Difference between revisions of "Vhagar"

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| Spouse =  
 
| Spouse =  
 
| Place_of_Birth= [[Dragonstone]] 
 
| Place_of_Birth= [[Dragonstone]] 
| Date_of_Birth = [[Years before Aegon's Conquest#Year 51 Before the Conquest|51 BC]]
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| Date_of_Birth = [[Years before Aegon's Conquest#Year 52 Before the Conquest|52 BC]]<ref>''See the [[Years after Aegon's Conquest/Calculations Ages (Continued3)#Vhagar|Vhagar]] calculation''</ref>
 
| Place_of_Death= the [[Battle Above the Gods Eye|Gods Eye]]
 
| Place_of_Death= the [[Battle Above the Gods Eye|Gods Eye]]
 
| Date_of_Death = {{Date|130}}
 
| Date_of_Death = {{Date|130}}

Revision as of 10:01, 8 November 2016

Vhagar
Burning Arryn fleet.jpg

Allegiances
Race Dragon
Born 52 BC[1]
Dragonstone 
Died 130 AC
the Gods Eye
Books
For other uses, see Vhagar (disambiguation).

Vhagar was one of the dragons used by Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya, during the War of Conquest. She was named for one of the gods of Old Valyria.[2] Vhagar was ridden by Visenya during the Conquest.[3]

Description

See also: Images of Vhagar

Vhagar's breath was so hot that it could melt the armour of a knight and cook him inside.[3] The color of Vhagar's scales, horns, wing bones and spinal crest is unknown, as is the color of her flame.

By the time of the Dance of the Dragons, Vhagar was the hardened survivor of a hundred battles, had grown almost as large as Balerion and was the oldest and largest of the dragons in Westeros. Her roar was so powerful that it could shake the very foundations of Storm's End. No living dragon could match her for size or ferocity.[4]

One could ride a horse down Vhagar's gullet, according to Tyrion Lannister.[5]

History

Vhagar was named after a god of the Valyrian Freehold. She was born on Dragonstone from a dragon's egg.

War of Conquest

Vhagar and her rider, Queen Visenya Targaryen
By Silvaticus.

During the War of Conquest, Aegon I Targaryen sent his fleet, commanded by Daemon Velaryon, to take Gulltown. Daemon and the fleet were accompanied by Visenya Targaryen, on Vhagar. In the battle in the waters off Gulltown, the Arryn fleet was able to defeat the Targaryen fleet and Daemon Velaryon was killed. Visenya recovered what she could of the situation, using Vhagar to burn the surviving Arryn ships. The loss of the Arryn fleet caused the Sistermen on the Three Sisters to revolt against House Arryn. In addition, with their fleet destroyed, the Vale lacked the ability to attack the Targaryens by sea.

Visenya flew Vhagar to Stoney Sept to link up again with other Targaryen armies and dragons. They advanced south, where all three dragons took part in the decisive Field of Fire - the only battle in which all three of the Targaryen dragons during the Conquest took to the sky at the same time. Together, Vhagar, Meraxes and Balerion killed four thousand men, burning them alive. King Mern IX died, and with him House Gardener. The army was broken and House Targaryen was victorious.[5]

Afterwards, Visenya flew Vhagar back to the Vale. Just as Aegon had flown Balerion directly over the massive walls of Harrenhal, Visenya simply flew Vhagar directly over the impassable mountains to reach the Eyrie. Upon her arrival, Dowager Queen Sharra Arryn came outside to find her son, King Ronnel Arryn with Visenya. The young king begged his mother for a ride on Vhagar's back. Sharra bent her knee and surrendered, and King Ronnel rode on Vhagar with Visenya. Sharra's surrender of the Vale made Ronnel the last King of Mountain and Vale.[6]

It is currently unknown who Vhagar's rider was after Visenya's death. After Balerion died of old age in 94 AC, Vhagar became the last of the three Targaryen dragons who had fought in the Conquest.

Reign of King Viserys I Targaryen

During the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, Vhagar's rider was Lady Laena Velaryon, who rode her as young as twelve. When Laena wed her husband, Prince Daemon Targaryen, they flew across the narrow sea to Pentos, Volantis, Qohor, and Norvos. In each of the Free Cities crowds came to see Vhagar and Daemon's Caraxes. After returning to Driftmark, Vhagar, Caraxes, and Syrax often flew together with their riders, Laena, Daemon, and Princess Rhaenyra.[7]

Shortly after the death of Lady Laena in 120 AC, Vhagar was claimed by ten-year old Prince Aemond Targaryen.[7]

Dance of the Dragons

Vhagar kills Lucerys and Arrax.

