have served as turning points for social chance, and their deaths always force a reset on political power.
Dragons have died out twice before, once in Westeros and once in Essos. The first time Essosi dragons died out was after the Doom of Valyria, a cataclysmic event four hundred years before the events of the show. The Targaryen dragons survived the doom because they were already in Westeros when it happened, but the overwhelming majority of all dragons were killed in the doom along with their dragonlords.
There are no direct sources that explain exactly what caused the Doom of Valyria; it was a large scale volcanic eruption that could have been naturally occurring or brought along somehow by magic gone wrong. Its effects are better documented. Before the doom, the Valyrian Freehold was a superpower on the continent of Essos that controlled most of the large eastern cities seen on Game of Thrones. Their control over Essos is the reason High Valyrian is one of the most common languages spoken in the east.
When Valyria exploded and its dragons went with it, the political situation in Essos changed drastically. The vacuum left by the loss of the Valyrian Freehold’s infrastructure was filled by the Free Cities like Volantis and Pentos becoming independent. This set up a series of trade markets that impacted Westeros, as well as scattering the slave trade to the cities Daenerys dismantled on her journey through the continent. The Dothraki also would not have thrived as a roaming military force if dragons were still around.
The Essosi extinction of dragons was followed three hundred years later by the Westerosi extinction. After Aegon the Conqueror united Westeros under one king, the Targaryen dynasty continued to use dragons to enforce their rule until a civil war called the Dance of the Dragons decimated the population of royal Targaryens and dragons alike. After the Dance of the Dragons, the emerging King Aegon was called “The Dragonbane” for his fear of dragons (in his defense, he saw one eat his mom) and the last Targaryen dragon died under his rule.
House Targaryen never really recovered from the loss of their dragons. Another civil war broke out a few generations later and the family declined to the point where the Mad King lost the throne to Robert Baratheon.
The Targaryens could not survive as a powerful house without their dragons, and the loss of their royal line redistributed power in the Seven Kingdoms in a way that set up the political climate seen in the first season of Game of Thrones, where Westeros was more to the idea that anyone could be king if he generated enough loyalty — not exactly a democratic value, but a step up from being ruled forever by an incestuous cabal of lizard riders.
Zaldrīzes morghulis: the dragons must die.
Other articles have pointed out that the loss of dragons also corresponds with the rise and fall of magic in the world of Thrones. Magic coursed through Valyria and the Targaryen dynasty was rife with prophesy, but magic seemed to take a nap when the last dragon snuffed it. When Daenerys’ dragons hatched they seemed to do so as a response to the rise of the White Walkers north of the wall, as if the concept of fire purposefully manifested three champions to fight against the cold ice magic.
Both politically and magically, however, keeping the dragons at the end of Game of Thrones would be a disaster. With the Night King gone, Daenerys’ dragons have served their purpose and still remain the most powerful creatures in existence. It’s reductive to go back to a time when only one bloodline was fit to rule, and the dragons will ensure a return to the bad old days of ceaseless Aegons and fiery wars.
Dragons died once and an entire continent stepped up to fill their void. They died again and changed what it meant to be a king. Let them die one more time, for good this time, to bring balance to Westeros once and for all. Zaldrīzes morghulis: the dragons must die.
Topics Game Of Thrones
