(Spoilers everything A Song of Ice and fire, books and shows and so on.)
In the fourth installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, Euron Greyjoy kindly introduced us to Dragonbinder, a magical plot McGuffin capable of controlling dragons.
“I know as much of war as you do, Crow’s Eye,” Asha said. “Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros with dragons.” “And so shall we,” Euron Greyjoy promised. “That horn you heard I found amongst the smoking ruins that were Valyria, where no man has dared to walk but me. You heard its call, and felt its power. It is a dragon horn, bound with bands of red gold and Valyrian steel graven with enchantments. The dragonlords of old sounded such horns, before the Doom devoured them. With this horn, ironmen, I can bind dragons to my will.” -A Feast for Crows, The Drowned Man
This hellhorn has a strong and unnatural impact on its environment, that cannot be doubted.
“The man who blew my dragon horn. When the maester cut him open, his lungs were charred as black as soot.” – A Feast for Crows, The Reaver
“The sound it made … it burned, somehow. As if my bones were on fire, searing my flesh from within. Those writings glowed red-hot, then white-hot and painful to look upon. It seemed as if the sound would never end. It was like some long scream. A thousand screams, all melted into one.” – A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I
While there is absolutely no new information on this strange and powerful artifact, I still have a few questions that I’d like to ramble on about.
1. If dragon horns are so important for a dragonrider, why do we hardly see any signs of them being used?
We have not seen anything resembling a dragon horn in the show (as far as I can remember), but that is not evidence of there being no such thing in the books. It could simply have been lost in adaptation.
The obvious lack of contemporary dragonriders could be enough to explain why we don’t see any of them in a Game of Thrones and the following books. However, it doesn’t justify their absence in Fire & Blood.
If Rhaenyra Targaryen had access to any dragon horns (and if they actually worked the way Euron claimed) during the “Red Sowing” it would have been a good idea to use them in order to give dragons to her most loyal and promising candidates. Instead, she had to contend with such delightful allies as Ulf the Sot and Hugh the Hammer. She controlled Dragonstone and if House Targaryen still had any access to such artifacts or the knowledge of their creation, this is where it would have been kept.
With house Targaryen’s power so reliant on their dragons, it was crucial for their children to prove themselves as dragonriders. Many of them followed the custom of placing dragon eggs in their children’s cradles to encourage a bond. Others, such as Vaegon the Dragonless, failed to become dragonriders.
If sorcerous dragon horns were the key to their power, the elders of House Targaryen should have had no difficulty in matching single dragons to their children as soon as they were deemed old enough, unless this knowledge was lost long before their time.
At the very least, this indicates that dragon horns are unnecessary to control dragons, meaning they are either an instrument that helps to fine tune their communication with their dragon, or a tool needed by those who could not reign over dragons otherwise.
2. If dragon horns are necessary to control dragons, why would the rulers of old Valyria allow that information to spread?
Remember, the dragons were the backbone of the Valyrian Freeholds power. Without them, their ascent to a continent dominating empire would not have been attainable.
Valyria’s enemies were numerous. Any rich merchant would pay a fortune to own one a dragon horn. Many warriors would aim to capture or kill a dragonrider in battle. Desperate slaves would try to steal it from their masters, given the opportunity. It would be their only path to freedom.
So why on earth would they permit any outsider to know this?
The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. – A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys X
Daenerys’s knowledge is limited to the tales taught by her brother, who was a child when he left Westeros, and the small number of books in her possession. Thus, if she knows about them, this information cannot be that uncommon.
Scholars may have uncovered Valyria’s magical secret after their rule, when they could no longer control the narrative. But then again, why would Dragonbinder, the hellhorn, be given such a fancy look, with instructions on it? That’s not how you keep a secret.
