How to kill a dragon (Westeros edition)

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[@melkhiordarkfell4354]

A big fleet of ships, no one will see you coming.

[@sophialambert2616]

Glad to see I'm not the only one to not kinda forget about the Iron Fleet.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@sophialambert2616 How could anyone be expected to remember something as insignificant as the Iron Fleet?

[@gavelston3943]

What do you mean? I kinda forgot…

[@Ralph_Roberts]

Totally. Just have a big harpoon on a boat and you're invisible and have perfect aim.

[@alyssapruneau6855]

😂

[@istari0]

Unsurprisingly, the biggest threats to dragons come from a) humans b) other dragons. It's similar to what lions face in Africa.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Your standard magical apex predator, in other words.

[@markd.s.8625]

balerion being said to have died of old age doesnt mean that is what actually killed him. especially with how he was injured when he took that girl away for a year

[@ThommyofThenn]

This is what I was thinking. What eldritch monstrosity was able to leave a gash, several FEET long on the largest dragon known to have lived?

[@markd.s.8625]

@@ThommyofThenn it could have just been another dragon, or a firewyrm

[@AndrewK23777]

Something surely injured Balerion but pending more clarity / info it seems he healed up and went on living for quite a while after. Im assuming was a firewyrm which likely survived the Doom as they tend to live in subterranean environments and also likely grew huge and unchecked without the dragon competition after the Doom. I'd still say he died of old age , he lived another 40 years after the injury and again pending more info we aren't told he was declining or sickly from that point on or anything other than simply getting older.

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@markd.s.8625 that's the most common sense answer, I agree. Probably a wyrm that had been provoked into surfacing after the Doom shifted the geography of the peninsula and thus changing their habitat

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@AndrewK23777 right, the wound might have contributed to his sloth in later years. Or maybe it's just hard for a dragon that huge to generate the energy required to lift such a weight into the air. Kind of the old war wound acting up in humidity decades later thing

[@argyrism9287]

All it really takes is patience; wait until the dragon-rider kind of forgets about you, but ensure that you certainly haven't forgotten about them.

[@gaghhuh2943]

One of these is harder than the other

[@Michaelonyoutub]

I love GRRM's realistic depiction of what a nearly all powerful force of nature the dragons would likely be. Something so big, powerful, strong, mobile, and destructive, it is hard to imagine a world where humans aren't the apex predator and instead have to contend with such powerful beings. Then on top of that have humans (feebly at times) try to control them and use them and fail to use them or misuse them, makes for extremely interesting stories. It also realistically depicts them as not all powerful gods, but simple creatures that can in rare circumstances die, sometimes even to flukes.

[@Jcewazhere]

The book 'Dragonsbane' has lots of fun ways to fight dragons. My favorite is the magic powered mechanical sea urchin that fires spears.

[@macrosense]

They will fly right into giant crossbolts

[@AndrewK23777]

Great vid IDG. Definitely an interesting albeit at times sad concept to analyze. There seems a pattern of eye , head and neck injuries ; if there is a weakness that can kill a dragon it often comes from those sort of injuries. Being in very close proximity (especially when chained / restrained like the Dragonpit) makes that more accessible but also being that near is of course is a rare and extremely perilous opportunity. I do believe dragon age and size factors in quite a bit as well. The older and larger dragons get - often old age or another similarly sized dragon or an insanely difficult miraculous shot from human weaponry is required for the kill. I believe with more size & age dragon scales get that much tougher and harder with less vulnerabilities. So once they reach a certain size it seems it takes a near impossible shot to kill them with most weapons. Meraxes' age & size for example matches up needing that near one in a million scorpion bolt through the eye. But younger smaller dragons i believe are more vulnerable ; we have examples like the storming of the Dragonpit and even Vermax and Stormcloud (both relatively young dragons) possibly embodying that as well. Stormcloud a bolt to the neck seems to ultimately do the job (possibly less effective against an older / larger dragon) ; but also told he was badly wounded all over by arrows. Vermax possibly another one of those eye injury deaths but an abdominal injury via a grapnel is also proposed as an alternate possibility. For me age and size likely factors in , with the younger dragons generally more vulnerable , requiring less of the near impossible means with weapons or of course other dragons. Meanwhile the older large dragons it would take a near miraculous shot from human weaponry , a similarly sized other dragon(s) or eventually old age.

[@LamontTruthSeeker-gb8jb]

Balerion the one dragon we’re told died of old age was about the same age as the Cannibal if not younger than the Cannibal though!

