{"id":70196,"date":"2026-07-20T16:18:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T08:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=70196"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:18:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T08:18:02","slug":"why-did-vhagar-abandon-aemond-house-of-the-dragon-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=70196","title":{"rendered":"Why Did Vhagar Abandon Aemond? House of the Dragon Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><strong>Spoilers follow for both <\/strong><u><strong>House of the Dragon<\/strong><\/u><strong>  and Fire &amp; Blood.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">A lot happened in <u>House of the Dragon: Season 3, Episode 5<\/u>, from unseen assassins creating a gruesome tableaux of corpses worthy of a Thomas Harris serial killer to Alicent and Helaena\u2019s escape plan ending in a cliffhanger. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">One of the most curious events in this episode is the disappearance of the dragon Vhagar, who apparently abandoned her ailing rider Aemond at Harrenhal to go on a countryside spree while he recovers from his stab wound in the care of the enigmatic Alys Rivers. But as Aemond, as out of it as he is, correctly noted, Vhagar would never just leave him. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Remember, young Aemond bonded with Vhagar \u2014 the oldest of <u>all living dragons<\/u>, the last of those who participated in Aegon\u2019s Conquest \u2014 after his two older siblings had already claimed dragons of their own. As firmly established in Game of Thrones lore, a dragon is bound to its rider until the latter\u2019s death. Only then can a dragon accept a new rider. But Aemond isn\u2019t dead (well, not just yet, according to what his prescient sister Helaena foretold in <u>the Season 2 finale<\/u> and which he&#8217;s still freaking out about). <\/p>\n<h2 data-cy=\"title2\" class=\"title2 jsx-1903782357 jsx-3735650234\">The Bond Between Dragons &amp; Riders<\/h2>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">I was unable to find any existing examples in Game of Thrones lore where a dragon, no matter how mercurial, just ditched its rider when the going got tough. Arguably, the closest example is from House of the Dragon itself in one of its more <u>notable deviations from its literary source material<\/u>, George R.R. Martin\u2019s Targaryen history book <u>Fire &amp; Blood<\/u>. But that was a case of a human abandoning their dragon.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Every Dragon in Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"House of the Dragon depicts dragons wielded as both protectors of various Targaryen factions but also as almighty weapons wielded in a war dubbed the Dance of the Dragons, a years-long campaign for succession among the various Targaryen claimants to the Iron Throne \u2013 a war that will prove tragic for all involved, human and dragon alike.&#10;&lt;br&gt;&#10;&lt;br&gt;&#10;The following is a list of all the dragons that appeared during the Dance of the Dragons. Some have already debuted on House of the Dragon, while many others aren\u2019t expected to appear for several more seasons due to the significant passages of time chronicled in Fire &amp; Blood.\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg?cors=1) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">House of the Dragon: Season 1 saw dragonrider <u>Laenor Velaryon fake his death<\/u> and flee with his lover. In the book, Laenor was really killed, which meant his dragon Seasmoke was able to eventually bond with another rider, Addam of Hull. But by having Laenor live and Seasmoke still bond with Addam, House of the Dragon wrote their way around Martin\u2019s <u>rules of dragonriding<\/u>. Since dragons and riders share a deep bond, wouldn\u2019t Seasmoke have sensed that Laenor is still alive? Does abandonment equal death to a dragon? The show has left all that unanswered (unless <u>Laenor died off screen, as some have speculated<\/u> in order to explain this away).<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Perhaps it\u2019s a fool\u2019s errand to try to discern the motivations of a dragon. As historian Archmaester Gyldayn observed (in George R. R. Martin&#8217;s <u>novella The Princess and the Queen<\/u>):<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWe shall not pretend to any understanding of the bond between dragon and dragonrider; wiser heads have pondered that mystery for centuries. We do know, however, that dragons are not horses, to be ridden by any man who throws a saddle on their back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">But still, why did Vhagar leave Aemond? That abandonment has further shattered Aemond, whose psyche is now as wounded as his body. \u201cWithout her I\u2019m nothing,\u201d he despairs to Alys after seeing that his dragon is indeed gone, having fled in the night. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">We know Vhagar is still alive, as she\u2019s left a trail of clues behind her, so much so that the Blacks and the Greens both believe Aemond is just out there rampaging around (while Criston Cole and Ormund Hightower are left wondering when he\u2019s going to show up and help them like he was supposed to do). <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Fire &amp; Blood saw Aemond and Vhagar attacking the riverlands together. As far as the show has thus far revealed, Vhagar is doing this of her own volition while Aemond has been in the throes of a fever at Harrenhal the whole time. Aemond\u2019s wound and Alys nursing him back to health is an invention of the show.<\/p>\n<h2 data-cy=\"title2\" class=\"title2 jsx-1903782357 jsx-3735650234\">Alys Rivers: The Witch Queen of Harrenhal<\/h2>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"jsx-313219616\"><img alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image article-image article-image-full-size jsx-1809694635 jsx-2338608387\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><figcaption data-cy=\"caption\" class=\"caption jsx-1762799490 jsx-479945570 article-image-caption\">Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers. (Photo: Theo Whiteman\/HBO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The most obvious reason why Vhagar left Aemond is that Alys somehow got the Targaryen prince to order his dragon to leave him for a while but he can\u2019t remember doing that because of some trickery by Alys. Notably, Alys didn\u2019t really answer Aemond when he asks her if he\u2019s her prisoner. We know from <u>Daemon\u2019s time with Alys in Season 2<\/u> that she can manipulate even the most cunning of Targaryen men. Whether she\u2019s a witch or simply knows how to take advantage of men in a weakened state remains unclear. It\u2019s probably to her advantage for superstitious people to think she\u2019s a witch even if she\u2019s not.  <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">However she does it, Alys is able, without an army or economic resources, to get what she wants from the most fearsome Targaryens. And what she apparently wants, as she flat-out told Daemon, is the haunted castle Harrenhal itself. (We are also reminded in this episode that Rhaenyra has promised the castle to various other allies.)<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">By breaking Aemond psychologically \u2014 we see him desperately clinging to her, even calling her mother \u2014 Alys is able to further manipulate him to get what she wants. Or maybe she really is a witch, one powerful enough to conjure a spell that could disrupt the bond between a rider and its dragon? However it happened, Alys has clearly been able to override Vhagar\u2019s hold on Aemond long enough for her to break him down to his most vulnerable state and make him pliable in whatever her long game is. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">While Fire &amp; Blood readers know what\u2019s in store for Aemond and Alys, maybe House of the Dragon will throw yet <u>another curveball in how it adapts Martin\u2019s material for the screen<\/u>. We will hopefully know more before House of the Dragon\u2019s penultimate season concludes in August. <\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"poll-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\"\/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/house-of-the-dragon-why-vhagar-abandoned-aemond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spoilers follow for both House of the Dragon and Fire &amp; Blood. A lot happened in House of the Dragon: Season 3, Episode 5, from&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[11004,26841,2539,2867,1196,26840],"class_list":["post-70196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-abandon","tag-aemond","tag-dragon","tag-explained","tag-house","tag-vhagar","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}