'Game of Thrones': Tyrion's Guide To Dragon Riding

Daenerys may have slipped away from the Sons of the Harpy when her dragon — aptly named Drogon — scooped her up from the fighting pit of Meereen, but she’s no dragonrider. From what we’ve seen on Game of Thrones she is left stumped as to what to do with her murderous fire spawn. The ones she could contain are locked up, out of sight and out of mind. Yet it’s widely assumed, particularly by readers of George R.R. Martin’s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, that Daenerys will one day ride a dragon into battle, possibly right up to the Iron Throne itself.

Enter Tyrion. “Dragons do not do well in captivity,” Tyrion says in the second trailer for Game of Thrones Season 6. “I drink and I know things.”

Tyrion knows things because he reads. A lot. Outside of the maesters he’s likely one of the best educated men in Westeros. “Why do you read so much?” Jon Snow asks him in Season 1.

“Things are expected of me,” Tyrion replies. “My brother has his sword and I have my mind, and a mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone. That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”

Dragons are of particular interest to Tyrion. In A Dance with Dragons he even spends a substantial part of his journey to Meereen compiling and writing dragonlore. Dude’s a dragon master. So here are some of the lessons he’ll pass on to Daenerys Targaryen before they fly them across the Narrow Sea to blowtorch Lannisters and White Walkers.

Dragons Grow Big, Very Big

Drogon may be about the size of an elephant, but that’s just the beginning for Daenerys’ beasties. They grow throughout their lives, with historic dragons like Balerion the Black Dread (ridden by Daenerys’ ancestor as he conquered Westeros) large enough to swallow wooly mammoths, his wingspan broad enough that entire towns fell under his shadow. Not only are dragons large, but they’re tough, with black bones due to the high iron content and scales able to withstand temperatures hot enough to melt steel.

How To Train Your Dragon

Dragons are capricious and intelligent (for animals), requiring training and intimate contact to build the personal bond they require before allowing a rider. In A Dance with Dragons Daenerys learns (not from Tyrion, but from a character cut from Game of Thrones) that the bond formed between dragon and rider is unbreakable, lasting until death. Avatar rules, basically.

Dragon Talk

Dragons can be trained to respond to Valyrian. Daenerys has already learned dracarys to get her dragons to spit flames, but that’s just the beginning of what they can be trained to do. Tyrion, who has read every extant text on dragons in Westeros (outside of those single copy rarities in the basement of the maester’s Citadel), will know even more commands.

Dragons Make The World Crazy

One of the unexpected side effects of dragons returning to the world of Game of Thrones could be a more chaotic magical landscape. The wildfire Tyrion uses to defend King’s Landing from Stannis Baratheon’s fleet grew stronger once dragons were back in the world.

They seem to have a mystical connection to all magical systems. Even winters grew longer once dragons were no longer in the world. In A Feast for Crows we learn, according to A Wiki of Ice and Fire, that the maesters believe that it was their suppression of magic (giving preference to science) that drove the dragons to extinction.

Tyrion and Daenerys may find unexpected consequences in the wider world as her dragons age.

Two Heads of the Dragon

While experiencing her psychedelic freakout in the House of the Undying, Daenerys learns “ the dragon has three heads,” just one of many cryptic prophecies that have attached themselves to the Mother of Dragons. Most A Song of Ice and Fire readers interpret this to mean that Daenerys will be joined in her victory over Westeros by two other dragonriders. Tyrion would be one obvious candidate (Jon Snow is also popular). Still, he has a lot to teach Daenerys and her army about dragons before they’ll be ready to ride them into battle.