[@phillipschmidt6295]

You are always so charming, I never tire of your beautiful voice and the knowledge and insight you share. Thank you.

[@willybiggs-rj6qt]

being Team Dragon since end of season1, the dance era is epic but overall a bummer

[@kjellduteweert9262]

I think the Cannibal or Sliverwing is on Skagos, a black dragon, and lonely dragon, for lonely black (black for the crows. dragon on the wall. Or White/silver for snow as for Jon snow. The true heir to the Iron Throne, I still thing Young Griff is a fake.

[@kjellduteweert9262]

Rhaegal's death stupid, also called a plot death. The reason why he died is Plot. There was no other reason.

[@erichtomanek4739]

Gunpowder does not seem to have been invented anywhere in Planetos. Pity. Bazooka v Dragon.

[@MiljaHahto]

GRR Martin has also payed with the idea of an ice dragon in a separate novel.

[@jd4121]

Westerosi dragons are more like jet fighters; Middle Earth dragons, now, that’s a nucl€ar weapon!

[@tblaze8346]

Small request! Any way you can give a disclaimer if a video does or does not have spoilers for HOTD? I sometimes avoid a video if they seem like they might parts that cover past Season 1.

[@Mr-or9pn]

Balerion didnt die of old age. He was wounded in valyria and never recovered.

[@snarl3027]

Throw an ice spear at approx 600fps

[@Devoted2Mariah]

Funny how most people think everything in S8 will eventually happen in the books, except Drogon surviving. Drogon surviving was the only good part of that nonsense ending. Idk why people want them dead so much. That’s so depressing.

[@lemoon01]

A forgotten fleet apparently

[@asher7973]

Acnologias' search history be like:

[@VincentVanHalen55]

Is there any precedence in the books for killing dragons by tainting thier food supply or poisoning the livestock they grazed on?

[@JohnTorres1987]

Shoot it the light the eye. Boom. End of episode. Onto something else.

[@ncuco]

I guess "we're" dismissing the dragon deaths on screen

[@dellavonta187]

Why didn’t sliver wing help vermithor

[@aqueousvessel8]

Im kinda iffy on the effectiveness of bows and arrows. Im willing to bet most of the actual damage to dragons during the spice wars came from the water mages and their massive water spouts. So realistically the only sure way to win is you having a dragon or massive magic attacks. Arrows, bolts, and scorpions are almost definitely pure luck.

[@olivervision2111]

Thank you for the spoiler warning. Will come back to this video once I've completed HotD. 😊

[@SHARKVADERS]

I D G !!!!!

[@monkeymoo87]

Lead your balista shots

[@rayfairbanks6280]

GRRM better be paying these youtubers like IDG, for keeping this story alive. Seems like he aint doin shit. Im startin to feel like a sucka. I dont like feelin like a sucka. Come GG. Get it together.

[@apstrike]

Better question: how do you kill a dragon that's wearing glasses?

[@TCO1216]

they die way to easy in ASOIF

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

Fire cannot kill a dragon. Except when it can.

[@markd.s.8625]

targs sniffed their own farts a little bit too much like claiming they cant catch common diseases but then a pandemic strikes and they lose family members each time

[@chameschamek305]

Game of thrones daenerys targaryen Mother of Dragons

[@FloppsEB]

i was gonna say magic sword but now i feel stupid >.

[@schlawa]

Cause of death #1 bad writing in the show. :)

[@amberantk1]

I know it’s Canon, but I just don’t think i buy people kill a dragon breathe fire

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

I feel very sorry for the dragons. They are simply powerful creatures bred for war (At least I presume. I tried to read Game of Thrones, but stopped when they killed that dog. You may kill as many people as you want, but you leave dogs alone. And other defenceless animals.).

[@lief3414]

Nah, I don't buy this. Not the shots to the eyes. It needs to be to the right spot, from the right angle, with sufficient power and either dragons have giant brains (for giant lizards) or need to be young enough where the projectile can reach the brain. And the dragon is not only zooming around from above but also moving its body parts including head, Now, some may say that the chance is low but it can still happen, however that asumes enough opportunities, which simply isn't happening. The dragon can easily stay out of range and have way superior awareness, choosing it's target and the angle of attack. Once it does start attacking only a small portion of the projectiles from the possible first volley will be launched at the dragon. Then it's kinda over, people will just run, greatly diminishing the chances of those that stand and shoot. How many of these scenarios will happen? People won't fight an enemy with a dragon on yearly basis, it's kinda once and you're done situation and the rest will remember what happened. Dragons just won't be in danger often enough to get eventually unlucky. Could it happen once? Sure. Regular occurence? Absolutely not.

