Meleys

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House Targaryen.svgMeleys
the Red Queen
House Targaryen.svg
Meleys.png
Rhaenys Targaryen on the back of Meleys, as depicted by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla in The World of Ice & Fire

Alias the Red Queen
Owners
Species Dragon
Born In before 75 AC[1]
Died In 129 AC[2]Rook's Rest
Books

TV series House of the Dragon: Season 1 | 2

Meleys, called the Red Queen, was a she-dragon ridden by Princess Alyssa Targaryen[1] and later Princess Rhaenys Targaryen.[1]

Description

Meleys had scarlet scales and pink membranes on her wings, for which she received her alias, the Red Queen. Her crest, horns, and claws were bright as copper.[2] The dragon was described as "splendid" and "magnificent".[1]

In 75 AC, Meleys was considered to be one of the swiftest dragons in Westeros, easily outpacing Caraxes and Vhagar.[1] By 129 AC, Meleys had grown lazy, but was still fearsome when roused.[3]

History

Alyssa Targaryen

Alyssa Targaryen takes her son Viserys on his first flight on Meleys. Art by René Aigner © for The Rise of the Dragon

By 75 AC, Meleys resided in the Dragonpit in King's Landing, never ridden before. That year, the newly married Princess Alyssa Targaryen decided to become a dragonrider. She initially wished to claim Balerion, but the dragonkeepers convinced her that he was too old and slow, and that she would prefer a swifter mount. Alyssa claimed Meleys, and afterwards rarely stayed away from the Dragonpit for long. The dragon was indeed as swift as promised, easily besting the dragons of Alyssa's brothers Aemon and Baelon when they flew together.[1]

In 77 AC, Alyssa strapped her nine-day old son Viserys to her chest and took him flying on Meleys. She did the same in 81 AC with her second son, Daemon, within a fortnight of his birth. In 84 AC, Meleys became riderless when Princess Alyssa died some time after a difficult labor.[1]

Rhaenys Targaryen

Meleys the Red Queen, ridden by Rhaenys Targaryen. Art by Jota Saraiva ©

In 87 AC, Meleys was claimed by Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. In 89 AC, Rhaenys flew on Meleys to Highgarden, to accompany King Jaehaerys I Targaryen further on his royal progress to the Shield Islands. When Rhaenys married Lord Corlys Velaryon in 90 AC, she insisted on arriving to the wedding flying on Meleys.[1]

Princess Rhaenys rode Meleys during the Dance of the Dragons, on the side of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and the blacks, versus King Aegon II Targaryen and the greens. When the Velaryon fleet closed off the Gullet, sailing forth from Dragonstone and Driftmark to block all shipping for Blackwater Bay, the blacks' plan was for Rhaenys to fly overhead on Meleys to keep the greens from attacking the ships with their dragons.[3]

The bodies of Rhaenys and Meleys, as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in Fire & Blood.

In 129 AC, when Rook's Rest was besieged by the greens' army led by Ser Criston Cole, Rhaenys flew Meleys to the castle to lend aid. During the battle at Rook's Rest, Meleys was attacked by Cole's archers and shot with iron bolts by scorpions, which angered her but did not do her harm. In response, she spat fire on the men below, and attacked the knights and horses, killing about 800 men.[2]

However, the battle proved to be a ploy when King Aegon and Prince Aemond Targaryen suddenly appeared upon Sunfyre and Vhagar above Rook's Rest. Rhaenys turned to meet the attack, despite the knowledge that Meleys had no hope of success against the two dragons. According to Archmaester Gyldayn, Meleys might have stood a chance against the older Vhagar alone, but not against Vhagar and Sunfyre combined. The dragons met violently in the air, a thousand feet above the field, with their fireballs bursting as bright as the sun. Meleys managed to close her jaw around Sunfyre's neck, just as Vhagar fell upon them, and all three dragons fell from the sky. They crashed to the ground so hard that stones fell from the battlements of Rook's Rest, half a league away.[2]

From the ashes, only Aemond and Vhagar rose unharmed. Meleys had half torn one of Sunfyre's wings off,[4] and Aegon suffered broken ribs, a broken hip, and burns that covered half his body. Meleys did not survive the fall, and was ripped to pieces when she hit the ground. A body believed to be Rhaenys Targaryen was found beside the carcass of her dragon, so blackened that she was impossible to identify. The head of Meleys was brought back to King's Landing by the forces of King Aegon II Targaryen and drawn on a cart through the city, a display that awed the smallfolk into silence. According to Septon Eustace, thousands left King's Landing afterward, until Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower ordered the city gates closed and barred.[2]

Known dragonriders of Meleys

Quotes

Red maidens, the two of us, but now we've both been mounted.[1]

Alyssa Targaryen about herself and Meleys, after claiming the dragon

With a glad cry and a crack of her whip, she turned Meleys toward the foe.[2]

—writings of Gyldayn, about Rhaenys Targaryen in the battle of Rook's Rest

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Fire & Blood, The Long Reign - Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
  4. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown.