When Daenerys Targaryen emerges from her husband’s funeral pyre with three dragons, it turns the tide of the War of the Five Kings, especially since it is long believed that they have gone extinct. About 400 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the Targaryens used to own several majestic dragons.
George R. R. Martin once shared in an interview that they could be found in large numbers before, and now “there are no more dragons known to exist”. All that is left of them are petrified eggs, which are just used for decoration purposes, and their bones, which are utilized for making weapons. Little to no explanation has been given about their sudden disappearance — so what actually happened to them?
Why Are All the Dragons Dead in Game of Thrones?
In the Game of Thrones lore, dragons first appeared in the Fourteen Fires, a series of volcanoes near the Valyrian peninsula. The Valyrians tamed them over time and developed deep connections with the powerful fire-drakes, eventually using them to fight wars. Ultimately, they replaced the Ghiscari Empire as the dominant power in Essos, and the new expanding empire formed the Valyrian Freehold. The Targaryens also brought several dragons to Westeros, which were used by Aegon I Targaryen and his sister-wives to invade six of the Seven Kingdoms.
When the Doom of Valyria took place (where a cataclysmic volcanic eruption left Valyria in ruins), all the dragons in Essos were killed — leaving the Targaryens as the last living Dragonlords. The dragons in Westeros prospered for the next 150 years until a civil war broke out in 129 AC, which came to be known as the Dance of the Dragons. The two-year conflict took place between the Blacks (who supported the ascent of Rhaenyra Targaryen as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms) and the Greens (who wanted Aegon II Targaryen as their king). Both sides suffered from heavy losses, including the majority of the dragons. From that point onwards, dragons were considered to be more or less extinct.
Although the last known dragon had laid five eggs, none of them hatched and instead became petrified. The remaining Targaryens attempted to revive dragons in the following years, but proved to be unsuccessful (with the Tragedy of Summerhall in 259 AC being a notable example). There is much speculation about this: many believe that, since the Targaryens used to keep them caged in the Dragonpit at King’s Landing instead of letting them roam around freely, this stunted the dragons’ growth. They only used to be summoned when needed, even though it is not in their nature to be chained up in enclosures. This is why dragons became smaller and weaker than their predecessors over the years, and were unlikely to survive for long. The last dragon recorded was also deformed and sick, with withered wings. As Tyrion Lannister says, “the last dragons were no larger than cats”.
On the other hand, it is commonly believed that the fall of the dragons can also be attributed to the Maesters of the Citadel. Dragons are intrinsically linked to magic — which can be proven by the fact that Daenerys’ eggs hatch only when the Night King returns from his centuries-long slumber, along with the rest of the White Walkers. Since the Maesters detest anything that seems ‘unnatural’, it is hinted that they secretly poisoned the last hatchlings, bringing about the dragons’ extinction. As the archmaester Marwyn says, “Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragon-slayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons.”
How Many Dragons Did the Targaryens Have?
The Targaryens bred and raised dragons in Westeros for about 150 years. Tyrion states at one point that there are 19 preserved dragon skulls in the Red Keep, which causes a misconception that the Targaryens only had 19 dragons in total. Several of these skulls are actually from Essos and, according to Martin’s writings, they owned at least 24 dragons throughout their history.
On the eve of the Dance of the Dragons, they were in possession of approximately 20 dragons. These included the oldest dragons Caraxes, Dreamfyre, Meleys, Silverwing, Syrax, Vermithor and Vhagar (the biggest dragon); Arrax, Moondancer, Seasmoke, Sunfyre, Tessarion, Tyraxes and Vermax (relatively young dragons who were still large enough to ride to war); and Morghul, Shrykos and Stormcloud (young dragons who were not big enough to ride). There were also three wild dragons in Dragonstone: Sheepstealer, Grey Ghost and the Cannibal. Only four survived the civil war — the Cannibal, Sheepstealer, Silverwing and Morning (who had hatched during the war) — whose fates are still unknown. They are believed to have died of old age as they were never spotted in Westeros or Essos again.
The loss of dragons and the unsuccessful hatching of their eggs caused the Targaryens’ power to decline to the point that Robert Baratheon took over the throne eventually, after rebelling against the ‘Mad King’ Aerys II Targaryen. It was not until Daenerys’ petrified eggs miraculously hatched that a Targaryen was in possession of dragons again, for the first time in 148 years.