'House of the Dragon': These are the terrible consequences of dragging a dragon's head through the people of King's Landing

In one of the first episodes of ‘House of the Dragon,’ a funeral procession passes through the streets of King’s Landing. On one of the carriages lies the body of Jaehaerys Targaryen, son of King Aegon and heir to the Iron Throne. His murder marks the beginning of a bloody war in which the dragons threaten to reduce the Seven Kingdoms to ashes. Some time later, in a somewhat mimetic fashion, Ser Criston Cole - Hand of the King - displays the (unsevered) head of the dragoness Meley in his triumph in the capital. Unaware of the consequences, the commander of the royal guard also attempts to make a show of force in front of the city’s populace.

Dragons, a symbol associated with the Targaryens

Dragons have a symbolic value in the A Song of Ice and Fire universe. Since the times of ancient Valyria, the horsemen have used them to enhance their status. At the fall of the city, Aegon the Conqueror took to the skies on Balerion’s back, wearing the crown of the Seven Kingdoms. Throughout all this time, only the Targaryens ride dragons, though that does not mean they are the only ones who can. As Viserys tells his daughter Rhaenryra, this is a mere illusion, a narrative they use to legitimize their position as monarchs. By tying their fate to that of the dragons, the citizens see the Targaryens as a quasi-divine dynasty. And if they are divine in nature, the beasts must be divine as well.

The fact that the head of one of these creatures is shown to the people blurs the sense of divinity: dragons are flesh and blood, so they can be killed. So the Targaryens may not be as close to the gods as one might expect. In a situation of civil war, the suffering of the common people increases, and critical and revolutionary voices spread. If you have nothing to lose, what is the point of risking and dying?

The fifth episode looks at the issue of legitimacy through dragons from a different angle: after the death of Meley, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s side needs more dragons, but they need fit riders. She makes it clear that only Targaryens should ride them, though she accepts her son’s solution of looking for relatives who have lost the family name. That way they can follow the fictional narrative that dragon blood runs through their veins.

The first five episodes of ‘House of the Dragon’ are now available on Max. Besides Meley’s, Sunfyre seems to have suffered a similar fate, which is different from George R.R. Martin’s books.