'House of the Dragon' Gets One Thing Very Wrong That 'Game of Thrones' Got Right

2 hours ago 10
Matt Smith in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 3 Image via HBO

Published Sep 13, 2026, 7:57 AM EDT

Born with Autism (formerly classified as Asperger syndrome), Tyler B. Searle has been obsessed with storytelling since he was old enough to speak. He gravitated towards fairy tales, mythology, the fantasy genre, and animated movies and shows aimed at family audiences. When not writing, Tyler enjoys watching more cartoons and reading fantasy books in his home in Ontario, Canada.

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There are many reasons to love HBO's Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon, but one of the most celebrated is the iconic dragons. These mighty magical reptiles once allowed the Valyrian Empire to dominate most of Essos before a mysterious event known as the Doom of Valyria nearly killed them all. Generations later, the surviving Valyrian dragons would aid Aegon I Targaryen in uniting the warring kingdoms of Westeros and aid his descendants in ruling the Seven Kingdoms before they were wiped out in the Dance of the Dragons. For centuries, people struggled to bring the dragons back to life until Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) succeeded. Since much ancient knowledge was lost during the Doom of Valyria, many details about dragons remain a mystery, even to House Targaryen and their dragon keepers. One of these details is the rate at which dragons grow. When one compares dragons of comparable ages, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why they grow bigger or smaller. Or might there be a hidden reason that requires a deeper look?

How Do Dragons Grow in 'Game of Thrones' and 'House of the Dragon?'

When Daenerys hatches her dragons in one of Game of Thrones' best season finales, "Fire and Blood," they are around the size of cats and hardly much use in battle. However, they grow quickly, and by Season 3, the dragons are the size of wolves and capable of burning a human alive on their own. Season 5 sees Drogon, Daenerys' favorite dragon, grow to a size where she can ride on his back. His siblings, Rhaegal and Viseryon, are slightly smaller but maintain a similar growth rate, even after Daenerys locks them underground during the Season 4 finale when a child was seemingly killed by dragon fire. By the end of the show, approximately six to seven years between Seasons 1 to 8, the dragons are fully grown and capable of burning down armies.

Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell

Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.

🐺Stark

🦁Lannister

🐉Targaryen

🦌Baratheon

🌹Tyrell

FIND YOUR HOUSE →

01

Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.

ACall it out, openly and on the record. If honour means anything, it has to mean something when it's costly. BUse it. Information about someone else's dishonour is leverage — and leverage is power. CAct decisively to correct it — with or without the approval of those around me. DChallenge them directly. Strength settles disputes more honestly than courtroom manoeuvring. ENavigate carefully — build alliances, apply quiet pressure, and create a situation where the right outcome becomes inevitable.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?

AThe loyalty of people who trust me — earned over generations, not bought with gold. BWealth, intelligence, and the willingness to use both without sentiment. CA legacy so fearsome and a vision so total that opposition becomes unthinkable. DPhysical strength, military force, and the respect that comes from being the kind of person nobody wants to fight. ECharm, connection, and the ability to make powerful people feel that my success is also theirs.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.

AMy family and my people — those who depend on me and have kept faith with me through everything. BMy family — the ones who share my blood, even when they exhaust me, even when they disappoint me. CMy cause — a vision larger than any single person, including me. DMyself, and those few who've proven themselves worth fighting beside. EMy house — its name, its future, the position I intend to leave it in when I'm gone.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you deal with your enemies? A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.

AHonestly — I face them directly, and I give quarter when it's warranted. BThoroughly — I don't leave loose ends, and I don't make the same enemy twice. CDecisively — fire answers questions that diplomacy only delays. DHead-on — I'd rather meet a threat on the battlefield than behind closed doors. EElegantly — I prefer to make former enemies into allies, or at least into people who owe me something.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.

AA just one — someone who serves the realm rather than using it, who leads by example rather than fear. BA capable one — someone smart enough to navigate the game, ruthless enough to win it, and realistic about what winning costs. CA transformative one — someone who doesn't just rule what exists but reshapes what's possible. DA strong one — someone whose authority is beyond question because the alternative is obviously worse. EA wise one — someone who understands that the realm is fed by more than armies, and that a full stomach keeps more peace than a sharp sword.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.

AWe grieve, properly and together — and then we endure, because endurance is what we do. BWe adapt. We reassess. And we ensure that whoever caused this loss comes to regret it completely. CWe burn hotter. Setbacks don't soften us — they clarify what needs to happen next. DWe hit back. Grief and revenge are the same motion in our house. EWe regroup quietly, rebuild our position, and return when we're ready — on our terms, not theirs.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.

