#the c.annibal was literally the only unrelated dragon & idk if he'd mate w outsiders & nobody looks like him so its a big ol' question mark

[imaginarianisms]

okay so now continuing onto the targaryen dragons family tree in my& speculation. according to the lore, balerion was named after an ancient god of the valyrian freehold; he was born in valyria, & was one of the five dragons aenar the exile targaryen brought with him alongside four dragon eggs & all his wealth, wives & slaves when he fled to dragonstone, the westernmost established outpost of the valyrian freehold built in 314 BC, to survive the doom of valyria, due to the vision of his daughter daenys the dreamer (who, btw, was the first rider of balerion the black dread) while house targaryen's rivals in valyria saw this as an act of cowardly surrender. joke's on them, though, because the rest of them all died in valyria. after the other four of aenar's dragons died, balerion became the last creature to have seen the freehold in its prime. he was presumably born either in or before 114 BC, with my gut saying he was born before 114 BC because it makes no sense otherwise, daenys had claimed balerion – who, at the time no bigger than a horse – the night before her fateful dream of the Doom, so balerion must have hatched few years before 114 BC, & daenys was his first rider. the doom of valyria happened in 102 BC leaving house targaryen the only dragonlord family 12 years later. so that means vhagar & meraxes must've been hatched after the exodus to dragonstone from valyria, vhagar specifically in 52 BC during the century of blood & later died on the 22nd day of the 5th month of 130 AC at the gods eye aged 181 & meraxes was born from anywhere between 114-88 BC, presumably, but i'm going to presume that she hatched after balerion, considering he was the oldest out of the three of them & meraxes was smaller than balerion & vhagar so 88 BC it is. so at the beginning of the conquest, there are only three dragons: balerion, vhagar & meraxes, which means that the vast majority of the targaryen dragons, save for the cannibal, must've came from them. i'd& like to think that, like aegon & his sister-wives, balerion coiled with both vhagar & meraxes. meraxes died in dorne at the hellholt in 10 AC alongside rhaenys, though, so she was unable to have any more batches of eggs so balerion mated with vhagar afterward from then onward. i'm& of the theory that the cannibal was on dragonstone long before the targaryens even arrived on the island. here's my& speculation.

dragons bred by house targaryen before aegon's conquest aside from the triarchy: archonei, essovius, ghiscar, valryon & vermithrax.

first generation & the main targaryen triarchy, first century after aegon's conquest: the cannibal, balerion, meraxes & vhagar.

second generation: quicksilver, dreamfyre, vermithor, silverwing, & sheepstealer.

third generation: caraxes, meleys, grey ghost, seasmoke, & syrax.

fourth generation: vermax, arrax, tyraxes, sunfyre, moondancer, stormcloud, tessarion, morning, the last dragon, morghul, shrykos, drogon, rhaegal & viserion.

note: this is only speculation, but according to my research, studying both dragonlore in asoiaf & reading about actual lizards in our world, it's a possibility that not only do dragons already have no fixed gender, but are “now one and now the other, as changeable as flame" according to septon barth, and like lizards, can change sex at need, usually to suit the weather, but dragons could also additionally reproduce asexually by way of parthogenesis, meaning that a female can reproduce even without a male to mate with or having never mated at all, although this is rare & is usually seen as a last resort in nature & it usually happens in captivity. it occurs in many invertebrates—snails, scorpions, zooplankton, wasps & some honey bees. besides some sharks, parthenogenesis has been witnessed in amphibians, some fish, reptiles like the crocodile which scientists speculate that this unique ability might be inherited from an evolutionary ancestor, suggesting that even the dinosaurs could have possessed the capability for parthogenesis, lizards like salamanders, geckos & komodo dragons, at least six species of snake like pythons & boas, & even a few bird species like domesticated domesticated chickens, domesticated turkeys & even domesticated pigeons. sometimes it's just a plan b or optional, especially in the absence of a potential mate. oftentimes, though, it happens in captivity, prompting some researchers to suggest that mateless females, with no recourse to other means, resort to parthenogenesis as a conscious, if desperate, attempt at offspring & in the case of birds, lizards & snakes, the offspring of parthenogenesis will always be male, thereby establishing a sexually reproducing population (via reproduction with her offspring that can result in both male and female young, though zoologists advise against this in our world but keep in mind that this is house targaryen, the house of the dragon & in our world the negative affects of inbreeding for both humans & animals was only given a proper study by charles darwin after the medieval period so it's possible). essentially, it's a virgin birth. additionally, sex determination in lizards can be temperature dependent, with the temperature of the eggs' environment can determine the sex of the hatched young, with low temperature incubation produces more females while higher temperatures produce more males. applying this to dragons, it makes sense considering that most of the dragons of the targaryen dynasty were/are male & considering most were raised in the dragonmont of dragonstone, this makes a lot of sense considering it's essentially a volcano. komodo dragons in particular, the largest lizards in the world, which is what i'm getting a lot of these possibilities from, also eat their own kind, even their own young at times, so cannibalism isn't unusual in this species & dragons have been known to exhibit behaviors of opportunistic cannibalism. on top of that, they may be monogamous & form pair bonds, which is rare behavior for lizards, & they can also go for a very long time without hunting so i'd imagine that would naturally apply to dragons, as well. dragons may be magical flying fire-breathing creatures, but they're still animals.