[@stevefontaine1335]

In Deep Geek Harry Potter Video.?🙏🙏🙏

[@markd.s.8625]

about what?

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Why?

[@markd.s.8625]

like does in deep geek know or care much about harry potter as a series to begin with? if he doesnt know a lot about it it wont even be worth making a video about it (there is SO much disinformation about what happens in the books)

[@justingent5088]

Nobody can kill a dragon

[@albaestrada8603]

Dragons dont seem to be nearly as powerful as they are depicted in how they dominated westeros and how they were the most powerful kingdom on the know world... they had to many deaths come easily like a mercy kill with an arrow etc that makes it unrealistic that humanity would hide from them because once we found a weakness we would target that and duplicate it, training soldiers for it and revolving our society towards it. A kill from a ahot to the hide? Valryien swords and metals? We woukd make more exotic weapons from that steel and go out and try and abstract it from other places, spend so much money trying to replicate that metal threw our own alchemy or inventions etc we would not bow down to three dragons come on... somebody somewhere would have landed a great shot and that would be it for those dragons, the moral sould be too high. They should have been depicted as more unkillable.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Sorry if this has been said but we cannot forget whatever horror left LARGE cut marks on a big dragon, when that targ girl returned after being missing for years.

[@Peee-ud7gr]

Sorry but when was this???

[@ThommyofThenn]

@@Peee-ud7gr in the first half of Fire and Blood. One of Jaehaerys' daughters (i think??) took of on a dragon to avoild politics or something

[@AnarchoCatBoyEthan]

@@Peee-ud7gr Aerea, who was the daughter of Aegon the uncrowned and Rhaena Targaryen . She was the rightful heir at the time and was really unhappy at dragonstone, she hopped on Balerion the black dread (she was his last rider, but also kind of not cause he didn’t listen) and he whisked her off to Old Valyria. She came back a bit later super skinny and sickly, and died shortly afterwards. Balerion as well, who came back wounded. Nobody knows what happened except that before she died these awful fire worms hatched from her body.

[@colleenharding8665]

This keeps me up at night. Imagine something that can harm the biggest dragon in its prime?! A fire wurm?

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@colleenharding8665 The entire story of Aerea Targaryen and her unintentional trip to Valyria with Balerion keeps me up at night. That's some top shelf body horror GRRM's written there, and the complete lack of answers to the many questions (especially "what could hurt the Black Dread itself so badly?") just makes it scarier.

[@Jebbtube]

Coming soon: George R. R. Martin's new children's book; How to Kill Your Dragon.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

I unironically think my nieces would get into that, and decide to become fierce dragonslayers, even though they also love dragons. They just love the idea of being able to kill stuff more.

[@View619]

That's easy, shoot it with a harpoon from off screen. Next question!

[@meaghanjones6725]

This still makes me so mad, lol

[@willybiggs-rj6qt]

a mile longer sniper shot off a rocking boat into a flying target 🙄🫣🤢

[@patrickhenry1249]

@@willybiggs-rj6qton the actual first try too no less

[@brendanward2991]

I fear that all three of Dany's dragons will outlive George R R Martin.

[@Ijustwannapump]

He's work is not less than his life.

[@USERNAMEfieldempty]

harsh

[@XJ0461C]

Pathetic take.

[@pikarari]

oh good we almost had a discussion of the books without someone bitching about how slow the author is. whew! dodged a bullet! I think if any of these "fans" actually knew anything about GRRM, his work, and his life in general, they'd cut him some slack probably not, though. people in this society are consumers, all they know is consumption, and since they can't have the next books in the series - something to which they feel personally entitled at all costs - they are angry because they can no longer consume it's as pathetic as it is inhuman

[@XJ0461C]

@pikarari It's even more ironic considering Robert has made a video on this very topic and if they'd bothered to actually watch or at least glance at this wonderful channel's other content they might not have bothered commenting this in the first place.

[@TheNinjaDC]

It might not even have been poison that distorted the last few dragons, but the lack of adult dragons. The warmth and fire of dragons might be required to nurture eggs, or their radiating magic. With so many adults slain, the surviving eggs might have not had the chance to develop properly. Dragons are being of great magical force. Perhaps they need equally strong force to be born properly.

