Unique Creatures of Valyria (Game of Thrones)

Animals and mythological creatures unique to one of the more
mysterious parts of the world, the Valyrian peninsula. Which is
now in ruin during the current Game of Thrones / ASoIaF story
Balerion dragon art by - www.deviantart.com/1oshuart/a...
Contact ► [e-mail]
Twitter ► whycreator

[@deepsinghrollno.1342]

The miscarriage Daenerys had with Drogo is said to have scale and bat-like wings and a face of lizard which make them look like a dragon

[@saymyname2417]

Because he partly was...

[@ThaRedPitbull]

Do you think the baby was going to come out like that normally or do you think the witch had something to do with it?

[@saymyname2417]

@@ThaRedPitbull - The fact that the Valyrians had dabbled in genetics and managed to mix their dna with that of dragons had to do with it. At least the dragon riders were hybrids and if I remember correctly Dany's child wasn't the only one strangely deformed.

[@ThaRedPitbull]

@@saymyname2417 Yeah, there were other babies that came out as hybrids. I saw a comment that mentioned it happening to other Valyrians. It would be something if one of those hybrid babies came out healthy and survived to adulthood. Just imagine how powerful they would be.

[@saymyname2417]

@@ThaRedPitbull - Yes, that's fascinating for many. To me, however that sounds rather terrifying. But I have the feeling that the reason for these special babies ALL being stillborn is a proof (according to Martin's unspoken definition I mean) that the mixing of the dna simply is a bad thing and has respective results.

[@ahmxtsxnjuu2373]

The world building in this is unbelievable..

[@Gnossiene369]

Yeah, Tolkien was an absolute madman when it came to world building. Can’t compare but it shows Tolkien’s mind in a better light considering George is absolutely amazing at it as well but didn’t come close. Not putting George down, they are both fantastic. I think you get my point.

[@lorduxas3908]

Better than a great sum of the actual books

[@camfarenheit71]

@@Gnossiene369 yeah I get you man. George is great but Tolkien was better, tbh I don’t think George will ever finish ASOIAF but at least there is still plenty of stories and lore out there.

[@ahmxtsxnjuu2373]

@@Gnossiene369 dont really know much at all about Tolkiens Work ? Is it actually EVEN better than THIS ??

[@hahaimout1693]

@@ahmxtsxnjuu2373 you can't even imagine it tlotr shows just like 5% of his world

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

The Targaryens being "immune" to most sicknesses seemed like it was explained best with some fire magic of the sort. In the book Fire and Blood, it is revealed that prior to the Daughter of Jaehaerys I and Alysanne, no Targaryen had ever so much even gotten sick. I figured that it had something to do with their bodies running just a few degrees warmer than average, like if they had a body temperature matching that of an average fever, their immune system would be active enough to prevent certain sicknesses outright, with certain diseases that don't get harmed by heat like certain avian flus still affecting them like normal people. (viruses that affect bats/birds have to still be functional at higher temps since flying raises your internal body temp by a few degrees) It would also explain their heat resistance if their bodies were functional at temperatures that would cause a normal person a bit of harm.

[@judsonbox9845]

The first son of aegon was sickly as shit man

[@aengusog3415]

@@judsonbox9845 not that kind of sickness I think he was premature

[@JacobGrim]

I love this

[@rev0568]

@@judsonbox9845 There's being sick, then sickly. Generally if someone is sickly its difference then if they were to, say, catch the flu.

[@xarmanhsh2981]

Υοu are wrong it was just propaganda

[@ahmxtsxnjuu2373]

Valyrians are simply built different

[@theoryandfact5247]

It actually mentions 'Wyrms' in Fire and Blood. Based on the passage below, I believe a Wyrm egg might have hatched in place of a dragon: “Her parents' pride and pleasure quickly turned to ash, however; the dragon that wriggled from the egg was a monstrosity, a wingless wyrm, maggot-white and blind. Within moments of hatching, the creature turned upon the babe in her cradle and tore a bloody chunk from her arm. As Laena shrieked, Lord Oakenfist ripped the "dragon" off her, flung it to the floor, and hacked it to pieces.” The egg was also dull and not emulate like a usual dragon egg.

[@sophiawilson8696]

The fact before Varlyians did genetic breeding, between fire worms and dragons, but I think it the Maesters who posion the adult Dragons and so their Eggs are posion too.

[@saymyname2417]

Dragons of this lore are cross breeds of wyrms and wyvern, combining wings with fire and a violent nature. This was achieved by the combination of physical hardware such as blood, a form of science maybe and the very worst kind of sorcery for sure. And then at least some Valyrians managed to combine the dna of the newly created (or "found") creature with their own, also by magic, namely blood magic. I believe those are the dragon riders - those with actual dragon blood. Plus, the Valyrians mixed humans, beasts, animals of various species with each other. Because misery loves company, preferably of the same kind. Et voila! - monsters of various kinds galore that would enslave and devour the humans. Until someone kicked their teeth in and finished them off. Sounds familiar to you?!

[@constantine9142]

@@saymyname2417 love it! But I do wonder if the maesters being mentioned several times how they possibly helped end the dragon has to be true in one way or another even if it's facilitate the end of the Targaryens but I also wonder if it's cause of inbreeding that messed up the dragons just like their human counterpart? Cause in valaryia they say there was countless of dragons and even though there was many at the beginning at the dance of dragons they were all related just not many showing issues yet and when most we're killed off that's how they ended up as I'll qoute tywin Lannister small as a dog all mishapped. You have to worry about inbreeding in every creature so why not dragons?

[@TheWhiteDragon3]

There's also a possibility that fire wyrms were the parasites that afflicted Aerea Targaryen.

[@saymyname2417]

@@TheWhiteDragon3 - I think these parasites are creatures that came into existence after the doom of Valyria. And look at the demon road. Who knows. These wyrms were relatively small. But weren't firewyrms as big as wyverns?