That night, for the first time, he brought forth the dragon horn that the Crow’s Eye had found amongst the smoking wastes of great Valyria. A twisted thing it was, six feet long from end to end, gleaming black and banded with red gold and dark Valyrian steel. Euron’s hellhorn. Victarion ran his hand along it. The horn was as warm and smooth as the dusky woman’s thighs, and so shiny that he could see a twisted likeness of his own features in its depths. Strange sorcerous writings had been cut into the bands that girded it. “Valyrian glyphs,” Moqorro called them. -A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I
“A true tale.” Moqorro turned the hellhorn, examining the queer letters that crawled across a second of the golden bands. “Here it says, ‘No mortal man shall sound me and live.’ “
Bitterly Victarion brooded on the treachery of brothers. Euron’s gifts are always poisoned. “The Crow’s Eye swore this horn would bind dragons to my will. But how will that serve me if the price is death?” “Your brother did not sound the horn himself. Nor must you.” Moqorro pointed to the band of steel. “Here. ‘Blood for fire, fire for blood.’ Who blows the hellhorn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn’s master. You must claim the horn. With blood.” -A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I
Of course, we have many reasons to doubt the honesty of Moqorro, as it is his objective to reach Daenerys. Victarion might simply be a means of transportation. The instructions don’t seem to be that helpful either. The conditions written on the hellhorn could, in theory, prevent most potential thieves from using it. There are people that are not exactly mortal though.
Would Lady Stoneheart be able to use it? Pyat Pree? Could Melisandre or Moqorro himself do it? Daenerys has already survived some serious heat.
The Valyrians should have restricted the use of the instrument to themselves. But at least some of them could have survived the Doom of Valyria if they were fireproof, like Daenerys.
Melisandre and her brethren seem to have no issue with heat, hunger or poison. If certain allusions to Melisandre’s age are correct, the Lord of Lights followers already lit their Nightfires when Valyria was at full strength. On the one hand, their obsessive devotion to fire would position them as allies to dragonriders. On the other hand, most of them were slaves bought by the temple. Regardless of their religious indoctrination, at least some of them should have held some deep resentment towards the Freehold’s rulers in their hearts. In summary, a population of magically empowered slaves, potentially capable of understanding and utilizing dragon horns, may have existed amidst the dragonlords. Despite their famed religious tolerance, this should have been a matter of great concern and rendered any magical protections against the misuse and theft of dragon horns useless.
3. If dragon horns are unnecessary, what else could their purpose be?
There is at least one simple answer — they are a death trap. If all your enemies are trying their best to identify the key to your power, why would you not provide them with a simple but deadly answer? Should any of them succeed at stealing a dragon horn, it will be to their detriment. If they blow the horn, they die. If they read the inscription, they will drive themselves mad in their attempts to find a safe way to use it (aka becoming immortal). Otherwise, they may simply give up. Either way, they’ll be safely distracted from whatever magic/trick dragonriders truly use.
It is also possible that sounding the horn will indeed bring any nearby dragons to you, but that doesn’t have to be a good thing. The sound could be especially painful, annoying, or rage inducing to them. Luring in nearby dragons without controlling them would be dangerous enough by itself. We have seen that dragons could be trained to obey specific commands, but I somehow doubt that Victarion’s foreign language vocabulary would be up to the task.
And, more specifically, which dragon would it control? We must presume that the object was created when dragons were common in Valyria. There could have been many dragons within hearing range. Would the caller control all of them, those that are not yet bound to rider, or just the first one that arrives?
We have never seen a dragon rider control more than one dragon, especially not at once. But if they could, why were there so many competing houses in old Valyria? One House would have tried to gather all dragons to themselves and toasted everyone else, eventually.
Or was the dragon horn designed for one specific dragon who is long dead?
A loudspeaker that could bring all nearby dragons to one location would have been useful when you need to coordinate the armies of old Valyria (or if you want to call your flame-throwning pets to dinner).
Regarding the potential plot of potential future books, a long distance dragon-attractor could at least be used to bring Daenerys back to Meereen, as she is currently somewhat lost.
4. If Dragonbinder is useless, why would Euron Greyjoy even bother sending his brother to Meereen?
It may be more appropriate to ask why he would give such a (presumably) valuable tool into the hands of Victarion, who was his strongest rival during the Kingsmoot. He could assume that Victarion is either too stupid or too loyal to use the instrument for his own gains, but it still makes little sense to send it with him. He doesn’t really need it to deliver a marriage proposal.
