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Dany's Dragonriders


Mithras

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Dany vs. fAegon conflict is building up to be the second Dance of the Dragons (DotD). In the first contest, there was a female and a male Targaryen claimant to the IT. Of course fAegon is actually a false dragon, i.e. he is not Rhaegar’s son as he claims. That makes this contest a Blackfyre Campaign as well.



Returning to the original DotD, Rhaenyra as Dany’s parallel had a lot of dragons but few riders to ride them. Thus, one of the first things she did was to call for dragonriders to tame wild dragons. Rhaenyra had much more dragons than Aegon II, so she wanted to exploit this advantage to the end. Just like Rhaenyra, Dany will strive to make up in dragons what she lacks in armies.



Therefore, Dany will have two dragonriders for Viserion and Rhaegal.



I must say that these dragonriders (and their dragons) may not be necessarily loyal to Dany until the end. Rhaenyra had two dragonriders who betrayed her (Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer). I think Ulf and Hugh have dangerously high parallels with Tyrion and Victarion but let us leave that for another time.



Two POVs are on a crash course with Dany. Victarion is armed with a real dragonhorn and a Red Priest of proven power. He openly wishes to bind these dragons to his will. Tyrion is armed with his wits, his knowledge of Westeros, his political skills and his dragonlore.



Since the beginning of the series, Tyrion showed his morbid fascination with dragons.



“When I was your age, used to dream of having a dragon of my own.”


“You did?” the boy said suspiciously. Perhaps he thought Tyrion was making fun of him.


“Oh, yes. Even a stunted, twisted, ugly little boy can look down over the world when he’s seated on a dragon’s back.”



This brings us to the special saddle he designed or Bran for him to ride his horse.



“Will I truly be able to ride?” Bran asked. He wanted to believe them, but he was afraid. Perhaps it was just another lie. The crow had promised him that he could fly.


“You will,” the dwarf told him. “And I swear to you, boy, on horseback you will be as tall as any of them.”



Bolded sentences share a common notion. Bran rode his horse with this special saddle. So, Tyrion’s dream of dragons may well come true. Tyrion compared Bran’s saddle to his own.



“With the right horse and the right saddle, even a cripple can ride.”



“It came easier to me, Maester. It is not terribly unlike my own saddles.”



tPatQ made clear how Targaryens used special saddles to ride their dragons. Tyrion showed his capability of designing one. Note that the horse Bran rod with the special saddle Tyrion designed was Dancer. That is an interesting name considering Tyrion will be in the middle of the Dance of Dragons 2.0, which makes him a Dancer as well.



Tyrion grinned at him. “That’s good, bastard. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”


“Most men,” the boy said. “But not you.”


“No,” Tyrion admitted, “not me. I seldom even dream of dragons anymore. There are no dragons.”



Tyrion says that he does not dream of dragons anymore because there are no dragons. By the end of AGoT, that will change because Dany will hatch three wormlings.



She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.



Viserion was the first dragon to hatch. Following his hatching, roaring filled the world. Roaring is highly associated with the lion of Lannister (Hear me roar). This is a clear foreshadowing for Tyrion getting Viserion.



There is another foreshadowing for Tyrion getting Viserion, credited to Fire Eater.



The fool was all that he had time to think as the quarrel caromed off Viserion’s neck to vanish in the gloom. A line of fire gleamed in its wake—dragon’s blood, glowing gold and red.


The crossbowman was fumbling for another quarrel as the dragon’s teeth closed around his neck.



Viserion's blood is described using the colors of House Lannister. This occurs when Viserion is fired at with a crossbow, something Tyrion has used and relates to using often throughout ADwD. Viserion eats the crossbowman.



Don’t assume that this foreshadows Viserion killing Tyrion. Eating one’s flesh shows a special connection for some people. For example, Varamyr thought of eating his own flesh in his second life with his pack. Mormont’s Raven ate the face of the Old Bear and some people believes that a part of him still lives in the annoying bird. These two cases have the connection between humans and animals. Thus, Viserion eating the crossbowman should be a similar case to these.



So how will Tyrion get his dragon? I think the answer mainly lies in the following quote:



Robb Stark seemed puzzled. “Is this some trap, Lannister? What’s Bran to you? Why should you want to help him?”


“Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.” Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned.



