Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1.
The Big Picture
- The iconic dragons in
House of the Dragon
have a rich history, with Meraxes playing a vital role in the Targaryen conquest. - The dragons of House Targaryen, especially Meraxes, were instrumental in the conquest of Westeros by Aegon and his siblings.
- The fate of Rhaenys and Meraxes, particularly the impactful death of the dragon, holds symbolic importance in the story’s continuation.
It’s fair to say that the most iconic aspect of George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series is the dragons. When the books were adapted into the hit HBO show, Game of Thrones, their popularity skyrocketed thanks to the impressive CGI used to bring them to life, and fans were eager to watch them grow. In the prequel series, House of the Dragons, the showrunners got even more creative and diversified the dragons of House Targaryen, the last surviving dragon riders of the Valyrian Empire, who came to rule over Westeros when Aegon I, called the Conqueror, and his two sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, used them to conquer six of the continent’s seven kingdoms into one nation.
Fans of House of the Dragon get to witness Visenya’s dragon, Vhagar, in all her glory as the oldest and largest of the living dragons during the reign of King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). The skull of Aegon’s Belarion, the largest of all dragons, was also used as a set piece for important conversations between the king and his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock/Emma D’Arcy) concerning the future of House Targaryen. However, the show has given little information regarding Rhaenys’ dragon, Meraxes. During the premier of the first episode of House of the Dragon’s second season, “A Son for a Son”, a dragon skull briefly appeared in the background of Dragonstone. Given its size and how it parallels Balerion’s skull in King’s Landing, there is a strong chance that this skull belongs to Meraxes. As audiences try to recover from the episode’s shocking ending, now is as good a time as ever to look into the third Targaryen dragon, what she and her rider accomplished, and their fate and legacy in the series.
Rhaenys and Her Dragon Meraxes Helped Conquer Westeros
Queen Rhaenys was born the third child of Aerion Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone. To keep their Valyrian bloodline pure, the Targaryens had a habit of wedding brother to sister, so Aegon was betrothed to their older sister, Visenya. However, Aegon took this a step further by also marrying Rhaenys out of love. Before their marriage, Rhaenys claimed Meraxes, the second largest of the three Targaryen dragons. Like Balerion and Vhagar, Meraxes was named after one of the ancient gods of Valyria. She was described as a large silver-white dragon who could swallow a horse whole. The two became inseparable, and Rhaenys was known to go flying as often as possible, a trait that she shares with her youthful and spirited descendant, Rhaenyra.
When Aegon launched his invasion of Westeros, Rhaenys and Meraxes campaigned south of his landing site, which would eventually become the city of King’s Landing. They first subdue the local lords to join Aegon’s cause before accompanying Aegon’s best friend and trusted advisor, Orys Baratheon, against the Storm King Argilac of House Durrandon. Rhaenys and Meraxes provided aerial reconnaissance for Orys’ army, allowing him to set up a strong position on a hill for a battle that would be called the Last Storm. Even though she was grounded due to terrible weather, Meraxes killed scores of Argilac’s soldiers, while Orys slew the Storm King himself in single combat. Orys then married Argilac’s daughter and established House Baratheon. Though House Baratheon began as allies of the Targaryens, over time the relationship would become more strained. While Lord Boremund Baratheon (Julian Lewis Jones) was a staunch ally of Rhaenyra, his son, Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans) sides with the Greens when they agreed to marry Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) to one of his daughters. Ultimately, Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) overthrows the Targaryen dynasty during his rebellion against the Mad King, Aerys II (David Rintoul).
Once the Stormlands surrendered, Rhaenys regrouped with her siblings and partook in the Field of Fire, the only battle where all three dragons were unleashed at the same time. This convinced the Lannisters to surrender their crown, and wiped out House Gardner of the Reach, allowing for the promotion of House Tyrell. Meraxes was also part of the force that met King Torrhen Stark from the North, and convinced him to surrender his crown without bloodshed. This event was brought up in a conversation between Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) and Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) when the two visited the Wall during Jace’s attempt to bring the Starks to his mother’s cause in “A Son for a Son”.
Bolstered by these victories, Rhaenys left her siblings to go south and convince Dorne to surrender. However, the Dornish were descended from the ancient Rhonyar people and their warrior queen, Nymeria, who fled to Dorne following a war with Valyria. This gave the Dornish more knowledge about how to survive dragons than the rest of Westeros. So when Rhaenys and Meraxes flew to Dorne, they found the castles abandoned and the army nowhere to be found. Still, they made their way to Sunspear to speak with Meria Martell, the elderly and blind Princess of Dorne. Meria refused to surrender and declared that her people would not battle Aegon’s armies before advising Rhaenys to return at her peril. Thus, Dorne became the only kingdom Aegon didn’t conquer, but the dragons wouldn’t stay away for long.
Dorne Was Never Able To Be Conquered
For the next four years, Aegon consolidated his power and toured his kingdom, leaving Rhaenys to handle most of the governing. She proved to be as good at diplomacy as her older sister was at battle: Rhaenys won the smallfolk over to Aegon’s side, arranged many strong marriages between noble houses, and brought many singers to Aegon’s growing court. She also had Aegon’s first son, Aenys.