[@theautomator8372]

I absolutely love the mystery of valyria. It's both fascinating and terrifying whatever lives there after the doom was able to wound balerion the most powerful of the targaryen dragons and supposedly the largest animal in the world. Just what lies in the ruins of valyria? And will they find their way out?

[@csg-o-a-t4933]

i would love to explore/ read more on this story. Fascinating stuff.

[@orthodoxtheosis]

I'm gonna throw this theory out there, I think Valyria is the home of R'hollor, the Red God. Considering the environment, it's easy to come to this conclusion, but what I think sells it is the dragons , the Valyria civilization, and the doom. The Dragons are fire incarnate, and fire is R'hollor's element. Then the Valyrian civilization itself, I don't think the Valyrians figured out all that magic and advanced technology on their own, it was undoubtedly supernatural intervention, a greater being who taught them the secrets to their success. And finally the Doom, it's suggested that the Valyrians dug to deep into the 14 flames, and this is what caused the Doom. But what if they stumbled upon R'hollor himself under the 14 flames, and as punishment he destroyed Valyria and cursed it so no one could ever come back and live, by unleashing demons across the land, and this could've been what attacked Balerion. This is just my theory, but we'll never know.

[@orthodoxtheosis]

@PenitentDeadMan308 T I don't deny that possibility, but I think another candidate is in Stygai. In the stories it says the Blood Stone Emperor of the Golden Empire worshiped a black stone that fell out of the sky, and founded the Church of the Starry Wisdom, which promises it's followers secret knowledge. I think this is what lies at Stygai, and it's who the shadow binders like Quaith follow. Especially when you consider the possibility that Quaith possibly is the one who implanted the idea to Dany on how to hatch her dragons, and promises her Truth. The piece of this theory is the last time Quaith appears to her in the form of starlight, and if anything we know about George, he's trying to tell us something here. But feel free to challenge me, I love a good challenge.

[@theloweffortchannel7211]

Probably firewyrms. Aerea was infested with them, and they are the only things that could live in the ruins of Valyria and match up against dragons.

[@magnusthered4973]

@@orthodoxtheosis this gave me an idea as well what if rhollor was a Valyrian who caused the fall and the fall was a sacrifice to gain power similar to Griffith from berserk and rhollor existed before the fall so maybe what is known about rhollor came from the future with psychic dreams

[@marleymorningstar3671]

What if the Valyrians discovered some powerful monster that lived underground that was disturbed by the mining and the Doom was someone triggering the eruptions to try to destroy the creature but it failed.

[@adamcervenka2386]

Nahh...that’s a terrible plot point..would totally suck....thank god he didn’t do it..

[@ThaRedPitbull]

I thought something similar. Sounds bad-ass.

[@OrkosUA]

The Valyrians delved too greedily and too deep... You know what they awoke in the darkness under Valyria... Shadow and Flame...

[@Wolpertinger-yl6ll]

So Valyria shared the fate of moria and awakaned a balrog of morgoth when they got greedy and dug to deep

[@romo9122]

This will not pass..

[@garcalej]

The more I learn about Old Valyria, the more I come to the conclusion that it could not have exploded soon enough.

[@chandlerdoeswhatifs9399]

"We get a closer look at one of these horrors in the book" When you said that I got an ad of a pampers baby doing the worm

[@yaboyed5779]

You forgot to mention how all their stillborns are dragon like, almost like the pregnancy 🤰🏼 is really a metamorphosis of some sort for them

[@ripunjoyborgohain2934]

Maybe they created dragons by mixing the attributes of the firewyrms and wyverns

[@anushjoseph4643]

And what if the product was dragons. But i really don't think so.😁😁

[@anushjoseph4643]

@Blake Hunt yeah, it does make sense.

[@hasan_usman]

this channel makes me remember GOT even after it ended

[@LilySaintSin]

Now we have HOTD!

[@DieserOli2127]

1:32 That´s also the reason why they want to "keep the bloodline pure" and the whole incest thing. If they wouldn´t do that the chances to successfully bond with a dragon / tame one would get much lower as the generations pass.

[@pattonramming1988]

Then how do you explain Nettles or Ulf and Hull of the hammer? It seems like the process for bonding with a dragon is more involved for those who don't hatch an egg themselves or bond with a hatchling but it's still possible to bond with a dragon The methods to tame dragons may have been more varied then we've been lead to believe

[@DieserOli2127]

@@pattonramming1988 It is possible to bond without a dragon even if you don´t have valyrian blood. But we know that much more people with valyrian blood were successful than people without it. I´m 100% certain that the dragonlords in valyria used some kind of blood magic to make dragon taming easier and that´s the reason for the incest thing. It would explain why they want to "keep the bloodline pure".

[@aarroncross3801]

​@@pattonramming1988 Nettles was a dragon seed

[@pattonramming1988]

@@aarroncross3801 But not of pure Valyrian blood

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

I would imagine that perhaps some of the dragons (as a species) did survive in Valyria, since it specifically says that they were brought out of the sky by the ash, so maybe some of the eggs were fine and hatched, and the volcanic environment let them grow in much the same way as Balerion, just younger since Balerion was hatched before the Targaryens fled to Dragonstone, making him the oldest dragon still in this scenario, so my boring answer to what was able to harm a dragon the size/age of Balerion was another dragon of comparable size and age, smaller and younger by a bit so that it was still an obvious win for Balerion, but enough of a fight that he was significantly wounded. I am aware that it could've also been a dragon-like beast as well, it's just a thought that it could be another dragon, not a certainty by any means.

[@laurencehoffelder1579]

I think it is rather fire-wyrms that survived the doom as they dwelled inside the volcanos unlike the dragons that just lived at volcanos. So it is indicated that they are more resistant to heat. Also the describtion of the parasites would rather fit them than dragons.

[@sarwatarannya8786]

I don't think it was a dragon or wyrm just because of the nature of the wound that balerion had. A nine foot long deep gash, almost like a hot knife through butter. I think a wound like this could've only come from a claw, and something with claws as big as this should be at least twice the size of balerion

[@Peagaporto]

@@sarwatarannya8786 Balrerions wounds were piece of cake compared to what his rider endured. If they were made by the same entity my money is on some kind of magical entity like the night king, but fire and shadow based instead of ice.

