[spoiler WoIaF] Let's talk about Skagos

[Free Northman Reborn]

Part of me likes the theory that there were ancient dragon riders all over the world, and the long night destroyed them, but if the others and the long night defeated this ancient dragon riding race, how then did other less advanced people beat them with swords instead of dragons? And if that is the case then why does Dany even have dragons? There must be something we are not getting/getting told.

The Long Night killed dragons not by overpowering them or defeating them in battle, but by decreasing the temparature over a prolonged period of time and wiping out the prey species that serve as their food supply. So in a colder climate, the dragon needs to burn more energy to maintain its very high body temparature. And if you look at the food situation North of the Wall at the moment it is easy to see why food to sustain a dragon would have been hard to come by after 4 or 5 years of Winter. And the further a dragon needs to fly to find its food, the more energy it burns, until eventually, when food becomes too scarce, the pay-off does not replace the energy lost in the hunt.

Once it reaches that point, it is only a matter of time until the dragons start dying out.

[Maia]

What makes you so sure that the First Men and CotF didn't cause a Long Night to save themselves from Dragons?

There is no indication of this "Reign of Fire"esque scenario anywhere in the text? None of the pre-Long Night myths mention any supposed devastation by dragons, on the contrary, they all speak about some golden age, etc.

Yes, there had been dragons living all over the world once, but there is zero indication that it had been _before_ the Long Night, rather than after or that they were so numerous as to become a global nuisance. The 3 wild dragons on Dragonstone were a relatively minor pest for the inhabitants, after all. If the dragons can only procreate around the volcanoes, that would put natural restrictions on their multiplication.

Oh, and, BTW, if direwolves can snack on wights, then why not dragons? Frankly, the real mystery is survival of the herbivores. You'd think the giants, in particular, would have been wiped out.

[cgf]

The arrival of the dragons may well have been the early phase of the Long Night, with the Others and/or ice dragons coming into the picture to answer the dragon threat later. Would fit with old nan's telling of how first the night came and then the others, with the conquest of the dragons being the night against which the others where a retaliation and that brutal struggle. No?

[Asshat by the Shadow]

The only thing I could think about when reading the Skagos section was that Cannibal the dragon was still alive on Skagos and would become the "stone" dragon Melisandre phrophecies, as Skagos is the word for stone. I can't wait for the Davos chapters in WoW

[DarkSister1001]

Very interesting! I just read this section and the three things that jumped out to me were the translation of their name, the presence of obsidian and the unicorns. The Skagosi have enough obsidian to have it listed as a chief export. The CoTF were said to fight and hunt with obsidian but no mention of where they got it. They had so much of it that they gave the NW 100 obsidian daggers each year. Also Skagos in the Old Tongue means "stone". Could the 'stone dragon' Mel is looking for be on Skagos?

Crackpot alert - I think the unicorns will be a little more significant, but I'm not sure how. So far the only significance they've played is a point of reference for Rickon's location. Shaggy Dog fighting a unicorn. I don't think the horn Jon gave Sam is from a auroch. I think it's a unicron horn, Jon just doesn't know any better bc he's never seen a unicorn.