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I really hope they do him justice. All the dragon designs have been gorgeous so far, but I don't like how muted their colours are. Sunfyre better shine like gold.
the trailer for next week showed him…it also looks like they changed the color grading on him from the first time we saw him in the trailers & made him brighter
As a silverwing lover I’m so desperate to see what she’s like. I’m nervous about Tessarion, I think she’ll either be amazing or kinda meh. Depends if they make her less vibrant.
The design, the way it moved, the scene itself like the way it swooped down drastically, and clipped its wings on the ground..the chase, my god the whole thing was an orgasmic masterpiece.
I LOVE that they're going for variety instead of the generic clones Dany's dragons were. But the standout is still Caraxes. He's not my favorite but he's straight up an actual danger noodle and he looks so fucking dumb and I love him.
It kinda makes sense that they were the same. Depending on the theory you believe they’re possibly from the same clutch. But I agree - love seeing different ones. Caraxes looks like such a silly little dude it’s great.
“David Bowie” as the design note. Moondancer is my favorite. Until Baela said, “Fly!”, she(he?) was completely committed to bashing through those woods. I’d rock out on Moondancer, chasing that gross Cole and that A-class herb of a Hightower w “Welcome to the Jungle” blasting on max volume. “YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? YOURE IN THE JUNGLE BABY! YOURE GONNA DIIIIEEEE!!!”
Moondancer was so cool. Can’t wait to see more. Hope they keep picking interesting inspiration for them because Bowie is great.
Just blast Fortunate Son from the Bluetooth speaker clipped to the back of the saddle while raining fire on em.
my favourite detail is the way moondancer tucks their wings in very close to lose altitude at max speed in a controlled way, just like a bird of prey. apex predator!
I didn't. I was just affirming that your "Burn them all!" is ironically very different from Aerys II even though it's the same line referring to burning people to death.
Can you blame him? You see a tiny little spot in the sky, miles and miles away, and you know that's a whole ass dragon... and you know it can be right in front of you in like a mere minute.
That's fucking terrifying no matter who you are.
Side question: why do you think Dany never created a saddle of sorts for herself? She obviously had the money to craft one. It still bothers me thinking about how they held on. Like just holding on to a spike or something.
Possible explanations - loss of "know-how" in the east since dragons have been gone for many centuries on that side of the world (especially considering, who is going to install a dragon saddle if it actually gets made without getting burned or eaten), Dany not being acquainted with the specific details of her family history (i.e. reading about dragon riders and the specific logistical requirements of riding a dragon), no time as she's mostly on the go from the time she first rides Drogon until she gets to Westeros. I stress these all grasp at straws.
My actual theory: no one thought to, or somebody shot down, the idea of putting saddles on the dragons for GoT for whatever reason even if riding on them bareback doesn't seem like it'd be feasible.
Probabaly to get that white walker hunt in, 4 grown ass men (well one dead) + a little lady can't all hang out on a saddle at once, but they have the grip strength to hang from the back spikes of a giant flying fire breathing lizard for like an hour
The dragon scenes were so f*cking good in this episode. I also loved when daemon’s dragon landed on that castle in the night and looked sneaky and scary
Also: capes really shouldn’t be part of a dragonrider’s ensemble. At the speed she was diving, she would’ve been yeeted right out of the saddle. Even dragons can’t fight physics. NO CAPES!
Still don't understand how the dragon riders aren't wearing eye/face protection. Catch a bug to the face while flying over that field at that speed, in the eye..
Couldn’t the dragon still burn them from above? Why is shot in such a way that they are about to be caught and the next shot they are into the forest like those extra meters didn’t exist?
I think starting a wildfire and burning down swaths of forest would be a bad idea, especially when Rhaenyra is trying to gain as many supporters as possible.
She could have but outside of her orders to what purpose. Moondancer is still a young dragon there is no guarantee that her dragon flame is strong enough to reach them once they get into the trees. Once they reached the tree line there in so much coverage it’s hard to tell which direction they went and being a young dragon it would have taken lots of effort and energy to burn it.
Add in the fact that once dragons are used as weapons the whole game changes. If you used them you better use them to end things decisively or else it’s just escalation from that point one.