[@nalinh0]

@@Peagaporto i think their afflictions came from different sources

[@Peagaporto]

@@nalinh0 Any theories?

[@somaliopiummerchant7171]

I love your channel, you're a legend mate.

[@anushjoseph4643]

I think I had watched somewhat, his every GoT lore videos. He truly is a legend ,for me.

[@somaliopiummerchant7171]

@@anushjoseph4643 same, i think i might have watched every single video from him.

[@couzard5994]

Him and Alt Shift X are the MVPs

[@anushjoseph4643]

@@couzard5994 👍

[@Alexander-tu3iv]

I always assumed the fire parasites were wyrms. Explains their ability to cook the princess as well as their burrowing behaviour. Also a wyrm could probably injure a dragon.

[@starlight0313]

Another theory i have is that it was a method of reproduction A lot of insects nowadays do this

[@phantasosxgames8488]

@@starlight0313 I mean , it might as well be creatures born out of the Doom. The whole place abused the heck out of Blood Magic , and then the Doom happened with untold number of deaths , that and the enviroment itself would force creatures to evolve in a far more agressive manner.

[@Amanda-cd6dm]

Cook the princess? Wtf

[@Amanda-cd6dm]

@@starlight0313 creatures born out of the Doom?

[@debutriah2854]

@@Amanda-cd6dmlmao they cooked her

[@lori5455]

I think a hybrid between Wyverns and Firewyrms is a very likely probability. There ended up being 3 dragon types in House of the Dragon and we see how different they are from each other. Now that I see these other mystical creatures a cross of beasts seems likely. With hybrids there is always that element of surprise differences. Love your deep dives into all things GOT and hopefull now, HOTD

[@jebbush458]

Not in the books

[@vvsJefe]

It seems like the Valyrians somehow incorporated dragon dna into their own. And my guess is that dragons are the result of combining the wyrms with the wyverms.

[@isadoraescobudo2130]

It's a theory I could agree with. Though I always thought this theory a little weird. It's said they got dragons when they were shepherds. Why would shepherds be in sothoryos with equipment able to capture a wyvern alive and then genetically tamper with it?

[@MuFu23]

It would, as previously mentioned, be somewhat of a paradox if the Valyrians did indeed create dragons, since their rise to power was dependent on dragons already existing. In order for the Valyrians to hybridize wyverns with wyrms, they would have needed both overwhelming manpower and lots of resources, along with deep knowledge of blood magic. They *might* have had some knowledge of blood magic before their rise to power, which would have been how they introduced dragon blood into their lineage, but they certainly did not have the capacity to capture and keep firewyrms and wyverns. Perhaps if they managed to steal away eggs from both species. (An almost impossible task without already having the fire resistance granted to them by their dragon blood in the case of the fire wyrms) Then reared them from the moment they hatched until sexual maturity. (Which, for all we know, could have meant centuries of caring for "pets" that frequently murdered their keepers, or at least unintentionally caused their demise) And finally, they would have performed extremely advanced blood magic rituals to enable the creatures to produce healthy, fertile offspring. (Most likely several dozen times, at minimum twice for a breeding pair, with the first successful attempt obviously being a lot harder to accomplish than the following ones) And only then, after at minimum decades of extremely costly, dangerous, back-breaking labor and study of what is essentially the GoT equivalent of advanced gene editing, would they be able to conquer anything other than sheep and hills. In fact, it's unlikely they could even settle down in Valyria before this point (yet another paradox) considering its extreme climate and hostile fauna. Living a nomadic lifstyle in the valleys of northern Valyria would have been somewhat more feasible, but where would they keep the gigantic monsters needed for the creation of the dragons, if they had no permanent structures? A tent made of sheep skin is not going to stop a wyvern, or even a hatchling firewyrm. Also, aside from all of this, there is mention of dragons actually originating from Asshai, which is potentially the oldest known settled region in the entirety of Planetos (no, I did not make that name up, I promise) and Asshai is even presented as the origin of Daenerys' eggs when gifted to her by Illyrio Mopatis. Meaning, her dragons are most likely only distantly related to the ones brought over to Westeros by her family, and could even represent a distinct species or sub-species of dragon entirely. Tl;Dr: *Dragons predated the Valyrian empire, and could not have been engineered by nomadic sheep-herders, even if they were also megalomaniacal blood wizards.*

[@vvsJefe]

@@MuFu23 well with the information we have about Valyrians it’s still pretty unreasonable to make assumptions about almost every aspect of their lives. The possibilities of how they came to build their empire and be dragon riders are endless. GRRM could be leaving out just one tiny detail that could piece it all together. And just because Illyrio says that’s where they’re from doesn’t mean it’s true. I mean, he’s probably not going to admit that he is gifting her eggs that were stolen from her family centuries prior. There are multiple, more connected, possibilities of where Dany’s eggs could’ve came from. Now, with hotd spewing random little tidbits about Valyria, I feel like the creation and taming of dragons is going to be a much darker, more convoluted and fantastical process than anything that even resembles animal breeding.

