Balerion the Black Dread
Balerion the Black Dread is the largest dragon in the history of George R.R. Martin's Westeros, the mount of Aegon the Conqueror, whose black fire helped the Targaryens win the Seven Kingdoms.
| Also known as | Balerion, The Black Dread |
|---|---|
| Type | dragon |
| Tradition | George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire) |
| Category | Literature |
| Earliest source | A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin (as a skull and in legend), 1996 |
| Wings | Yes |
| Breathes fire | Yes |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Hostile |
The Story
Balerion lived and died long before the main events of A Song of Ice and Fire, and readers meet him first through his remains. In A Game of Thrones (1996), young Arya Stark explores the cellars of the Red Keep in King's Landing and hides among the skulls of the old Targaryen dragons, which were taken down from the throne room walls. The largest of them belonged to Balerion.
His story is told in Martin's histories of the Targaryens. Balerion was one of the dragons the family brought from Valyria to the island of Dragonstone before Valyria's destruction. Generations later he was ridden by Aegon I, the Conqueror, who with his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys invaded Westeros on dragonback about three hundred years before the main series. Balerion's fire melted the great castle of Harrenhal with its king inside, and he fought at the Field of Fire. The Iron Throne was said to be forged from the swords of Aegon's defeated enemies in Balerion's breath.
According to Fire & Blood (2018), Balerion outlived Aegon and was ridden by later Targaryens before dying of old age, more than two hundred years old, during the reign of Aegon's grandson Jaehaerys I.
Appearance and Powers
Balerion was black, with black fire, and so huge that his wings were said to cast whole towns into shadow and his jaws could swallow a mammoth whole. In Martin's world, dragons never stop growing, so the oldest are the largest, and Balerion grew to be the greatest of all.
Origins and Sources
Within the story, the Black Dread works as a legend in his own right: the measure against which later dragons, including Drogon, are compared, and a reminder of how much power the Targaryens lost when their dragons died out.
Legacy
Balerion's skull appears in HBO's Game of Thrones and in House of the Dragon (2022–), where it lies in the Red Keep. For the real dragon legends behind such fantasy giants, see the history of dragons.
Related
- Drogon: Drogon is the largest and fiercest of Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (from 1996) and HBO's Game of Thrones, a black-and-red dragon named for her husband Khal Drogo.
- Ancalagon the Black: Ancalagon the Black is the greatest of the winged dragons in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, unleashed by Morgoth at the end of the First Age and slain by the mariner Eärendil in a battle in the sky.
- Smaug: Smaug is the greedy, cunning fire-breathing dragon of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), who seizes the dwarves' treasure under the Lonely Mountain and is killed by Bard the Bowman.
- The History of Dragons
- Dragon Books
Sources and Further Reading
- George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (Bantam Spectra, 1996)
- George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr., and Linda Antonsson, The World of Ice & Fire (Bantam, 2014)
- George R.R. Martin, Fire & Blood (Bantam, 2018)
Cite this entry: “Balerion the Black Dread,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/balerion.