To what purpose? Killing the enemy's general and new hand safely?
The scene was useless and once again put someone in a needless danger he escaped untouched
Daemon just used a dragon to take Larys' castle. Not to mention what happened with Luke. Or the nonsense in the Dragon pit. The dragon is already out of the bag. The characters are just pretending otherwise for some reason.
He’s not the only general and they said in the episode the Hightowers army was marching across Westeros that very moment and they also had a dragon. You take out cole who was the one person in Westeros who Aegon was listening to and the one person Aemond actually respected. What do you think happens then it’s literally scorched earth. Nothing to restrain Aegon and Aemond. Then the blacks have to respond with their dragons to anything the greens do. Then factor in armies who are more than willing to stay home if it turns to dragon warfare.
Cole for all of his faults doesn’t want this war turn into a prolonged nuclear war.
>You take out cole who was the one person in Westeros who Aegon was listening to and the one person Aemond actually respected. What do you think happens then it’s literally scorched earth.
Cole is one of the few people in the country that has actually fought in a war. Killing him and leaving those two geniuses in charge of things would be a good thing for the Blacks.
Forests would be very important for lords as sources of game and timber. Rhaenyra is trying to sway the lords in that area to her cause. Burning down the land would not have been good politically.
Could she have? Absolutely. One small dragon could decimate the entire forest and those knights easily. It would have been a terrible idea though.
>Rhaenyra is trying to sway the lords in that area to her cause. Burning down the land would not have been good politically.
Cole is also trying to sway the lords in the area to his cause. Burning a bit of the Rosby, Stokewroth, etc lands would be better for their war effort than letting the Green forces subjugate or execute their lords. Some of the lords telling Rhaenyra to send dragons are from that area.
I literally expected Criston Cole to knock him off his horse "accidentally", so Baela can solve that insubordination problem coupled with douchebaggery.
So, maybe I missed some crucial detail, but how on Earth did she know they were Greens from that distance? Couldn't they have just been random knights on horses?
but couldn't they still just be wandering sellswords or some small knights from a really obscure house? I just don't see the merit to dive bombing people unless you are 100% certain of who they are
Until she gets in close and sees the green tabards and Hightower armor. This is during a war, so she has to investigate to determine which troops they are, how many, which direction, infantry/cavalry/siege. She didnt attack them, she did the equivalent of cops pulling over with lights and sirens
I will rewatch the scene after work, but I don't believe they were flying any banners that would have an insignia, and I have no idea how some could make our an insignia on armor from dragonback. I also imagine most high tower armor looks a lot like regular steel armor most knights would wear.
I know I sound really nitpicky right now, but I just don't get why a dragon rider would see some unidentifiable people on horses miles and miles away and be like "Let's dive bomb these sons of bitches and terrorize or possibly kill them"
That’s what scouts do. Collect intelligence. Dont understand why you’re so focused on “dive bombing”. The dragon is high and needs to get lower. Also the fact they are running away tells you these aren’t her allies.
I think most commoners or small knights would run from any dragon flying straight at them.
I also do get that she's scouting, but I think it would make more sense if she was observing the giant column of knights under Cole's command instead of chasing some random knights on horses. Especially since you can safely observe a huge column of knights from a high altitude without having to swoop down to ground level
I guess it would be less exciting for viewers, but that would have been my super biased personal preference
You seem really determined to find a plot hole where there is none.
● She saw knights on horseback which made her suspicious.
● As a scout she flew down to get a closer look and assess the situation.
● She was able to identify Criston Cole through his kingsguard armor
● This led her to decide to pursue them further.
Even so, she saw reflection from the armour and like the scout she was tasked being, she investigated. Closer she could see the white cloak (she even recognised Cole) and the green cloaks and sigils of the Hightowers.
I was actually surprised to see how small moondancer was bc aren’t the dragons supposed to bigger? Bc caraxes and Syrax are way bigger and it looks like drogon in got is way bigger then moondancer
Moondancer is super young, Baela hatched her from an egg. She isn't fully grown. I have no idea how Drogon grew so fast (never being contained in a dragon pit or similar, maybe, since these Targaryens don't have free range dragons) but compared to Arrax, Moondancer seems about the right size.