[@MuFu23]

@@vvsJefe Well, what assumptions did I make that you can present a more likely alternative to..? We all but know that the Valyrians were sheep herders until they tamed dragons. There's no contradictory information about this, and I can't see any reason to fabricate such a humble origin. Can you..? All available information also points to the fact that the city of Valyria itself wasn't established until the Valyrians had already tamed dragons. These are pieces of information provided to us through official, canon sources, albeit in-universe these sources aren't always fully credible or completely unbiased. But they still trump pure fan speculations by miles. A flimsy source is better than no source at all. Disputing the information I've collected and presented isn't impossible, but in order for an alternative explanation to be at least equally as credible a narrative, it needs some kind of foundation to stand upon. Maybe you were referring to my speculation on the theoretical origin of dragons, were they created by the Valyrians, as assumptions? That'd be fair, I suppose, but once more, what alternative do you propose? The magical fusion of two adult creatures, like something straight out of high fantasy, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Full Metal Alchemist? That would potentially save on time, sure, but then you'd still have to capture two incredibly dangerous creatures, creatures that could arguably rival dragons in power, ferocity and size, only lacking fire breathing in the case of wyverns, and flight in the case of wyrms. Nevertheless, when blood magic is mentioned to have occured between slave women and beasts, it is said to take the form of forced couplings resulting in the birth of new creatures, so I'd say that with this bit of information in mind, we should still assume (unless, once again, there is some other piece of canon information contradicting this) that a similar process would have had to take place when hybridizing wyrms and wyverns. But I'm not saying you're not allowed to disagree. Just that in order to present a credible alternative to any of this, you need to base it on something presented within the canon sources. So far, the only piece of in-universe information I've managed to find about the Valyrians supposedly creating dragons is what the Valyrians themselves claim, which is no more credible than the origin of Daenerys' eggs according to Illyrio Mopatis. People do love to romanticise and embellish the history and achievements of their people, after all. Both in GoT and in real life.

[@MuFu23]

@@vvsJefe Also, just to clarify something: You shouldn't base opinions or claims on information that isn't available. What GRRM has "left out" is immeasurable, and unverifiable. It's a bit like saying there might be cuboid planets somwhere out in space: The information we do have points to this being improbable, if not impossible, but no person alive today will ever observe all of space. Just because we can't know all of it, doesn't mean we shouldn't work with what information we have to extrapolate the most likely conclusion. And when presented with more information, we do it all over again, to see if the conclusion stays the same or changes.

[@mohdhassan7865]

*"A man like tywin is born once in a thousand years"* *Edit : this is the first time ,I got so much likes , thanks to all of you*

[@marwanali4878]

*Tywin Lannister is the Great Other confirmed*

[@mohdhassan7865]

@@marwanali4878 haha

[@Bobba8590]

*years

[@cyrvus]

Just imagine Valyrian Tywin ploting destruction of Ghiscari or Rhoynar

[@AstroSully]

@@cyrvus If you have 1000 dragons you don't necessarily need a plan.

[@chandlerdoeswhatifs9399]

A Valyrian sphinx is a dragon with the face of a man. Could exist if they made one in the flesh pits

[@danc5644]

I hate to sound boring, but Balerion most likely was attacked by another dragon. Even a smaller dragon could have been capable of injuring him. There's no telling what still lived in Old Valyria but I have a hunch that there were older and much more wild dragons living there, even after the Doom.

[@ThaRedPitbull]

It would've been amazing to see a beast big enough to hurt Balerion. Pretty scary stuff. The Doom might've awoken some gigantic creature that was hibernating underground for hundreds of years or something, lol. Or maybe it's some monstrous fire dragon? Endless possibilities. Nice video.

[@ArrakisHeir88]

Cannibal is big enough to hurt Balerion.

[@mukremineroglu6243]