Tyrion helped the bastard (Jon) and cripple (Bran). Now the only thing remains is a broken thing. I believe Viserion will be wounded in the Battle of Meereen and Tyrion will take care of him. That is how he will bond with his dragon.



“This one understands.” Missandei turned as if to go, then paused a moment and said, “It is said that the Yunkai’i have ringed the city all about with scorpions, to loose iron bolts into the sky should Drogon return.”


Ser Barristan had heard that too. “It is no simple thing to slay a dragon in the sky. In Westeros, many tried to bring down Aegon and his sisters. None succeeded.”


Missandei nodded. It was hard to tell if she was reassured.



Scorpions were cranked upwards to loose iron bolts of the sort that had once felled Meraxes in Dorne.



Dorne is a hot and dry place full of sand. Meereen is much the same. The correct account for the death of Meraxes is that an iron bolt loosed by a scorpion slew the dragon. We don’t know much about this particular event but that must be a lucky shot. I think, Viserion will get a hit by one of those iron bolts. Probably his wing will be damaged and he will not be able to fly for a while. Both Brarristan and Missandei will turn out to be true. Viserion will be shot as she feared but will not die from it as Barristan tried to assure her.



This will be the time for Tyrion. He will feed mutton to the dragon, help him recover and finally bond with him similar to Nettles and Sheepstealer. Tyrion knows tPatQ and how Aegon and his dragon were recovering from their wounds. He also remembers how Bran in comatose seemed to draw strength from his direwolf. I think Viserion will recover better in the presence of Tyrion.



At this point, it can be a good idea to search Viserion and see if he showed similarities with his future rider Tyrion. Strikingly, Viserion seems to act like Tyrion and foreshadow some of Tyrion’s future deeds.



Drogon and Rhaegal were asleep atop some cushions, curled about each other, but Viserion perched on the edge of her empty bath. “Missandei, what language will these Yunkai’i speak, Valyrian?”


“Yes, Your Grace,” the child said. “A different dialect than Astapor’s, yet close enough to understand. The slavers name themselves the Wise Masters.”


“Wise?” Dany sat cross-legged on a cushion, and Viserion spread his white-and-gold wings and flapped to her side. “We shall see how wise they are,” she said as she scratched the dragon’s scaly head behind the horns.



Dany scratched the head of Tyrion’s dragon while she was talking about the Wise Masters.



“What do you plan to offer the dragon queen, little man?”


My hate, Tyrion wanted to say. Instead he spread his hands as far as the fetters would allow. “Whatever she would have of me. Sage counsel, savage wit, a bit of tumbling. My cock, if she desires it. My tongue, if she does not. I will lead her armies or rub her feet, as she desires. And the only reward I ask is I might be allowed to rape and kill my sister.”



Tyrion is likely to be a wise advisor of Dany once they are united. It is also likely that Dany will assign him as her Master of Coin and Tyrion will promise her a significant amount of the Lannister gold in the CR.



In some of those pyramids, the Sons of the Harpy are plotting new murders even now, she thought, and I am powerless to stop them.


Viserion sensed her disquiet. The white dragon lay coiled around a pear tree, his head resting on his tail. When Dany passed his eyes came open, two pools of molten gold. His horns were gold as well, and the scales that ran down his back from head to tail. “You’re lazy,” she told him, scratching under his jaw. His scales were hot to the touch, like armor left cooking too long in the sun. Dragons are fire made flesh. She had read that in one of the books Ser Jorah had given her as a wedding gift. “You should be hunting with your brothers. Have you been fighting Drogon again?” Her dragons had grown wilder of late. Rhaegal had snapped at Irri, and Viserion had set Reznak’s tokar ablaze the last time the Seneschal had called. I have left them too much to themselves, but where am I to find the time for them?



Viserion senses Dany’s disquiet. In fact, I feel like whenever Dany wants fire and blood other dragons are attending Dany and whenever she needs wise counsel, Viserion is in the picture. That would be Tyrion of course. Viserion attacked Reznak thus I think he is the perfumed seneschal. Tyrion will deal with his schemes.



From Tyrion TWoW chapter:



Brown ben muses that the two dragons are wild cards which could attack anything on either side during the battle. They [Tyrion and Ben] assume Dany will return on the third dragon and speculate about rescuing the three hostages – Daario, the eunuch and the horse boy – and delivering them to Mereen, thereby changing sides a second time, but claiming that they only pretended to change sides before so as to learn the Yunkish plans




Viserion’s tail lashed sideways, thumping the trunk of the tree so hard that a pear came tumbling down to land at Dany’s feet.