the cannibal (first generation, unridden for the vast majority of his life until he is claimed by rickon stark at skagos in the north at age 11 in 300 AC, coal black scales with baleful molten green eyes, this could very well be an instance of melanism, this is the only dragon according to our speculation & our portrayal that is completely unrelated to the targaryen dragons & had made dragonstone its territory long before even house targaryen arrived there with their dragons, he was about 250 years old during the reign of aegon iii targaryen in 131 AC & is still alive on skagos at 420 years).

balerion (first generation, bonded to king aegon the conqueror i targaryen then later in life, maegor the cruel i targaryen, princess aerea targaryen & king viserys the peaceful i targaryen, described as having black scales & wings & red eyes; his flames were a mixture of black & swirls of red, this could be an instance of melanism which means a creature is completely dark resulting in completely black fur, feathers or in this case, scales, the darker a dragon, the more effectively it can catch sunlight, which will warm it faster, a major advantage over dragons with lighter colors, if food becomes scarcer, a dark color can be the decisive factor as a condition for survival, but it also has disadvantages; a black color not only ensures faster warming, but also a faster onset of heat, so that it cools down faster, & on top of that, makes it less visible to other dragons and use it as an advantage to forage during nighttime hunting, so if he were a wild dragon he'd thrive in the wilderness)/meraxes (first generation, bonded to queen rhaenys i targaryen, described as silver-white with golden eyes, this could be an instance of leucism, which means a creature that results in partial loss of pigmentation affecting skin, hair, feathers or scales but not the eyes which makes most look completely white save for the eyes) > quicksilver (second generation, bonded to king aenys i targaryen then later his son prince aegon the uncrowned, born in 7 AC on dragonstone & died in 43 AC south of the gods eye in the southern riverlands at 36 years old, a she-dragon who, like her namesake suggests, likely had silver and/or white scales with pale white flames, her eye color is unknown, so she could either be leucistic like her mother or albino), & silverwing (second generation, otherwise known as gēliotīkun, bonded to queen alysanne i targaryen then ulf the white, silver scales, silver wing membranes, & orange eyes).

balerion (bonded to aegon the conqueror)/vhagar (first generation, otherwise known as queen of all dragons, bonded to queen visenya i targaryen, then later prince baelon the brave targaryen then lady laena velaryon then prince aemond 'one eye' targaryen, a she-dragon who was bronze & jade green with blue-jade green highlights & green eyes) > dreamfyre (second generation, otherwise known as ēdrurzys in high valyrian, bonded to princess/queen rhaena i targaryen the black bride, then later princess/queen helaena i targaryen, a she-dragon with pale blue scales & wings with silver crests & markings, this could be an instance of cyanism, which means that a creature has a predominance of a vibrant blue color, a very unusual phenomenon that's usually especially seen in aquatic animals, amphibians and reptiles like chameleons, almost nonexistent in fish and is totally absent in birds & mammals or otherwise feathered or furred animals), vermithor (second generation, otherwise known as the bronze fury, bonded to king jaehaerys i the conciliator targaryen then later in life, hugh the hammer, bronze scales, orange eyes & black horns), & sheepstealer (second generation, bonded to nethania / "nettles", mud brown).

