With the premiere of HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon,’ the buzz around it continues to grow as fans anticipate what’s going to happen next, conspiracy theories by fan pages have already started doing their rounds on social media. Set 172 years before the events of ‘Game of Thrones’ the series portrays the beginning of the House of Targaryen.
Released on August 21, 2022, the series will consist of ten episodes, and just five days after its premiere, it was renewed for a second season. With so much on its way to the fans, it’s natural for both beginners and old-timers to ask a bunch of questions and a lot of them revolve around the dragons since the name of the series is, well, ‘House of the Dragon’.
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Birth To Death: How Long Is A Dragon’s Life Cycle?
The dragons in George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ are divided into the categories of male and female. Their eggs are said to be made of stone and covered in scales and can survive for impossibly long periods of 150 years or more. Volcanoes are considered the best hatcheries and natural lairs for dragons as they need intense heat for hatching. They are mostly made of tail, wing, and neck along with powerful muscles and barely any fat on their bodies which makes it easy for them to fly.
These magical creatures continue growing throughout their life and can live for more than 200 years. For instance, by the time of his death, Balerion had grown so much that his shadow could bury a whole village into darkness. However strong and powerful they might be, dragons are not invincible as they are susceptible to death during battles and extremely vulnerable at young ages, since their scales haven’t grown thick, they don’t know how to fly or breathe air properly at that age.
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Balerion: The Longest Living Dragon
Balerion or the Black Dread was one of the five dragons born in Valyria and brought by Lord Aenar Targaryen to Dragonstone. He was the only dragon who survived until the War of Conquest, a hundred-year-old by that time. Balerion and his siblings Meraxes and Vhagar were deployed by the Aegon and his sisters to destroy the army of not one but two kings. Balerion destroyed Harrenhal, the strongest castle ever built all on his home, leaving it to be nothing but a mass of blackened ruin.
The swords of Aegon’s enemies were forged into the Iron Throne with the help of Balerion’s fire and it took weeks to produce the throne. After King Aegon Targaryen I passed away, the mighty dragon was ridden by Maegor I, and Balerion went on to live for two hundred years, passing away during Aegon’s grandson King Jaehaerys I Targaryen’s reign. No being, neither a king nor a fellow dragon could kill the largest Targaryen dragon who simply died in his sleep.
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