Thoughts on bonding with and taming dragons

[Lord Varys]

I'm not sure if there is this big a difference between skinchanging and dragonbonding. Clearly both talents are 'magical genetic traits', and although the dragonriders apparently do not consciously merge with the minds of their dragons, there is clearly a connection the dragons can sense - else, one dragonrider could ride multiple dragons at the same time.

TRP and TPatQ both also suggest that the dragons mimic and reflect the emotional preferences of their riders. The same happens with skinchangers and wargs, as far as we know.

However, both magical talents most likely have different origins - skinchanging may be a magical talent some lines of First Men have inherited from the Children of the Forest, whereas dragonriding goes back to something the ancient Valyrians discovered or did.

Whether skinchanging will become an important magical feature in regards to dragons will be interesting to find out. I'm not so sure about that since GRRM has already confirmed that there were once wild dragons in Westeros long before the Targaryens came, and to our knowledge the Children never used them against the First Men during their wars.

Then there is the fact that Jon is most likely Rhaegar's son and thus carries the dragonrider gene, which should suffice in becoming a dragonrider. Not to mention that it should take ages until Dany's dragons arrive in Westeros.

But in regards to the War for the Dawn this could become interesting. A twisted form of skinchanging could be the magical trick behind the Others' control over the wights, especially when we study the curious case of Coldhands who clearly was wightified by the Others, but somehow freed from their control.

It is remarkable that the Others only use dead humans and animals as troops. Perhaps they decided to do this because the average skinchanger is not able (or not aware) that he can interfere with them on that level. Strong skinchangers are aware of the fact that they can steal the beasts of weaker skinchangers.