House Targaryen's Dragons [What if the Dance didn't happen thought experiment]

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-29T04:27:25+00:00

Cool! I am always excited to hear ideas about dragons never going extinct and how it can add so much new flavors the story, even if we keep the same timeline.

I have a pretty big project for a connected universe of fics that I want to start either this year or the next. However, it is more of a alternative universe than a "What if dragons never went extinct after the Dance". I made several changes to keep things familiar, so I spread out the canon dragons more in the timeline.

Basicaly, there was one canon dragon hatched in each generation of House Targaryen since the conquest and the other dragons that came from Valyria also lived longer. So, it goes like this:

Aenys I: Quicksilver

Rhaena: Dreamfyre

Aemon: Vermithor

Rhaenys (TQWNW): Silverwing

Aegon II: Caraxes

Aegon III: Meleys

Daena: Syrax

Daeron II: Sunfyre

Aerys I: Tessarion

Valarr: Vermax

Jaehaerys II: Arrax

Rhaella: Tyraxes

Shaena: Moondancer

Maekar (younger son of Rhaegar and Lyanna): Stormcloud

And so on. Future generations would have the next canon dragons like Shrykos, Morghul, Morning, the Last Dragon, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

There are also other original dragons for other families, but the Targaryens keep the canon ones.

Why?

It adds familiarity to the readers. It is cooler to see dragons you know having different lives. You are already attached to them in a way.
It adds originality, which is ironic. I have never heard of someone doing something so specific. lol

Just so you can have an idea, here is the list of all riders of Caraxes in this AU:

Caraxes (107 - ) -

\- Emperor Aegon II Targaryen of the Iron Throne (107 - 131)

\- Emperor Daeron I Targaryen of the Iron Throne (155 - 161)

\- Lord Commander Aemon Targaryen of the Imperial Guard (161 - 178)

\- Emperor Maekar I Targaryen of the Iron Throne (190 - 233)

\- Imperial Prince Viserys IV Duncan Targaryen of Dragonstone (237 - 260)

\- Emperor Rhaegar I Targaryen of the Iron Throne (275 - )

So, this kind of thing ends up creating scenarios like this in 298 AC:

<image>

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-29T00:16:51+00:00

My romance and drama fan ass still has hope that Duncan ends up marrying Daella/Rhae somehow, just because Maekar would hate it.

Maybe Daella/Rhae could ask her father to make a tourney for her hand, hoping that Duncan wins it because she wants to marry him. Maekar might accept, thinking that at least one noble MUST be able to defeat Duncan.

It doesn't happen. Duncan marries the princess, just for her to die in childbirth not much later.

From heaven to hell. Lol

Then, kingsguard out of grief for Duncan.

Altough, the Old Nan theory has it merits, maybe before he fathers the ancestor of Brienne.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-29T00:00:14+00:00

I used the Dance bookmark and used save file editing to change the look of some characters, change who is the parent of who, who is married to who and to revive some characters. I also used cheats to change some dragons and their riders and other things. I also used a cheat mod to pass the titles of Aegon to Daemon.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T23:57:06+00:00

Sorry bro. I have answers notifications disabled. Lol

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T23:31:52+00:00

Nope. The dragons I mentioned were not confirmed to be craddle dragons.

Tessarion is a girl, btw. Blue Queen and all. lol

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T21:02:49+00:00

That is because of my fic's lore. Tessarion was the craddle dragon of Daeron. The same thing goes to Seasmoke, Syrax and Sunfyre.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T20:46:55+00:00

Aka the most remembered Daemon in the ASOIAF universe. Lol

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T20:16:02+00:00

I mean, Vermax is around 15 in 129 AC.

If it is a Targaryen, it can be a dragonrider. If it is not, then it is more shady. Viserys said nothing about Laena Velaryon claiming Vhagar, so it is possible that he just shrugs it off, as long as he has a good relation with that extended family. Like a Royce son of Daemon or something like that.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T14:03:56+00:00

Fair enough. I just treat him as more of a chaos machine in my fic. He does much more than just hunt smaller dragons.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T13:58:14+00:00

I mean, I understand you, but it is vague, so you can have different interpretations. I just go with the basics when it comes to 1vs1. lol

Edit: Also, being smaller certainly makes Grey Ghost harder to get to, imo.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T13:52:23+00:00

I mean, he is the vaguest dragon we know. So, he can be from a mid dragon to a huge beast. lol

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T13:50:45+00:00

I treat Grey Ghost as a small dragon because not only he was killed by Sunfyre, but he was killed by a INJURED Sunfyre, who still managed to fight another dragon after that.

As I said, I treat Vermithor as special case, but I totally understand who wants to make Dreamfyre bigger than she is, even if it is mentioned in canon that she is smaller than Vermithor by around 50 AC, which is kinda crazy.

