Ranking all the dragon scenes on Game of Thrones
By Erin Qualey
No. 35 – Just Chillin’
When: Season 4, Episode 1
What Went Down: After freeing the slave city of Yunkai in the Season 3 finale, Daenerys continues her march westward, pointing her army of Unsullied and Second Sons toward Meereen, the heart of Slaver’s Bay. On the road, she takes some time to chill out with her kiddos, a much deserved moment of peace while on the move. However, the three siblings take this opportunity to squabble over a piece of meat, foreshadowing that the Mother of Dragons might just be losing control over her powerful, animalistic children.
No. 34 – Catacomb Drop In
When: Season 5, Episode 1
What Went Down: At the conclusion of Season 4, Daenerys chained up two of her dragons in the catacombs below Meereen as punishment for torching a small child. Honestly, that was all Drogon’s fault, but apparently Drogon is too smart to be lured into a nasty wet basement below a pyramid. But I digress. Longing to connect with her children, Daenerys heads down to the crypt to have some family bonding time, but Viserion and Rhaegal aren’t ready to forgive. They spit fire at their mother, leading her to scamper out of the room in tears of shame.
No. 33 – Tarly Toast
When: Season 7, Epsiode 5
What Went Down: When the Tarly men refuse to bend the knee following Daenerys’s raid on the Lannister loot train, the Mother of Dragons takes drastic action. She asks the men to pledge their allegiance to her flag, but the stoic Randyll Tarly (James Sebastian Faulkner) isn’t having it. He invokes his honor, stating that he will never kneel to a foreign invader. His son, Dickon Tarly (Billy Bones), follows suit. And despite pleas from Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Daenerys sentences them both to die. And with a somber “dracarys”, the two Tarly men roast in their armor, an flaming example to the rest of her captives to fall in line.
No. 32 – Jon Takes Flight
What: Season 8, Episode 1
What Went Down: What? You’re saying that Jon Snow’s first dragon ride should rank higher on this list? Why yes, it should have. But given that there was zero narrative reason for him to be taking flight at this particular moment in time, it has landed firmly in the bottom third of dragon moments. Before the big battle with the army of the dead, Daenerys encourages her beau to come fly away with her on a mini vaycay. Jon shakily hops on Rhaegal, seemingly unprepared for the ride of his life. The two dragons bob and weave through a gorgeous snowy landscape, landing in a secluded winter wonderland where the dragons look on as their human pals canoodle the afternoon away. It’s weird.