Balerion the dread was a BEAST! Drogon is but a cute cuddly kitten in comparison.

[Mal Malenkirk]

Don't go after depictions of A Game of Thrones. Just don't. The Show is not the Books.

Just read the wiki article, look on the references: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Dragon

I've been referring to the illustrations in The World of Ice and Fire, not the show. That book is to be considered canon. Most dragons are indeed illustrated with slender neck but Balerion is much more massive and thick. Which makes sense because with a head that big, as described in the book, a slender neck couldn't support it.

[Raving Stark the Mad]

I like to think as the dragons in terms of aircraft, Balerion was like a god damned AC 160 (heavy bomber) on roids, Drogons like a fighter jet.

I've looked everywhere on the net for an AC 160 heavy bomber and all I can find is an AC 160 panasonic video camera.

Are you referring to a Lockheed AC-130 Spectre? In that case it is more of an attack craft/gunship then a bomber. You have the size/power correct though.

Or are you referring to a Tu-160 Blackjack, which is a heavy bomber?

[Acnologia Targaryen]

That's what I was thinking. Maybe instead of beheading it was just balerion snack time? Maybe Balerion would go hunting alone like Drogon and go up north and literally eat mammoths lol? Both?

I like to think as the dragons in terms of aircraft, Balerion was like a god damned AC 160 (heavy bomber) on roids, Drogons like a fighter jet.

The best way for Dany to utilize the dragons as they are is surprise attacks, 3 dragons at their current size showing up roasting a city would be sufficient, if the city was unprepared. As they are, a legion of archers, crossbowmen, ballistas would handle the issue pretty quickly. So, hopefully, unless some badass dragon armor is made, Dany uses them as such and doesn't get them killed

I agree dany dragons are best suited for surprise attacks as they are now. Seems plausible or aegon pays the farmers to bring him cattle when he needs to feed him.

Hopefully when he became that big he also became a bit of a pacha who let himself be fed instead of going hunting and terrorizing entire regions.

Some ranchers probably made a living entirely by providing cows for Balerion alone.

Also, maybe dragons have a slow metabolism like other reptiles and they expand very little energy when they are just lying around, taking in the sun like a giant lizard, which Balerion might have done a lot of unlike the younger dragons. Though on the other hand if it was the case, they'd be very ill suited to fight in Winter in the North (ill suited as in 'it would kill them!'), so for the sake of the story, maybe not. Unless Martin doesn't care one bit about biology, which is entirely possible. In that case maybe dragons have both the metabolism of a cold blooded snake who only needs to eat a tiny fraction of what a similar sized mammal would AND the ability to keep their body temperature up like mammals and therefore fight in the North. It's Magic!

Seems legit i mean even though their blood seems like liquid fire they are still reptiles so that can be the case.

[Stannis's Lawyer]

Seems legit i mean even though their blood seems like liquid fire they are still reptiles so that can be the case.

Dragons are warm-blooded, and they probably have hollow bones. Seem more like big leathery fire-breathing birds to me.

[Pod The Rod]

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.

:bowdown:

[The Holy Goat]

I've been referring to the illustrations in The World of Ice and Fire, not the show. That book is to be considered canon. Most dragons are indeed illustrated with slender neck but Balerion is much more massive and thick. Which makes sense because with a head that big, as described in the book, a slender neck couldn't support it.

The text might be canon, but the illustrations are done by a large number of renowned fantasy artists who use the wording given by GRRM and then make their own spin on them. The artist who drew Balerion is likely an artist who prefers to draw shortnecked dragons, hence why his/her Balerion isn't one of the slender, longnecked dragons described in the books. GRRM probably love the picture, as it properly convey the size and strenght and power of a fully grown dragon, but it's not like the dragons described in the books. So don't take the pictures as gospel, and don't expect others to do so either.

What makes you say a slender neck can't support it's head? It would be logical to assume that the neck is proportionally sized to the head. It's not as if the head grows at one pace and the neck another, until the head is the size of a truck and the neck as thick as a broom.

[HosteenOsteen]

Balerion was clearly the game changer, more than any other dragon, and this has been under-discussed, so good point on part of OP.

[mezmerised]

To me it always seemed clear that Dany's dragons cannot be compared to Aegon the Conquerer's because in comparison they are still very young and very small. But I usually tend to read more about Dany's dragon power from her critics than her fans anyway.

According to the critics Dany is in the possession of WMD which give her an enormous, unfair advantage once she reaches Westeros.

The way I see it the main advantage Dany gets through her dragons is just the ability to fly. She has a great aerial overview on any battle fields, she can fly from A to B without her enemies being able to stop her but I think that's it, basically.

