Three Breeds of Dragon

[SpaceChampion]

The showrunners has said there are 3 breeds of dragon.  They seem to be the Wormy type like Caraxes, the Dinosaurian-like as with Syrax, and the more Drogon-like with heavily armoured head as with Balerion and (i think) Seasmoke.

Are these made up for the show, or is there any textual references for this in the books and histories?  Been wondering if Vhagar is a Wormy type and Meraxes more Dino type, or vice versa, because the original 3 adult dragons would have to be responsible for all that were raised after the Conquest, so they must be one of each, right?  Unless one of the breeds had no adults during the conquest, the juveniles being too small to be ridden yet.

Edited September 6, 2022 by SpaceChampion

[Mosi Mynn]

Thank you for starting a thread about this!  I love everything about the dragons, and this news has me particularly fascinated.

There are a three YouTube videos that have particularly grabbed me, and I'm going with these theories until someone more authoritative debunks them.

From these videos, the three types are:

Dino/Tyrannosaurus  - Balerion, and all of Dany's dragons.  Big square heads, maybe the biggest "breed"?

Wolf head - Vhagar and Syrax. Elegant (for a dragon) head - I think Syrax is quite pretty!

Serpentine, wormlike - Meraxes and Caraxes. Long bodies and necks.  I LOVE Caraxes' design! I'm really interested to see if any of the other Dance dragons are this breed, as I suspect most of them will be the top two breeds.

 

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[SpaceChampion]

I'd guess Balerion was bred for war.  Eyes forward to train on an enemy.

I've heard Syrax called more eagle-faced, not wolf.  I don't see a wolf-head at all, but her eyes a little more facing the sides, perhaps bred for hunting.

At a guess the wyrms are bred for guarding, if they're more sensitive to signs of danger.

Edit:  *sudden relevation*   Caraxes is a Danger Noodle!!!

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by SpaceChampion

[Mosi Mynn]

Danger Noodle!  Brilliant! 

I like your roles for each of them.  I would love to see all three breeds together.  Is Seasmoke of the Balerion breed?  Hopefully we can see him, Caraxes and Syrax together.

 

[Mosi Mynn]

Is/was Arrax a different breed from our recognised three?

He is a lot smaller than others of his age, or younger - specifically when compared to Syrax and Drogon.   

Is Syrax the same age as Rhaenyra?  If she is, then Syrax was a lot bigger than Arrax was at fourteen years old.  And Arrax, I assume, had not spent most of his life in a dragonpit - he flew free-ish around Dragonstone for at least six years. 

Arrax is also a lot smaller than Drogon was when Drogon was a lot younger. 

Is Arrax a specifically smaller breed?  Or is something else  going on, as in the maesters already stunting the dragons' growth?

[Annara Snow]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:08 PM, SpaceChampion said:

The showrunners has said there are 3 breeds of dragon.  They seem to be the Wormy type like Caraxes, the Dinosaurian-like as with Syrax, and the more Drogon-like with heavily armoured head as with Balerion and (i think) Seasmoke.

Are these made up for the show, or is there any textual references for this in the books and histories?  Been wondering if Vhagar is a Wormy type and Meraxes more Dino type, or vice versa, because the original 3 adult dragons would have to be responsible for all that were raised after the Conquest, so they must be one of each, right?  Unless one of the breeds had no adults during the conquest, the juveniles being too small to be ridden yet.

The Targs may have brought some dragon eggs from Valyria rather than just dragons.

[SpaceChampion]

On 10/27/2022 at 5:19 AM, Mosi Mynn said:

Is/was Arrax a different breed from our recognised three?

I can't remember getting a good look at Arrax's head.  Will have to go back some time and try to freeze frame it.

23 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

The Targs may have brought some dragon eggs from Valyria rather than just dragons.

Most certainly.

[Evolett]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:08 PM, SpaceChampion said:

The showrunners has said there are 3 breeds of dragon.  They seem to be the Wormy type like Caraxes, the Dinosaurian-like as with Syrax, and the more Drogon-like with heavily armoured head as with Balerion and (i think) Seasmoke.

I've entertained this thought for a while, especially in view of Dany's three dragons, though there's no real proof available. Dragons specially bred for war indicates there was intentional breeding for the purpose. Large, formidable dragons such as Drogon and Balerion may be examples of this breed.

But the Valyrians also used dragonfire in construction work, to create their fanciful buildings and stoneware. I can imagine a smaller more flexible breed, one easier to turn and steer around objects being better suited to this task. Lastly, there's a mention of wise old dragons that lived for a thousand years. No clue as to what their purpose could have been but perhaps they differed from the rest. Maybe there is a breed more suited to travelling long distances, more streamlined and aerodynamic perhpas.

[Sax]

I guess I’m the only one that noticed all the horns on balerion’s skull, notice how there’s about 4 or 5 on both sides of his head. The only other dragon that looks like that is meleys. So I guess Balerion is the same breed as the red queen which in my opinion is AWESOME because she’s super fast, literally takes on vhagar and sunfyre 1v2. No wonder Balerion was such a beast!