Barth wrote, “It has been three days since the princess perished, and I have not slept. I do not know that I shall ever sleep again. The Mother is merciful, I have always believed, and the Father Above judges each man justly…but there was no mercy and no justice in what befell our poor princess. How could the gods be so blind or so uncaring as to permit such horror? Or is it possible that there are other deities in this universe, monstrous evil gods such as the priests of Red R’hllor preach against, against whose malice the kings of men and the gods of men are naught but flies? “I do not know. I do not want to know. If this makes me a faithless septon, so be it. Grand Maester Benifer and I have agreed to tell no one all of what we saw and experienced in his chambers as that poor child lay dying…not the king, nor the queen, nor her mother, nor even the archmaesters of the Citadel…but the memories will not leave me, so I shall set them down here. Mayhaps by the time they are found and read, men will have gained a better understanding of such evils. “We have told the world that Princess Aerea died of a fever, and that is broadly true, but it was a fever such as I have never seen before and hope never to see again. The girl was burning. Her skin was flushed and red and when I laid my hand upon her brow to learn how hot she was, it was as if I had thrust it into a pot of boiling oil. There was scarce an ounce of flesh upon her bones, so gaunt and starved did she appear, but we could observe certain…swellings inside her, as her skin bulged out and then sunk down again, as if…no, not as if, for this was the truth of it…there were things inside her, living things, moving and twisting, mayhaps searching for a way out, and giving her such pain that even the milk of the poppy gave her no surcease. We told the king, as we must surely tell her mother, that Aerea never spoke, but that is a lie. I pray that I shall soon forget some of the things she whispered through her cracked and bleeding lips. I cannot forget how oft she begged for death. “All the maester’s arts were powerless against her fever, if indeed we can call such a horror by such a commonplace name. The simplest way to say it is that the poor child was cooking from within. Her flesh grew darker and darker and then began to crack, until her skin resembled nothing so much, Seven save me, as pork cracklings. Thin tendrils of smoke issued from her mouth, her nose, even, most obscenely, from her nether lips. By then she had ceased to speak, though the things within her continued to move. Her very eyes cooked within her skull and finally burst, like two eggs left in a pot of boiling water for too long. “I thought that was the most hideous thing that I should ever see, but I was quickly disabused of the notion, for a worse horror was awaiting me. That came when Benifer and I lowered the poor child into a tub and covered her with ice. The shock of that immersion stopped her heart at once, I tell myself…if so, that was a mercy, for that was when the things inside her came out… “The things…Mother have mercy, I do not know how to speak of them…they were…worms with faces…snakes with hands…twisting, slimy, unspeakable things that seemed to writhe and pulse and squirm as they came bursting from her flesh. Some were no bigger than my little finger, but one at least was as long as my arm…oh, Warrior protect me, the sounds they made… “They died, though. I must remember that, cling to that. Whatever they might have been, they were creatures of heat and fire, and they did not love the ice, oh no. One after another they thrashed and writhed and died before my eyes, thank the Seven. I will not presume to give them names…they were horrors.” The first part of Septon Barth’s account ends there. But some days later he returned and resumed: “Princess Aerea is gone, but not forgotten. The Faithful pray for her sweet soul every morn and every night. Outside the septs, the same questions are on every lip. The princess was missing for more than a year. Where could she have gone? What could have happened to her? What brought her home? Was Balerion the monster believed to haunt the Velvet Hills of Andalos? Did his flames start the fire that swept across the Disputed Lands? Could the Black Dread have flown as far as Astapor to be the ‘dragon’ in the pit? No, and no, and no. These are fables. “If we put aside such distractions, however, the mystery remains. Where did Aerea Targaryen go after fleeing Dragonstone? Queen Rhaena’s first thought was that she had flown to King’s Landing; the princess had made no secret of her wish to return to court. When that proved wrong, Rhaena next looked to Fair Isle and Oldtown. Both made sense after a fashion, but Aerea was not to be found at either place, nor anywhere in Westeros. Others, including the queen and myself, took this to mean that the princess had flown east, not west, and would be found somewhere in Essos. The girl might well have thought the Free Cities to be beyond her mother’s grasp, and Queen Alysanne in particular seemed convinced that Aerea was fleeing her mother as much as Dragonstone itself. Yet Lord Rego’s agents and informers could find no hint of her across the narrow sea…nor even a whisper of her dragon. Why? “Though I can offer no certain proof, I can suggest an answer. It seems to me that we have all been asking the wrong question. Aerea Targaryen was still well shy of her thirteenth nameday on the morning she slipped from her mother’s castle. Though no stranger to dragons, she had never ridden one before…and for reasons we may never understand, she chose Balerion as her mount, instead of any one of the younger and more tractable dragons she might have claimed. Driven as she was by her conflicts with her mother, mayhaps she simply wanted a beast larger and more fearsome than Queen Rhaena’s Dreamfyre. It might also have been a desire to tame the beast that had slain her father and his own dragon (though Princess Aerea had never known her father, and it is hard to know what feelings she might have had about him and his death). Regardless of her reasons, the choice was made. “The princess might well have intended to fly to King’s Landing, just as her mother suspected. It might have been her thought to seek out her twin sister in Oldtown, or to go seeking after Lady Elissa Farman, who had once promised to take her adventuring. Whatever her plans, they did not matter. It is one thing to leap upon a dragon and quite another to bend him to your will, particularly a beast as old and fierce as the Black Dread. From the very start we have asked, Where did Aerea take Balerion? We should have been asking, Where did Balerion take Aerea? “Only one answer makes sense. Recall, if you will, that Balerion was the largest and oldest of the three dragons that King Aegon and his sisters rode to conquest. Vhagar and Meraxes had hatched on Dragonstone. Balerion alone had come to the island with Aenar the Exile and Daenys the Dreamer, the youngest of the five dragons they brought with them. The older dragons had died during the intervening years, but Balerion lived on, growing ever larger, fiercer, and more willful. If we discount the tales of certain sorcerers and mountebanks (as we should), he is mayhaps the only living creature in the world that knew Valyria before the Doom. “And that is where he took the poor doomed child clinging to his back. If she went willingly I would be most surprised, but she had neither the knowledge nor the force of will to turn him. “What befell her on Valyria I cannot surmise. Judging from the condition in which she returned to us, I do not even care to contemplate it. The Valyrians were more than dragonlords. They practiced blood magic and other dark arts as well, delving deep into the earth for secrets best left buried and twisting the flesh of beasts and men to fashion monstrous and unnatural chimeras. For these sins the gods in their wroth struck them down. Valyria is accursed, all men agree, and even the boldest sailor steers well clear of its smoking bones…but we would be mistaken to believe that nothing lives there now. The things we found inside Aerea Targaryen live there now, I would submit…along with such other horrors as we cannot even begin to imagine. I have written here at length of how the princess died, but there is something else, something even more frightening, that requires mention: “Balerion had wounds as well. That enormous beast, the Black Dread, the most fearsome dragon ever to soar through the skies of Westeros, returned to King’s Landing with half-healed scars that no man recalled ever having seen before, and a jagged rent down his left side almost nine feet long, a gaping red wound from which his blood still dripped, hot and smoking.

[@e.m.p.3394]

Man. The era of Valryian dominance must have been insane. I just imagine the eldritch creatures and terrors that could be there

[@crazylarryjr]

Wyverns actually exist, in our legends. According to a dragon lore book my nephew has there are 3 main classes of dragons. Eastern (the snake like oriental types) the central (4 legged versions of Europe) and the western type called the wyverns ( 2 legged dragons of the Americas) supposedly all could breathe fire according to the book i read. I know they don't exist, but love legends myths and lores from around the world, dragons was something i took an early interest in

[@clayreichard1774]

The wyvern and firewyrm hybrid theory is the one that makes the most sense to me because it also explains why the Targaryen dragons stopped growing so huge. It’s said that as you grow closer to the core of a volcano the larger the firewyrms grew and there were firewyrms as small as lizards at surface of the mines. Assuming that the dragons are in fact firewyrm wyvern hybrids which would explain why balerion vhagar and meraxes were able to grow to supermassive sizes because they were raised on dragonstone which is an active volcano and being that they were raised closer to a heat source they were able to grow much larger than the dragons that came after them, and with each generation that was raised away from dragon stone they got smaller and weaker because they literally were being raised away from their power source

[@andrewgeorgecomeau4066]

Wyverns were smaller,but like you said still large but if the blood magic made it possible to mate Wyverns And Fire wyrms the result of chance smiled on the mages trying to accomplish this might have had the perfect mixture of fire breath and size from the fire wyrms and flight and agility from wyverns. It's a theory too good to ignore.

[@acharonim4659]

We have Atlantis, ASOIAF have Valyria, And LOTR had Numenor.

[@louwinters508]

Atlantis is a myth. Valyria is based on ancient Rome. Most specifically pompeii and herculaneum which were destroyed by a volcano.

