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Which Castles are the Best at Defending Dragons?


Shpati

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Adult dragon? Deepwood Motte. Easy to rebuild. No castle survives adult dragons. That’s why the biggest castle with the thickest walls melted and crumpeled.

@The Sleeper the Rock might do best but will not survive a Balerion-attack. Most of the castle is on top of the Rock, the rest is all tunnels from which you cannot escape. I imagine the fire being breathed in the lower caves, traveling through the entire tunnel system, melting and burning it all. The rock itself will survive, the castle won’t. 

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I'd imagine the smoke from burning supplies and storehouses would kill or disperse most of the troops inside a castle under dragon attack. 

Whether the physical building holds is immaterial, but  Storms Ends curtain wall  perched over a cliff makes it solider than a bog standard castle. 

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Harrenhal defended the dragons well in the sense that none of them were injured.

Nobody ever gets into this , but in dragon worlds there would be architectural changes to address the dragon threat.  People would try shit, you know.  Because otherwise the tenents would demand it and protest at every superintendant's meeting.   Like, I've seen authors use a huge spring loaded metal skewer blade that'd hide within the structure and impale any dragon perched on the castle.   But other ideas off the top of my head are.... use a construction material that flows like molten marshmallow when melted, then all a drgon accomplishes by burning you is it insulates your people inside a big Hershey's kiss looking blob of stone that can no longer be invaded or taken because the doors are sealed off.  (Remember to have major escape tunnels that surface at a second exit point. )  Or .....is there dragon repellent?   An odor they don't like.  Bake lots of that fragrance into the bricks and lite bonfires of it along the perimeter like with Off for mosquitoes.     .....Big big rat traps all along the roof.   ..... Acid guns ala Greek Fire, so the dragon can feel a burning sensation along with everybody else and maybe learn to empathize.   

 

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14 hours ago, The Mother of The Others said:

Harrenhal defended the dragons well in the sense that none of them were injured.

Nobody ever gets into this , but in dragon worlds there would be architectural changes to address the dragon threat.  People would try shit, you know.  Because otherwise the tenents would demand it and protest at every superintendant's meeting.   Like, I've seen authors use a huge spring loaded metal skewer blade that'd hide within the structure and impale any dragon perched on the castle.   But other ideas off the top of my head are.... use a construction material that flows like molten marshmallow when melted, then all a drgon accomplishes by burning you is it insulates your people inside a big Hershey's kiss looking blob of stone that can no longer be invaded or taken because the doors are sealed off.  (Remember to have major escape tunnels that surface at a second exit point. )  Or .....is there dragon repellent?   An odor they don't like.  Bake lots of that fragrance into the bricks and lite bonfires of it along the perimeter like with Off for mosquitoes.     .....Big big rat traps all along the roof.   ..... Acid guns ala Greek Fire, so the dragon can feel a burning sensation along with everybody else and maybe learn to empathize.   

 

Let's look at a timeline here.

  • Aegon landed in Westeros for the first time 2 years before his conquering started (2 BC).
  • The last dragon - which was stunted and misshapen - was born died in 153 AC.
  • The last full grown dragons died/went missing between then and the end of the Dance of Dragons twenty years earlier (131 AC)


So as far as Westeros is concerned, they've only known/had to deal with dragons for about 133 years.

Here are the reasons why nobody has built a castle to withstand a dragon:

  1. Building castles with the available resources is very time consuming and expensive
  2. It would take Westeros YEARS to not only learn enough about dragon's weaknesses, but also to design and plan the castle in a way that takes these weaknesses into account, much less build it
  3. Given these conditions, this would limit the option of the above happening to rich/important lords
  4. Stretching this process out longer is the fact that the realm periodically had to deal with wars of various sizes between Aegon's Conquering and up to and including Dance of Dragons, which drains resources
  5. Because all of this takes so much time to plan, word will have definitely gotten out about a house building an anti-dragon castle, which the Crown would find out about and act on swiftly. Depending on the reigning monarch, this could be very bad.

I admit that making modifications to a castle would take less time and be less costly, but the rest of the castle (being made of stone) would still not be able to withstand the dragon.

Also, outside of Targaryens I don't think anyone would be able to get close enough to study them anyway, which means that the likelihood of anyone figuring out some of your suggestions (what smells they don't like) is very small. And after the last dragon died, it hasn't mattered for people to try for the last 150 or so years.

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I would hazard a guess that Dragonstone would be a good defence as it's made from that weird, black stone. And that stone is allegedly crafted with magic by the Valyrians. It seems pretty clear that the Valyrians were far more technologically advanced compared to the Andals. For a culture where dragons were rife, I think it's safe to say that fireproofing things was essential. 

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On 4/17/2019 at 4:07 PM, Gendarrion said:

Visenya claim Casterly Rock can withstood dragonflame, Hightower is probably second.

These were my first two thoughts as well. The Rock because yeah, Visenya said it and the Hightower honestly more for logistics than actual defenses (where would you even start burning?) 

Honorable mention to Storm's End for being insanely tough and having a watery escape route

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Winterfell if the snows are falling heavily, dragons can be grounded by rain, and have their flames dampened. It would be even worse for them in a blizzard. In that vein, Storm's End in a hurricane could also possibly survive, the Last Storm wasn't exactly a rout even though Orys Baratheon had Rhaenys and Meraxes. Casterly Rock as well, since the Lannisters would just have to retreat into the tunnels where the dragonflame couldn't reach them, which is why Maegor didn't try to destroy the Rock when the Lannisters harbored Aegon and Rhaena. 

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I reject Casterly Rock and Storms End because given enough dragon fire they'd melt and cook everyone inside, just like Harrenhall. Castamere would be ideal if it wasn't for this; Tywin filled it with water so a dragon could technically fill it with molten rock.

 

Greywater Watch could make it because its camouflaged, sits in water and can be moved if needed so they'd have the best chances so long as the dragon rider doesn't set the whole Neck ablaze.

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