#the storming of the dragonpit

[addamvelaryon]

Thinking about the thematic connection between the Doom of Valyria and the Storming of the Dragonpit.

It is always the injustice done to the innocents that ultimately leads to the dying of the dragons.

Now, the only vestige of Valyria that remains is Volantis, the corruption festering out from within it's black-walled heart.

One looked toward the Long Bridge and the black-walled heart of Old Volantis across the river.

.

Inside the Black Walls, Volantenes of the Old Blood still keep court in ancient palaces, attended by armies of slaves. Outside, the foreigners, freedmen, and lowborn of a hundred nations may be found. Seafarers and traders swarm the city’s markets and harbors, together with slaves almost beyond count. It is said that in Volantis, there are five slaves for every free man—a disproportion in numbers matched only by the ancient Ghiscari cities of Slaver’s Bay.

.

The heart of Old Volantis is the city-within-the-city—an immense labyrinth of ancient palaces, courtyards, towers, temples, cloisters, bridges, and cellars, all contained within the great oval of the Black Walls raised by the Freehold of Valyria in the first flush of its youthful expansion. Two hundred feet tall, and so thick that six four-horse chariots can race along their battlements side by side (as they do each year to celebrate the founding of the city), these seamless walls of fused black dragonstone, harder than steel or diamond, stand in mute testimony to Volantis’s origins as a military outpost. Only those who can trace their ancestry back to Old Valyria are allowed to dwell within the Black Walls; no slave, freedman, or foreigner is permitted to set foot within without the express invitation of a scion of the Old Blood.

Though there is also Daenerys, the last of the Valyrian Dragonlords, who has brought the dragons back and uses them for the purpose of helping the innocents.

“Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”

I think it is only fitting that she sets her sights on Volantis at long last.

“Should you reach your queen, give her a message from the slaves of Old Volantis.” She touched the faded scar upon her wrinkled cheek, where her tears had been cut away. “Tell her we are waiting. Tell her to come soon.”

It will be another wrong Daenerys can set to right.

A long stone table filled this room. Above it floated a human heart, swollen and blue with corruption, yet still alive. It beat, a deep ponderous throb of sound, and each pulse sent out a wash of indigo light. The figures around the table were no more than blue shadows. As Dany walked to the empty chair at the foot of the table, they did not stir, nor speak, nor turn to face her. There was no sound but the slow, deep beat of the rotting heart. [...] Then indigo turned to orange, and whispers turned to screams. Her heart was pounding, racing, the hands and mouths were gone, heat washed over her skin, and Dany blinked at a sudden glare. Perched above her, the dragon spread his wings and tore at the terrible dark heart, ripping the rotten flesh to ribbons, and when his head snapped forward, fire flew from his open jaws, bright and hot. She could hear the shrieks of the Undying as they burned, their high thin papery voices crying out in tongues long dead. Their flesh was crumbling parchment, their bones dry wood soaked in tallow. They danced as the flames consumed them; they staggered and writhed and spun and raised blazing hands on high, their fingers bright as torches.

[mejcinta]

Helaena's death is very important to the plot. It is a catalyst to the end of Rhaenyra's reign as Queen. So to imagine or desire that Helaena's death happens in season 2 is just... 🤨? Get off a03.

Can't be a whole self-proclaimed book fan and believe such an unreasonable change will be made. It's just silly team bias speaking at this point.

[navree]

"rhaenys could have ended the war by dracarysing all the greens right there" yes because a distant relation to the throne deciding to barbecue an anointed and publicly positively hailed king and his entire family who is well loved within the city and in multiple other parts of the country for the sake of the succession of a far-away princess no one was ever on board with who hasn't been seen by the populace in literal years, her psycho husband, her three obvious bastards, and two toddlers from the psycho husband would go over super well with westeros and especially in king's landing where scores of the still-cheering population were killed for no reason by that same dragon who would do the barbecuing, because when targaryens act unilaterally without thinking of how the people would react there's never any problem, which is why the storming of the dragonpit and robert's rebellion were actually just collective delusions dreamed up by readers who hate rhaenyra and not key parts of the story and house targaryen's history that directly contributed to their demise and are intrinsic to the plot

truly team black stans are made up of only the most genius and media literate amongst us

[sad-hippie]

I can't understand how anyone could look at the Storming of the Dragonpit - the greatest act of courage to ever be seen in Westeros - and despise the smallfolk for it.