[@acharonim4659]

@@louwinters508 Ok that's your opinion, good for you.

[@louwinters508]

@@acharonim4659 yeh good for me. The author confirmed it. So piss off

[@baltic6854]

George needs to finish the winds of winter fast, There isn’t enough new GoT content anymore.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

He's not getting any younger too.

[@baltic6854]

@@TheMrPeteChannel He is likely going to die before he completes the series, So he needs to pick a successor to finish it.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

@@baltic6854 yes. He's fat & old. Not the best combination. Hopefully he picked an heir but I'm not sure.

[@georgenajera4730]

After the defeat of the white walkers and whtever forces reing in the far north, I'? Pretty sure the next big threat would come from de dmmed land of Valirya.

[@luqmanhakim6869]

@@baltic6854 Who do you think worthy of becoming grrm successor? Joe abercrombie?

[@makukawakami]

Bruh that FMA reference

[@whycreate]

😢

[@theoryandfact5247]

@@whycreate FMAB* get outta here with that FMA trash

[@pastorTracy911]

@fork knife surprisingly not

[@MindAndMyth]

@@theoryandfact5247 the manga is called full metal alchemist. The brotherhood part was only added because they redid the anime to follow the later parts of the manga.

[@theoryandfact5247]

@@MindAndMyth Yep, and the original FMA was garbage!

[@andrewgeorgecomeau4066]

Griffin's are a representative of strength ,but from a standpoint of good or at least not evil. Griffin's represent good and Sphinx represent wisdom so even had they survived the doom they wouldn't have stuck around. I don't believe they ever even hailed from Valarya

[@TheTam0613]

Thanks again! Your videos are so awesome and enjoyable! As someone who has been incredibly ill over the past 16, including have various organs removed, the idea of what experiments the Valyrians did make me sick. It's fascinating, but a serious (poor Aerea!!!) dose of body horror.

[@girlygamer420]

I personally like to think that the valyrians didn't ditch the sheep but used them to help in gaining the trust of the fist dragons. Like Nettles did with sheep stealer during the dance of dragons.

[@ArrakisHeir88]

it's far more likely that their dragon taming is a remnant of the old empire that the first men and targs both descend from

[@JoshuaHenelyThornhill]

I love it when I see a notifications of yours truly EL MAESTRO of ASOIAF themed videos ! Keep it coming at your pace bro we’ll still be there to enjoy your content ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾

[@arkadebmandal6963]

I'd like to think it was a dragon who slashed Balerion, it makes much more sense, it was probably a legendary dragon which was sleeping under the 14 flames when the doom occurred, this dragon caused the doom when it was disturbed, erupting the mountains with dragonfire, it was way bigger than Balerion ofcourse, and the boon of the dragon lords became their bane

[@dennist8290]

I feel like if there was a dragon big enough to cause all 14 eruptions and destroy all of Valyria Balerion would have had more then just a cut and a few scars

[@emilyvalentine4565]

Considering George explicitly designed his dragons so they could have evolved I don't think they were created by bloodmagic, nor were they altered by Valyrians to wield fire; I think the intent with the dragons, wyverns, fireworms, and maybe some other creatures like basilisks is that they are all related to each other. By my guess dragons share ancestry with wyverns, while firewyrms could be dragons/ dragon ancestors which ended up in Valyria or vice versa; having the firewyrms and dragons sharing ancestry instead, and wyverns being dragons which lost their flame.

[@felooosailing957]

Interesting. I would go exactly the other way around, considering real world analogues. For example, snakes are basically lizards that have lost their legs. So firewyrms would be dragons that have adapted to the cavernous, burrowing environment of the Valyrian peninsula. This would also make sense as a speciation, considering dragons might have actually originated elsewhere. By contrast, wyverns appear to be wilder dragons, yet to develop fire breathing. In a much less working analogy, it would be like the case of the bombardier beetle: one particular species that forms due to acquiring a unique trait. It would make sense considering in Sothoryos there are many types of wyvern, with different sizes, and behavior (some gregarious, some not so, some nocturnal, most not). In that case, it appears dragons may have descended from wyverns, as their adaptation to volcanic environments, somehow acquiring fire breathing through this influence.

[@TobeWilsonNetwork]

I don’t necessarily think the Dragons were engineered, but the Valyrians literally gave themselves some of the dragon blood

[@jaehaerysitargaryen7923]

Y'all better watch the channel "The Disputed Lands" especially her analysis on dragons and the Valyrians. It would literally blow your mind on how everything was right under your nose, but never noticed it.

[@APalebloodSky]

8:42 The one on the right reminds me of a Gargoyle from Dark Souls.

[@gamerman360]

I literally spent a couple hours just re watching your got videos imagine my surprise when theres a new one!!!

[@Michaelkaydee]

Maybe a mutated dragon even bigger than Balerion survived the doom and attacked him when he went there...

[@CHLOCHLOLP]

gryphons are likely not real because george was very adamant and specific about his dragons only having 4 limbs because there are no other vertebrate animals with more than 4 so I doubt he would let gryphons fly (pun intended)

[@akali2927]

This channel is underrated

[@gyalsnextman4725]

The Cannibal was said to live near valaryia so he or she could’ve fought balerion

[@potatoboy91169]

Even ramsey or euron greyjoy dont deserve to go the way poor aerea did. And thats saying smth about those worms

[@saymyname2417]

Both dudes ABSOLUTELY deserve that. Aerea was just a little girl but that's what can happen if you take on things you can't handle.

[@viesturs6321]

They are evil, twisted villains they would deserve that fate

[@knivesmillions2913]

Question for everyone: Would you want to live in the world of Asoiaf?

[@TheTam0613]

Absolutely not!! Good question though!

[@hahaimout1693]

fuck no

[@GamerZLogic]

Umm maybe why not, I don't need to be some lords son put a sword in my hand and I'll forge my own way, if successful I'd lead my own expidition to to valaryia.

