"I'm grateful for your loyalty, but my dragon died so that we could be here. If it's all for nothing, then he died for nothing!" ―Daenerys Targaryen referring to Viserion's death. [src]

Viserion was one of the three dragons born in the wastelands beyond Lhazar, along with Drogon and Rhaegal. He was named after Daenerys Targaryen's elder brother, Viserys. He could be distinguished by his cream and gold colored scales, and red-orange wings. Eventually, he became an ice dragon[1] (although different from the ones of legend), and was enslaved by the Night King. He was also able to breathe fire that was capable of melting the Wall, though it was blue in color.[2]

Contents show]

Biography

Daenerys is given three dragons eggs by Magister Illyrio Mopatis on the occasion of her wedding to Khal Drogo.[3] She is drawn to these eggs and always keeps them in a chest with her. Viserys tries to steal them but is stopped by Ser Jorah Mormont.[4]

Viserion is born along with his two siblings after Daenerys has their eggs placed on the funeral pyre erected for Drogo. As she rises unharmed from the ashes of the pyre on the morning following the funeral, he climbs on her leg.[5]

Viserion is not shown as much, until he is stolen by Xaro Xhoan Daxos, along with Drogon and Rhaegal. When Daenerys enters the House of the Undying to retrieve them, she eventually finds her three dragons chained. Pyat Pree attempts to chain her with magic, claiming that her dragons make his magic strong and that she makes them stronger; thus she will stay with them for an eternity. Daenerys whispers to her dragons, "dracarys," her command to breathe fire; the three of them proceed to burn Pyat Pree alive, releasing them from his magic.

Viserion, along with his brothers, accompanies Daenerys on her journey from Astapor and Yunkai. When Daenerys has a meeting with a Razdal mo Eraz, of the Wise Masters of Yunkai, Viserion fights over a piece of meat with his brothers when Daenerys makes a show of force to intimidate Razdal.[6] After Daenerys frees the slaves of Yunkai, Viserion takes to the sky with his siblings at Daenerys's command; a show of both power and freedom.[7]

Viserion is seen with his brother Rhaegal fighting over a dead lamb. Drogon, who is now visibly bigger than them, quickly takes the lamb as his brothers squeal for him to share. He sets the corpse down and the three begin to eat.[8] In response to Drogon's killing of a three-year-old girl, Daenerys leads Viserion and Rhaegal into the catacombs of Meereen, where she chains them up.[9]

Daenerys finally decides to reenter the catacombs in an attempt to regain control over her dragons. Rhaegal and Viserion, who have grown even larger during their time in captivity, immediately lash out and breathe fire at the sight of their mother who imprisoned them.[10]

Sometime later, Daenerys, reeling over the death of Ser Barristan Selmy, arrests the leaders of Meereen's great families and brings them to meet Rhaegal and Viserion. Rhaegal roasts one of nobles and tucks in, sharing the meal with Viserion. Her point proven, Daenerys leaves, sarcastically saying that she doesn't want to overfeed the dragons.[11]

In the Great Pyramid, Tyrion Lannister learns that Rhaegal and Viserion have not been eating anything ever since their mother had left. He decides to free them, knowing that they will be better off that way.

Accompanied by Varys, Tyrion ventures alone into the catacombs and encounters Rhaegal and Viserion for the first time. Despite their initial hostility towards him, Tyrion remains calm, assuring them he is a friend of Daenerys and only wants to help. He manages to earn their trust and unshackle them, all the while telling them the story of how he wanted a dragon for his nameday, only to be disappointed by uproarious laughter from his family and the cold truth from his father. Once free, the dragons immediately move deeper into the catacombs while Tyrion quickly exits with Varys.[12]

After Daenerys returns to Meereen and pits Drogon against the fleet assembled by Astapor, Yunkai, and Volantis, Rhaegal and Viserion break out of the catacombs and join their mother and brother in destroying the slavers' fleet with dragonfire, decisively breaking the Second Siege of Meereen. This defeat marks the end of the attempt to reintroduce slavery to Meereen.[13]

Sometime later, Viserion and his brothers accompany their mother and her large army on a voyage to retake Westeros by soaring above the armada.[14]

Viserion and his brothers fly ahead to investigate Dragonstone while their mother proceeds there by boat.[15]

Upon Jon Snow's arrival at Dragonstone, Drogon and Viserion fly overhead and visibly scare both him and Davos Seaworth. Tyrion then comments that he has not yet gotten used to them either.