The bravery, the discontentment, the hopelessness for their own future, and yet, the undying hope for the chance of liberation that would push those who suffer the most from the vicious wars for a metal chair that is meaningless, to finally say - Enough.

To risk being burned alive so that their children won't be. Knowing that the chance for failure is tremendous and nevertheless trying. Because they have to. Because enough is enough. Because no one is safe, not even their own. Because there is no other way. Because the Targaryens will always resort to this. They will always resort to Fire and Blood.

The rule of the dragons must come to an end.

And to look at the greatest act of revolution against the Iron Throne and think it anything else but justified, earned, bought and payed for with their own blood. That anyone would find it in their hearts to pity the dragons, that are nothing more than weapons of mass destruction is so contrary to the spirit of the series that I wonder if people know what they're reading/watching at all...

[crimsonbastard]

Not people wishing that they cut the Storming of the Dragonpit scene entirely. Nah, you cheered for Daenerys when she burned Kings Landing despite the city surrendering. You cheered for Rhaenys when she trampled the small folk who attended Aegon's coronation just so she could have her "Girl Boss Moment Slay".

Now sit and watch as those Mediaeval Nukes of oppression get hacked to pieces when the Small Folk, whom you said "didn't matter in the story" have had enough.

[strawberry-milkbunny]

I really don’t understand the people here who don’t like the smallfolk/are mad about the Storming of the Dragonpit. In Asoiaf dragons are not mystical creatures with dog like personalities, they’re flying nukes.

Like besties….its giving bootlicker. It’s giving defending nepo babies and feudalism. It’s giving so you WANT to be oppressed?

You are not from House Targaryen or even House Crane. You are a bread baker from the Stormlands. You are sheep farmer that Aegon is using to feed Sunfyre. You are at MOST a ship pedaler or doing Helaena’s laundry. If you’re from the Riverlands good luck because there’s a 90% chance a random lord is going to terrorize your house for fun. Daemon Targaryen would land Caraxes on your father and scoff if you told him that was your dad.

I’m asian so I realistically I’m probably a rice farmer in Yi Ti.

Sansa irl would be your really nice delusional friend who romanticizes about living in an apartment while her parents pay her rent and wonders why you have a job while in school.

It’s literally Jon’s first arc when he gets to the wall. Yeah he’s a bastard and got emotionally neglected but like…he grew up in a castle and was trained by Winterfell’s master at arms like sir your life really was NOT that hard. Same with Arya and her whole journey in the Riverlands and how being a servant is not rlly that different than being a slave. And Jaime during FoC aka the AFTERMATH and consequences of war and how it utterly fucks up the smallfolk. Love the main cast but I’m not delusional enough to not see: that if you’re not a nepo baby you are utterly FUCKED in Asoiaf.

Maoism would go crazy in Westeros. Karl Marx would be the equivalent to Jesus to Gendry. The French Revolution is a fairytale spread by Mysaria that starts the Storming of the Pit. Malcolm X would be a prophet in Essos and is Dany’s final boss fight against Valyria’s history of enslavement and colonization.

Anyways ✨Stan Smallfolk✨ and eat the rich

[twoiafart]

STORMING THE DRAGONPIT Artwork by Campbell White

Though some gold cloaks tried to reach the Dragonpit to join the order of the Dragonkeepers in defending the huge domed structure, they were forced back by the rampaging mobs that roamed the street. The Dragonkeepers were left to defend the dragons alone—and all seventy-seven of their order were killed by the Shepherd’s rabble. Then the mob entered the Dragonpit itself, intent on killing the four dragons who were chained there: Shrykos and Morghul (the dragons of Helaena’s twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera—one dead and one fled), dead Joffrey’s Tyraxes, and dead Helaena’s Dreamfyre. The dragons fought for their lives with flames, claws, horns, and teeth. Hundreds—perhaps thousands—died in the battle. And yet, one by one, the dragons succumbed.

