Vermithor

Vermithor the Bronze Fury
King Jaehaerys I feeding Vermithor before Rogar Baratheon, by Jota Saraiva
Alias	The Bronze Fury
Owners	Jaehaerys I Targaryen Hugh Hammer
Species	Dragon
Born	In 34 AC
Died	In 130 AC, Tumbleton
Books	The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned) Fire & Blood (mentioned) The Rise of the Dragon (mentioned) The Sons of the Dragon (mentioned) The Rogue Prince (mentioned) The Princess and the Queen (mentioned)
TV series	House of the Dragon: Season 1 | 2

Vermithor, called the Bronze Fury, was a male dragon once ridden by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen.

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Vermithor

Vermithor was a bronze dragon with "great tan wings". His flames were possibly red or golden. Vermithor was already a large dragon in 48 AC; only Balerion and Vhagar were larger. By the time of the Dance of the Dragons, Vermithor was almost a hundred years old.

Vermithor was a fearsome beast. Though old and hoary by the reign of Aegon II Targaryen, he was also accustomed to men. Having had a previous rider, Vermithor was tolerant of the presence of people and more accepting of new riders. Vermithor often coiled with Silverwing in the fields near Tumbleton during his final days.

History

Jaehaerys I Targaryen

King Jaehaerys I Targaryen on Vermithor and Queen Alysanne Targaryen on Silverwing, by Sanrixian ©

According to legend, Vermithor hatched from a dragon's egg that had been placed in the cradle of Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen by his sister Rhaena, in 34 AC.

In 42 AC, at Dragonstone, Vermithor contributed his flames to the funeral pyre of King Aenys I Targaryen, together with the dragons Quicksilver and Silverwing.

In 44 AC, Jaehaerys, his sister Alysanne, and their mother Alyssa Velaryon resided on Dragonstone as the hostages of Dowager Queen Visenya Targaryen. In the chaos following Visenya's death of natural causes that year, Jaehaerys, Alysanne, and Alyssa fled the island, along with Jaehaerys's dragon Vermithor and Alysanne's dragon Silverwing.

Vermithor had accepted Prince Jaehaerys as his rider by 48 AC, when the fourteen-year-old prince made his claim for the Iron Throne. Nine days after the mysterious death of King Maegor I Targaryen, Jaehaerys flew to King's Landing upon Vermithor to claim the throne.

During Jaehaerys's minority, Queen Dowager Alyssa, his regent, and her new husband, Hand of the King Rogar Baratheon, planned to marry Princess Alysanne to Ser Orryn Baratheon, to prevent Jaehaerys from marrying her incestously. As soon as Alysanne discovered her betrothal, she informed Jaehaerys, and they flew to Dragonstone upon Vermithor and Silverwing, where they married in secret. Jaehaerys and Alysanne and their dragons stayed on Dragonstone for the remainder of the king's minority, and Rogar was eventually dismissed as Hand after he refused to accept the marriage and plotted to crown others in place of Jaehaerys. In 50 AC, Jaehaerys reached the age of majority, and flew upon Vermithor back to the capital to take his throne. He summoned Lord Rogar, who feared harsh reprisals, but Jaehaerys pardoned him on conditions of honorable behavior in the future. When Rogar asked if the king required hostages of him, Jaehaerys brought him to where Vermithor was being fed, where he reminded Rogar of the power of dragons. According to Grand Maester Benifer, Rogar realized that every man, woman, and child in the stormlands was Jaehaerys's hostage.

