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.
| 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, 1996 |
| Wings | Yes |
| Breathes fire | Yes |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Ambivalent |
The Story
In Martin's world, dragons once made the Targaryen family rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, but the last of them died more than a century before the story begins. At her wedding to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo, the exiled princess Daenerys Targaryen is given three dragon eggs, thought to have turned to stone long ago. At the end of A Game of Thrones (1996), after Drogo's death, Daenerys walks into his funeral pyre with the eggs. When the fire dies she is unburned, and three newly hatched dragons cling to her.
She names the black one Drogon, after her husband; the others are Rhaegal and Viserion. Drogon is the largest, the hungriest, and the most willful of the three, and the one most closely bonded to her. Over the following books, the dragons grow from kitten-sized hatchlings into creatures large enough to threaten cities, and they become the center of Daenerys's power and of the political struggle around her. In A Dance with Dragons (2011), she learns, at great risk, that Drogon can be ridden.
Appearance and Powers
Drogon has black scales and red markings, with black-and-red flame, and he grows quickly as he is fed. Martin's dragons are animals, not talking beings: hot-blooded, dangerous even to their owners, and able to be commanded only by a strong bond and the High Valyrian word dracarys, "dragonfire." On television, Martin's dragons were designed with two legs and wings that act as forelimbs.
Origins and Sources
Dragons are rare and slow-growing in Martin's story, so their return builds gradually across the books. Their birth from fire and the idea that dragons and magic return together are central themes of the series. Drogon's huge black ancestor, Balerion the Black Dread, is often compared to him in the books.
Legacy
HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–2019) made Drogon one of the most famous dragons of the century, and his visual effects won multiple Emmy Awards. The show's final season departs from the published books, which are not yet finished, so the books and show may end differently for him. That ending is a major spoiler, so we leave it out here. For more on dragon anatomy and fire, see dragon anatomy.
Related
- 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.
- Vermithrax Pejorative: Vermithrax Pejorative is the ancient, fire-breathing dragon of the 1981 film Dragonslayer, which terrorizes the kingdom of Urland until a young sorcerer's apprentice sets out to kill it.
- 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.
- Alduin: Alduin the World-Eater is the black dragon who serves as the main villain of the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), an ancient tyrant of dragonkind prophesied to devour the world.
- Dragon Anatomy and Physiology
- Dragon Books
Sources and Further Reading
- George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (Bantam Spectra, 1996)
- George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons (Bantam, 2011)
- George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr., and Linda Antonsson, The World of Ice & Fire (Bantam, 2014)
Cite this entry: “Drogon,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/drogon.