[@GBfanatic15]

I like that theory, cause it would also fit with them being like reptiles

[@burtan2000]

And the mob killed all the dragon keepers. I really liked how HotD showed them as a combo of legend keeper, kennel master, stable master, and craftsman. It's like a guild or an order. They tend to have burns. The wise old ones basically all have disfiguring burns scars. They serve the Targaryens. But also teach and train them, like a Master at Arms. With the older members of the targs are dead, the surviving children would need to learn from the Dragon Masters. But they're dead. So that knowledge was lost from the world. Some books remain, but Dany needed to figure shit out on her own, mostly by instinct and the rest by trial and error

[@TheMiggleB]

Wouldn't Danny's dragons disprove this? Being quite a bit bigger than the "last" dragons

[@oskarplate4928]

Stick 'em with the pointy end

[@ThommyofThenn]

Ha! Nice reference

[@zaepham357]

"Close the door"

[@behurastudio]

Don't Forget Weirwood Arrows! Brandon Snow was said to be making Weirwood Arrows when Aegon was planning on going North. Given how Bloodraven was said to use magic to guide his weirwood arrows in the Redgrass Battle, those would def be the most ideal way of killing a dragon! Only hard part would be finding someone who can use magic lmao

[@d00mf00d]

Lmao isn't a form of punctuation.

[@albaestrada8603]

The starks themselves qualify but what about dorne? Sorry if I get the name wrong but they killed a dragon and dragon rider without any known magic

[@actualturtle2421]

@@d00mf00d neither is your mom but she still stopped me because of a period lmao

[@behurastudio]

@@albaestrada8603 I’m only saying that Weirwood arrows are the most convenient cuz you can apparently magically guide them, the Dornish used normal Scorpion Bolts but they had good aim so it worked!

[@hez859]

Yeah, it was a miracle shot that struck Meraxes in her eye, @@behurastudio

[@marcusreading3783]

So...they are just mortal animals that can be killed like any other. True, they are harder to kill than, say, a bear, but still killable. Probably easier to deal with than most dragons from other settings really.

[@Levacque]

Using a bear as an example is especially apt. Compared to, say, a wolf, bears are really tough to kill. Thick hides, pain resistance, rage-driven strength, a tenacity that makes them fight to kill even in their death throes, there are certain apex predators that don't really compare to any animals in their biome.

[@enigma9971]

Yeah, because they're actually wyverns,. George should have studied up. Haha

[@lakrids-pibe]

I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the eye...

[@Force-Multiplier]

Harpoon in the neck*

[@NotHere07]

Consequences!

[@ryanhanna1375]

Harold Godwinson?? Hail the King !!

[@Julianna78]

To me the death of the dragons is the most heartbreaking thing about asoiaf - a great commentary about the dangers of the lust for power.

[@ricksilver8574]

hire Daniel and David to oversee them.....

[@willybiggs-rj6qt]

just finished the fire and blood audiobook and it’s soooooo good

[@washingtoncommandcenter5541]

You'd think in centuries of dragon riding, someone would have learned to maximize their weapon of mass destruction. Dragon riders going all the way back to Old Valeria, had to know that the EYES were the only real weakness for an adult dragon, but also that 98% of all threats to a dragon come from below, so It couldn't hurt to beef up their defenses there a bit as well. 1st thing with all their wealth would have had great big Chamfrons made with eye protection, they could have made them ornate, maybe even thrown some horns or spikes on them, that might come in handy in case Dragon VS Dragon collision. Also with most of the threat is to the underside, so you gave to add at least a little armor there. They made big elaborate Saddles(that could have been made a little more protective for the riders too) why not add a dragon-sized breastplate to the underside of the saddle? We see a nice "Pendant" on Caraxes in HOTD, why not have a few YARDS of steel pounded out. IF it's a problem to work that big a piece of steel technologically, just copy the dragon's natural defense and at least make it a coat of scale, lamellar, brigandine. Also seeing a lot of Tail swipes when dragons are facing crowds, let's make that end more lethal too. Encase the end of the tail with multiple aligned bands that have blades projecting in 4 directions, leading down to a tip cap that's like a cruciform spear. That way people in a mob aren't getting up to get back in the fight to overwhelm your dragons.I think the Chamfrons & Tailpiece should be permanently attached. Chamfrons, Breast Plate/Saddle, Tailpiece = more protected & more lethal Dragon Dragons are big strong creatures, I think you can add those things in training so that they develop more strength so it doesn't effect it's flight.