AThe lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Nothing matters more than the people you protect. BA Lannister always pays their debts — in gold or in kind. Reputation is built on consistency. CI am the blood of the dragon. Some destinies are written before the person who carries them is born. DOurs is the fury. When we move, we move completely — and we don't stop until it's done. EGrowing strong means knowing when to bloom and when to wait. Patience is its own kind of power.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.

AClaim it only if the realm needs me to — and rule in a way that makes it worth having. BEnsure someone who owes us sits in it. The power behind the throne is safer than the throne itself. CTake it. It was always meant to be mine — I feel that in my bones and in my blood. DSeize it — with both hands, without hesitation. Opportunity in Westeros does not wait to be asked. EPosition my house to be indispensable to whoever sits there — influence outlasts any single reign.

REVEAL MY HOUSE →

The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…

Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you.

🐺 House Stark

Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.

  • You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
  • Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult.
  • The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
  • You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.

🦁 House Lannister

You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.

  • You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
  • A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
  • You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
  • The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.

🐉 House Targaryen

You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.

  • You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
  • Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
  • The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
  • At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.

🦌 House Baratheon

You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.

  • Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it.
  • You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
  • The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
  • The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.

🌹 House Tyrell

You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes.

  • Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
  • You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
  • The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
  • You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.

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Given this time frame, the growth rate of the dragons almost two hundred years ago is truly all over the map. Adult dragons like Syrax and Seasmoke, who bonded to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Ser Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan), are comparable in size to Drogon by the end of the show. However, these dragons were already massive when their riders were in their teenage years and didn't grow much during the ten years of their marriage. And dragons like Caraxes, ridden by Daemon (Matt Smith), or Meleys, ridden by Rhaenys (Eve Best), seem comparable to Seasmoke and Syrax despite being much older and having other riders prior to their current ones.

Meanwhile, the dragons of some of the eldest children on both sides, such as Prince Jacaerys Velaryon's (Harry Collett) Vermax, Lady Baela Targaryen's (Bethany Antonia) Moondancer, and Prince Daeron Targaryen's (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) Tessarion, are only just big enough to allow riders on their backs, even though they are at least double the age of Drogon and his brothers. Then there is Sunfyre, the dragon ridden by Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). Despite almost two decades separating them in age, Sunfyre seems to be comparable in size to Syrax. No explanation is given for this irregular growth, which makes Daenerys' dragons all the more curious.

Why Are the Dragons Sized So Differently?

While no official reason is given for why dragons grow at different rates, there are a few speculations that can be made based on the information given. The first clue could have to do with raising the dragons in captivity versus raising them in the wild. During House of the Dragon, most dragons are kept either in the caves on Dragonstone or the massive Dragon Pit of King's Landing. While the Dragon Pit does contain caves that the dragons can use as lairs, they also offer no way for the dragons to see the sky, and they can only spread their wings at the whim of their riders.

The dragons on Dragonstone fare slightly better since their lairs are more naturally formed, and they are capable of flying around the island at their pleasure. As such, some of these dragons, such as Vermithor and Silverwing, were among the largest dragons at the time, even compared to Dreamfyre, who was hatched before them. This theory could explain why Daenerys' dragons grew quickly since they were allowed to fly free and hunt their own food for years. While Rhaegal and Viserion were imprisoned by Daenerys at the end of Season 4, they didn't spend nearly the same level of time underground as dragons like Vermax.

Another explanation could come from the dragon's origins. Daenerys' three dragons were hatched from petrified eggs using blood magic that required the sacrifice of Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou). Mirri told Daenerys that death pays for life, and it's theorized that the ancient Valyrians first bonded with dragons through blood rituals. Perhaps when Daenerys recreated this ancient ceremony, it infused her young dragons with enough magic to accelerate their growth. Meanwhile, the dragons from House of the Dragon are the byproduct of generations of inbreeding. Aegon the Conqueror only had three dragons when he took Westeros: Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar. Thus, the dragons currently used by House Targaryen are descended from them. With no new genetic material to work with, issues are bound to pop up as the generations go on. Dragon eggs are already notoriously difficult to hatch, and those who do never reach the same majesty as the dragons that bore them.

Whatever the answer, it's unlikely we will receive it anytime soon. In one of his Not a Blog posts, author George R. R. Martin, the creator of the A Song of Ice and Fire series both shows are based on, said that more information about dragons will be revealed in his upcoming books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. Unfortunately, it's doubtful the public will ever get to read Winds, and the best we can do is speculate on just why the size of these dragons is so inconsistent.

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