In 54 AC, the High Septon died in Oldtown. Jaehaerys and Alysanne immediately flew to Oldtown upon their dragons, to prevent the Most Devout from electing the intolerant Septon Mattheus as the new High Septon, and took two protectors with them. To balance the weight for the dragons, Alysanne's protector Jonquil Darke rode with King Jaehaerys on Vermithor, while Ser Joffrey Doggett of the Kingsguard rode with Alysanne on Silverwing. Jaehaerys brought down Vermithor on the wide marble plaza outside the Starry Sept, while Alysanne landed Silverwing atop the Hightower. After successful election of Septon Alfyn, Jaehaerys flew Vermithor alone to visit several castles of the Reach, including the island of the Arbor, while Alysanne remained in Oldtown to meet with the archmaesters of the Citadel. The king and queen visited several castles in the Dornish Marches on their flight home. While at Blackhaven, Jaehaerys and Alysanne learned that their pregnant mother, Alyssa Velaryon, was on her deathbed. They immediately flew to Storm's End, where they arrived in time to see their mother before she died delivering a daughter.

After the completion of the Dragonpit in 55 AC, Vermithor did not take residence there, but remained at the Red Keep with Silverwing, close to their riders.

The Fourth Dornish War lasted only a single day, when Jaehaerys and his sons burned the Dornish fleet with Vermithor, Vhagar, and Caraxes, as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in Fire & Blood.

In 58 AC, King Jaehaerys planned to visit the north on a royal progress together with Alysanne, intent on visiting Winterfell. However, Jaehaerys was detained at King's Landing by matters of state, and not wanting to insult Lord Alaric Stark by canceling the progress, Alysanne suggested she could fly north upon Silverwing as planned, and Jaehaerys would catch up on Vermithor as soon as possible. However, political negotiations ran long, and according to Archmaester Gyldayn, Alysanne grew restless of waiting for Jaehaerys at Winterfell for half a year, and decided to travel to Castle Black at the Wall. However, a story told centuries later by Old Nan to Jon Snow claims that Alysanne grew bored only after Jaehaerys had arrived at the north (with an additional four dragons), and flew to the Wall while Jaehaerys discussed matters with his Warden of the North. Another tale related by Samwell Tarly claims that Jaehaerys eventually followed Alysanne to the Wall upon Vermithor, but according to Gyldayn, Jaehaerys arrived at Winterfell upon Vermithor only after Alysanne had returned from the Wall, and never traveled there himself. From Winterfell, Alysanne and Jaehaerys traveled to Torrhen's Square and Barrowton, after which they returned to King's Landing.

In 61 AC, Jaehaerys joined Lord Rogar Baratheon in ending the scourge of the Vulture King who was raiding the Dornish Marches in partnership with Rogar's traitor brother Borys. In the struggle, called the Third Dornish War, Lord Rogar led five hundred men into the Red Mountains, while King Jaehaerys took to the air on Vermithor. Jaehaerys found a dozen rude camps of the raiders, and Vermithor burned them all, leaving the Vulture only ashes to return to. From the sky, Jaehaerys directed the ground forces in pursuit of their foes. When Borys Baratheon was cornered at last, Jaehaerys landed to personally challenge him to single combat, so that Rogar would not become a kinslayer, and slew Borys with Blackfyre.

In 83 AC, Morion Martell, Prince of Dorne, attempted an invasion of the stormlands. He hired pirates from the Stepstones, sellsails from Myr, and corsairs from the Pepper Coast, and sailed to Cape Wrath. However, the Fourth Dornish War consisted of a single battle, and lasted a single day. King Jaehaerys and his two eldest sons, Prince Aemon and Prince Baelon, awaited the Dornish on Vermithor, Caraxes, and Vhagar, whilst Lord Boremund Baratheon awaited the Dornish with his army at Cape Wrath. As the Dornish fleet was sailing north on the Sea of Dorne, Jaehaerys and his sons struck first by descending from the skies with their dragons. Though the Dornish responded by filling the air with scorpion and crossbow bolts, none of the projectiles pierced the dragons' scales. Dragonflame destroyed the Dornish fleet.

