Have Sheepstealer and the Cannibal a part to play in the next two novels?

[Rhaeguardiandroid]

Or was that just a tease as it is very possible that they fled and died elsewhere?

[Veltigar]

I think not. There isn't enough groundwork laid for that in the main series.

[Lord Lyman]

I don't think so. I'm not sure how long dragons live for in GRRM's World, Balerion was around 200 when he died of old age. Last time either was known to be alive was during the Dance of Dragons (so 129-131 AC).

Sheepstealer was said to be hatched when Jaehaerys I was young, so you are already putting him at 80 years old before the dance. This would make him around 250 in the current time.

The Cannibal was said to be older the Sheepstealer and even if he wasn't, it sounds like he was larger then other dragons, so he had to have been around for awhile to get to that size.

I would say that both have died from old age by now

[ellstaysia]

I wondered the same but figured they just died elsewhere since they weren't ever really tamed.

[The Dragon Demands]

On closer inspection: the whole conceit of these things is that they're not objective: Gyldayn wrote one book (The Princess and the Queen is an excerpt) but Yandel wrote TWOIAF.

Gyldayn said in TPATQ that no one ever knew what happened to Nettles and Sheepstealer.

Yandel said in TWOIAF that no one ever knew what happened to Nettles and Sheepstealer until years later.

Yandel also states with finality that the last dragons died in the reign of Aegon III.

So,

1 - Yandel knows what happened to Sheepstealer.

2 - Sheepstealer is a dragon.

3 - All dragons known to Yandel died in the reign of Aegon III.

4 - Therefore, Nettles and Sheepstealer returned at some point in the next 25 years but later died.

[Bael's Bastard]

Gyldayn apparently wrote at least up to Summerhall, over a century after the Dance, only around forty years before the current time of ASOIAF. There is no reason to think Yandel knows more about those times than Gyldayn. What makes you think Nettles and Sheepstealer "returned"?

[The Dragon Demands]

"Nettles and the Sheepstealer vanished before the war’s end,

and none could say where they went until years after."

[Bael's Bastard]

And?

There is no reason to think Yandel knows something about Sheepstealer that Gyldayn didn't. Gyldayn wrote up to almost one hundred and thirty years after the Dance, and Yandel only forty years later. There's no indication that whatever was learned about Nettles and Sheepstealer was learned only after Gyldayn's death. That wouldn't be years later, that would be almost a century and a half later.

And speaking of knowing where they went doesn't necessarily mean they returned in any sense. It could just mean it was eventually learned or deduced that Nettles and Sheepstealer went to the Vale.

[The Dragon Demands]

Yeah, my point being that Gyldayn had absolutely no idea what happened to them and assumed they simply died.

[Bael's Bastard]

TPATQ and TRP are heavily edited, and none of us knows what exactly was removed. They do not give a full picture of either the times they cover, nor the extent of the knowledge of their author and compiler.

[Lord Varys]

The interesting thing about the Cannibal is that he disappeared unclaimed at the end of the Dance. Surely some history is behind that. While I guess that Sheepstealer's eventual death is sort of confirmed - we know that Nettles ended up in the Mountains of the Moon, and that there is no dragon there in the present - the story of the Cannibal smells like he has been declared dead by the regents, rather than that anyone actually saw his corpse. TPatQ made it pretty obvious that the average Dragonstonian is not really eager to challenge or mess with the Cannibal, so the chances that anyone successfully slew him prior to the end of the Dance are practically zero. As a wild dragon it would also be very difficult to poison him.

I imagine that Silverwing was either killed by a dragonslayer during the Regency, or was reclaimed by a Targaryen (Baela) during the same time, eventually dying under her care. Just as Morning most likely during Rhaena's lifetime.

Something spooky is haunting Dragonstone, that much has been hinted at since the Prologue of ACoK. We don't know if dragons can go into stasis or hibernation yet, but if that's the case, then the Cannibal could be still alive on the island beneath the Dragonmount to come forth eventually.

There was also no buildup in the main series to Bloodraven being the three-eyed crow, so we really can't use that as an argument, I think.

[The hairy bear]

There is no reason to think Yandel knows something about Sheepstealer that Gyldayn didn't. Gyldayn wrote up to almost one hundred and thirty years after the Dance, and Yandel only forty years later. There's no indication that whatever was learned about Nettles and Sheepstealer was learned only after Gyldayn's death. That wouldn't be years later, that would be almost a century and a half later.