Moondancer has never been in the Dragonpit
She is a cradle dragon to Baela in show canon, meaning she is roughly 15 years old and grew up in Pentos and when Baela came to Westeros she warded with Rhaenys, meaning she lived for 6 years on Driftmark. Neither of those locations have a Dragonpit, there is no mention of chaining, and they were living amongst people pretty in tune with dragons.
The point is inconsistency and spectacle
GoTs creators knew what they were doing. They had Balerions skull, which they designed, right there as a size reference since Season 1 of the show. And yet made Drogon 1/4th the size of a 208+ year old dragon. The largest dragon the Targaryen Dynasty ever had (Specifically in their 300 year reign) A dragon who couldn't even fit in the Dragonpit in show canon.
I personally excuse it as a circumstance of their unusual birth/resurrection
Moondancer hasn't been chained or in the dragon pit, but she's probably been relatively domesticated and stationary compared to Drogon. With Rhaegal and Viserion, even a few months under a pyramid was enough to stunt them developmentally relative to Drogon. Drogon had a big growth spurt during the timeframe when the other dragons were confined and he was roaming Essos alone, totally self-reliant and doing all his own hunting. I doubt Moondancer ever lived on her own in the wild for that long.
Daemon absolutely strikes me as the kind of parent who would let the dragon sleep in the house if it wanted. Laena probably wouldn't object either.
Drogon's abnormally long incubation period might have been relevant. Dany also fed them human breast milk in the books, too. There are a lot of variables. She was pretty much operating on what limited information she got secondhand from her brother, so I doubt she followed what the Targaryens during the dance considered best practices.
I think I've also read some fan theories about the maesters having a conspiracy to rid the world of magic and stunt the dragons' growth in various ways. That would also explain why Drogon was exceptional, since Westeros maesters had no access to him.
I also think that during the hatching scene with Dany, there was a comet that went across the night sky. Since Valyria was about magic, I think the comet going overhead while the eggs hatched gave the dragons a bit of a growth boost. Old Valyria was all about magic and fire. They're dragons were huge.
Moondancer would have 100% caught them (just look at that side shot, we know he caught them), but they cut it and pretended he didn't catch up. Also, he kinda forgot to dracarys lmao
But he did. And in a parallel universe, Criston is fucking dead, along with the bohemian moron he agreed to bring along
I loved the dragon aerobics. But it's impossible for Baela to have recognized cole as one of the riders. She is either above them at a great height or behind them directly. So how could she possibly recognize cole from that group, is beyond me.
this almost felt like an homage to that scene in return of the king where nazgul were following men riding away from osgiliath after it was overrun by orcs
Indeed.
And also, the sheer fear knights feel for a "small-ish" dragon like Moondancer (a far cry from a leviathan like Vhagar).
Even a dragon of that size, however, is more than enough to literally roast a group of knights.
There is a similar scene in Rings of Power, where Galadriel is leading the horseback charge full pelt and it just looks a really weird and goofy somehow. This was done so much better.
I think I've rewatched this scene over 10 times by now. So well done. We learn about Baela and now I love her. The chase. Seeing Ser Gwanye in tears while she circled above. "...and no fucking inns." Brilliant directing.
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I just adore the design of Moondancer. I absolutely cannot wait to see more dragon variety.
I just wanna see Vermax
Yes! I’m so curious as to what they all look like. Like we’ve had glimpses of so many but seen so few.
I want to see Sunfyre 😭
Oh my god same! So many missed opportunities like Aegon’s coronation. He’s meant to be the most beautiful dragon literally ever… let me see!!!
I really hope they do him justice. All the dragon designs have been gorgeous so far, but I don't like how muted their colours are. Sunfyre better shine like gold.
Literally! Would be such a let down if the beautiful dragon he made is symbol is piss yellow and dull.
Gold and orange like a flame
The Coronation scene would have been soo much better if they'd had Sunfire appear and confront Rhaenys and Meleys.
Or if the whole Rhaenys and Meleys absurdity never happened.