vermithor/silverwing > caraxes (third generation, bonded to prince aemon targaryen then later prince daemon targaryen; red scales, yellow eyes, & bearded horns, called the bloodwyrm, this could be an instance of erythrism which means that a creature is unusually red which results in fur, feathers, & in this case, scales looking completely red in tint when it would naturally look brown, particularly very dark brown), meleys (third generation, bonded to princess alyssa targaryen then later princess rhaenys targaryen-baratheon the queen who never was, a she-dragon with scarlet scales & black markings with greenish-yellow eyes & a crown of bright copper horns, called the red queen, this, like, caraxes, could indicate that she's erythristic so going along with this theory, somewhere in balerion or vhagar's line there must be an erythristic gene that may have skipped a few generations & one or both parents may hold the erythristic gene), grey ghost (possibly second or third generation, pale-grey white dragon the color of morning mist, unridden, wild dragon), seasmoke (third generation, otherwise known as embrōrbar in high valyrian, bonded to laenor velaryon then later addam of hull/addam velaryon, a pale silver-grey & white dragon with light green eyes) & syrax (third generation, bonded to princess/queen rhaenyra i targaryen; yellow scales & green eyes, this could be an instance of xanthism, which means an unusually yellow coloration in animals, in fish it shows their scales and part of their fins with an attractive golden metallic sheen which gives the impression that they have been covered with gold dust, in birds it may be a sex-dependent mutation, that is, recessive in males but dominant in females, both in the feathers & in the eyes, legs & beak, giving yellow specimens with pink legs & red eyes. sound familiar? in reptiles, this usually results in a loss of camouflage which no longer allows it to hunt, mimicry, which is the skill to resemble other organisms & blend in with their own environment, would be impossible & not be hunted by blending in with its environment by making its silhouette blurry; it surviving in the wild would be highly unlikely, but not impossible, and the survival of such a creature would be compromised in the short term so she's very lucky that she's not out in the wild.).

seasmoke/syrax > moondancer (fourth generation, otherwise known as hūrlilio in high valyrian, bonded to lady baela targaryen; a she-dragon with pale green scales, with cream-pearl horns, frills on her head & tail, crests & wingbones), vermax (fourth generation, bonded to prince jacaerys targaryen/velaryon, olive-green scales & pale orange eyes & wing membranes), arrax (fourth generation, bonded to prince lucerys velaryon, pearlescent white with purple wing membranes, a golden chest & golden-orange eyes & orange frills & yellow flame) & tyraxes (fourth generation, bonded to prince joffrey velaryon, grey scales & red eyes), & tessarion (fourth generation, bonded to prince daeron targaryen by 120 AC, a she-dragon with cobalt blue scales & copper claws, crests, wings, frills, bellyscales & flames, named the blue queen).

caraxes/syrax > sunfyre (fourth generation, otherwise known as vēsperzys & sunfyre the golden, bonded to prince aegon the elder later known as king aegon ii targaryen, gleaming golden scales that glisten in the sunlight & pale pink wings & amber colored eyes & orange frills on his neck & body, considered by some to be the most beautiful dragon ever seen in the known world, he is likely xanthistic like his mother), stormcloud (fourth generation, bonded to prince aegon the younger, later king aegon iii, grey scales & supposedly purple frills), & morning (fourth generation, bonded to lady rhaena targaryen, a she-dragon with pale pink scales, & black horns & crests).

seasmoke/dreamfyre > morghul (fourth generation, bonded to princess jaehaera targaryen, unridden, supposedly dark grey) & shrykos (fourth generation, she-dragon, bonded to prince jaehaerys targaryen, unridden, supposedly olive green), the unnamed last dragon (fourth generation, green scales, unridden).

dreamfyre by way of parthogenesis > drogon (fourth generation, bonded to queen daenerys i targaryen, jet black scales with vivid scarlet red horns, spinal plates, crests & wings & his eyes are red as coals, as the smoldering red pits of hell & black dragonflame, called balerion come again & the winged shadow), rhaegal (fourth generation, unridden, hatched & commanded by queen daenerys i targaryen, a jade green and bronze dragon & bronze eyes, with orange-yellow dragonflame with streaks of green, known as "the green dragon") & viserion (fourth generation, unridden, hatched & commanded by queen daenerys i targaryen, cream-white scales, with molten gold eyes, horns, wing bones, wing membranes & spinal crests, with pale gold dragonflame with red & orange, known as "the white dragon".)