The Saddest Story in ‘House Of The Dragon’ Belongs to These Two

Spoiler alert: this duo has the saddest story in House of the Dragon—and it’s not even their fault.

If you’re not ready to cry over some CGI dragons, look away now. Also look away if you don’t want House of the Dragon/Fire & Blood spoilers, but mostly it’ll be for the dragon-related sobbing.

Vermithor and Silverwing are the dynamic duo of dragons. Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes might have been the original trio but the bronze and silver pairing of Vermithor and Silverwing is quite literally the stuff of legend.

They hatched in the cradles of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, a brother and sister who went on to get married and rule during the golden age of the Targaryens. Jaehaerys was known as the Wise, or the Conciliator, while his wife was known as the Good Queen Alysanne. Beloved by the people (on the whole), they strike a romantic image, having gone against their mother and advisors to get married in secret as teenagers.

That romance is only cemented by the bond between the dragons. Hatched within a few years of each other, they were as close to one another as Jaehaerys and Alysanne. It was on the dragons that the teenagers flew from King’s Landing to Dragonstone to have their secret wedding and in the years following, both the riders and their dragons were inseparable.

This carried forward into adulthood, when Jaehaerys returned to King’s Landing to rule when he came of age. The royal couple often did tours around the Seven Kingdoms on their dragons, meaning the dragons were rarely apart. Vermithor and Silverwing lived together in the Red Keep, rather than in the Dragonpit with the other dragons in the city, and were often referred to as a mated pair, lying coiled alongside and intertwined with one another.

It’s entirely possible that some of the dragons we see in House of the Dragon are the product of this bond between the two dragons. While Dreamfyre and Syrax are referred to as being some of the most fertile, Silverwing could easily have also laid eggs as the result of a mating with Vermithor.

Their characters seemed to balance one another well, with Vermithor known for being fearsome when roused, with the nickname the Bronze Fury. By comparison, Silverwing was relatively docile, accustomed to people being around here—although far from safe for those other than her rider and the Dragonkeepers (and Jaehaerys, presumably).

The sad ending for the most romantic couple in Westeros

With all that in mind, it’s safe to say that this could be the most unproblematic, romantic couple in the Seven Kingdoms. After the deaths of Alysanna and Jaehaerys, the dragons lived together on Dragonstone, until they were both claimed by Dragonseeds in events we’re likely about to see on House of the Dragon. Vermithor is claimed by Hugh the Hammer, while Silverwing bends her head to Ulf the White.

While both of these riders originally pledge themselves to Rhaenyra, they turn on her in the first battle of Tumbleton. While fighting for the Greens in the second battle of Tumbleton, Vermithor is slain (alongside Seasmoke and Tessarion), leaving Silverwing the only survivor–largely because her rider slept through the battle and she didn’t join the fray in full.

The stories say that Silverwing found Vermithor’s corpse on the battlefield and seemed to attempt to rouse him by lifting his wing with her head three times. If that’s not the saddest moment in Westerosi history, I don’t know what is. It’s giving Simba in The Lion King in the worst possible way.

Afterwards, Silverwing remained on the battlefield, feeding on humans and horses alike, before eventually retiring to the wild for good, finding a home for herself alone on a small island in Red Lake in the northwest of the Reach. It’s assumed she died of old age and in solitude.

The tragic end of these dragons is a reminder of what’s at stake and eventually lost here. The Dance of Dragons is a civil war but at its core it’s a war between family members. Just as much as the Targaryens are related, so too are the dragons—and their family and entire race is driven to extinction as a result of the power-grabbing from their riders.

(featured image: Max)

---