Because the minute her dragons attack they are also in danger of being taken down with arrows or any kind of wide-range weapons. And yes they can breath fire which might freak out the horses or make unorganised foot soldiers run but other than that they are really not an undefeatable obstacle in battle IMO.

The firebreathing part makes them incredibly useful against Wights though I would think.

[TallTyrion]

Is it at all possible that Drogon will end up bigger than balerion?

People often say her dragons are tiny and will be instantly killed in battle. I know GRRM likes to play with tropes but I doubt he had dragons miraculously brought back into the world only to have them die in an arrow volley in the first battle they fight.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

According to the critics Dany is in the possession of WMD which give her an enormous, unfair advantage once she reaches Westeros.

Nah, the actual issue is that she's in possession of potential WMDs, which will piss the Westerosi off.

Is it at all possible that Drogon will end up bigger than balerion?

Of course. He just needs another 150-200 years.

[mezmerised]

^^I don't see how. Dragons grow throughout their lives. Balerion was over 100 years old during AC and Drogon will be 5-ish when Dany lands in Westeros. If GRRM wanted to give Dany a Balerion-sized dragon he would have needed to make her bond with an at least 80yo wild dragon that she found during a casual stroll through the ruins of Valyria or something.

Well not instantly. But the possibility that it can happen is definitely there. With an arrow you have to hit the eye (or the rider) to really trouble a dragon which in itself is something of a difficulty. But you can throw a lot of flying missiles at dragons of Dany's size to actually get them in trouble, give them significant wounds, make them lose their balance and fall to the ground I would think

[Drth Fel]

I now want to read The World of Ice and Snow: everything you always wanted to know about Northern bastards.

That picture of Aegon riding Balerion was incredible. Showed it to my 14 year old son who adores Tolkien and old mythologies. He was not impressed. No idea why.

Once you've seen Smaug, all others fall short.

[TallTyrion]

Of course. He just needs another 150-200 years.

To be fair we don't know when Balerion reached that size. Dragons grow all their lives like most reptiles but after a certain point the growth in reptiles slows to a pretty negligible rate.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

To be fair we don't know when Balerion reached that size. Dragons grow all their lives like most reptiles but after a certain point the growth in reptiles slows to a pretty negligible rate.

Balerion at 120+ was way larger than Vhagar at ~50.

Dragons still grow significantly after 50 years.

[TallTyrion]

Balerion at 120+ was way larger than Vhagar at ~50.

Dragons still grow significantly after 50 years.

I should have been more clear. What I meant to say was that it's possible that dragons could reach their "mature" size at a relatively young age and then grow a lot slower from that.

So Vhagar was smaller at 50 than Balerion was at 120. But Vhagar died when he was 180 IIRC and by that time didn't grow larger than Balerion. So Balerion could have had a bigger mature size to start from.

I'm not suggesting that we will see Drogon get to Balerion's size or even how big Vhagar was during the conquest. Just that Drogon could reach a large size (large enough to use in battle) in a relatively short amount of time.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Balerion died age 200 or thereabouts and was just a tad larger than 180-year-old Vhagar. They've got rather similar potential.

[Talleyrand]

Once you've seen Smaug, all others fall short.

Fuck Smaug, Ancalagon the Black all the way

[Pod The Impaler]

Balerion reputedly could swallow a mammoth whole. A mammoth, which by itself probably weighs 15 tons.

Drogon is young, but if I were to guess how big he is, perhaps he compares to F-22 fighter.

Pretty damn big, right ? But you can pictuire him being ridden.

I'm just trying to picture how big Balerion would have to be to put a mammoth inside its mouth like a snake eating a rat.

I'm imagining something more along the lines of an A-380 or AN-225. We're talking vast. Perhaps the maesters exaggerate, and it was merely the size of a B-1 or Tu-160? This is hardly an improvement from a troop morale perspective. There is simply no way to deal with that.

In any case, it's not so much a winged fire-breathing warhorse at that point - more like a bad tempered warship with wings.

[mezmerised]

I'm not suggesting that we will see Drogon get to Balerion's size or even how big Vhagar was during the conquest. Just that Drogon could reach a large size (large enough to use in battle) in a relatively short amount of time.

Well he is already big enough to use in battle. He's just not big enough to seem practically invincible. Whoever Dany faces as enemies in Westeros they are not going to shit themselves due to the size of her dragons (I'm talking about the military commanders here, not the average soldiers who will be terrified).

I think once their first shock about dragons being back in the world is over they will immediately start thinking about strategies on how to kill them. Although whether they are going to be succesful is a different question again.

[Trickrs]

You can't compare Dany's 2 year old Dragons to the 100 years old Balerion.

They're like Stormcloud, they probably can be take down with a shitload of archers and scorpions.