[@Wolfeson28]

True, you'd think it's something that the Valyrians would have at least looked at, but I think it's a tougher challenge than you might expect. Armoring a dragon involves both of the main problems of armoring a horse (weight, and not impeding their movement), but harder in both cases. Keep in mind that you're not armoring a dragon's body against regular arrows or crossbow bolts - those aren't much danger except against very young dragons or at very close range. You'd have to equip them with armor thick enough to stop scorpion bolts (or at least enough to stop them in combination with the dragon's own scales), which means much thicker and heavier plates than you'd put on a man or a horse. Simply adding a layer of mail or metal scales probably wouldn't matter much against the medieval equivalent of light artillery. So at that point you are probably talking about enough weight to seriously affect even a large dragon's aerial mobility, which would likely be a net negative in draconic combat. Just trying to armor the head and eyes might be more practical weight-wise, but now you run into the problem of how do you get metal pieces over a dragon's eyes thick enough to stop a scorpion bolt while still allowing your reptilian fighter jet to *see* where it's going in all three dimensions. Some of those armor pieces might be an advantage fighting land armies, but having your dragon half-blind and sluggish in the air is the last thing you want when fighting another dragon. And there's just no question that, historically, other dragons are a far bigger threat than armies on the ground.

[@washingtoncommandcenter5541]

@@Wolfeson28 I know dragons are the primary threat to other dragons, but there are still plenty in the history of the story killed by people, so I think it would be a worthwhile development, if for nothing else than psychologically discouraging enemies. I think the armor is scalable though, just like we can train, build strength, and get used to wearing plate armor, so could the dragon. the way horses did, or the way dogs do when assholes tie heavy chains or tractor tires to them to make them stronger. Dragons are stronger than us, even to scale, we can't bash through stone walls even small ones. I think horse chamfron type eye pro, with intersecting domed hardened steel bars, with openings just smaller than scorpion bolts would let the dragons see well enough(like window screen) and the domed shape and hardened steel would get the job done with deflection. The same would be true of the armor on the underside. It doesn't need to be insanely thick it just needs to be hardened and angled like a breastplate to deflect the initial force.

[@Levacque]

It is fascinating that GRRM's own description of dragons defines them as beings rather than beasts.

[@emrek99205]

Didn't the Faceless Men check out the last Killing Dragons For Dummies book from the Citadel? What was written in there about it?

[@DoveAlexa]

Something about unleashing a mousetrap game of destruction that all starts with killing the fire mages keeping 14 volcanos from blowing up.

[@kenchin77777]

Are Jon Snow’s eyes dark purple in the book like egg’s? In dunk and egg Dunk didn’t realize egg’s eyes were dark purple until he realized he was a Targaryen. Will this be the same with Jon Snow?

[@arcanics1971]

Take a pinch of luck. Add to that a large, generous helping of... luck. Finish off with several bits of luck and garnish with lots of luck. That is the recipe for killing a dragon. Oh, and a big arrow.

[@yurinabesima]

I believe the other four dragons that were brought to Dragonstone with Balerion also died of old age. The Targaryens did pretty much nothing for one hundred of years between the Doom and the Conquest, so I can't see how those dragons could be killed in battle.

[@dromankass8655]

Good point. Had any of the other four original dragons been killed in battle it would surely have been recorded in song or Master's histories as a noteworthy event. I like to think that all four of these died peacefully on Dragonstone, and later their skulls were moved to the Red Keep and displayed there during the reign of the Mad King. In the show during his 'bathtub scene' Viserys names the dragon skulls, including five dragon names not featured before - and they were names with a certain 'Old Valyrian' ring to them, so these must have been some of the original dragons; 'Ghiscar, Valryion, Essovious, and Archoni.

[@steveozone4910]

Bad Writing? 😂

[@jeffrooturantula2081]

Been obsessed with IDG the last couple days. Doing great with fast uploads Robert. Love from Arizona

[@johnysnoww3831]

Could someone explain to me, why they ride their dragons so low that they can get shot down by scorpion arrow ? If they are not attacking, but just flying over the enemy why would you risk your dragon. I dont really give a shit who dies in dance of the dragon, but those dragons does not deserve the human made bullshit that make them go extinct.