Tyrosh is famous for its pear brandy and sellswords. Tyrion is planning to rescue the hostages including Daario. I think they will save them to prove their loyalty to Dany.



But as Brown Ben was leaving, Viserion spread his pale white wings and flapped lazily at his head. One of the wings buffeted the sellsword in his face. The white dragon landed awkwardly with one foot on the man’s head and one on his shoulder, shrieked, and flew off again.



This is a clear foreshadowing of Tyrion using Brown Ben and Second Sons as stepping stone to reach Dany. Viserion could not land properly and he had to fly off. That may foreshadow the incident we talked about earlier. While Tyrion is using Brown Ben to reach Dany, Viserion will be shot and because of that he will fall with a crash.



Once, not long ago, he had ridden on her shoulder, his tail coiled round her arm. Once she had fed him morsels of charred meat from her own hand. He had been the first chained up. Daenerys had led him to the pit herself and shut him up inside with several oxen. Once he had gorged himself he grew drowsy. They had chained him whilst he slept.



Tyrion is enslaved by Jorah while whoremongering. Very similar to Viserion’s case. Jorah was having a whore which resembled Dany in that scene.



The cream-and-gold dragon was suckling at her left breast, the green-and-bronze at the right.



When the dragons first hatched, Rhaegal and Viserion were suckling Dany’s teats. That is not a child suckling mother’s nipple because dragons don’t have nipples. They are carnivores, they don’t breastfeed their hatchlings. That suckling was from lust if you ask me.



“She [Dany] gives her body to men to take their souls in thrall.”


Oh, good, thought Tyrion. If she gives her body to me, she is welcome to my soul, small and stunted though it is.



There we have it.



“Quaithe?” Dany sprung from the bed and threw open the door. Pale yellow lantern light flooded the cabin, and Irri and Jhiqui sat up sleepily. “Khaleesi?” murmured Jhiqui, rubbing her eyes. Viserion woke and opened his jaws, and a puff of flame brightened even the darkest comers. There was no sign of a woman in a red lacquer mask.



Tyrion will solve the mystery surrounding Quaithe.



Viserion’s claws scrabbled against the stones, and the huge chains rattled as he tried to make his way to her again. When he could not, he gave a roar, twisted his head back as far as he was able, and spat golden flame at the wall behind him. How soon till his fire burns hot enough to crack stone and melt iron?



Again we have Viserion’s golden flame (Lannister gold) and roar (Hear me roar). Melting iron is also interesting. Blackfyres are associated with black iron several times in the text (like Septon Meribald’s famous talk about the clanking dragons, black iron plate appearing as red from rust, hence fAegon the last Blackfyre pretender). Therefore, Tyrion will be a key figure in defeating the last Blackfyre campaign.


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What a fantastic post Lamprey, great job. I agree on a lot of things, even if not all of them.




I think Victarion and Tyrion will be Dany’s two most trusted men. In fact I have a theory that every true dragon (not literal dragons but in Targaryen sense) has three heads, two more in addition to theirs. Tyrion and Victarion will be Dany’s heads. Being so, they will always nag each other because they are at two very distant poles in every possible sense.





This is quite nice in fact. I also agree with your point about Tyrion solving Quaithe's mysteries - that may be the way he gains her trust. The point about Daario also makes sense. In fact I'm really convinced about Tyrion's relationship with Viserion - it's the Vicatarion's case that looks a little shaky to me.



She [Dany] plucked down a pear and tossed it at him [Daario]. “Eat this.”



“If my queen commands it.”



Honestly speaking this looks like Dany asking Tyrion to kill Daario, or maybe killing him herself. (pluck down a pear)

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What a fantastic post Lamprey, great job. I agree on a lot of things, even if not all of them.

This is quite nice in fact. I also agree with your point about Tyrion solving Quaithe's mysteries - that may be the way he gains her trust. The point about Daario also makes sense. In fact I'm really convinced about Tyrion's relationship with Viserion - it's the Vicatarion's case that looks a little shaky to me.

She [Dany] plucked down a pear and tossed it at him [Daario]. “Eat this.”

“If my queen commands it.”

Honestly speaking this looks like Dany asking Tyrion to kill Daario, or maybe killing him herself. (pluck down a pear)

Maybe she'll kill Daario if he betrays her.