Still, if Victarion dies, either because his journey proves to be too perilous, or because his bedmate keeps poisoning him, it is a win for Euron. If Victarion tries to use the dragonhorn himself, he’ll likely die, and it is a win for Euron. If Victarion does exactly what he has been told to do and brings Daenerys to him, or at the very least establishes a diplomatic connection between them, it is a win for Euron. Even if the dragonhorn somehow ends up in Daenerys’ hands, Euron can still win because her death by mysterious magical object would remove a powerful player from the game board.
Sending a large part of the army away during a war to kill Victarion still seems excessive and unnecessary. But if he dies at the other end of the world, surrounded by his armies, no one can accuse Euron of kinslaying. Eurons’ sudden and unexpected arrival directly after Balon Greyjoys tragic and completely accidental death was already very suspicious. Should he plan to remain King for a long time, he may need to maintain at least a modicum of respectability, especially if he wants to interact with other political entities, such as Daenerys.
The fact that Pyat Pree and some of his companions from the House of the Undying have been Eurons’ unwilling guests for some time is also relevant, because Dragonbinder could have come from them. Unless we believe that Euron Greyjoy really traveled to Valyria.
The warlocks know that Daenerys is an inexperienced dragonrider, and very willing to look for magical solutions. After all, why else would she have entered the House of the Undying when all of Quarth seems to avoid it? Even the warnings written on the hellhorn might not deter her, as she already survived a burning pyre and could possibly consider herself semi-immortal. We should at the very least expect them to make an assassination attempt after she burned their Undying (but not fireproof) House down.
5. If dragon horns are not the key component of dragon-mind control, what is?
The dragonlords declared themselves to be kin to their dragons. An interesting tale that unfortunately explains nothing because our relatives don’t necessarily obey us.
Beyond that, the lore of Game of Thrones seems to give us two options. One of them involves simply training your dragons. Both the show and the books have proven that it is possible for dragons to obey simple commands. The dragon keepers shown in House of Dragons do rely on them, and many have theorized that the dragonrider Nettles gained the loyalty of Sheepstealer, the dragon, by buying him dinner over a long time.
This may be problematic in practice, though. Imagine the dragon and its rider flying high above their enemies and allies. The rider gives the code word for attack, though they probably have to shout to be heard across the wind. How does the dragon know whom to assault or what target to prioritize? Even if their rider pointed, they likely could not see that, because they don’t have eyes on the back of their head.
It could be possible for a dragon to react to the movements of their riders, the way horses can do, but I doubt that a beast as ancient and thick-scaled as old Vhagar would even notice if some puny human on its back tried to give them signals by kicking, punching or whipping.
The only alternative that the text has given to us is skinchanging, because if this method can be used to control a variety of animals and humans, why would it not work on dragons?
Throughout the history of house Targaryen, we see them demonstrate their ability to control dragons through some mysterious method. Furthermore, some of them, such as Daeron the Drunken and Daemon Blackfyre II, have strange and often misleading dreams and visions, riddled with animal symbolism such as dragons and eggs (both of which actually seem to represent people).
Beyond the wall we are introduced to the concept of skinchangers, capable of controlling a variety of animals, and greenseers, who experience strange visions filled with symbolism such as winged wolfs, or maidens with serpents in their hair. These dreams are also hard to interpret and often misleading. If the symptoms are the same, why do we assume that the disease is something different?
“Only one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger,” Lord Brynden said one day, after Bran had learned to fly, “and only one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer.” “I thought the greenseers were the wizards of the children,” Bran said. “The singers, I mean.” “In a sense. Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers.” -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III
There are some physical differences between Valyrians and Wargs beyond the wall. Jojen Reed and many gifted children of the forest are said to have a fragile constitution, while the Targaryens have often proclaimed themselves to be immune to illnesses. Yet, some Targaryen’s have died to illnesses while the known Warg, Brandon Stark used to be an active and athletic child before his fall. His siblings, who also show some signs of being skinchangers, have never been described as sickly either.
