[TWoIaF spoilers] Missing and potential dragonriders

[Lord Varys]

Since we don't get a list of all the dragonriders, there is still a lot of uncertainty going on:

On Dragonstone:

I'd say that Aenar, his Targaryen wife (or wives), and Daenys - she was possibly the first rider of Balerion - and Gaemon were dragonriders. A sibling of Aenar's may also have been a dragonrider

Aegon and Elaena may have been dragonriders, too. Maegon and Aerys, and his sons are a different matter, as we have to keep in mind that four of the five dragons Aenar has brought with him eventually died.

But I'd not be surprised if both Aegon's parents had been dragonriders - Aerion and Valaena Velaryon - depending on when they died, they could have either have been ridden the last of the Valyrian dragons before they died, or Vhagar/Balerion/Meraxes.

After the Conquest:

1. Alyssa Velaryon: As a Targaryen descendant and wife of the future (and eventual) king the Targaryens would have well advised to allow her to pick a hatchling after she was married to Prince Aenys. Part of the power base of the Targaryen reign in those days were their dragons, and they would have to perpetuate the tradition of royal dragonriders to hammer home the fact that they were not going away. Not giving a dragon to the wife of Aegon's eldest son and heir would have been a pretty dangerous thing. There is also the fact that she mocked Maegor for not choosing a hatchling, suggesting that she herself had a dragon.

However, this is not confirmed, and it is not impossible that Alyssa was allowed to bond with a hatchling but failed.

2. Prince Aegon: He eventually rode Quicksilver after Aenys' death - it should be quite an interesting story how he claimed his father's dragon - but did he have a dragon prior to Quicksilver? Considering that Rhaena, Jaehaerys, and Alysanne all had been given hatchlings - although we don't know at which point - I'd assume that perhaps both Rhaena and Aegon had two dragons in their life: two original hatchlings that may have been killed during the siege of Crakehall Castle, and two additional dragons later in life. Aegon evntually claimed his father's dragon, Quicksilver, and Maegor gave Dreamfyre to Rhaena after he had married her (see below).

3. Prince Viserys: I'm inclined to believe that he was the first rider of Vermithor, who was separated from his dragon when he became Maegor's squire/hostage. Alyssa and her children could have taken Vermithor with them when they fled Dragonstone. Another possibility would be Maegor killing Viserys' dragon when he took over.

4. Aerea and Rhalla Targaryen: With Visenya dead, Maegor had only one dragonrider he could count upon - himself, on Balerion. This is why I think that Rhaena's Dreamfyre may have been given to her by Maegor after she married Maegor to increase his number of dragonriders. That would be especially crucial if Alyssa, Jaehaerys, and Alysanne were all dragonriders at that point.

But Maegor would have really been desperate to find a rider for Vhagar upon Visenya's death. Considering that Maegor actually named Rhaena's daughter Aerea his heir, I'd not be surprised at all if she successfully claimed Vhagar.

Rhalla could have had another hatchling or claimed Balerion upon Maegor's death.

5. The children of Jaehaerys and Alysanne: I think all children up to Vaegon the Dragonless were dragonriders, meaning Alyssa, Aemon, Baelon, and Daella. Depending on when/how the children who did not live to adulthood died, there is also a chance that the hatchling of Aegon (or one of the other children who did not live all that long) was given to another child, possibly Viserra. Vaegon, Maegelle, Saera, and Gael most likely were no dragonriders.

If Balerion and Vhagar were not claimed by Aerea/Rhalla, then Jaehaerys' elder children would be good candidates for them. Although, if Aemon had ridden Balerion, Viserys would have only ridden him for two years. Not sure if that's very likely. If Aemon had ridden Vhagar, she could have been gone from him straight to Laena. If Rhalla or Aerea had ridden Vhagar, and married into House Velaryon, she could have passed to Laena that way (even if neither of the girls was the mother of Corlys).

Meleys could also have been originally been Aemon's dragon - surviving whatever happened to her rider on Tarth - and then passing on to Rhaenys. Caraxes could also have had a rider prior to Daemon. Considering that he was half the size of Vhagar it would not be unlikely that he was closer to a hundred years than to fifty...