[springs-hurts]

Disliking Rhaenyra was not on my list but thanks Ryan Condal(& Sara Hess)

[visenyaism]

the thing about fire and blood is that i think that its bad and i am not gonna go to bat for most of it

[dracarysiml]

ASOIAF DRAGON COLORS

HUGE SPOILERS OF HOTD

One of the things that saddened me most about Fire and Blood was the lack of descriptions for some of the Targaryen family dragons (yes, I'm obsessed with dragons).

With the release of the book The Rise of the Dragon I was hoping that we would know what color those remaining dragons were, but the only clue we can have about them is the image of the storming of the Dragonpit drawn by Campbell White. Therefore, based on this image and the descriptions of the death of the dragons, I think we can theorize about the color of these dragons (if George told the author about their color).

Thus, the dragons would be the following:

Vermax

We do not have any official description of said dragon, so we must trust the series, where it is shown as a green dragon with a white belly and orange wings.

Shrykos

In the storming of the Dragonpit, Shrykos's death is described as follows:

“The first dragon to die was Shrykos, who was slain by Hobb the Hewer. Hobb leapt onto her neck and drove his ax down into the dragon's skull".

Below in the image we can see a dragon being wounded in the skull by an axe. It would, therefore, be Shrykos, whose color in the image appears to be bronze, similar to Vermithor.

Tyraxes

In the case of Tyraxes, it is said that “he retreated towards his lair, burning each man who pursued him, leaving the entrance impassable due to the number of corpses he left behind. However, the crowd entered through a back entrance. As he turned, the dragon became tangled in its chains, leaving itself at the mercy of its attackers”.

However, the important point that can give us a clue as to which of the dragons in the image is Tyraxes is the following: “His membranes were then sliced from his wings and turned into strips, so dragonskin cloaks could be fashioned from them.”

So, although the dragon should already be dead, this should be the main one. Tyraxes would then be pink/purple with black horns, similar to Morning.

Morghul

The last one left is Morghul, although the third dragon in the image could well be Dreamfyre, given that this dragon managed to break free from her chains and burn many men. However, the dragon in the image is somewhat small and its tone is not completely bluish as Dreamfyre's should be.

If it were not Dreamfyre, then this dragon would be Morghul, who was killed by the Burning Knight, "who rushed into the dragon's flame and stabbed him repeatedly in the eye with his spear." The fact that the dragon is breathing fire could be an indication that it is Morghul. Therefore, its color would be a pearly green.

Stormcloud

We don't have any clues about the color of Aegon III's dragon, so we'll have to wait for its appearance in the show.

Again, I don't know to what extent GRRM spoke with the artist or if the author made his own decisions when choosing the color of the dragons. Maybe with the next seasons of the series we can clear up doubts. I think I'll cry a lot when this scene comes out...sniff

[daenystheedreamer]

hotdtwt girlies are so funny. arguing over lucerys velaryon... ready to MURDER someone over whether hes relevant or not. hes an adorable little guy! hope that clears it up

[jofreys]

luke's death cannot be used as a warning to joffrey because it's just a reminder of why he wants to kill his uncle and he gets angry all over again.

[dreamedfyre-a]

perhaps controversial take? but parading meleys' head isn't in itself an absurd or clearly stupid idea imo. it is disrespectful af, it's gross, but it's meant to be a display of strength — the thing is, because of the context and situation as a whole, it misses the inspiring awe and showing strength goal they were aiming for and leaves the smallfolk terrified and desperate instead. the idea a dead dragon's head takes away from the magic and mystique surrounding the royal family seems a little silly to me. everyone knows dragons can die. meraxes was literally killed by people! with weapons! normal humans! ( shoutout to dorne for being the best, anyways) people know dragons can be killed. and in this specific scenario, it can't even be taken as showing people they might kill a dragon, because meleys was killed by another dragon (i think in the show they advertise it as being sunfyre? not sure), not something easily done. might be what the show ends up going for, but i just can't see it as encouragement for people to look at dragons differently

[derangedthots]

thinking abt joffrey being so desperate to save tyraxes not only bc he's his dragon but bc jace and luke chose his egg and tyraxes is the last thing he has of them

[strawberry-milkbunny]

Imma just say it….

The people who condemn the smallfolk for the storming of the dragonpit bc the dragons are innocent and poor creatures and it didn’t even help the lives of the smallfolk at all give off the “white people care more about their dogs than the lives of POC” energy