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This is a great theory, well-thought out. Please allow me to addend my crackpot theory to it.



Once Victarion blows the kraken horn he finds on Claw Island, he'll have a bit of a problem: he can't ride his dragon and his kraken at the same time. Being a sailor, he will choose to ride on the back of the kraken, and then he'll wrap his hands around Rhaegal's neck and use him as a flamethrower. :pirate:


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I think all the evidences pointing that Victarion will be roasted and eaten by a dragon are red herring. He will manage to bind Rhaegal to his will, thanks to Moqorro.

“Grey skies and strong winds,” Moqorro said. “No rain. Behind come the tigers. Ahead awaits your dragon.

The black priest bowed his head. “There is no need. The Lord of Light has shown me your worth, lord Captain. Every night in my fires I glimpse the glory that awaits you.

“She will do it. Go pray to your red god. Light your fire, and tell me what you see.”

Moqorro’s dark eyes seemed to shine. “I see dragons.”

What you describe as a red herring doesn't fit the definition. A red herring has to be explicitly stated or presented. I think that clue of Moqorro seeing the flames that await Victarion goes in the same vein as later in the same chapter where Victarion told the girls before they were sacrificed of the honor that awaited them. I think it will be Drogon that does for him not Rhaegal.

The fool was all that he had time to think as the quarrel caromed off Viserion's neck to vanish in the gloom. A line of fire gleamed in its wake dragon's blood, glowing gold and red.

Viserion's blood is described using the colors of House Lannister. This occurs when Viserion is fired at with a crossbow, something Tyrion has used and relates to using often throughout ADwD. Viserion eats the crossbowman.

Rhaegal, still unchained, was gnawing on the carcass of a bull

Victarion has been described as a bull since ACoK, so with Viserion eating a crossbowman and Tyrion possibly riding him, Rhaegal eating a bull could foreshadow Victarion getting Rhaegal.

I don't think Tyrion will help to reveal Jon's identity as we haven't seen any clues so far.

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What you describe as a red herring doesn't fit the definition. A red herring has to be explicitly stated or presented. I think that clue of Moqorro seeing the flames that await Victarion goes in the same vane as later in the same chapter where Victarion told the girls before they were sacrificed of the honor that awaited them. I think it will be Drogon that does for him not Rhaegal.

The fool was all that he had time to think as the quarrel caromed off Viserion's neck to vanish in the gloom. A line of fire gleamed in its wake dragon's blood, glowing gold and red.

Viserion's blood is described using the colors of House Lannister. This occurs when Viserion is fired at with a crossbow, something Tyrion has used and relates to using often throughout ADwD. Viserion eats the crossbowman.

Rhaegal, still unchained, was gnawing on the carcass of a bull

Victarion has been described as a bull since ACoK, so with Viserion eating a crossbowman and Tyrion possibly riding him, Rhaegal eating a bull could foreshadow Victarion getting Rhaegal.

I don't think Tyrion will help to reveal Jon's identity as we haven't seen any clues so far.

Thanks, these are very good catches. I think even if Drogon will do Victarion, it wont be so soon and in Essos. If we take the parallel of TPatQ, there is a good chance that Dany will be betrayed by one of her dragonriders (that would be probably Victarion). In that case we can see a Drogon vs. Rhaegal battle. I think Victarion's betrayal to Dany may share some parallels with Theon's betrayal to Robb. Both Theon and Vicky are good at certain things and utter fools at some other things. They both lack mental maturity.

By the way, Rhaegal is bronze and green, which are the colours of the First Men. The ironborn have the blood of the First Men too.

ETA: Since being eaten by a dragon could foreshadow that you will end up riding that dragon, what do you think of Shireen's dream about dragons coming to eat her?

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ETA: Since being eaten by a dragon could foreshadow that you will end up riding that dragon, what do you think of Shireen's dream about dragons coming to eat her?

I think Stannis and Mel, pushed to the point of desperation, will sacrifice Shireen to wake the stone dragon. Val may prove to be right, and Shireen's greyscale resumes. Mel will tell Stannis Shireen is dead anyway, and they might as well.

I don't think Victarion will betray Dany by the time they meet as he wants to marry her, and I think Tyrion will mention to Dany that he killed her husband and some of her friends, my guesses: Jorah, Barristan and Daario.

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