I will not speculate as to whether these two groups could share some common ancestry, as it does not matter. Useful adaptations often appear more than once in evolution. The same may be true for fictional evolution.
We furthermore see that while some skinchangers may be more powerful than others, it is ultimately a skill that needs to be learned and practiced.
He chose one bird, and then another, without success, but the third raven looked at him with shrewd black eyes, tilted its head, and gave a quork, and quick as that he was not a boy looking at a raven but a raven looking at a boy. -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III
While Bran can easily see through Summer’s eyes, he struggles to fully control the wolf. This, in theory, could explain why Daenerys has such a hard time with Drogon. She is a new dragonrider who has no one to instruct her and Drogon is gone from Meereen for much of her stay. Furthermore, her rule over Meereen seems to give her many sleepless nights. Being bedridden for such a long time could have been very beneficial for the development of Bran’s skinchanging abilities.
Most of the evidence for Targaryens being skinchangers comes from Fire & Blood and it’s adaptation, unsurprisingly, as it is only here that we see dragons and their experienced riders interact regularly.
Was the wounded dragon, with his half-healed broken wing, driven by some primal instinct to return to his birthplace, the smoking mountain where he had emerged from his egg? Or did he somehow sense the presence of King Aegon on the island, across long leagues and stormy seas, and fly there to rejoin his rider? Septon Eustace goes so far as to suggest that Sunfyre sensed Aegon’ s desperate need. – Fire & Blood, The Dying of Dragons
Despite his injuries and his lack of a GPS tracking system, Sunfyre managed to return to Aegon II. We can also be reasonably certain that he did not simply return to his birthplace, as the dragonkeepers and the residents of the castle should have noticed that. Instead, he remained mostly hidden from the population of Dragonstone until Aegon II was prepared to take the castle. Of course, if he had a mysterious and magical horn to bind Sunfyre, its strange sound could have brought his Dragon back to him. However, at that time he was traveling disguised as a commoner, and an expensive-looking horn, approximately six feet long, might have gotten him caught.
Arya still dreams of Nymeria while she is far away in Braavos, and Ghost could find Jon after they were separated by the wall. For a skinchanger, such a connection is possible.
The death of Lady Rhea Royce at the hands of her husband Daemon Targaryen in the show adaptation is another suspicious incident. Startling her horse by walking up to it, while hoping that it throws her, and that the fall injures her gravely, and that her frightened horse doesn’t kick him in the face, is certainly a long shot, as far as assassination attempts go.
The best part is all of this happening in line of sight of her castle. I suppose if someone had come to her aid, he could have just called his dragon and burned the castle full of witnesses while telling the world it was a tragic kitchen fire.
Daemon’s arrogance and recklessness have been highlighted throughout the series, so this idiotic ploy isn’t really out of character. Still, if he had some trick up his sleeve (such as being able to control the actions of her horse) the entire scene would make more sense.
The tragic death of Joffrey Velaryon, who was thrown off by his mother’s dragon Syrax, is another piece of potential evidence.
It was only when the watchers on the roof heard Syrax roar that the prince’s absence was noted. That was too late. “No” the queen was heard to say. “I forbid it. I forbid it,” but even as she spoke her dragon flapped up from the yard, perched for half a heartbeat atop the castle battlements, then launched herself into the night with the queens’s son clinging to her back, a sword in hand.
“After him!” Rhaenyra shouted. “All of you, every man, every boy, to horse, to horse, go after him. Bring him back, bring him back, he does not know. My son, my sweet son…” Fire & Blood, The Dying of Dragons
Rhaenyra knew that her dragon would reject the child. No Targaryen ever had more than one dragon, after all. Does this mean that despite being a dragonrider himself, Joffrey did not understand his own ability? If there was some ritual or magical instrument involved, he likely would have known as those may require his active participation.
To me, this implies that Joffrey’s connection with his dragon occurs subconsciously, without thinking. He does not know how it works because he never needed to. The Stark children don’t seem to be fully cognizant of their connection to their wolves, either.
But what would happen if two skinchangers are mentally attached to the same dragon.
