Editing Sheepstealer

{{For|Harrag Sheepstealer|Harrag Sharp}}
{{Infobox animal character
| firstname = Sheepstealer
| epithet = 
| arms = 
| image = [[File:Nettles and her dragon Sheepstealer by Jota Saraiva.jpg|400px]]
| image_caption = Sheepstealer and Nettles by Jota Saraiva
| Alias =
| Title =
| Owner = [[Nettles]]
| Species = [[Dragon]]
| Allegiance = [[Nettles]]
| Race = 
| Place_of_Birth = [[Dragonstone]]
| Date_of_Birth = or after {{Date|35}}<ref name=Calculation>''See the [[Years after Aegon's Conquest/Calculations Ages (Continued3)#Sheepstealer|Sheepstealer]] calculation.''</ref>
| Place_of_Death = 
| Date_of_Death = {{Date|136|153}}<ref name=Calculation/> <small>(presumably)</small>
| Books = ''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'' (mentioned)<br>''[[Fire & Blood]]'' (mentioned)<br>''[[The Rise of the Dragon]]'' (mentioned)<br>''[[The Princess and the Queen]]'' (mentioned)
| TV_series = ''[[House of the Dragon]]'': [[House of the Dragon - Season 2|Season 2]]
}}

'''Sheepstealer''' was a wild male{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} [[dragon]] during the [[Dance of the Dragons]] with a taste for mutton.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Targaryen Kings: Aegon II}}{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} He lived at the back of [[Dragonmont]] and would hunt between [[Driftmark]] and [[Wendwater]]. The [[smallfolk]] of [[Dragonstone]] named him for a self-evident reason. At the start of the [[Dance of the Dragons]], he was one of three wild dragons living on Dragonstone.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}

==Appearance and Character==
{{See also|:Category:Images of Sheepstealer|l1=Images of Sheepstealer}}
Sheepstealer's coloring was an ugly "mud brown".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} His [[Dragonflame|flames]] were possibly red or golden.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}{{refn|name="Gullet"|group="N"|The fireballs spit by Sheepstealer (a muddy brown dragon) as well as [[Seasmoke]] (a silver-grey dragon), [[Silverwing]] (a silvery dragon), [[Vermax]] (a green and orange dragon) and [[Vermithor]] (a bronze and tan dragon) during the [[Battle of the Gullet]] are described as "blue and orange, red and gold".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}}} He was not aggressive towards humans unless provoked, but could be vicious and ill-tempered. He had a taste for [[mutton]]. While he devoured the occasional sheep dog, he never harmed a shepherd.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}

Grand Maester [[Munkun]] described Sheepstealer and his rider Nettles as "a skinny brown girl on a skinny brown dragon", though it is also noted that Munkun never actually saw Nettles.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}} Thus the accuracy of Munkun's description is unknown. Sheepstealer was not a young dragon by the time Nettles bonded with him, well over fifty years old. On the other hand, [[Dreamfyre]] was even older than Sheepstealer, but was consistently described as "slender" - thus it's possible that Sheepstealer could have both been large and of slender build.

==History==
[[File:Netty.png|350px|thumb|[[Nettles]] takes a sheep to Sheepstealer, by Ashley Hunter Rice]]
Sheepstealer's [[dragon egg]] hatched when the Old King [[Jaehaerys I Targaryen]] "was still young".{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} It is unclear if that means in the early years of Jaehaerys's reign, thus in or after {{Date|48}}, or generically during his youth, thus in or after {{Date|35}} ({{Date|34}} is not counted, since it is implied Sheepstealer was younger than [[Vermithor]]).{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown}} Sheepstealer made his lair in the caverns of the [[Dragonmont]] on [[Dragonstone (island)|Dragonstone]], and would hunt sheep as far as on [[Driftmark]] and at the [[Wendwater]]. Sheepstealer went unclaimed by any [[dragonrider|rider]] in his youth, which made him more and more unused to the presence of men and harder to claim with each passing year. Eventually he spent over seven decades living wild on Dragonstone, snatching sheep from pastures across Blackwater Bay.

During the early phase of the [[Dance of the Dragons]], [[Jacaerys Velaryon]] called upon any potential [[dragonseeds]] to try and claim a dragon to ride. During this event, which became known as the [[Sowing]], Sheepstealer was one of four dragons who people attempted to mount, and the only one who had never had a [[dragonrider|rider]] before. In the process, Sheepstealer killed more candidates than the other three dragons (Vermithor, [[Seasmoke]], and [[Silverwing]]) combined. [[Silver Denys]], who claimed to be a descendent of King [[Maegor I Targaryen]], had his arm torn off by Sheepstealer when he tried to master the dragon, and [[Alyn Velaryon|Alyn of Hull]] was burned by the dragon when he made his attempt.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}

[[File:Fire-witch (The Rise of the Dragon).jpg|thumb|right|The "fire-witch," alleged to be Nettles and Sheepstealer, by Ertaç Altinöz for ''[[The Rise of the Dragon]]'']]
A bastard girl named [[Nettles]] eventually managed to tame the dragon, through a cunning method. She left out a freshly-slaughtered [[sheep]] for the dragon every morning, causing the dragon to grow accustomed to her presence, until he allowed her to mount him.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} Along with [[Rhaenyra Targaryen]]'s other dragonriders, Nettles and Sheepstealer took part in the [[Battle of the Gullet]] and the [[Fall of King's Landing|rapid capture of King's Landing]],{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}} after which Sheepstealer made his lair in the [[Dragonpit]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}

Nettles and Sheepstealer joined Prince [[Daemon Targaryen]] and his dragon [[Caraxes]] in hunting [[Aemond Targaryen]] and [[Vhagar]] along the [[Trident]]. They remained at [[Maidenpool]], from where they continued their search every morning.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}

When Queen Rhaenyra named Nettles a traitor, Nettles left Maidenpool with Sheepstealer early in the morning, after feeding Sheepstealer the largest black ram present at the castle. The dragon and its rider were last seen flying over the [[Bay of Crabs]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant}}

When King [[Aegon II Targaryen]] regained the [[Iron Throne]] after Rhaenyra's death, there were reports that Sheepstealer had been seen at [[Crackclaw Point]] and the [[Mountains of the Moon]].{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II}} In {{Date|134}}, during the reign of King [[Aegon III Targaryen]], Ser [[Robert Rowan]] led a royal army to the [[Vale of Arryn]] to support Ser [[Joffrey Arryn]]. Robert's men encountered Sheepstealer and a ragged Nettles in a cave, and in the ensuing fight sixteen men were slain and threescore more were wounded. Nettles and her dragon were last seen flying deeper into the Mountains of the Moon.{{Ref|FAB|The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency}}

An offshoot clan of the [[Painted Dogs]] in the Vale came to worship a "fire-witch", to whom they would send their boys with gifts for her. In exchange, they would face the flames of her dragon to prove their manhood. This offshoot clan was considered to be one of the most savage of the mountain clans, and stories are still told about this fire-witch to this day. Some of the [[maester]]s of the [[Seven Kingdoms]] believe that this practice was the origin of the tradition held nowadays by the [[Burned Men]], where young men must give some part of their body "to the fire" to prove they have the courage to be a man.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Vale}}{{Ref|FAB|The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency}}

==Known dragonrider of Sheepstealer== 
*[[Nettles]], the first and only rider.{{Ref|FAB|The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold}}

==Notes==
{{Notes}}

==References==
{{References}}

{{Dragons}}

[[Category:Dragons]]

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