What would it take to kill a dragon?

[Winter Warden]

"The dragons of House Targaryen were bred for war, and in war they died. It is not easy to kill a dragon, but it can be done"

- GRR Martin

So, I've been wondering for awhile, how do you think it can be done (without magic, which was fairly rare in the Seven Kingdoms during House Targaryen's heyday)?

The greatest of House Targaryen's dragons was Balerion the Black Dread, whose "teeth were as long as swords and his jaws big enough to swallow a mammoth whole." "His fire was as black as his scales, his wingspan so vast that entire towns would fall under his shadow when he passed overhead."

So, what could have killed Balerion? 10,000 bowmen? All the knights in the Seven Kingdoms? Extreme cold? Or is the only real possibility other dragons?

Of course, Danaerys' dragons are currently only a fraction of Balerion's size, so they are probably much more vulnerable. What do you think it might take to kill one of them?

I'm particularly interested in whether you think that a conventional Westerosi army could effectively fight a dragon (provided it did not simply run away in terror). I don't recall any hint that dragons cannot be harmed by swords, arrows... etc... but, to a fair sized dragon, I'm not sure the damage dealt to it by an arrow or sword would be much more than a pinprick. On the other hand, dragons are pretty big, so it would be fairly hard to miss one. Also, dragons can fly and breathe fire, so using a sword on one would probably prove rather tricky.

On a related note, how much harder would it be to kill a trained/controlled dragon with a rider, as opposed to a wild dragon?

[Fat Mac]

Weirwood arrows have been theorized to do as much. It'd be the "ice" equivalent to dragonglass killing Others.

[ILoveSummer]

In Meereen, they use scorpions to defend against Drogon and he was hurted by a spear. Maybe in combination with poison...

[Dornish Whine]

If it bleeds, we can kill it. Ballista, (weirwood) arrows, spears, trebuchet, catapult, anything that can rend the flesh and spill the blood. Easy? No. Possible? Yes.

[Son of a Harpy]

Tyrion mentioned their eyes being a weak point.

[The Drunkard]

Dragons, giant weapons, the cold (maybe), krakens, poison, spearthroughtheeyetus.

[Arkantos]

Scorpions, trebuchets, any large projectile.

Also, weirwood shit.

[Little Wing]

A shot through the eye?

[kephv]

Perhaps Drogon would've died if that spear went out the other side of his neck. Anyway, Aegon's dragons were much bigger and trained from the start for war - Dany's haven't been. If it was a well coordinated attack by men who were prepared, they probably could've take down any one of Dany's dragons.

EDIT: Welcome by the way :)

[The Drunkard]

I suppose you could also drown them. If they were travelling via ship (which seems unlikely, but you never know) you could sink it, and they might be unable to escape quick enough to get airbound. You could also damage their wing/s whilst flying above the water, and then they'd drop'n'drown.

[g.o.d]

if they were smart, Dany would certainly annoy them to death :)

[Winter Warden]

So, the consensus appears to be that dragons are far from impossible to kill.

So, then how useful are they as weapons of war?

Obviously, as proven by Harrenhal, they are quite effective when it comes to speeding up sieges. They also would probably strike terror into one's enemies, particularly an unprepared enemy, and an army that did not know they were coming might be burned alive before it could muster any defense. However, against a prepared enemy army which was expecting to fight dragons, how effective would dragons be?

For sake of argument, let's say that Dany had gone to Pentos, let her dragons grow a bit, gotten better control of them, joined up with Aegon, the Golden Company and Dorne, and then attacked the other six kingdoms. Provided the other six kingdoms had been able to effectively work together (say, for example, Robert's reign had lasted another four or five years, and he had been able to effectively raise levies from all of his realm, except for Dorne), would Dany and company have been able to conquer Westeros? If so, would it have been a cakewalk, would it have been non-trivial but not too hard, a long and difficult war?

Obviously, the other kingdoms actually working together like this would probably never happen, but what I would really like to get a handle on is the extent to which dragons would allow a very small army to overcome a much larger and better armed force. Essentially, I want to know what people here think of dragons as weapons of war. Are they an 'I win' button, extremely useful, but quite beatable, or somewhere in between?

[E-Ro]

All dragons must die.

[Roza Ahai]

It takes one shot of one weirwood arrow in a eye.

[Thendel]

So, the consensus appears to be that dragons are far from impossible to kill.

So, then how useful are they as weapons of war?

Obviously, as proven by Harrenhal, they are quite effective when it comes to speeding up sieges. They also would probably strike terror into one's enemies, particularly an unprepared enemy, and an army that did not know they were coming might be burned alive before it could muster any defense. However, against a prepared enemy army which was expecting to fight dragons, how effective would dragons be?

For sake of argument, let's say that Dany had gone to Pentos, let her dragons grow a bit, gotten better control of them, joined up with Aegon, the Golden Company and Dorne, and then attacked the other six kingdoms. Provided the other six kingdoms had been able to effectively work together (say, for example, Robert's reign had lasted another four or five years, and he had been able to effectively raise levies from all of his realm, except for Dorne), would Dany and company have been able to conquer Westeros? If so, would it have been a cakewalk, would it have been non-trivial but not too hard, a long and difficult war?

Obviously, the other kingdoms actually working together like this would probably never happen, but what I would really like to get a handle on is the extent to which dragons would allow a very small army to overcome a much larger and better armed force. Essentially, I want to know what people here think of dragons as weapons of war. Are they an 'I win' button, extremely useful, but quite beatable, or somewhere in between?

The Field of Fire. That's how effective dragons can be against a medieval army. Once it's grown to a proper size, it would take hundreds, if not thousands, of well-trained archers with impressive cover, dozens of war machines ready to fire ballista bolts, nets and scorpions and thousands of foot soldiers as cannon fodder to bring a dragon down.

[Trial]

Shot to the eye seems the best way since it doesn't have any protection there. Depending on how hard the scales are and if one could find a way to keep it on the ground, Valarian Steel might work.

[Erudain]

Go fench Bard from Esgaroth or Turin Turambar.... :leaving:

[MotherAnduin]

Go fench Bard from Esgaroth or Turin Turambar.... :leaving:

Or Serwyn of the Mirror Shield

[Full-Faced Braavosi]

If I am a dragonlord, I 100% build a dragon helm that protects their eyes from arrow shots.

[Erudain]

btw a bit off-topic....but I recall a SSM when he said that dragons have more or less the same intelligence level of a dog.....does anyone have a link to it?