Then he realized he was not alone. “Someone else was in the raven,” he told Lord Brynden, once he had returned to his own skin. “Some girl. I felt her.” -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III
Whenever two skinchangers meet, in any shape they may wear there seems to be a moment of instant recognition.
Their eyes met. Warg! Then the two rushed together, wolf and direwolf, and there was no more time for thought. The world shrank down to tooth and claw, snow flying as they rolled and spun and tore at one another, the other wolves snarling and snapping around them. – A Dance with Dragons, Bran I
We also know that it is possible to seize control of an animal already enthralled by another.
None of them had been as strong as Varamyr Sixskins, though, not even Haggon, tall and grim with his hands as hard as stone. The hunter died weeping after Varamyr took Greyskin from him, driving him out to claim the beast for his own. No second life for you, old man. Varamyr Threeskins, he’d called himself back then. – A Dance with Dragons, Varamyr
Some form of instantaneous confrontation may have taken place within Syrax’s mind, causing her erratic flight pattern. Regardless of whether Joffrey won this fight (though Rhaenyra may have forfeited it in order to save her child), it was too late, as he couldn’t hold on to the dragons back long enough.
It is interesting to note that Syrax does not return to Rhaenyra after killing its unwanted rider. If the queen had any way to call the dragon back, she’d have surely done so to join the search for her son. Instead, Syrax continues on in pursuit of Joffrey’s goal, the dragonpit. Maybe she was drawn by the violence, and maybe a part of Joffrey still lingered within her.
As to why the she-dragon didn’t stay in the air and rained fire on the insurgents from a safe distance, we don’t really know if rider-less dragons have ever acted in this manner at all. The deliberate destruction of entire cities or other structures from a safe distance is very much a human thing. A dragon left to its own devices may only attack those he wants to eat and those who have provoked or startled it. That is, if they act like other predatory animals.
If skinchanging is a skill based on some genetic predisposition, it could not be stolen by some foreign power and it explains the dragonlords obsession with incest based blood purity.
Still, if the gift of skin-changing is all that is required, some random Warg should have seized a dragon at some point. Jaehaerys I at least believes this to be possible.
“If those eggs should hatch, there will be another dragonlord in the world, one not of our own house.” -Fire & Blood: Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I
Dragons being a rare and endangered species, endemic to volcanic habitats, may explain why this has not occurred. House Targaryen reared most of their dragons at their Stronghold in Dragonstone, and denied outsiders access to them. The Rulers of old Valyria may have done the same.
Furthermore, the Valyrian Freehold ignored Westeros for most of their history. By the time House Targaryen was settled on Dragonstone, the Children of the Forest with all their skin-changers and greenseers had long been driven beyond the Wall, and the Andals had hunted down most of those who claimed to possess any of these rare gifts.
Even if, at some point in ancient history, there was a dragonrider far beyond Valyria, they may not have been able to start their own dynasty. Varamyr Six-Skins tells us that none of his children inherited his power, which indicates that it is not a dominant gene (insofar as real-world genetics can be applied to a fantasy setting). Furthermore, incest is a taboo among Wildlings (with the notable exception of Craster).
Though it is unclear what came first, an isolated population in the mountains of Valyria that resorted to incest by necessity, allowing the warg-gene to manifest in a particularly strong form, or the realization that their children were often incapable of dragon riding if their blood was intermixed with outsiders.
The text has indicated that all young Starklings may possess some degree of this talent. That would seem to contradict the presumed rarity of skinchangers, unless we remember that while the nobility of Westeros may eschew marriages between siblings, they regularly wed their cousins and the same houses intermarry repeatedly. Their gene pool is therefore relatively small. Though we have not been given any information on their lineage, House Tully is likely related to every other noble House in the Riverlands, including House Blackwood, a family famously associated with skin-changing. And both House Targaryen and House Stark have intermarried with them in the recent history.
Nonetheless, there is a possibility that the concept of dragon horns was added in the series at a later point in time to magically make up for changes in the timeline that could hinder the development of the skill for Daenerys and other potential dragonriders. Maybe.