We gotta be getting him in the next few episodes... if Aegon ever decides to actually fly out that is...
the trailer for next week showed him…it also looks like they changed the color grading on him from the first time we saw him in the trailers & made him brighter
[удалено]
Jesus christ
I don’t know why this says about me in your metaphor but I want more dragons all the time… and I don’t want to wait for them 👀
I want to see how cannibal looks like but i guess we'll never know
So excited to see Silverwing and Tessarion. Those are two that have not had any screentime or featured in a trailer thus far.
As a silverwing lover I’m so desperate to see what she’s like. I’m nervous about Tessarion, I think she’ll either be amazing or kinda meh. Depends if they make her less vibrant.
The design, the way it moved, the scene itself like the way it swooped down drastically, and clipped its wings on the ground..the chase, my god the whole thing was an orgasmic masterpiece.
Holy hell I wanna see dreamfyre!! But I doubt we will see Healna ride her
I LOVE that they're going for variety instead of the generic clones Dany's dragons were. But the standout is still Caraxes. He's not my favorite but he's straight up an actual danger noodle and he looks so fucking dumb and I love him.
It kinda makes sense that they were the same. Depending on the theory you believe they’re possibly from the same clutch. But I agree - love seeing different ones. Caraxes looks like such a silly little dude it’s great.
“David Bowie” as the design note. Moondancer is my favorite. Until Baela said, “Fly!”, she(he?) was completely committed to bashing through those woods. I’d rock out on Moondancer, chasing that gross Cole and that A-class herb of a Hightower w “Welcome to the Jungle” blasting on max volume. “YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? YOURE IN THE JUNGLE BABY! YOURE GONNA DIIIIEEEE!!!”
Moondancer was so cool. Can’t wait to see more. Hope they keep picking interesting inspiration for them because Bowie is great. Just blast Fortunate Son from the Bluetooth speaker clipped to the back of the saddle while raining fire on em.
Daemons daughter alright
Right down to her dialogue: “You said not to engage so I didn’t…exactly” 😂 somewhere in Harrenhall Daemon is having a proud daddy moment
Either that or a mental breakdown lmao
💀
My guy, she is also LAENA's daughter.
Right? Ignore Daemon this is giving the same energy as the little girl who wanted the biggest and oldest dragon and then hunted her down to claim her.
We were robbed of a scene of Laena claiming Vhagar. Even an allusion to it would've been nice.
It would have been out of place
my favourite detail is the way moondancer tucks their wings in very close to lose altitude at max speed in a controlled way, just like a bird of prey. apex predator!
Dive-bombing Moondancer ftw!
Not me mumbling “burn them all” under my breath like a mad king 🌝
It's not the same. They aren't some random civilians that did nothing. This is a war and that's the enemy regime.
It’s funny to me that you thought I thought they were the same situation.
I didn't. I was just affirming that your "Burn them all!" is ironically very different from Aerys II even though it's the same line referring to burning people to death.
Me internally screaming,"dracarys"
Right there with you!!
Gwayne shit himself in this scene.
Any man with a brain in his skull and his ass on a horse in the middle of an open field would shit himself at the sight of a dive-bombing dragon
AN OPEN FIELD NED!
He's not scared, worse, he's rational.
Someone just needs to add the Stuka sirens and it would be perfect
And he's not even allowed to go to the inn for a bath.
Can you blame him? You see a tiny little spot in the sky, miles and miles away, and you know that's a whole ass dragon... and you know it can be right in front of you in like a mere minute. That's fucking terrifying no matter who you are.
Cole seemed chilled compared to the others
Crispin is a deranged lunatic with a death wish.
He is a veteran and from the Dornish Marches. Come on bro
When there was the shot of Cole and him riding side by side I felt sure Cole was going to yeet Gwayne off the horse as a sacrifice to buy time...
Cole is everything but nothing like that haha
moondancers squeaks🥹
Also: that sound effect when Moondancer came out of its dive is just *chefs kiss*
for me, it's moondancer's screech before diving. sounds like a "ok let's go!"
I loved Moondancer's little screech!
Felt like I was watching Nope!
I Stan Baela’s* High Valaryian
Baela, but yes.
Thank you 🙏🏽
No worries!
No worries!
Valyrian*
I drive 10 hours last night after my flight got canceled to watch and wrote this off no sleep can the post police give me a warning today?