Eventually, Aegon decided to finish what he started and claim Dorne. Rhaenys and Meraxes led the first assault, but just like the first time, the Dornish left their strongholds and avoided open combat. Aegon tried to claim this as a victory anyway and set up his own lords to govern the region. But once the dragons were gone, the Dornish re-emerged and killed Aegon’s lords and garrisons. Even the infirm Meria Martell got in on the action and pushed Aegon’s regent out a window.There’s a reason fans of this franchise love the Dornish.
What followed were years of escalating conflict. Since every army they sent into Dorne got ambushed, the Targaryen siblings used their dragons to burn Dornish castles from the sky. The Dornish retaliated by raiding deep into the Reach and Stormlands, looting towns and setting forests on fire. They also cut off the hand of Orys Baratheon, at the time Aegon’s Hand of the King, who resigned after this mutilation.
How Did Rhaenys and Meraxes, Die?
Six years into the conflict, Rhaenys and Meraxes attacked the Dornish castle of Hellholt. However, the Dornish had begun to fortify their castles with massive ballistae called Scorpions. One of these Scorpions shot Meraxes through the eye, sending her and her rider crashing to the ground. Needless to say, Aegon and Visenya reacted with fire and blood, burning every Dornish village and castle except Sunspear at least once, and placing bounties on the heads of many Dornish lords. Yet even after two years of what was called “The Dragon’s Wroth,” the Dornish refused to surrender.
It wasn’t until Meria Martell finally died that the war found an end. Her son, the new Prince of Dorne, convinced Aegon to agree to peace via a mysterious letter, which he delivered along with the skull of Meraxes. Nobody knows what the letter contained, but one theory was that Rhaenys somehow survived her fall from Meraxes, and was broken and in terrible pain. The theory goes that the Prince of Dorne would end her suffering if Aegon agreed to peace. In any case, Aegon agreed, and wouldn’t invade Dorne again for the rest of his life.
The Legacy of Rhaenys and Meraxes
While Meraxes isn’t properly described in Game of Thrones, the method of her death has a lasting impact on the series. “A Son for a Son,” shows the Red Keep fitted with Scorpions to protect the city from Rhaenyra’s dragons. This makes sense, given that matching dragons with dragons comes with the risk of death or injury to the survivor. Augmenting King’s Landing with Scorpions that have a history of killing dragons thus helps to ensure that the Blacks are at a greater risk of losing dragons in the assault. It also makes sense that the Greens are the ones utilizing Scorpions since while their largest dragons are larger than the Blacks, they have fewer overall.
During the time of Game of Thrones, the disgraced maester, Qyburn (Anton Lesser), produced Scorpions en-mass for Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) following Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) arrival in Westeros with three dragons of her own. These Scorpions become a very literal thorn in the side of Daenerys: her largest, Drogon, takes a nasty wound to the wing in Season 7 when battling the Lannister army, courtesy of Sir Bronn of the Blackwater (Jerome Flynn). In Season 8, her second-largest, Rhaegal, is killed in an ambush by Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) near Dragonstone. However, in the show’s penultimate episode, the Scorpions seem to lose their sting, as hundreds of them suddenly cannot hit Daenerys on Drogon as she attacks King’s Landing and burns it to the ground.
As for Rhaenys, her bloodline is the one that continued the Targaryen dynasty to Daenerys, as Visenya’s son, the aptly named King Maegor the Cruel, died without children. Her great-great-granddaughter would also be named Rhaenys (Eve Best) and dubbed the Queen Who Never Was when her cousin, Viserys, was chosen as the next in the line of succession. Still, she became a powerful woman in her own right, marrying the powerful and accomplished sailor, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and claiming the Red Queen, Meyles, as her dragon.
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‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: Make It a Son for a Son
Now, more than ever, both sides of the impending Dance feel just as divided within as without.
What Does Meraxes’ Skull Symbolize in ‘House of the Dragon’?
When Queen Rhaenyra returns to Dragonstone after searching for the remains of her son, Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault), she walks past a room with a large dragon skull on her way to her war council. Given its size and that only young dragons have died lately, it likely belongs to Meraxes. The skull is mounted similarly to how the skull of Balerion is displayed in the Red Keep, but without any candles. This quick demonstration of cinematic mirroring has a lot of beautiful symbolism behind it. The most obvious is the manner of Meraxes’ death, which happened during a war. This serves as a grim but inevitable reminder that even an adult dragon can be killed. It is also a reminder of the first major deaths of a Targaryen and their dragon in Westeros’ history. The upcoming Dance of the Dragons will see the most draconic and Valyrian blood spilled since the Doom of Valyria.
Meraxes’ skull, for now, serves as little more than set dressing. Rhaenyra and the audience are caught up in the emotional turmoil following Lucerys’ death and are more focused on the war ahead. Will she enact her version of the Dragon’s Wroth, or will she find a different solution? Ultimately, Rhaenyra tells her council, “I want Aemond Targaryen,” which inspires Daemon to send two assassins into the Red Keep, and leads to the death of an innocent child. Thus, things escalate even further towards open war, and the more the characters focus only on the glory of battle or how they will bring fire and blood upon their enemies, the more skulls will come to be mounted beside Meraxes.
House of the Dragon Season 2 is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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