[@markd.s.8625]

breath range? i dont recall if we get told at what ranges the drakarys actually reaches from each dragon but it might not be all that far, maybe the ideal time to attack is during the night but the riders not having a dragon's vision means they cant use the dragons in the most optimal manner? strapping as many rocks to a cloth on a dragon's chest and letting them loose would be a really effective weapon but they'd have to actually think of that and engineer the release mechanism usable midflight

[@Wolfeson28]

A scorpion can launch its bolt much farther than a dragon can breathe fire, so by definition a dragon rider has to come into defensive fire range in order to attack. The balance of firepower (no pun intended) is still very much on the dragon's side, since they're a flying and fast-moving target being attacked by slow-reloading weapons where only a solid hit in certain locations will seriously threaten them, whereas the dragon is attacking stationary targets with a rapid-fire (sorry) attack where almost any hit will be devastating. For the handful of times we've seen dragons shot down by things like scorpions, there are hundreds of examples where dragons devastated entire armies or castles without ever taking a meaningful hit. The odds are very much in the dragon's favor, but sometimes the little flammable people on the ground get lucky.

[@Wolfeson28]

@@markd.s.8625 There's a passage from Fire and Blood that gives us an idea of fire breath range. (spoilers for HotD) "By late afternoon, she (Tessarion) seemed to be in pain, so Lord Blackwood summoned his best archer, a longbowman known as Billy Burley, who took up a position a hundred yards away (beyond the range of the dying dragon's fires) and sent three shafts into her eye as she lay helpless on the ground." So a longbow can apparently outrange dragonfire, and even if we figure a larger dragon at full health might be able to breathe farther, a scorpion certainly would outrange them.

[@MarkusMaack]

Can you do a video on the Brackens and the Blackwoods?

[@MeeraReads]

I have a pet theory that Dawn was a dragon slaying sword, since it’s sort of inverse Valyrian steel

[@albinokanickel4492]

Okay, if it has the power, how you reach the Dragon?

[@zaepham357]

Omg it's The Meera Reads! Also just chuck the sword at the dragon, I don't see a problem 😎

[@MeeraReads]

@@zaepham357 yes, I am an unapologetic IDG fan. And that seems like a fine idea. No worse than a mirror shield (or maybe the sword in conjunction with the mirror shield)

[@zaepham357]

@MeeraReads wonderful! Ok thanks, I'll try that next I come across a dragon and magical sword ✨️

[@Force-Multiplier]

Now thanks to this i have a pet theory that Dawn is what the Night King wanted bad enough to March down south

[@The_Malcontented]

It is very important to remember a passage from Fire and Blood telling us that a dragon's scales become thicker and harder the older they get. Vermax and Stormcloud were both very young dragons- Vermax betwen 10-15 years old, Stormcloud less than 10 years old given that it had hatched sometime after being placed in future-king-Aegon's crib, and Aegon was 9 at the start of the Dance. Additionally, Stormcloud was young enough to be so small that Aegon had never ridden it until The Battle of the Gullet. Therefore, it makes sense that crossbow bolts (which often fly much faster and therefore with greater force than longbow arrows,) and scorpion bolts (with scorpions being nothing more or less than giant crossbows) were able to penetrate their scales and inflict injury on the blood vessels and organs within, leading to their deaths. We can safely assume that Skrykos, Morghul, and Tyraxes, being bonded with Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Joffrey (with all indications being that those were their only riders,) were also young, small, and had scales that were far less hard than adult dragons, so it doesn't strain credulity that those dragons fell to the weapons of an angry mob. Dreamfyre remember was only wounded by the mob, and what actually killed her was that her wounds enraged her and caused her to try to escape the Dragonpit, by breaking-through the dome, in the process bringing it down on top of her. The tons of stone crushing her was what killed her. Meraxes, Queen Rhaenys' dragon, on the other hand, was much older and therefore larger and tougher than these juvenile dragons (for context: looking at the depiction of Meraxes' body in The World of Ice and Fire, Meraxes' head was larger than a human.) Fire and Blood states that the scales of a "full-grown" dragon are "harder than steel" (although we haven't been told yet at what age a dragon is considered to be full-grown.) Fire and Blood describes the arrows that even managed to hit Meraxes' scales as doing nothing more than making it angry. It is therefore almost certain that Meraxes could not be brought down by shots to anywhere on the body covered by its scales, only the weak point of the eyes. This is backed-up by the shot that killed Meraxes being described by GRRM as a one-in-a-million shot.