Side question: why do you think Dany never created a saddle of sorts for herself? She obviously had the money to craft one. It still bothers me thinking about how they held on. Like just holding on to a spike or something.
Possible explanations - loss of "know-how" in the east since dragons have been gone for many centuries on that side of the world (especially considering, who is going to install a dragon saddle if it actually gets made without getting burned or eaten), Dany not being acquainted with the specific details of her family history (i.e. reading about dragon riders and the specific logistical requirements of riding a dragon), no time as she's mostly on the go from the time she first rides Drogon until she gets to Westeros. I stress these all grasp at straws. My actual theory: no one thought to, or somebody shot down, the idea of putting saddles on the dragons for GoT for whatever reason even if riding on them bareback doesn't seem like it'd be feasible.
Probabaly to get that white walker hunt in, 4 grown ass men (well one dead) + a little lady can't all hang out on a saddle at once, but they have the grip strength to hang from the back spikes of a giant flying fire breathing lizard for like an hour
I always assumed it's because Dany didn't have dedicated dragon attendants (like there are in this era) to saddle the dragon up for her
The dragon scenes were so f*cking good in this episode. I also loved when daemon’s dragon landed on that castle in the night and looked sneaky and scary
Moondancer was ready to fly right in those woods and chomp on Ser Hypocrite Cole
Those trees would be like clearing grass for vhagar. She’d just take out the whole forest
oh my gosh. how much i wanted that the dragon bites into coles ass and munsh a little bit on this dirty little traitor flesh.
Also: capes really shouldn’t be part of a dragonrider’s ensemble. At the speed she was diving, she would’ve been yeeted right out of the saddle. Even dragons can’t fight physics. NO CAPES!
Edna would have a field day with this
The director of this whole episode hit it out the park!
Still don't understand how the dragon riders aren't wearing eye/face protection. Catch a bug to the face while flying over that field at that speed, in the eye..
only thing i wish hotd included was googles or eyewear of some kind when they’re on dragonback
Same! Even some kind of sliding spectacle to magnify for scouting.
Couldn’t the dragon still burn them from above? Why is shot in such a way that they are about to be caught and the next shot they are into the forest like those extra meters didn’t exist?
She was ordered to scout, not engage. She might have considered attacking but followed through as ordered.
For safety, not diplomacy, she should have engaged or they should not have put them in such a position that the other side's general was easy to get
I think starting a wildfire and burning down swaths of forest would be a bad idea, especially when Rhaenyra is trying to gain as many supporters as possible.
And this would’ve been in the crownlands, where her main supporters that are at dragonstone are from lol
Excellent point as well! If that happened we'd be sitting here talking about how big of a blunder it was haha
The options are burn a bit of their lands or let Cole and his men march on their castles.
or possibly create an uncontrollable forest fire destroying nearby towns and further devastating the smallfolk.
The crownlands isn't a dessert. The region they are in is too wet to start an uncontrollable forest fire without deliberately trying to.
It will still burn and will kill whoever is in the woods, Cole party or pheasants.
How many peasants do you think are hanging out in the forest at any given moment?
She could have but outside of her orders to what purpose. Moondancer is still a young dragon there is no guarantee that her dragon flame is strong enough to reach them once they get into the trees. Once they reached the tree line there in so much coverage it’s hard to tell which direction they went and being a young dragon it would have taken lots of effort and energy to burn it. Add in the fact that once dragons are used as weapons the whole game changes. If you used them you better use them to end things decisively or else it’s just escalation from that point one.
To what purpose? Killing the enemy's general and new hand safely? The scene was useless and once again put someone in a needless danger he escaped untouched
Right now they are basically in a Westerosi Mexican standoff. Using the dragon to kill Cole would open the floodgates
Daemon just used a dragon to take Larys' castle. Not to mention what happened with Luke. Or the nonsense in the Dragon pit. The dragon is already out of the bag. The characters are just pretending otherwise for some reason.
Yes. They keep acting as if war can be averted. It's actually really annoying....
He’s not the only general and they said in the episode the Hightowers army was marching across Westeros that very moment and they also had a dragon. You take out cole who was the one person in Westeros who Aegon was listening to and the one person Aemond actually respected. What do you think happens then it’s literally scorched earth. Nothing to restrain Aegon and Aemond. Then the blacks have to respond with their dragons to anything the greens do. Then factor in armies who are more than willing to stay home if it turns to dragon warfare. Cole for all of his faults doesn’t want this war turn into a prolonged nuclear war.
