Entertainment

Here's Why Fans Are So Worried About Drogon's Fate On 'Game Of Thrones'

by Ani Bundel
HBO

Game of Thrones is hurtling towards its ultimate conclusion, and in doing so, the series is removing as many extraneous characters as possible. That's not just the human ones, but the magical beasts too. This past week, the series got rid of two of them, with Jon Snow giving away Ghost to Tormund, and Rhaegal being taken down by Euron. With Viserion also gone with the death of the Night King, that leaves one dragon left, Drogon, and fans are plenty worried. Will Drogon die in Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5? The odds aren't good.

Viewers used to believe that Daenerys' dragons would one day make her invincible, once they grew to full size. The history of Westeros suggested as much. Aegon I Targaryen, known as Aegon the Conqueror arrived on Westeros with three full-grown dragons and proceeded to defeat all comers and unite the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys would most likely do the same upon her arrival, right?

However, fans failed to consider several factors in this scenario. First of all, Viserion and Rhaegal spent a year or two trapped in a pyramid, stunting their growth. Also, the Seven Kingdoms are now already united, making the divide and conquer routine Aegon used less effective.Moreover, dragon killing weaponry was invented between the time Aegon arrived and now, during the "Dance of Dragons" Targaryen Civil War.

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In short, dragons are no longer the victory ensuring weaponry everyone assumed them to be. They're a tool, one that can be used wisely, or one that can be used badly. So far, Daenerys hasn't been particularly smart about how she's used them. Her assumption has been, "I have dragons; therefore I win." That's not how it works.

With one dragon left, the hope is that Daenerys starts conserving what she's got. Drogon is the largest of her children, and the hardest to take down, but that's all she's got. When he's gone, that's it. There aren't any more dragon eggs to be found for her to hatch. (Not unless Drogon sudden lays a clutch of eggs and reveals that he was a female dragon this whole time, which, with two episodes to go, seems unlikely.)

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The loss of Daenerys dragons also represents the loss of her power and status. As each dragon slips off into that good night, Westeros slowly turns against the idea of her as a ruler. Once Drogon's gone, she's basically out of options to take back King's Landing, and might as well go back to Meereen and see if Daario is still waiting for her.

After so many seasons and so many years, the chances of that happening are slim. Whatever happens, Drogon will almost certainly survive at least next week's episode, as long as Daenerys does. Precisely what she commands Drogon to do, and the fallout from the Battle of King's Landing remains to be seen. However, the hope, for Drogon's sake, is that Daenerys finally wises up that a divine right to rule isn't a "Straight to the Iron Throne, Do not pass GO, do not collect $200" guarantee. Her dragons were merely a pass to start playing the game of thrones in the first place.