How old were the dragons eggs Illyrio gave Dany?

[forod]

Just wondering if anyone had any notions of their origin?

[Free Northman Reborn]

I believe the clues suggest that they aren't all that old. Apparently from the Targaryen reign in Westeros. So a couple of centuries tops.

[Knight of Onions]

They were said to have turned to stone. The process of fossilisation takes millions of years in real life. However, magical plants like Weirwoods have been mentioned to turn into stone within a few thousand years rather than rotting. Since dragons are magical too, I'd say these eggs are a few thousand years old as well.

[Free Northman Reborn]

4 minutes ago, Knight of Onions said:

They were said to have turned to stone. The process of fossilisation takes millions of years in real life. However, magical plants like Weirwoods have been mentioned to turn into stone within a few thousand years rather than rotting. Since dragons are magical too, I'd say these eggs are a few thousand years old as well.

I believe it is strongly hinted that they are a batch of known eggs that were lost/stolen shortly before/after the Dance of Dragons? I can't quite recall which dragon laid them, though.

Also, since the theory of Dragonbinding strongly hints that a Dragonrider can only master a dragon from his own family lineage, it would mean that Dany's eggs have to be from Targaryen dragons, and not any other Valyrian dragons from one of the 39 other Valyrian Dragonlord families. Else she wouldn't be able to control them.

And the chances of three random eggs from thousands of years ago being from the rather minor House Targaryen are far, far smaller than if the eggs are from Westeros AFTER House Targaryen became Kings of the Seven Kingdoms.

[a bit for joffrey]

Illyrio gave them to her, not jorah

a lot of mystery surrounds illyrioi, varys, and all their connections and motives. i wouldnt be shocked at all if illyrio had heard the 'stone dragon' prophecy before he gave dany the eggs, as some sort of test. maybe he's given them to others who have claimed to be a targ in hiding (just my speculation). seems pointless to give such a valuable, exotic, yet pointed gift, when any valuable thing would have done. there was a reason for it.

origins? traders do go as far as ashai, someone in a position of wealth and influence like illyrio probably wouldnt have much trouble getting a hol of some 'stone eggs' if he were willing to pay.

[LiveFirstDieLater]

18 minutes ago, a bit for joffrey said:

Illyrio gave them to her, not jorah

a lot of mystery surrounds illyrioi, varys, and all their connections and motives. i wouldnt be shocked at all if illyrio had heard the 'stone dragon' prophecy before he gave dany the eggs, as some sort of test. maybe he's given them to others who have claimed to be a targ in hiding (just my speculation). seems pointless to give such a valuable, exotic, yet pointed gift, when any valuable thing would have done. there was a reason for it.

origins? traders do go as far as ashai, someone in a position of wealth and influence like illyrio probably wouldnt have much trouble getting a hol of some 'stone eggs' if he were willing to pay.

Thank you... Illyrio gave the eggs, and I agree that it's a massive mystery why he would give her something so valuable when he admits himself, to Tyrion, that he never expected her to return from the Dothraki Sea... 

[Wolf's Bane]

49 minutes ago, forod said:

Just wondering if anyone had any notions of their origin?

Magister Illyrio gave them to her.  According to the Magister, they came directly from Asshai.  So old that they have turned to stone.  But it mattered not because "Dany woke dragons from stone." 

[forod]

10 hours ago, a bit for joffrey said:

Illyrio gave them to her, not jorah

a lot of mystery surrounds illyrioi, varys, and all their connections and motives. i wouldnt be shocked at all if illyrio had heard the 'stone dragon' prophecy before he gave dany the eggs, as some sort of test. maybe he's given them to others who have claimed to be a targ in hiding (just my speculation). seems pointless to give such a valuable, exotic, yet pointed gift, when any valuable thing would have done. there was a reason for it.

origins? traders do go as far as ashai, someone in a position of wealth and influence like illyrio probably wouldnt have much trouble getting a hol of some 'stone eggs' if he were willing to pay.

Sorry, forgot it was Illyrio.

 

9 hours ago, Mooz said:

You may be interested in:

Did Illyrio Mopatis know what he was doing when he offered dragon eggs to Daenerys as a wedding gift?

and 

Where did Magister Illyrio Mopatis get the dragon eggs from?

Thanks!

[StarkofWinterfell]

Quote

"What are they?" she asked, her voice hushed and full of wonder.

"Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. "The eons have turned them to stone, yet still they burn bright with beauty."

"Eons," I would assume, would mean they are older than the 300 year Targaryen reign. They could come from when the Targaryens were in Valyria but there is also a high probability that they are not Targaryen eggs and this would disprove the theory that only eggs from Targaryen dragons could be used by Targaryens. 

If so, that is earth-shattering.

[Arya_Stormborn]

1 hour ago, StarkofWinterfell said:

They could come from when the Targaryens were in Valyria but there is also a high probability that they are not Targaryen eggs and this would disprove the theory that only eggs from Targaryen dragons could be used by Targaryens. 

If so, that is earth-shattering.

Unless Dany isn't actually a Targaryen? Perhaps this lends credence to the Lemon-gate theories.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Or how about Illyrio doesn't know what he is talking about.

[Quyen Thuy Tran]

34 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Or how about Illyrio doesn't know what he is talking about.

I would buy this idea lol. How can you judge how old dragon egg is...

[aryagonnakill#2]

Brans vision back in the first book before the eggs hatched included the line where "dragons stirred beneath the shadow" or something like that and that was after Dany got the eggs we were told were from Ashai.

[Buried Treasure]

20 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

I believe it is strongly hinted that they are a batch of known eggs that were lost/stolen shortly before/after the Dance of Dragons? I can't quite recall which dragon laid them, though.