Later, Daenerys tells Jon that both Viserion and Rhaegal were named for her deceased brothers, Viserys and Rhaegar, respectively.[16]

Viserion accompanies Daenerys, Rhaegal, and Drogon as they attempt to rescue Jon Snow and his expedition force from the White Walkers and the army of the dead at the Wight Hunt beyond the Wall. Viserion and his brothers burn and destroy many of the wights while Jon and his party mount Drogon with Daenerys and the captured wight. Not long after they arrive, however, the Night King is given an ice spear by another White Walker, and then hurls it at Viserion. The spear pierces the dragon's neck, causing blood and fire to rupture from the fatal wound. With a screech of agony that mingles with his brothers' cries, the helpless dragon crashes into the frozen lake and sinks into the water.

Later, Viserion's corpse is hauled up from the lake by the wights, and is resurrected by the Night King, becoming an ice dragon, his eyes glowing with the same blue tint as the White Walkers and wights.[17]

With Viserion as his mount, the Night King leads his army to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. There Viserion blasts the Wall with blue fire, eventually destroying the castle and the easternmost portion of the Wall, allowing the army of the dead to pass into the Seven Kingdoms.[2]

Viserion is seen during the Great War being ridden by the Night King. During the Battle of Winterfell, his flames destroy one of the walls of Winterfell and the people within it.

Jon and Daenerys, mounted on Rhaegal and Drogon respectively, engage the undead dragon and his rider in a ferocious battle, which leaves Viserion severely maimed when Rhaegal rips off part of his lower jaw and neck.

After Rhaegal retreats, having sustained serious injuries, Drogon drops from above and rams Viserion, knocking the Night King off his mount. Even riderless, Viserion descends into Winterfell's courtyard to wreak havoc there.

While Jon Snow fights his way through Winterfell trying to reach Bran, he is spotted by the dragon and is almost killed by blue fire. As Jon comes out of hiding, Viserion readies himself to kill him, but Arya Stark kills the Night King, severing the magic used to reanimate him and causing the dragon to drop dead.[18]

The death of Viserion, along with those of Jorah, Rhaegal, and Missandei, causes Daenerys Targaryen to give into her grief and burn the majority of King's Landing.[19]

Traits and Personality

The majority of Viserion's scales were golden, with cream colored markings under his neck and tail, and white horns and spines. His wings were red orange, with black tints along the bones. He had green eyes. Viserion is not as aggressive as Drogon, he is a more calm dragon much like Rhaegal. However, he can show ferocity if needed and will undoubtedly defend his mother from any enemy menacing her. Daenerys has trained him to respond to vocal commands in her mother tongue of High Valyrian, especially "Dracarys" (High Valyrian for dragonfire), to which Viserion responds by instantly breathing fire and burning anything in his path. Being a dragon, Viserion, has an immense phyisical strength and can spit destructive streams of fire. He can also fly extremely high and at great speeds, more than any other animal.

After becoming an ice dragon, Viserion's eyes turned blue, characteristic of White Walkers and their wights. His scales have seemingly lost their golden color, now appearing more deathly blue, his wings are torn and tattered in several places, and his horns have lost their bony color and resemble the white icicles crowning his master. Given the supernatural nature of dragons, this may be his body reacting to the Night King's magic. Unlike his living version, he can spit blue fire, powerful enough to demolish a part of the Wall with a single breath. Undead Viserion has also demonstrate strength enough to maintain a battle against Drogon and Rhaegal mounted by Daenerys and Jon respectively, heavily wounding Rhaegal in the process.

As a wight dragon, Viserion no longer possesses free will. He only follows the Night King's commands like any other wight in the Army of the Dead.

Appearances

Telltale Game Series appearances Iron From Ice The Lost Lords The Sword in the Darkness Sons of Winter A Nest of Vipers The Ice Dragon

Image Gallery

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Viserion is much the same. His primary coloration is specifically cream, though he is often referred to as simply the "white" dragon.

Daenerys named Viserion after her brother Viserys. As she explained, "Viserys was cruel and weak and frightened, yet he was my brother still. His dragon will do what he could not."

Viserion's name wasn't mentioned on-screen as of the end of Season 4, though it was stated in the Season 4 HBO Viewer's Guide, establishing that his name is the same in the TV continuity.[20] His name was finally stated on-screen (alongside Rhaegal's name) in Season 5 episode 1, "The Wars To Come".

