HBO’sGame of Throneswasinfamous for book inaccuracies in its later seasons, and one regarding Daenerys' dragons stands out in particularnow thatHouse of the Dragonhas aired. Dragons are a prominent component of George R.R. Martin’s worldbuilding in theA Song of Ice & Firebooks, and they’re a tremendous part of what madeGame of Thronessuch a massive cultural phenomenon. To this day, there’s still nothing like Dany’s dragons and the battles they were able to pull off in terms of scale on television.
Building toward the divisiveGame of Thronesending, it felt like each episode was detracting further and further from the source material. Not every change matters in and of itself, but they’re still worth examining, as the accumulation of changes was a considerable part of what led to such a divisive ending. WithHouse of the Dragonnow ongoing and changing aspects of the world the original series left out, it’s even more intriguing to break down the details.
Dragons continue to grow as they age in George R.R. Martin’s world, which is why Aegon the Conqueror’s Balerion was so massive.
Game Of Thrones Made Daenerys' Dragons Too Big
Dany’s Dragons Are Still Very Young
Daenerys needed to grow her dragons and ride them to Westeros just as much as the White Walkers had to breach the Wall. These were two of the primary expectations forGame of Thrones, and expediting that process was a harmless tactic. However, it’s worth noting that her dragons in the books are significantly smaller, at least where we last left off. Daenerys rides Drogon for the first time at the end ofA Dance with Dragons,just like she does inGame of Thronesseason 5, butDrogon’s wings are described as being roughly twenty feet in the novel.
Typically, art of Drogon in this scene depicts the dragon as being roughly the size of a horse or a cow. Drogon is given more freedom than his brothers, and flight and feeding are natural ways that dragons grow in theA Song of Ice & Firebooks. Some of themost enormous dragons in theGame of Thronesfranchiseare the wild ones who have never been confined to chains. While it makes sense he’d be bigger than them, he’s still significantly larger than his book counterpart. The following contains an unofficial but fairly accurate demonstration.
House Of The Dragon Does A Better Job With The Size Of The Dragons
HOTD’s Dragons Vary Significantly In Size
Dragons in theGame of Thronesuniverse grow as they age, which is demonstrated clearly by the size of dragons like Vhagar and Vermithor inHouse of the Dragon. Compared to Rhaenyra’s considerably younger dragon, Syrax, their size represents their age.Daenerys' dragons were likely between 5–10 years old by the show’s ending, while Syrax has been alive for decades. Granted, the she-dragon has been in chains for a significant portion of her life, but Drogon would still probably be a fair bit smaller.