6. The grandchildren of Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Most of them are known, I think the only one we don't know anything about yet is Aemma Arryn. If Daella was a dragonrider, Aemma could have inherited her dragon. Which could also explain why Viserys was married to her - to prevent House Arryn from becoming the third dragonrider house in Westeros. Daella's/Aemma's dragon could have been an unknown dragon, or one of the known dragons - Dreamfyre. Even if Aemma did not inherit a dragon from her mother, it is very likely that she was given the chance to claim a dragon after she was married to Prince Viserys.

I think that would be the list, hope I've not forgotten anyone. Thoughts about that?

[RumHam]

Daenys - she was possibly the first rider of Balerion -

Is this hinted anywhere or just speculation based on the timing?

I wounder would Maegor have trusted Rhaena enough to give her a dragon and count on her to fight on his side?

Has Ran given any indication that there are more Targaryen dragons that we don't have names for yet? Or are we assuming we know all the ones that didn't die as hatchlings?

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Interesting notion, about Prince Viserys possibly having been Vermithors rider.. But that does raise a few questions: 1) how did Jaehaerys' own hatchling die? How did Alyssa, Jaehaerys and Alysanne take Vermithor with them when they fled Dragonstone (Viserys died only after they had fled, and without him they wouldn't be able to ride Vermithor)?

Why isn't it possible that Dreamfyre was Rhaena's hatchling? Giving Rhaena a dragon whilst her brother, sister, and mother are fighting against Maegor, it would be strange if Maegor would actually give Rhaena a large dragon, as that could have been his undoing within days.

Aerea and Rhalla would have been born in between 41 AC and 43 AC, and thus, at the end of Maegor's reign, would be 5 to 7 years old. Might be either a bit too young to fly Vhagar, and even if they were thought old enough, they couldn't really be used in battle (though they would be capable of preventing anyone else from bonding with Vhagar, which would be usefull).

[Mithras]

hoary old Vermithor, unridden since the death of King Jaehaerys.

[Lord Varys]

Rum Hum,

Daenys and Balerion is just my speculation. The 'maiden daughter of Aenar Targaryen' thing seems to suggest she may have even be of the same age as Dany around the time she had her vision about the Doom. And Balerion should really have hatched around that time, too, else he would have been much, much older than he is supposed to.

TWoIaF claims in Jaehaerys' section that Vermithor was the oldest and largest Targaryen after Vhagar and Balerion, suggesting that he must have been older than Dreamfyre.

That suggests that Rhaena only claimed Dreamfyre at a later point in her life, and that the dragon itself is younger than Vermithor. And since Rhaena fled on Dreamfyre, she must have bonded with her at that/around that time (i.e. most likely after her marriage to Maegor).

The short story about Rhaena hiding on Fair Isle also does not suggests she could hide a dragon with there (but that's just speculation). But on dragonback she would have been much more mobile.

As of yet, I've no idea about any additional dragons, besides the hatchlings mentioned in 'The Sons of the Dragon'. Quicksilver included that are 8 hatchlings up into the year 37 AC. There is no reason to assume that there was a dragon shortage during the reign of Jaehaerys I. We know that there were many dragons and dragonriders at the anniversary tourney in 98 AC, but that suggests that some people rode them. With the fact that we know that TRP was also edited/cut down in length it is easily imaginable that there were both more dragonriders (Prince Aegon, Queen Aemma, other Velaryons) as well as more dragons.

Rhaenys,

Jaehaerys' original hatchling could have died of some accident/sickness/whatever. Perhaps he was even killed by Maegor when he returned to Dragonstone on an occasion, say, after he had slain Aegon to tell Alyssa and her children about it? Him not having a dragon could explain why Maegor/Visenya allowed Alyssa to keep Jaehaerys rather than making him a hostage in the Red Keep, too.

I'd imagine that if Alyssa and her children fled on dragonback (and that's by no means clear yet, since we don't know if Alyssa was even a dragonrider) that she took Vermithor with her in the same way Daemon took a riderless Vhagar with him back to Westeros in TRP. During Maegor's reign most Targaryen dragons would reside full time on Dragonstone as there was no Dragonpit in KL, suggesting that Visenya was in charge of the Dragonstone dragons until she died.

I imagine Dreamfyre was still a rather young dragon when Maegor gave her to Rhaena - if he did that, assuming that she would be no match against Balerion.