Vermithor became riderless when Jaehaerys died in 103 AC. Throughout the reign of Jaehaerys's successor, King Viserys I Targaryen, Vermithor had no new rider. During this time, Vermithor remained on the island of Dragonstone and made his lair in one of the smoking caverns of the Dragonmont. In 129 AC, Viserys entertained his grandchildren with a fictional tale of Jaehaerys and his dragon defeating a vast host of wildlings, giants, and wargs at the Wall.

Hugh Hammer

Vermithor kills Seasmoke during the Second Battle of Tumbleton, as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in Fire & Blood.

King Viserys's death in 129 AC provoked the start of a civil war between his heirs, King Aegon II Targaryen and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, called the Dance of the Dragons. Late that year, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon decided that his mother's faction needed more dragonriders. In the Red Sowing, many men attempted to claim a dragon of their own; Lord Gormon Massey attempted to approach Vermithor, who burned him to death. Eventually, Vermithor bent his neck to a blacksmith’s bastard called Hugh Hammer. Hugh rode Vermithor to battle in the Battle in the Gullet. Along with Silverwing, Sheepstealer, Vermax, and Seasmoke, Vermithor descended upon the ninety warships sailing under the banners of the Three Daughters.

When King's Landing fell to Rhaenyra's supporters, Hugh landed Vermithor upon the Hill of Rhaenys, outside of the Dragonpit. In the Dragonpit, Vermithor made a lair before flying off to battle. Hugh rode Vermithor into battle during the first battle at Tumbleton. Hugh and fellow dragonseed Ulf the White, who had claimed Silverwing, changed their allegiance, betraying Rhaenyra in favor of King Aegon II. Vermithor, Silverwing, and Tessarion, the dragon of Aegon II's brother Prince Daeron, let loose their flames upon Tumbleton, which was savagely sacked.

As the Hightower host remained at Tumbleton, so did Hugh with Vermithor. With Aegon II missing and Prince Aemond Targaryen dead, Hugh Hammer decided to fulfill his wish for the crown and declared himself king, as he was the rider of the oldest and largest living dragon. During the Second Battle of Tumbleton, an army of four thousand men strong, led by Addam Velaryon upon the dragon Seasmoke, surprised the Hightower host at Tumbleton with their night-time attack. Hugh rushed to mount Vermithor but was stopped by Jon Roxton, one of the Caltrops, who killed Hugh with his Valyrian steel sword Orphan-Maker. Vermithor, now riderless, was still half-asleep and on the ground when two score knights attempted to slay him. They died in their attempt. Wounded and enraged, Vermithor took flight, attacking all those around him. He snatched up a knight who tried to flee before him in his jaws, and burned Lords Piper and Deddings, with their squires, servants, and sworn shields.

While Vermithor was only twenty feet above the field, Seasmoke slammed into him from above. The two dragons rolled over the field, so entangled that neither was able to break free. According to Lord Benjicot Blackwood, Seasmoke was no match for Vermithor on account of the older dragon's size and weight. Lord Blackwood believed that Vermithor would have torn Seasmoke into pieces if Tessarion had not entered the fight. The three dragons fought to the death. Vermithor killed Seasmoke when he locked his teeth into the latter's neck and ripped his head off. He attempted to take flight with his prize still in his jaws but his wings were tattered, causing him to be unable to bear the weight. After a moment he collapsed and died.

It is said that after dark, Silverwing, who had fled into the sky when the battle began, descended to land beside the slain dragons. Later, the singers would tell of how she tried to lift Vermithor’s wing three times with her nose, as if to try and make him fly again. According to Archmaester Gyldayn this is most likely a fable. Vermithor and Seasmoke's remains became a tourist attraction at the rebuilt Tumbleton.

Known dragonriders of Vermithor

• King Jaehaerys I Targaryen
• Hugh Hammer

Behind the Scenes

Vermithor's name may be a reference to the dragon Vermithrax Pejorative, from the 1981 film Dragonslayer. Martin has cited Dragonslayer as one of his favorite fantasy films, calling Vermithrax "the best dragon ever put on film" and the one with "the coolest dragon name as well".