[@noahvcat9855]

it is probably best to think Dragons less as a nuclear weapon in this case but more akin to tanks, as in yes when used properly are absolutely a devasting force of nature capable of acting as a powerful force multiplier but like a tank they can be killed and destroyed when given the opportunity, this has been true since 1916 to 2023 and is a similar case in ASOIAF

[@jacobfaughnan9795]

Isnt their a hint that they can be killed by a weirwood arrow? From what i remember, before the North surrendered, a cousin of the Torhen Stark offered to sneek into the Targaryen camp and use weirwood to potentially kill Aegon's dragons as they slept, though Torhen forbade it. It'll be interesting if anything comes of this in the books to come

[@bertaboy9078]

Don’t think that is a hint, rather it’s just logical for a Northerner to use their only “magical” means to try and kill a dragon

[@CorrectionUnknown]

there* sneak*

[@1992zorro]

Danny's kinda forgot about the fleet - another possibility to kill a Dragon

[@someguy4405]

The dragons suffered the same fate as the Targaryens - degeneration from inbreeding. Because they were mostly wiped out in their place of origin, they could only be sustained using an extremely limited gene pool.

[@zawwin1846]

Call a dragon slayer obviously. I hear the Dovahkiin is free on Thursdays.

[@jacktion1546]

Do you think the dragon wight from the TV series was a GRRM idea that will be incorporated into the books or do you think it was the showrunners” idea, and thus mere fan fiction?

[@jacktion1546]

@@cosmo43095 I kind of figured. I know GRRM gave them a basic outline of what he was planning (but his plans tend to change once he starts writing), and I just wasn’t sure if that was part of his general outline. Even if it was his idea, the showrunners were completely unable to execute anything without source material.

[@majormoron605]

Dragons are weak to dragons As every Pokemon fan knows

[@diggergamer9732]

How to kill dragons and story -"two writers"

[@striker8961]

Park of me thinks that there has to be some truth to the ancient legends of dragon slaying knights, if they predate Valyria. Perhaps men were mightier back in those days.

[@VincentVanHalen55]

Or dragons just much smaller. Evolution over millennia probably increased the size.

[@c.w.simpsonproductions1230]

It's interesting to note that leading up to the Dance, a dragon died during the reign of almost every Targaryan king. Meleys was killed in Dorne during Aegon I's reign, Maegor killed Quicksilver with Balerion, Balerion died of old age during Jaeherys' reign, and Rhaena's first dragon died a few hours after hatching during Viserys' reign. The only exception is Aenys, curiously enough.

[@johnysnoww3831]

I have no clue how you could corner a dragon and kill it even if you had 50k men, dragons can spit fire as long as they want to and longer it goes the hotter it gets, so you would basically melt the first 30k humans that are running towards you, and then the stone and earth would start to melt and that would kill the rest of them. If you dont get some type of sneak attack from 10 different sides the dragon can just keep on blasting the fire and moving its head side to side and kill 10k men in less than 5mins time.

[@markd.s.8625]

dragonpit

[@olivera6743]

The dragons were chained. An attack from all sides was very possible, you can’t spit fire from all sides. Thousands of people were certainly killed, one dragon (I can’t remember the name) cornered itself with hundreds of corpses, allowing for the attackers to swamp it and slay it. Dragons are still animals, they can be spooked and disorientated, dreamfyresfatal ascent into the roof of the dragon pit must’ve caused a lot of rubble, confusion and fear, making the remaining dragons less affective at self defence.

[@theravenousrabbit3671]

Wave your arm in front of you, from side to side, for five minutes. I bet you will last for maybe half of that before you lose stamina to keep your arm up.

[@behurastudio]

All the dragons were chained up, and a lot of people died trying to kill the dragons, There was even talk of one guy who rode on one of the dragon's heads while he was chopping at it with his axe (i forgot his name)

[@Force-Multiplier]

I don't know about that "spitting fire for as long as they want part" nothing on ASOIAF is infinite and magic is a very scarce resource and if it wasn't magic then it would be some sort of flammable bodily capacity they had either way i doubt they can sustain it for too long after a few skirmishes you can likely exhaust the fire breathing or at least temporarily nerf it

[@Psylento]

thanks for another great video! its always good to know how to kill a dragon ;)

[@Joggi98]

There is also the theory that dragons can be slain with arrows made from weirdwood trees. Brandon Snow was carving three weirwood arrows the night before his brother, King Torrhen Stark, knelt to Aegon the Conqueror.

[@somejerkbag]

Just wait untill their rider forgets about my entire fleet...