[@mijanhoque1740]

Hell no

[@knivesmillions2913]

@@GamerZLogic Then you'll be a sellsword? Because going to Valariya costs Gold...and depending on the era your life expectancy would be short either way. And I'm not mentioning the pirates and slavers patrolling the seas near the doom of Valariya.

[@jaydayoungog3917]

Lets gooo made my day thanks for youre hard work

[@tribalbear84]

I have some weird head-canon that the ancient valyrians might have eaten dragons (the small ones), or their eggs, or maybe killed them and used their blood for medicine, and eventually something happened several generations later. The dragons (in the show) seem to respond to smell, like first they seem to charge at the characters (mainly Jon Snow, but sometimes even Dany), then they stop up, and it seems like they're inhaling their scent while there's a glimmer of, what, recognition or at least speculation, "That one looks like the other humans, but it smells like family?" Just spit balling and speculating, I think something as simple as using dragon's blood in medicinal (or ritualistic) mixtures that would have the unexpected side-effect of turning the old valyrians into "magical people who rode dragons" would make sense in this world. "Hey, so uh, that mixture you healers use for scabs, um so, yeah, my kid can hold fire in her bare hands now, any chance that's connected?" :-P

[@lucifer5788]

I can see it since it was shepherds that found the first dragon nests

[@GreatOldOne9866]

The fact that The Stone men aren’t the only terrors the lurk in the ruins of old Valerya is absolutely horrifying.

[@JamieBarrington]

Princess Aerea and Balerion's fun filled vacation was absolute nightmare fuel. Whatever the Valyrians were doing was freaking dark as hell. Possibly creating chimeras through ancient magical eugenics with slaves is terrifying and disgusting. Horrible people and they deserved what the 14 flames probably gave them, if that is what happened with the doom. But I'm also grateful they gave us dragonlords, because they are cool

[@SakuragiSayo]

The Wyverns were like those in modern mythology. They did not have Fire, Ice, Lightning, or other elemental breaths. They had venomous fangs in their mouths and a venomous stinger/barb on the end of the tail.

[@ainetmonroe]

Such a soothing voice. I wish the first few episodes of house of dragons were in valeria. They timed jumped a lot so it could’ve been done

[@RizztrainingOrder]

I think dark magic helped birth the valaryians not dragons. The septon avoided an outbreak by placing Area on cold water. The same outbreak that destroyed gorgossos

[@nikstevanovic6556]

Nice vid love the chanel keep up the good work

[@CasperFiles1969]

Now the biggest question is how the hell did Euron survive after his trip to Valariya.

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

Perhaps if the dragons were made using blood magic, then it could've been on a strain of Wyverns that were native to Valyria, given that the bones of "dragons" found in other parts of the world might be wyverns. A bit of magic that would make the wyverns have qualities of the Firewyrms seems the likeliest way that dragons could be made using blood magic. Just my two cents on the idea of it.

[@shlomoshlomo963]

I think dragons were probably a thing( might have naturally evolved from firewyrms and wyverns) before valyria, since valyria rose to power by tamung dragons it is unlikely they were powerful enough to capture wyverns and fire wyrms and breed them without power

[@tommygamer2247]

Well i saw daenerys walk right into fire and stand there for a whole night so… i kinda belive some of their DNA experiments might have resulted in a silent gene that manifested only in some cases like it actually happens in real genetics… this would explain the fact that only some targaryen have some of the aspects that a dragon has… this would even explain how, even considering that it was influenced by magic, daenerys child would have had wings and scales, the daenerys silent genes were helped to manifest through magic (i wouldnt know scienctifically how cause its magic tho) and so gave birth to that deformed winged monstrosity.

[@t.weathers9728]

Please make more videos on the creatures of ASOIAF because they are very interesting

[@jaehaerysitargaryen7923]

Jrr Tolkien's world building was heavily-influenced by the creation in the bible, while GRRM's world building is like a one big ancient jigsaw puzzle that are all interconnected that somehow got disarranged and now, it's up for the readers to complete the puzzle.

[@crossbearer6453]

But the fact remains Tolkien was a pioneer of sorts and his work influenced Martin

[@triggerfish9967]

Love that chimera representation.

[@pastorTracy911]

Chimera pride

[@Dragonhearth1461]

Unimaginable horrors lived there before and after it was destroyed.

[@Parjuk]

Thank you for continuing to make videos even after the show finished! I've read the books during covid, and have started the first one over and am about half way through. I need too look into the other literature, I tend to just watch videos over it!

[@77777Spooky]

I actually think there are intelligent people living in Valyria right now. Aerea and Balerion suffered very different injuries. Aerea was infected with tiny parasites while Balerion suffered from massive wounds, that would have killed a human. If the same beasts attacked both of them, they would suffer similiar injuries I think, and Aerea would definitely be dead. Since the two presumably traveled together, yet were injured differently, I think their attackers distinguished the two, thus suggested their attackers had intelligence. I think the people ambushed Balerion and subdued him, and then tortured Aerea and infected her, only to release them both as a warning to all outsiders who would venture back into Valyria.

[@abmong]

Valyria is basically the Atlantis of asoiaf and Valyrians their mortal Elves or the closest thing the setting has to it.

[@josiahdavistv1216]

How i think how the targeryen control dragons is the dragon lords of old valeria did something to them selves to bond with dragons and now it genetically inside of them

[@defrary5569]

I love your vids

[@shruho2120]

Valyria is formed like Greece and Slavers Bay is formed like Tyrkey. Meeren has the exact same location as Istanbul / Constantinople. Valyria resembles the Roman Empire.

[@donelion6459]

Someone tried to do a very dangerous experiment in Valyria . We might have our answer soon.

[@jamesbenedict7516]

So basically Australia....

[@louwinters508]

I hope they do a series on valyria.

[@J33zeus]

Gain a like for including the cockatrice. These things sometimes can turn prey into stone but idk if that's the GOT version or not

[@Akiraspin]

Just had a galaxy brain moment; What if Cockatrice's are real and their classic petrification is simply in a contagious form to be what everyone knows as Greyscale?