Also, since the theory of Dragonbinding strongly hints that a Dragonrider can only master a dragon from his own family lineage, it would mean that Dany's eggs have to be from Targaryen dragons, and not any other Valyrian dragons from one of the 39 other Valyrian Dragonlord families. Else she wouldn't be able to control them.

And the chances of three random eggs from thousands of years ago being from the rather minor House Targaryen are far, far smaller than if the eggs are from Westeros AFTER House Targaryen became Kings of the Seven Kingdoms.

If dragons during Valryrian times/ Targ reign did imprint to certain families it would presumably be because upon hatching their first handler was a member of that family, so later handlers had to be related to their imprinted handler. Dany's dragons all imprinted upon her after hatching, that is why she could control them.

It makes no sense to me that wild hatched dragons would favour any family as handlers. They would have to be tamed the way Nettles did it, with meals to accustom it to a person, though once a person has become a rider I would think that his/or her relatives would stand the best chance of succeeding them as that dragon's rider.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Three egg MacGuffins please. . .

Quote

"Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. "The eons have turned them to stone, yet still they burn bright with beauty."

We are told expressly that these three dragon’s eggs are ancient, petrified eggs from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai, and we recall that Illyrio is a trader in dragonbone with a trading network that stretches to the fabled lands beside the Jade Sea.

Keep in mind this could be nothing more than a plot device. In his 1993 letter, outlining A Song of Ice and Fire, we see that The George initially intended to have Daenerys stumble upon a nest of petrified dragon’s eggs on the edge of the Dothraki Sea.

[brightflame princess]

Illyrio says "eons" here is the def.

e·on

ˈēən,ˈēˌän/

noun

1. an indefinite and very long period of time, often a period exaggerated for humorous or rhetorical effect.

   "he reached the crag eons before I arrived"

   • ASTRONOMYGEOLOGY

     a unit of time equal to a billion years.
   • GEOLOGY

     a major division of geological time, subdivided into eras.

     "the Precambrian eon"

I think the first def is correct in this situation

 

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

I think it likely the eggs are from the Targaryen dynasty. And that Varys & Illyrio acquired them either through genuine gifts to their relatives prior to the Blackfyre split from the Targaryen family, or stolen and sneaked from the Red Keep/Dragonstone/Summerhall. At some point by Varys. 

if Illyrio is the last of the Blackfyres through his mothers side, he could easily have ended up with several eggs, we know it was common practice to gift ones children dragon eggs, and if the blackfyre's had some then they would indeed pass them down the family line. Likewise of Varys is descended from the line of Aerion Targaryen, either through some bastard or legitimately. It would be possible for his family to have had eggs too. But as he and we presume Sera ended up in poverty I'd think it far less likely they came from his family, such valuable assets surely would have been sold, or taken from them by those whom they were indentured to. 

And lastly Varys could have secreted them from the Targaryens after his appointment as master of whispers. I'd say given his knowledge of the Red Keep it is quite plausible he'd  go about uncovering any forgotten cache's of eggs left in the secret places. 

[Lost Melnibonean]

8 hours ago, The Weirwoods Eyes said:

I think it likely the eggs are from the Targaryen dynasty. And that Varys & Illyrio acquired them either through genuine gifts to their relatives prior to the Blackfyre split from the Targaryen family, or stolen and sneaked from the Red Keep/Dragonstone/Summerhall. At some point by Varys. 

if Illyrio is the last of the Blackfyres through his mothers side, he could easily have ended up with several eggs, we know it was common practice to gift ones children dragon eggs, and if the blackfyre's had some then they would indeed pass them down the family line. Likewise of Varys is descended from the line of Aerion Targaryen, either through some bastard or legitimately. It would be possible for his family to have had eggs too. But as he and we presume Sera ended up in poverty I'd think it far less likely they came from his family, such valuable assets surely would have been sold, or taken from them by those whom they were indentured to. 

And lastly Varys could have secreted them from the Targaryens after his appointment as master of whispers. I'd say given his knowledge of the Red Keep it is quite plausible he'd  go about uncovering any forgotten cache's of eggs left in the secret places. 

Or he could have acquired them from Shadow Lands beyond Asshai in the course of his dragonbone trading with entities around the Jade Sea. 

The eggs were petrified into stone. This triggers the reader to assume, as does Aemon, that Daenerys is Azor Ahai reborn--the princess that was promised. 

And of course, they are the egg MacGuffins, from which Daenerys obtains the dragons that everyone covets. Her possession of the eggs and the hatching drive her arc, but the eggs themselves serve no further purpose. 

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

I'm more of a Dragon lines bonded to blood lines woman. I also  think Nettles was indeed a dragon seed.  So for me they have to come from Targ egg stores. 

Now Maybe you or someone else could help me out, as I'm moving house and all my books are packed. BUT I have a fleeting memory of a dragon egg being described as like stone in either twoiaf or a D&E. Can anyone else recall? 

[Yet Another ASOIAF Fan]

On 7/6/2016 at 11:19 PM, brightflame princess said:

 

Illyrio says "eons" here is the def.

e·on

ˈēən,ˈēˌän/

noun

1. an indefinite and very long period of time, often a period exaggerated for humorous or rhetorical effect.

   "he reached the crag eons before I arrived"

   • ASTRONOMYGEOLOGY

     a unit of time equal to a billion years.
   • GEOLOGY

     a major division of geological time, subdivided into eras.

     "the Precambrian eon"

I think the first def is correct in this situation

 

Or it could be the second one.  Given all the crackpot theories, I would not be surprised if there were theories that dragons have been around for over a billion years.