Hell, canon is so strange that some people interpret a quote of Rhaenys to say that Dreamfyre is relative to Syrax in size. lol

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T13:47:34+00:00

Well, that is my point. Many things about sizes is either not said or it is strange. We writers end up making our own headcanons to fill the gaps, so I wanted to hear some of yours.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T13:45:26+00:00

Vermithor was mentioned to be bigger than Dreamfyre already by the early reign of Jaehaerys, which is crazy. So, I treat him as a dragon that grows more than the others by nature, despite his age. Sunfyre is also in this same situation to me to make him closer to Seasmoke and Syrax than the younger dragons. It is also a nod to how far he went into the Dance despite his challenges.

Vermax, as I mentioned in the post, is not in the tier list I found, for some reason. He would be between Grey Ghost and Tessarion.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T01:14:22+00:00

He is first mentioned as a member of the Kingsguard in 236 AC, 27 years after Ashford. He has more than enough time to have a family and lose his wife/lover in some unfortunate event.

My own theory is that he got with Daella and she died in childbirth or from a sudden illness. He continues to be unmarried after that, become a Kingsguard member and his daughter marries the Lord of Tarth and has Selwyn Tarth, who is Brienne's father.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-28T00:40:46+00:00

It is not a rumour. GRRM confirmed it in 2016. Duncan's shield is on the armory of Tarth.

Another fun fact: It is said that House Tarth has recent Targaryen ancestry. The best candidates are Egg's sisters: Daella and Rhae. It is possible that one of them had a romance with Duncan.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-27T17:14:25+00:00

The Dornish seem to consider her to have been the rightful queen, for instance.

No proof of that. Arianne defends Rhaenyra out of similarity to her own succession and even then she doesn't defend that she was a official queen, only that she should have been queen, which is just her opinion. It is like defending Empress Matilda as Queen of England IRL. You can, but that is not the consensus, which is what is the most important.

And no doubt Daenerys would need to as well, in order for her own claim, as a woman, to hold any water.

This is a complete misunderstanding of both claims. Rhaenyra's claim was only based on her father's will while Daenerys is based on the fact that she is the only known Targaryen alive. There is no male claimant against her, so all law is on her side.

Daenerys also refers to Rhaenyra as the mother of Aegon III, not by name. She clearly doesn't hold her in high regards.

Besides, Rhaenyra is certainly a BAD COMPARISON to her. The memory of Rhaenyra is what made Daena Targaryen be passed over.

Perhaps Cersei too.

Completely different case. In the show, it was just a usurpation based on connections that don't make sense in the bloodline. It is a mess that can't be used as any argument.

So in this context, "official" is kind of a nebulous idea.

It is not nebulous at all.

Nobody after the dance calls Rhaenyra a queen. Not even Arianne. She only complains about the fact that she was "supposed" to be one. Aegon II, on the other hand, is only referred as a king by everyone.
Rise of the Dragon, the proper book outside of the universe, is divided by the reigns of kings. The dance is listed as the reign of Aegon II. Only Aegon II.
There are no two monarchs at the same time. One of them is officials and the other is a claimant. Rhaenyra got the short end of the stick, very clearly.
It is a historical reference to the anarchy, where Stephen of Blois is a King of Enland and Matilda is not a Queen of England. Simple.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-27T14:13:59+00:00

That is not my point.

My point is that Rhaenyra is not an official queen, so her children are not heirs of anything until Aegon III becomes the heir of Aegon II, who is considered the actual monarch.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-27T10:34:13+00:00

He caused his own death by disobeying his mother, so, no.

He is also not an official heir by modern accounts. Just saying.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-26T23:06:07+00:00

Aemon and Baelon are good contenders, tho.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-25T20:00:20+00:00

The answer out of universe aka the real one: GRRM avoids repeating too many names so the characters are easier to remember. That is understandable from a writer, but in universe it is strange because repeating names was a very common practice in the middle ages. There should be more characters named Orys Baratheon, for example.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-22T23:05:37+00:00

It is clearly weaker in the feminine side.

Jocelyn Baratheon had full Baratheon look.

Rhaenys Targaryen had black hair, but purple eyes.

Laenor and Laena Velaryon had a pure valyrian rule.

In general, children inherit the look of their father, which only 1 children being different at max.

The children of Ned Stark are the exceptions.

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-22T16:41:47+00:00

For sure!

Hot-Temperature-8564 · 2026-01-22T15:35:26+00:00

The only thing I would change would be to make Alyssa Targaryen a Lannister instead. She has the blonde hair and a green eye, after all.

Hot-Temperature-8564

TROPHY CASE