Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It goes without saying, of course, and the descriptions in the book said as much. But I am reading The World Of Ice and Fire and it contains great illustrations of Aegon riding Balerion that really hammered the truth of it for me. Balerion alone was worth a hundred of Dany's dragons put together in battles and that's not hyperbole. These (superb) drawings really made you understand viscerally how Aegon could conquer Westeros literally on Dragon back. Balerions was huge and monstrous! The corollary of this realization is that if Dany hopes to conquer Westeros, conventional millitary forces and diplomacy will have to do the heavy lifting because her dragons are nothing, nothing whatsoever compared to what Aegon used. He was using napalm bombs and she is equipped with a blow torch. You can find useful applications for the blow torch, I'm sure, but if Balerion is what was required to pull off the Field of Fire and the destruction of Harrenhal, then Dany can't do it because she doesn't possess a hundredth of the fire power Ageon use. I'm still in awe of these Balerion drawings. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aryagonnakill#2 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I personally didn't think the picture of Aegon on Belarion matched the description in the books. In TPATQ, and the main series books dragons are described as having long necks, in the picture Belarion basically doesn't have a neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 I personally didn't think the picture of Aegon on Belarion matched the description in the books. In TPATQ, and the main series books dragons are described as having long necks, in the picture Belarion basically doesn't have a neck. He's Godzilla with wings! Realistically speaking (which is a weird expression to use concerning dragons) it's likely that as they get too big, their neck has to shrink in proportion to their body otherwise they likely couldn't support their head (or they would need a tiny head like a brontausaurus). It becomes a question of leverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaak Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It goes without saying, of course, and the descriptions in the book said as much. But I am reading The World Of Ice and Snow and it contains great illustrations of Aegon riding Balerion that really hammered the truth of it for me. Balerion alone was worth a hundred of Dany's dragons put together in battles and that's not hyperbole. It IS a hyperbole. Balerion ended up older and bigger than Vhagar ended up. It was during Conquest not older than Vhagar during Dance (Balerion during Conquest was a bit over 112...114, Vhagar lived to be 181). But Vhagar during Dance was clumsy albeit huge. Arrax nearly outflew Vhagar, but for the storm; Caraxes easily outflew Vhagar and killed it albeit dying itself; Meleys would have killed Vhagar and so would Caraxes and Sheepstealer acting together. Five or ten dragons the size of Arrax, Vermax, Tessarion or Drogon, operating together, would be more effective than Vhagar who can only be at one place at a time. A hundred... We know how 300 dragons fight. Valyrians deployed 300 dragons on one field against Garin. 600 years later, Targaryens, one of the smaller of the 40 dragonlord families, owned 5 dragons they carried to exile. Who was the Targaryen lord who fought against Rhoynar, and how many dragons did he deploy to battle? Out of these 300 dragons whom Valyria deployed against Garin, how many were the size of Vermax or smaller, and how many were the size of Vhagar or Balerion or bigger? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howland Reeds Weed Swamp Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I am reading The World Of Ice and Snow Never read this book before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aryagonnakill#2 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I did consider that as they got bigger the necks got thicker and that was part of the reason Vhagar was slower, but from the description of how they fought, Vhagar still had a long skinny neck that he was able to bend a lot when attacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 It IS a hyperbole. Balerion ended up older and bigger than Vhagar ended up. It was during Conquest not older than Vhagar during Dance (Balerion during Conquest was a bit over 112...114, Vhagar lived to be 181). But Vhagar during Dance was clumsy albeit huge. Arrax nearly outflew Vhagar, but for the storm; Caraxes easily outflew Vhagar and killed it albeit dying itself; Meleys would have killed Vhagar and so would Caraxes and Sheepstealer acting together. Five or ten dragons the size of Arrax, Vermax, Tessarion or Drogon, operating together, would be more effective than Vhagar who can only be at one place at a time. A hundred... We know how 300 dragons fight. Valyrians deployed 300 dragons on one field against Garin. 