[@madstork91]

The part that no one seems to have caught on to yet... Certain hybrids of cats continue growing because there is no natural limitation to the growth hormone in their bodies. They lack this, and thus they just keep growing until they are too large to sustain themselves... if in the wild. In captivity, they generally lack the massive amount of nutrition needed to continue growing. I'm willing to bet Martin knows this. I'm willing to bet this is the clue he has left to know that dragons are a hybrid.

[@thomasrowsell116]

I personally think dragons still live in Valyria, cos dragons can hurt dragons and without riders they probably went wild similar to how dragon had a bit of a temper that only tamed when Daenerys actually started riding him. or even some valerians and dragons there's that emperor Valyrian who disappeared and Valyria is now a cluster of islands prahaps on one there are mutated parasites or mutated fire worms that was in some food that the princess ate and thats how they got into her system. and there that emporos dragon who would probably be the same size as balerion and they probably fought.

[@sophiawilson8696]

It weird how in show version there nothing there only people with Grey scale.

[@CLAREROMVoid]

I think griffins are still possible, House Arryn's myths depict giant falcons and some rebel named Griffin King. I imagine them following a 4 limb creature bauplan, like the giffins in The Witcher.

[@Aalpine001]

Technically, dragons in GoT TV Series are vyverns

[@Grayson030]

According to what? Dungeons and dragons? If a writer called them dragons they are dragons

[@Aalpine001]

@@Grayson030 according to physiology

[@Grayson030]

@@Aalpine001 physiology based on what, Mythical creatures?there are many different stories from different parts of the world,,that depicted dragons,most notably Asian and European,Japanese old stories even has wingless dragons,and many more. If dragons were real creatures you could base them on physiology,D&D based them in different categories,but that only works for D&D universe

[@Aalpine001]

@@Grayson030 Write in google browser: dragons vs wyverns and stop replying to my comment for fuk sake

[@BionicDeathclaw]

@@Grayson030 George Martin has said himself they are technically wyverns.

[@benderisgreat95able]

What if some of the dragons of Valyria still exist in a corrupted grayscale form similar to the grayscales that attacked Jorah and Tyrion?

[@LLedgend12]

Keep the game of thrones vids comin bro

[@durrellcastle8467]

I’m shocked to how many people think wyrmd are like fire earthworms a wyrm is wingless snake like dragon with no legs 😊

[@Gwestytears]

Fire parasites are the freakiest thing in GOT so far

[@Whitehotforever1_]

I would’ve love to see more ancient valyrian blood magic in a future game of thrones sequel

[@kaula17]

Balerion wanted to go home but he wanted a friend to come with him lol

[@joaovitorreisdasilva9573]

I have this pet theory of mine, that the volcano that destroyed Valyria was actually aliens nuking the place... And I'll just leave it here lol

[@paulsarnik8506]

I wonder who the first Valaryian was that thought "Gee I bet I could master that beast!" 🐉. 🤓😎✌🏻

[@whatalsaid]

Wasn’t there an ancient dragon rider civilization in Asshai that predates the valyrians, and don’t dragons still live in the caves that surround the river in asshai that leads to Stygai? Brann stark saw dragons in asshai in one of his visions.

[@osricdarian5250]

Dragon egg use fire and blood magic to hatch them and some fail. Wyvern they hatch normaly and some species of wyvern can group up into 400 wyvern swarming their prey. Maybe the Valyrian wanted to turn wyvern turn into dragon, like dragon are intelligent and fire breathing so the valyrian mix wyvern, human and firewyrms.

[@misterwachizowski502]

They need a game for this

[@user-ol2pk9kz7o]

The last book of a song of ice and fire should be the one to reavel everything about valyria

[@ahmxtsxnjuu2373]

İ had wondered if Gryphons where a thing in the Ice&Fire world

[@cardinal3245]

never stop making videos

[@saymyname2417]

So, in other words: we got the old story of fallen angels, their offspring the Nephilim, the twisted mixed creatures they created, the atrocities and unspeakable crimes against humanity, the meteoric rise and the sudden fall. Known as The Doom Of Valyria. For you guys. And as The Flood to others. Nothing new under the sun then...

[@92irishjoe]

Ah yes the story of Aerea Targaryen such a strange mystery of what happened

[@Brandonhayhew]

GRRM loves HP Lovecraft and Tolkien LOTR

[@andurinaadin4760]

1:05 Taming is a term reserved for wild animals not domesticated ones. Anyone who has spent any time with any farm animal knows that domesticated species are genetically inclined to be docile (more or less) whereas you have to tame a bear to make it behave in a way that goes against its nature.

[@dazzah97]

Is Fire & Blood worth the read? Just finished ADWD and have begun my personal probably long wait for TWOW

[@marwanali4878]

Fire and Blood, The Princess And The Queen and the Dunk and Egg series are things you can read while waiting for winds ( I'm doing the same. I completed them like 2 months ago)

[@anthrax1467]

Absolutely.

[@joelweir3827]

The dragon's we see in got are wyverns as dragon's have front arms and a pair of wings unlike wyverns who hold themselves up with their wings At least I think so

[@hahaimout1693]

6:20 The Green Death!!!!!

[@s.t.5915]

I bet it was the Cannibal that was able to injure and nearly defeat Balerion. The Cannibal is roughly 30-40 years older than Balerion meaning it probably was bigger.

[@lucyfaire1980]

From taming sheep to taming dragons? Come on, they clearly had some help. From survivors of the Dawn Empire maybe? Maybe Valyrians are descendants of them. And the Targarians infused their blood with the blood of dragons. That is why most High Valyrians needed magic horns to control them and Targaryans didn't.

[@skrrahans8359]

what if while digging valyrians found the body or skeleton of an ancient or first dragon and tried to revive it with magic since we know it is possible to revive a dead person and everything went wrong and that dragon injured balerion but that dragon can't leave valyria because of some magic