My idea that Maegor would force/encourage Aerea to claim Vhagar is not supposed to mean that he wanted her to use as a dragonrider in battle (although that would have been part of the whole thing) but rather that it would have been in his best interest to bind Vhagar to another rider as soon as possible to show the Realm (and his enemies) that the loss of his mother did not really rob him of a dragonrider (although it effectively did).

If Aerea was not ready for such a thing, she may actually have died in such an attempt. But I guess if that was the case, TWoIaF would have included her death instead of the line about her becoming Maegor's heir.

[The hairy bear]

I like the idea of Verminthor being originally Prince Viserys' dragon. Alyssa is another option, I guess.

There is no reason to assume that there was a dragon shortage during the reign of Jaehaerys I.

Perhaps there's one: Jaehaerys' 5th child (and 3rd son) is called "Vaegon the Dragonless". Of course this could be interpreted in the sense that everybody else in his family had dragons except for him. But I'm more inclined to assume that only the first two males had dragons, and the first son that didn't received that name.

Also, I think that having an enormous amont of avaliable dragons would be weird. The Targaryens settled in Dragonston with five dragons, and a hundred years later, they only had three (one of which dies soon). So one would expect that the dragon population would grow steadily towards the 20 that exist during the Dance.

[Lord Varys]

THB,

depending on when Alyssa died this would be an option. But I do think it is implied that Jaehaerys I was already a dragonrider when he ascended the Iron Throne in 48 AC, so that's actually not very likely.

Actually, Vaegon the Dragonless is Jaehaerys' 7th child (and 4th son). We go Aegon, Alyssa, Aemon, Baelon, Daella, Aeryn, Vaegon. Aegon and Aeryn did not live to adulthood, but this does not necessarily mean that they died in the cradle. They could have died of sickness or by accident in early or later childhood/youth.

Thus there could have been enough dragons for all the children up to Vaegon, and if either Aeryn or Aegon lived for quite some time, a younger daughter like Viserra could have gotten a dragon, too.

I'd say it is very likely indeed that Alyssa, Aemon, Baelon, and Daella were dragonriders. Viserra possibly, too. Vaegon, Maegelle, Saera, and Gael most likely not.

On Balerion:

If Rhalla/Aerea did not get Balerion, then a very good candidate for him would be Alyssa Targaryen, the eldest surviving child of Jaehaerys/Alysanne. Considering that she seems to be (long) dead, Viserys could have inherited Balerion from her rather than Aemon, enabling him to ride Balerion for some time longer than from 92-94 AC (which would be the case if he got the dragon from Aemon).

[Constantinople]

Could the kids of Aegon and Viserys have had dragons? Assuming there were hatchlings being born from time to time throughout the 130s and 140s, it seems odd that they wouldn't be given eggs: unless Aegon prevented it?

[Lord Varys]

That is certainly a possibility. I'd be very surprised if Aegon III had not given eggs to Aegon, Aemon, and Naerys. With Aegon's own children it is somewhat more difficult, as we have really no idea how many dragons hatched throughout the reign of Aegon III, but the last two she-dragons could easily have hatched from eggs given to Daeron and Baelor.

But I don't think Aegon, Aemon, or Naerys ever became dragonriders. Considering Baela's courage it would not surprise me if she became the last rider of Silverwing, though, assuming that she did not end her life as a wild dragon (which could easily be the case).

[Cormac- First of His Name]

I find it very odd that Corlys Velaryon was not a dragonrider. We know he had Targaryen blood, and as Lord of the Driftmark sworn to Dragonstone he would have likely visited there fairly often. Plus his wife and children are both dragonriders and any of their dragons could have laid a clutch. Considering how desperate Rhaenyra was for dragonseeds, Corlys seems like an obvious candidate.

Doesn't it seem like an oversight that this was never mentioned? Or am I forgetting a reference?

[Lord Varys]

Corlys was already a very old during the Dance, and what we know about him seems to indicate that he was seafarer in his youth rather than a dragonrider, but since we don't know anything about his early years, he could have been a dragonrider only to lose that dragon later in life - say, during one of his expeditions, or through another mishap.

But for him to become a dragonrider in the first place we would have to assume that his mother was a Targaryen - most likely Rhaena Targaryen is a third marriage. And this is by far not clear as of yet - although it would easily provide us with a dynastic reason as to why Rhaenys was married to Corlys later on.