[Ed note: This story contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 5.]
Following a brief tease, House of the Dragon season 2, episode 5 confirms that King Aegon II Targaryen survived the Battle at Rook’s Rest. Yet the middling monarch is still badly hurt, nursing the kind of gnarly injuries you’d expect from the Game of Thrones franchise. He’s got broken bones, busted insides, and burns — lots of burns. Which might have you thinking: Wait, aren’t Targaryens fireproof?
Maybe, and maybe not. It depends on which version of the canon we’re talking about. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels are pretty clear on the subject, but Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are decidedly muddled. And thanks to all this conflicting intel, the truth about Targaryens’ fire immunity is more tangled than dragon tails in an overcrowded hatchery. We’ve done our best to untangle it below!
Are Targaryens fireproof in George R.R. Martin’s books?
Nope. According to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire tomes, Targaryens are resistant to fire — and far less temperature-sensitive than the average person — but not invulnerable to it. Admittedly, this isn’t spelled out in the books themselves, but Martin cleared things up in a post shared on the Citadel fansite way back in November 1998.
“[S]ome fans are reading too much into the scene in Game of Thrones where the dragons are born — which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times,” he wrote. It’s as definitive a statement as they come, and tracks with what Martin shows us in the A Song of Ice and Fire books.
Sure, there’s Daenerys Targaryen’s “fire cannot kill a dragon” quote in A Game of Thrones, after her brother (and self-proclaimed dragon) Viserys dies from having molten gold poured on his melon. But Dany isn’t being literal — she’s throwing her brother’s hollow bravado back in his now-gilded face. What about when Daenerys emerges from Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre unscathed (bald scalp not withstanding) later in the same book? This is indeed a case of a Targaryen walking through fire unharmed. However, Martin has made it clear that this was a one-off deal made possible by external, magical forces.
“No, no Targaryans [sic] are immune to fire,” Martin explained in a 2003 interview. “The thing with Dany and the dragons, that was just a one-time magical event, very special and unique. The Targaryans can tolerate a bit more heat than most ordinary people, they like really hot baths and things like that, but that doesn’t mean they’re totally immune to fire, no.”
Besides, there are a bunch of unambiguous examples of Targaryens feeling the heat in Martin’s works. As noted above, Viserys burns to death when Khal Drogo gives him his golden “crown,” and Dany’s hair turns to ashes during her stroll through the pyre. She sears her hair by getting too near Drogon’s dragonfire, and her hands by touching a spear he breathed on, in A Dance with Dragons. House of the Dragon’s source text, Fire & Blood, also features multiple instances of Targaryens (including Aegon II) suffering fire-related wounds.
Most of these maladies stem from dragon-on-dragon combat, although at least one is self-inflicted (Prince Aerion Targaryen quaffed a cup of napalm-like Wildfire, as you do). I haven’t crunched the numbers, but we’re willing to bet more Targaryens die (or are seriously injured) by fire in Martin’s books than any other named characters!
So don’t believe the Targaryen hype machine: As far as the A Song of Ice and Fire novels are concerned, they aren’t fireproof.
Are Targaryens fireproof in the Game of Thrones show?
The HBO adaptation differs from Martin’s books on this point, but the answer is still “Yes and no.” Daenerys is — but every other Targaryen? Not so much.
Aside from the funeral-pyre stunt (which doesn’t even burn her hair off like it does in Martin’s book), we see Dany shrug off fire without so much as a blister several times throughout Game of Thrones’ eight-season run. She takes boiling baths, handles scalding-hot dragon eggs, has no issue standing right next to Drogon’s fiery belches, and sets a room full of Dothraki warlords ablaze without damaging anything other than her outfit.
By contrast, Viserys suffers the same ignoble, heat-induced death in the show as he does in the books. He also winces in pain when a drop of hot wax hits his skin earlier in Game of Thrones’ first season. This so-called “dragon” couldn’t be less fireproof if he tried. Jon Snow — a half-Targaryen, remember — is similarly susceptible to being burnt. In Game of Thrones season 1, episode 8, Jon scorches his hand after he lobs a lantern at a wight. Clearly, he isn’t fireproof, either.
So as far as Game of Thrones continuity is concerned, Dany is the lone fireproof Targaryen, and this quasi-superpower is symbolic of her “true” Targaryen nature. In that sense, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss framed her as a “chosen one” (albeit in the Anakin Skywalker mold, as it turned out).
Are Targaryens fireproof (even sometimes) in House of the Dragon?
While House of the Dragon is a prequel to the Game of Thrones TV series, it follows the books’ lead regarding Targaryens and fire. (Hardly surprising, given that Martin co-created the show and is a hands-on executive producer.) The knock-on effect is that — as demonstrated in season 2, episode 4 — the likes of Aegon, Princess Rhaenys, and Prince Aemond are very much at risk when the pyrotechnics start. They can withstand glancing waves of dragonfire, but a direct hit will light them up.
That’s why Aegon’s all crispy in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 5. It’s also why Daemon sports visible burn scars elsewhere in the episode, and why would-be dragon-riders are wary when approaching their prospective mounts throughout the show’s run. If House of the Dragon’s Targaryens play with fire (or firebreathers), they’re likely to end up toast, the same as anyone else in Westeros. Well, anyone except Daenerys Targaryen more than a century later — resulting in a weird inconsistency in the overarching franchise lore. (Though not the only major change from that show.)
Is there a reason in the TV series that explains why Daenerys is the only fireproof Targaryen? Maybe. You could chalk up this discontinuity to dragon fire being more potent than garden-variety flame. Certainly it’s about as hot as it gets, capable of melting stone fortresses (like Harrenhal). This would explain away Aegon’s char-grilled condition as context-specific; nothing short of a dragon can roast a “true” Targaryen (whatever that means) in the Game of Thrones universe.
Of course, this is pure headcanon for now, and Martin and House of the Dragon co-creator/showrunner Ryan Condal could have an entirely different explanation in mind. But if they do, they haven’t shared it. And until they do, the reason only one member of House Targaryen is really, truly fireproof remains one of the show’s burning questions.
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