600 years later, Targaryens, one of the smaller of the 40 dragonlord families, owned 5 dragons they carried to exile. Who was the Targaryen lord who fought against Rhoynar, and how many dragons did he deploy to battle? Out of these 300 dragons whom Valyria deployed against Garin, how many were the size of Vermax or smaller, and how many were the size of Vhagar or Balerion or bigger? What does anything you wrote have to do with my stated opinion that Balerion alone was vastly more powerful as a military weapon than all three of Dany's baby dragons put together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Never read this book before The new world book that has just come out. Did I get the name wrong? I'll check when I'm home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howland Reeds Weed Swamp Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 The new world book that has just come out. Did I get the name wrong? I'll check when I'm home. I was being sarcastic,don't worry :P. And yeah,it's Fire over Snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonBranRickon Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It's called the World of Ice and Fire not snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faydra Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Keep in mind that Balerion was once a cute cuddly kitten as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Keep in mind that Balerion was once a cute cuddly kitten as well. And in a hundred years, Dany will be unstoppable on Drogon's back! But right now, not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 It's called the World of Ice and Fire not snow. No no, I'm certain it's named after Jon. And Ramsey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoamingRonin Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Balerion was bigger and more powerful than Drogon. Up next, a new and exciting discovery: wetter is wet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis's Lawyer Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Balerion was bigger and more powerful than Drogon. Up next, a new and exciting discovery: wetter is wet. Not true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Balerion was bigger and more powerful than Drogon. Up next, a new and exciting discovery: wetter is wet. -''Thank you for being with us at Westeros News Network. Tonight our leading story concern water and it's exciting propert to... Wait, I am told we have a breaking story. An internet poster is being pointlessly snarky. With us a psychologist to explain the thought process behind it and the irony in us covering that story.'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaak Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 And in a hundred years, Dany will be unstoppable on Drogon's back! But right now, not so much. In a hundred years, Dany will be dead, unlike Drogon. In sixty years... is another matter - Visenya lived and rode dragons when she was past 70. But we see at Tumbleton that Daeron the Daring on Tessarion was effective against a dragonless army even though Vermithor was thrice the size of Tessarion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Malenkirk Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 In a hundred years, Dany will be dead I know, that was my point. How big Drogon will become is not really relevant, you go to war with the dragon you have right now, not those they'll become given enough time. Right now she can't take Westeros the way Aegon did because the firepower at her disposal is not of the same magnitude. In sixty years... is another matter - So you think that Dany will be 60 by the time she reaches Westeros? Yeah, at the pace she's going, I agree. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoamingRonin Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 -''Thank you for being with us at Westeros News Network. Tonight our leading story concern water and it's exciting propert to... Wait, I am told we have a breaking story. An internet poster is being pointlessly snarky. With us a psychologist to explain the thought process behind it and the irony in us covering that story.'' You wrote a post telling us what we already know: Balerion was bigger and more powerful than Drogon. You err by comparing her dragons to the original three when you should be comparing her dragons against the dragons her competitors have. Oh, wait. Dany's dragons also do something Aegon's could not: they can be viewed as indicators that she is Azor Ahai or the Stallion that Mounts the World. This has inspired legions to follow her. But, cool. Stick with the whole "They're just hatchlings!" thing. Harry Strickland said the same thing while tending to his toes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noelle Snow Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It goes without saying, of course, and the descriptions in the book said as much. But I am reading The World Of Ice and Fire and it contains great illustrations of Aegon riding Balerion that really hammered the truth of it for me. Balerion alone was worth a hundred of Dany's dragons put together in battles and that's not hyperbole. These (superb) drawings really made you understand viscerally how Aegon could conquer Westeros literally on Dragon back. Balerions was huge and monstrous! The corollary of this realization is that if Dany hopes to conquer Westeros, conventional millitary forces and diplomacy will have to do the heavy lifting because her dragons are nothing, nothing whatsoever compared to what Aegon used. He was using napalm bombs and she is equipped with a blow torch. You can find useful applications for the blow torch, I'm sure, but if Balerion is what was required to pull off the Field of Fire and the destruction of Harrenhal, then Dany can't do it because she doesn't possess a hundredth of the fire power Ageon use. I'm still in awe of these Balerion drawings. Wow. Considering by the time we meet Balerion he was over 100 years old and Drogon is only about 2 or 3, I don't think you can really compare the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.