What did summer see over winterfell? Dragon?

[Muggle]

The smoke and ash clouded his eyes, and in the sky he saw a great winged snake whose roar was a river of flame. He bared his teeth, but then the snake was gone.

Bran saw this through Summer's eyes in the final chapter of Clash of Kings. What does it mean?

Is it a metaphor, or is this the mysterious stone dragon in the prophecies? Is it real? Is it out there somewhere? A dragon that lived buried in Winterfel and was released by the fire?

Any ideas?

[The Bastard of Summer]

Hope these help! :cheers:

[Lost Melnibonean]

I think it was written to fulfill the AAR/PTWP prophecy. Bran was reborn. IIRC the comet was still in the sky, no? I don't recall mention of cold winds but even if it wasn't specified the general threat of the Others was there. The salt was supplied when the Iron Islanders "flooded" WF and the smoke was supplied by Ramsey when he torched the place. He drew a sword from the fire when he took one from the crypts. And Summer saw a dragon awakened. But we learned later that the two theories were linked and that the PTWP would come from the line of Aerys & Rhaella.

[Fire Eater]

I think it was foreshadowing for Dany and her dragons coming to WF later in the series.

[Dr. Pepper]

While there may be foreshadowing in some of this, I think Summer just saw a flaming arrow or something similar. What Summer is viewing is the destruction of Winterfell. Earlier in the books, Bran likened Osha's spear to a serpent so it's not all that odd that an arrow would be likened to a snake. There are also a lot of people still around Winterfell that Summer sees and hears through the night while Winterfell is burning. Given the number of people around, it's very unlikely that a dragon escaped unnoticed.

[Leif]

A phoenix.