[@haydenmcara6716]

Nice!

[@aegorbittersteel2154]

Daemon Blackfyre The Black Dragon is the Best🗡!!!!!

[@EdgedShadow]

I still wonder if Balerion really died of old age and not from some Valyrian parasite he picked up on his joyride there.

[@richewilson6394]

Yeah makes sense most of these animals you we see in vicious in our world are easily two defeat by just taking out their eyes if you can stab something through in their eye and go straight to their brain then instant death.

[@ShiftyMcgurk]

The show is gonna have to do quite a lot to get me to believe a bunch of peasants with spears can storm the dragon pit and kill several of them, including some decent sized ones like Dreamfyre.

[@erlkoenig505]

Several theories suggest Jon to kill at least one of Dany's dragons, either as a sacrifice to defeat the Others or as a a consequence after seeing which devastation they could cause, e.g. in King's Landing. I'm wondering: Could Jon be naturally gifted to kill dragons, possessing both warging and dragon bonding abilities? Maybe he could warg into a dragon to slay it without resistance or to force it to drown in the sea. Pure speculation, but certainly not impossible.

[@OldBaldWookiee]

Ships are no match for dragons and dragons are no match for ships -someone probably

[@aber416373]

At least they're more invincible than a super successful HBO television show. Dragons Dan and Dave got tired, laid down, and simply wasted away.

[@jessco8950]

Don’t forget the best way ever to kill a dragon. Make your enemy forget about the iron fleet…

[@DylanStangel]

The eyes as a weak point is pretty logical. The eye is soft and the skull behind it is probably thinner and easier to puncture. No matter how tough something (living) is, it's not likely to keep fighting if you damage it's brain.

[@shivkatall291]

Melisandre would sacrifice some blood. King's blood if possible. It's her go to solution for anything.

[@DoveAlexa]

Well maybe if Dany would just GO TO ASSHAI like she was supposed to they'd have a better chance of surviving!

[@noneofyourbusiness43]

This seems like the dragon video I was looking for. My dragon questions are more technical where other people seem to get off in the weeds in the more fantasy elements. I want to know the methods of dragon employment in war, like whats the max effective range of dragonfire? and can they carry and drop projectiles? stuff like that

[@22steve5150]

Best way to kill a dragon. Have some jackass with a fleet of great big wooden ships with black sails that are apparently stealth ships that nobody can detect until they literally ram your ship or fire a ballista bolt into you and have the jackassy leader just snipe a dragon out of the sky with 2 shots despite the dragon being about 5,000 feet away and 2,000 feet up in the sky and moving around 150 miles per hour and the ship firing the bolt being bounced around on ocean waves. Of course he will be able to fire the ballista with better accuracy than WW2 era AA fire control systems and the ballista will somehow still have the power to spear right through the dragon's tough hide despite no ballista ever made having the power to fire a large bolt that retains that kind of penetrating power against a target a mile away and a half mile up. No problem. Also, armies should stand in front of their fortifications, not atop and behind them. Oh and the person who saved the realm and has the rightful birth claim to the Iron throne should be exiled to the North instead of made king because his cousin, a psychic paraplegic, allegedly has "a better story" than him, even though his story consists of being strapped to a stretcher and drug around the north looking for the 3 eyed raven for years on end......a much better story than the feuds and battles and lost loves and miraculous resurrection and dragon riding and ruling the north and secret birth lineage of the other guy I guess.

[@francesc1331]

Why? Why more "mud" sprayed across the picture. Awful! But loved the video except for that.

[@peterg9729]

I hate how large they made the dragons in the TV show and the art people make based on that. If Balerion was as large as in the pictures they'd never have been able to get his skull through the doors of the Red Keep, and the Dragonpit would have been the largest building anywhere on Planetos.

[@andredornelles8014]

I know, I know! Tear that page from the book and toss it in the bin!

[@Felzorful]

Imo dragons being born requiers a dragon hatching genee that only woman can have in the targaryren famiely. Rheanys was the first. Rheana was the second. Rheanys queen who never was. Rheanyra was one Heallena was one. And when they where all dead the dragons could not be born anymore. Summerhall actived the dragon genee in dany mom who gave the gene to her.

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

A Horde of Zombies will kill one of Dany's Dragons.

[@theusernameicoodfind]

Easily. Use your forget the iron fleet power on the dragon and then use the iron fleet

[@CoopaCoop]

As much as I'd love to watch this video.. it has HOTD spoilers.. : (