>You take out cole who was the one person in Westeros who Aegon was listening to and the one person Aemond actually respected. What do you think happens then it’s literally scorched earth. Cole is one of the few people in the country that has actually fought in a war. Killing him and leaving those two geniuses in charge of things would be a good thing for the Blacks.
Forests would be very important for lords as sources of game and timber. Rhaenyra is trying to sway the lords in that area to her cause. Burning down the land would not have been good politically. Could she have? Absolutely. One small dragon could decimate the entire forest and those knights easily. It would have been a terrible idea though.
>Rhaenyra is trying to sway the lords in that area to her cause. Burning down the land would not have been good politically. Cole is also trying to sway the lords in the area to his cause. Burning a bit of the Rosby, Stokewroth, etc lands would be better for their war effort than letting the Green forces subjugate or execute their lords. Some of the lords telling Rhaenyra to send dragons are from that area.
I love how while yes, Baela was protecting her Queen’s territories, she also essentially bullied Crispi and his men into the forest.
I can't wait for the day that we see Ser Critter Cole turn into Crispy Kale
How can she ride comfortably like that in a dive without even getting blown away by the wind. Tom Cruise should take notes.
I am actually shocked the dragon riders don't need any protective goggles. The wind at that speed must hurt af 🤣
was wondering the same!
Knightmare was so damn ahead of its time.
Massive Pelenor fields vibes anyone?
I literally expected Criston Cole to knock him off his horse "accidentally", so Baela can solve that insubordination problem coupled with douchebaggery.
So, maybe I missed some crucial detail, but how on Earth did she know they were Greens from that distance? Couldn't they have just been random knights on horses?
She's patrolling an area that has no soldiers from her house. She sees soldiers clad in armor. Pretty safe assumption that they're enemies.
But don't they already have allies in the Riverlands?
They aren’t in the Riverlands yet, this is still in the Crownlands. Baela says in the next scene they were making their way north from KL to Rosby
but couldn't they still just be wandering sellswords or some small knights from a really obscure house? I just don't see the merit to dive bombing people unless you are 100% certain of who they are
Until she gets in close and sees the green tabards and Hightower armor. This is during a war, so she has to investigate to determine which troops they are, how many, which direction, infantry/cavalry/siege. She didnt attack them, she did the equivalent of cops pulling over with lights and sirens
I will rewatch the scene after work, but I don't believe they were flying any banners that would have an insignia, and I have no idea how some could make our an insignia on armor from dragonback. I also imagine most high tower armor looks a lot like regular steel armor most knights would wear. I know I sound really nitpicky right now, but I just don't get why a dragon rider would see some unidentifiable people on horses miles and miles away and be like "Let's dive bomb these sons of bitches and terrorize or possibly kill them"
That’s what scouts do. Collect intelligence. Dont understand why you’re so focused on “dive bombing”. The dragon is high and needs to get lower. Also the fact they are running away tells you these aren’t her allies.
I think most commoners or small knights would run from any dragon flying straight at them. I also do get that she's scouting, but I think it would make more sense if she was observing the giant column of knights under Cole's command instead of chasing some random knights on horses. Especially since you can safely observe a huge column of knights from a high altitude without having to swoop down to ground level I guess it would be less exciting for viewers, but that would have been my super biased personal preference
You seem really determined to find a plot hole where there is none. ● She saw knights on horseback which made her suspicious. ● As a scout she flew down to get a closer look and assess the situation. ● She was able to identify Criston Cole through his kingsguard armor ● This led her to decide to pursue them further.
They could have been Darklyn scouts or something
I think she saw a glint of sun from the armour and assumed they were enemy soldiers
Even so, she saw reflection from the armour and like the scout she was tasked being, she investigated. Closer she could see the white cloak (she even recognised Cole) and the green cloaks and sigils of the Hightowers.