Daenerys refers to her three dragons as "brothers", but as the exact origin of the eggs is never addressed, there is actually no reason to think that their eggs were all laid by the same dragon, or if the three eggs were even found in the same place (even if they are all from the Shadow Lands, that region is at least as large as Dorne). She may call them "brothers" more in the figurative sense that they were raised together.

In contrast to his namesake, Viserion is noted as being the best behaved of Daenerys's three dragons, even compared to his brother Rhaegal. Viserion in several ways seems to act like the bashful youngest brother of Daenerys's three dragons, the least violent, yet most friendly to other people besides Daenerys herself. When the three dragons are hunting, Drogon moves in for the kill first, because he is the largest, eating his fill before letting the others get a chance; Rhaegal isn't as large or strong, but relies on cunning, waiting to see when Drogon lets his guard down to come in from a side angle and snag some meat before Drogon is finished. Both Drogon and Rhaegal turn totally silent right before they are about to attack, so they don't surprise their prey and make them flee. Viserion, meanwhile, just charges directly at his prey, excitedly making as much noise as possible, sometimes scaring them off due to his lack of skill. He also isn't patient enough to wait for Drogon to let his guard down and snag some food the way Rhaegal does: he angrily approaches Drogon directly, but then gets scared off by Drogon again and again when he gets too close (almost like a pack of three dogs fighting over scraps: an alpha, a middle-sized dog, and a runt). Nonetheless, Viserion is still a dragon, and despite his sometimes clumsy hunting style he becomes very deadly to humans as he grows, dangerous enough to threaten entire armies.

In the third novel, Viserion has grown to the size of a small dog, like Rhaegal, a bit smaller than Drogon. Viserion grows fond of Brown Ben Plumm, the new commander of the Second Sons, sometimes landing on his shoulder. Ben tells Daenerys humorously that it is no wonder, for he has some dragon blood himself.

During the fifth novel, Daenerys is so busy ruling Meereen, that she neglects the dragons. Like any wild beast that is left to grow without proper training, all three grow savage and unrestrained; first they prey on sheep and goats, causing significant losses to shepherds. Only after a little girl is killed by Drogon, Daenerys realizes the dragons pose a great danger to her subjects, and must be kept locked in a makeshift dragon pit, large enough to hold 500 men, inside the Great Pyramid.

Viserion is the easiest to be chained up: Daenerys feeds him morsels of charred meat from her own hand, then leads him to the pit herself and shuts him up inside with several oxen; once he gorges himself, he grows drowsy, and Daenerys's servants chain him while he sleeps. Rhaegal is more difficult to restrain, perhaps because he heard Viserion raging in the pit, and Drogon flies away.

As the Yunkai troops and their sellswords draw closer to Meereen, Ben Plumm urges Daenerys to use Rhaegal and Viserion, but she reluctantly declines for a reason she cannot reveal - that she has lost control over them. As a result, the Second Sons switch sides.

Daenerys has Viserion and Rhaegal fed and visits them occasionally. As time passes, they break their chains and dig holes in the walls, though they still cannot exit the pit. When Daenerys comes with Quentyn Martell to visit them, she becomes worried that eventually they will break through the walls.

After Daenerys and Drogon leave Meereen, Quentyn seeks to steal Viserion and Rhaegal. The attempt costs his life, and the dragons finally get loose.

Viserion and Rhaegal terrorize the city, killing and eating people. They destroy the pyramid of Hazkar, then make the pyramids of Yherizan and Uhlez their lairs. Many of the Meereenese who reside in those pyramids are killed, either by the dragons' fire or crushed under the debris; the survivors find themselves homeless and penniless. Hundreds of people flee the city for any refuge that will have them; many others have lost all hope. In order to minimize the danger the dragons pose, Ser Barristan Selmy orders to fill the fighting pits with large amounts of sheep and bullocks, what seems to satisfy the dragons and make them less eager to feast on human flesh.

While making plans for the battle against the besieging armies, Selmy takes into consideration that Viserion and Rhaegal will undoubtedly arrive at the battlefield, drawn by the noises of battle and scent of blood, and probably attack both parties indiscriminately. Selmy hopes, though, that the sight of the dragons will demoralize the enemy troops.

During the ensuing battle between the defenders of Meereen and the besiegers, Viserion and Rhaegal are flying overhead. At the camp of the Second Sons, Tyrion watches Viserion as he roasts and consumes the corpses being thrown by one of the catapults. By the time Ben Plumm returns to the camp, Viserion flies back to his lair above Meereen.

By the point the novels reached, Viserion is still alive.

See also