By 129 AC, Vhagar had grown nearly as big as Balerion had been during the War of Conquest, and had become the largest living dragon of her time.[8] Prince Aemond flew on Vhagar to Storm's End, so they could win the support of Lord Borros Baratheon for King Aegon II Targaryen. There Aemond met with Prince Lucerys Velaryon. Aemond was forbidden from attacking Lucerys while both were in Borros's castle, Aemond was allowed to follow Lucerys outside. Thus, when Lucerys had risen into the sky on his dragon Arrax, Aemond mounted Vhagar and followed the young Velaryon prince. The two dragons fought during a great storm over Shipbreaker Bay, and Vhagar quickly overcame Arrax, whose severed head would wash ashore days later, along with the corpse of Lucerys.[4]

Aemond would continue to use Vhagar in battle during the civil war between King Aegon II and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. During the battle at Rook's Rest, Vhagar and Sunfyre ambushed the dragon Meleys and her rider Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. Meleys was an old and large dragon and may have stood a chance against Vhagar alone, but died from the combined assault. Vhagar was the only dragon who left the battle reasonably unharmed.[4]

The battle against Meleys left Aegon II severely injured, leaving him incapable of rule. Prince Aemond was appointed regent until such a time when Aegon himself could rule again. Aemond decided that the main threat in the war was Prince Daemon Targaryen, who was massing armies at Harrenhal. Aemond took Vhagar and most of the green forces from King's Landing north to attack Harrenhal, leaving King's Landing with very little defense. When Aemond and Vhagar arrived at Harrenhal, they found the castle undefended and empty, as Daemon had left some time before, to attack King's Landing, after having lured Aemond and Vhagar away from the capital.[4]

Here, Prince Aemond and Hand of the King Criston Cole no longer agreed on how to proceed during the war. Aemond took Vhagar on a one-man war of revenge. They burned much of the riverlands, starting with every wooden structure in Harrenhal. Vhagar caused more destruction than an entire army, and severely harmed Rhaenyra's supporters in the riverlands - though Aemond's decision to abandon the army under Criston proved to a strategic blunder. Without Vhagar to protect them, Cole's army in the east was later surrounded and destroyed in the Butcher's Ball, leaving the east wide open to Rhaenyra's forces.[4]

Aemond and Vhagar continued the destruction of the riverlands and they became the terror of the Trident. Daemon Targaryen, on his dragon Caraxes, and the dragonseed Nettles, on the dragon Sheepstealer, were sent to hunt Aemond. They were allowed to use Maidenpool as their base, as Lord Manfryd Mooton feared an attack from Vhagar, and found himself safer this way. Daemon and Nettles unsuccessfully searched together for Vhagar, who continued to terrorize the riverlands.

After the First Battle of Tumbleton, Prince Daemon Targaryen said his goodbyes to Lord Mooton and Nettles, and had word sent out that he and Caraxes would await Aemond and Vhagar at Harrenhal. After thirteen days, Vhagar appeared in the sky, carrying Aemond and his lover Alys Rivers on her back. The Battle Above the Gods Eye between Vhagar and Caraxes ended with Aemond dead, as Prince Daemon had put Dark Sister through his eye. Both Caraxes and Vhagar died as well. Vhagar died in the water, and her body was recovered only years after the Dance, with Aemond's armored bones still chained to the saddle. Vhagar was one hundred and eighty-one years old when she died, on the twenty-second day of the fifth moon of 130 AC.[4]

Legacy

Along with eighteen other Targaryen dragon skulls, Vhagar's skull used to hang on a wall in the Red Keep's throne room.[9][10] After Robert's Rebellion, King Robert I Baratheon had Vhagar's skull removed and stored in a dank cellar along with the others.[5]

Known dragonriders of Vhagar

Quotes about Vhagar

The peril posed by Queen Visenya's mount could not be gainsaid.[4]

Gyldayn


That hoary old bitch.[4]

Jacaerys Velaryon


Prince Aemond's mighty dragon Vhagar sensed his coming first. Guardsman walking the battlements of the castle's mighty curtain walls clutched their spears in sudden terror when she woke, with a roar that shook the very foundations of Durran's Defiance.[4]


On the fourteenth day of the prince's vigil, a shadow swept over the castle, blacker than any passing cloud. All the birds of the godswood took to the air in fright, and a hot wind whipped the fallen leaves across the yard. Vhagar had come at last, and on her back rode the one-eyed prince Aemond Targaryen, clad in night-black armor chased with gold.[4]

References and Notes