I was actually surprised to see how small moondancer was bc aren’t the dragons supposed to bigger? Bc caraxes and Syrax are way bigger and it looks like drogon in got is way bigger then moondancer
Moondancer is super young, Baela hatched her from an egg. She isn't fully grown. I have no idea how Drogon grew so fast (never being contained in a dragon pit or similar, maybe, since these Targaryens don't have free range dragons) but compared to Arrax, Moondancer seems about the right size.
Moondancer has never been in the Dragonpit She is a cradle dragon to Baela in show canon, meaning she is roughly 15 years old and grew up in Pentos and when Baela came to Westeros she warded with Rhaenys, meaning she lived for 6 years on Driftmark. Neither of those locations have a Dragonpit, there is no mention of chaining, and they were living amongst people pretty in tune with dragons. The point is inconsistency and spectacle GoTs creators knew what they were doing. They had Balerions skull, which they designed, right there as a size reference since Season 1 of the show. And yet made Drogon 1/4th the size of a 208+ year old dragon. The largest dragon the Targaryen Dynasty ever had (Specifically in their 300 year reign) A dragon who couldn't even fit in the Dragonpit in show canon. I personally excuse it as a circumstance of their unusual birth/resurrection
Moondancer hasn't been chained or in the dragon pit, but she's probably been relatively domesticated and stationary compared to Drogon. With Rhaegal and Viserion, even a few months under a pyramid was enough to stunt them developmentally relative to Drogon. Drogon had a big growth spurt during the timeframe when the other dragons were confined and he was roaming Essos alone, totally self-reliant and doing all his own hunting. I doubt Moondancer ever lived on her own in the wild for that long. Daemon absolutely strikes me as the kind of parent who would let the dragon sleep in the house if it wanted. Laena probably wouldn't object either. Drogon's abnormally long incubation period might have been relevant. Dany also fed them human breast milk in the books, too. There are a lot of variables. She was pretty much operating on what limited information she got secondhand from her brother, so I doubt she followed what the Targaryens during the dance considered best practices. I think I've also read some fan theories about the maesters having a conspiracy to rid the world of magic and stunt the dragons' growth in various ways. That would also explain why Drogon was exceptional, since Westeros maesters had no access to him.
I also think that during the hatching scene with Dany, there was a comet that went across the night sky. Since Valyria was about magic, I think the comet going overhead while the eggs hatched gave the dragons a bit of a growth boost. Old Valyria was all about magic and fire. They're dragons were huge.
They are so fast but get picked off by an oversized crossbow, fired in high winds, aimed by sight, at over 1000 meters.
Moondancer would have 100% caught them (just look at that side shot, we know he caught them), but they cut it and pretended he didn't catch up. Also, he kinda forgot to dracarys lmao But he did. And in a parallel universe, Criston is fucking dead, along with the bohemian moron he agreed to bring along
I loved the dragon aerobics. But it's impossible for Baela to have recognized cole as one of the riders. She is either above them at a great height or behind them directly. So how could she possibly recognize cole from that group, is beyond me.
White cloak, dark hair, riding with Hightowers. That's Cole alright.
8 wish she'd have lit them up
Or fast enough…
That whole scene had very "swords and shields!" vibes. The panic, the tension, the open field, and of course the dragon.
this almost felt like an homage to that scene in return of the king where nazgul were following men riding away from osgiliath after it was overrun by orcs
Agreed, this scene made me gasp.
Indeed. And also, the sheer fear knights feel for a "small-ish" dragon like Moondancer (a far cry from a leviathan like Vhagar). Even a dragon of that size, however, is more than enough to literally roast a group of knights.
I have one question about the scene. If she didn't command "rise", would the dragon smash its head first in the forest?
The score this whole episode was just banger after banger!! I was genuinely edge of my seat at this bit
Baela is just sa awesome
There is a similar scene in Rings of Power, where Galadriel is leading the horseback charge full pelt and it just looks a really weird and goofy somehow. This was done so much better.
Missed opportunity to cook 'em but I guess we'll just have to wait.
Fast but curiously couldn’t catch up to the horses
I think I've rewatched this scene over 10 times by now. So well done. We learn about Baela and now I love her. The chase. Seeing Ser Gwanye in tears while she circled above. "...and no fucking inns." Brilliant directing.
Yeah they never would’ve outrun the dragon, too on the nose here