I think you've mixed up names here. Yandel writes his "world" during Robert/Joffrey/Tommen's reign, while Gyldayn lived during Aegon's reign IIRC.

IMO, as a scholar was centered in the Dance and wrote what he wrote because Sheepstealer had efectively abandoned "his story". Yandel has a wider interest, and may have noticed the connection (or perhaps read about someone else that had made it) with the witch living in the Vale with a dragon, and wrote his book accordingly.

[joluoto2]

On closer inspection: the whole conceit of these things is that they're not objective: Gyldayn wrote one book (The Princess and the Queen is an excerpt) but Yandel wrote TWOIAF.

Gyldayn said in TPATQ that no one ever knew what happened to Nettles and Sheepstealer.

Yandel said in TWOIAF that no one ever knew what happened to Nettles and Sheepstealer until years later.

Yandel also states with finality that the last dragons died in the reign of Aegon III.

So,

1 - Yandel knows what happened to Sheepstealer.

2 - Sheepstealer is a dragon.

3 - All dragons known to Yandel died in the reign of Aegon III.

4 - Therefore, Nettles and Sheepstealer returned at some point in the next 25 years but later died.

Well, the last thing we hear about Nettles and Sheepstealer is that they're chilling with the Mountain Clans in the Vale.

[Free Northman Reborn]

The Cannibal being coal black just resonates so nicely with the Black Bastard of the Wall, who also just happens to be the Targaryen Crown Prince.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Slightly more speculative: What if the Cannibal migrated periodically between the two volcanic Isles in the Narrow Sea - Dragonstone and Skagos? What if the Cannibal, during a much earlier stay on Skagos, was responsible for the destruction of Hardhome?

[jet199]

If there is a dragon hibernating on Dragonstone maybe it has already bonded with one of the inhabitants but needs a bit of a kick start.

Can you imagine if Stannis or Shireen turn up riding cannibal. The internet would explode.

Also, wasn't there a theory that Timett son of Timett was the real heir to the Vale. He could be a possible dragonrider if that theory is true, with dragonriders (Arryn+Nettles) or even Targ (if Nettles had Daemon's child) on both sides. That should be fun.

[Lord Varys]

If the Cannibal is still on Dragonstone, my best guess would be that he eventually ends up with Aegon, as he is the closest person with (presumed) Targaryen blood around the island. Stannis and Shireen are too far away, and Dany already has dragon(s).

[Bael's Bastard]

I think you've mixed up names here. Yandel writes his "world" during Robert/Joffrey/Tommen's reign, while Gyldayn lived during Aegon's reign IIRC.

IMO, as a scholar was centered in the Dance and wrote what he wrote because Sheepstealer had efectively abandoned "his story". Yandel has a wider interest, and may have noticed the connection (or perhaps read about someone else that had made it) with the witch living in the Vale with a dragon, and wrote his book accordingly.

Mixed up names how? I said that Gyldayn wrote up to 130 years after the Dance (he died at or after Summerhall), and Yandel only 40 years later (after Gyldayn). I don't think it is likely that anybody uncovered new information on Nettles and Sheepstealer after the death of Gyldayn. I think whatever Yandel knew about the Dance and its participants would have already been known to Gyldayn. And IIRC Gyldayn has been said to have written about all of the Targaryen kings up to his own time and death, not just about the Dance. Because of how heavily edited they were, I can't take the absence of something as evidence that Gyldayn didn't know or even write about it.

[Maid So Fair]

I really don't think so, though they might pop up somewhere else - Dunk and Egg? I don't think GRRM would include such a major spoiler or plot point without heavily hinting at it in his main series, as that really wouldn't be fair for the (vast majority of) readers that have only read the original novels. For anything important, he tends to hint at it several times before making a big reveal and there is probably not enough space to do so, but I could be wrong. And another dragon or dragons are too game-changing to work as a mere cameo.

[The hairy bear]

Mixed up names how? I said that Gyldayn wrote up to 130 years after the Dance (he died at or after Summerhall), and Yandel only 40 years later (after Gyldayn).

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I read it as "40 years" after the Dance, instead of Gyldayn. :)