House of the Dragon spoiler thread

[Zardnaar]

Aegons dragon is also the prettiest one in book lore.

 

[John R Davis]

Shows how awful war is for soldiers when there is dragons.

Did find the fights oddly unsatisfying. Not sure why. Will rewatch

 

[BRayne]

There's no possibility Meleys could have outrun Vhagar.

Larger dragons are faster dragons. Period, end of story. We saw this with how incredibly easily Vhagar caught up to Lucerys' little dragon. Plus it's simple biomechanics. Bigger wings, more mass, similar body plan, you're going to be way, way faster. Also potentially stealthier as they'd need to flap far less.

So I think she made the correct initial tactical calculus, which was that she needed to engage and outfight Vhagar and the less experienced Aemond, otherwise she'd just have been caught, and not that far along, either. And she was right. She succeeded in engaging and outfighting Vhagar and Aemond, and crashed them into the ground rather brutally.

Her tactics fell apart when she didn't either use that opportunity to finish them off, and didn't keep track of them, and instead sort of screwed around for a minute before deciding to head home. I'm not entirely sure I buy that she would have made that particular mistake, because she just seems way too savvy for that, but perhaps she was very shaken up by fighting two dragons in a row? Probably never happened to her before.

Also, if she had just gained altitude and then sprinted for Dragonstone, I think Aemond would have been savvy enough that he wouldn't have followed, because he is surely aware that there are a potential THREE other dragons within an hour or three of flying time, and thus who might turn up at any moment.

“Meleys was as swift a dragon as Westeros had ever seen, easily outpacing Caraxes and Vhagar”
from Fire & Blood and dated around 54 years before this battle

 

[John R Davis]

I have not read a single Westeros book
Is there a clue in there to a dragons lifespan?
The box of eggs sent away isn't "the" box of eggs????

 

[Meech17]

I have not read a single Westeros book
Is there a clue in there to a dragons lifespan?
The box of eggs sent away isn't "the" box of eggs????

I also have not read the books, but I've dug into some wikis and stuff..

Vhegar was the dragon that one of Aegon the Conqueror's wives flew. So that means she is at least ~4 generations old.

And I think that box of eggs, was indeed, the box of eggs. The colors match at least.

 

[Stalker0]

I also have not read the books, but I've dug into some wikis and stuff..

Vhegar was the dragon that one of Aegon the Conqueror's wives flew. So that means she is at least ~4 generations old.

And I think that box of eggs, was indeed, the box of eggs. The colors match at least.

In the after episode scene where they talk about it, they did confirm that 3 of the eggs in there ARE Daenerys' dragons

 

[Kaodi]

I agree that the part where Vhagar just comes out of nowhere and snatches a dragon a second time was a bit much. I also wonder if the scale of Meleys is a bit off. Vhagar is supposed to be a lot bigger, but I did not think she was still supposed to be like Tyrion fighting the Mountain.

I kind of think Rhaenys decision was strategic. They keep saying in the series that the war is not going to be won with dragons but with dragons and armies. I wonder whether her thinking was that if she, the most experienced dragonrider on the biggest dragon the Blacks had, just cut and run when Vhagar shows up leaving their allies to fry then no one would be willing to stick their neck out for Rhaenyra.

Lastly, like, look at Vhagar. She is practically too big to be flying at all, and she has a myriad of holes in her wings. There should be hardly a single adult dragon that cannot outfly her.

 

[Meech17]

I agree that the part where Vhagar just comes out of nowhere and snatches a dragon a second time was a bit much. I also wonder if the scale of Meleys is a bit off. Vhagar is supposed to be a lot bigger, but I did not think she was still supposed to be like Tyrion fighting the Mountain.

I kind of think Rhaenys decision was strategic. They keep saying in the series that the war is not going to be won with dragons but with dragons and armies. I wonder whether her thinking was that if she, the most experienced dragonrider on the biggest dragon the Blacks had, just cut and run when Vhagar shows up leaving their allies to fry then no one would be willing to stick their neck out for Rhaenyra.

Lastly, like, look at Vhagar. She is practically too big to be flying at all, and she has a myriad of holes in her wings. There should be hardly a single adult dragon that cannot outfly her.

I think maybe she was thinking she killed Aegon and his dragon, and she thought if she could kill Vhgar, or at the very least cripple here she'd give her side a major advantage. Like trading a Knight or a Bishop for another Knight and the enemy's Queen. You lose a piece, but end up advantaged in the trade.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Lastly, like, look at Vhagar. She is practically too big to be flying at all

That's not how flying works. Many large and kind of heavy birds are far faster and stronger fliers than small and light ones. If we accept the physics of a dragon the size of Drogon or Meleys, there's no problem with Vhagar. The holes in the wings are rather silly visual flash though I agree.

 

[Rabulias]

She is practically too big to be flying at all, and she has a myriad of holes in her wings.

The holes are not very consequential in relation to the full surface area of her wings. Bats can fly with small tears in their wings. The feathered wings of birds are not technically "solid" but the gaps are small enough to not matter.