Dragon egg headcanon
I headcanon that dragon eggs are technically, for all practical purposes, immortal. They can be broken and damaged, of course. But as long as the shell isn’t broken, they can stay viable forever, the hatchling still alive inside just waiting to be incubated.
Usually, dragon parents incubate their eggs right away, so they hatch at what’s seen as the “normal” time. Sometimes, however, something happens; the egg is lost or stolen, the family dies, the clan disappears… but as long as the shell isn’t broken, the egg will be fine. And sometimes, eggs can wait for months… years… centuries to be found and hatched. And the hatchling is born, as healthy as if the egg had been laid six days ago, but of course their parents and original clan have been long forgotten.
This is why, knowing how long eggs can last without incubation, there’s rarely an attempt to find a “first generation” dragon’s parents; it’s very possible that even their bones have become dust, there’s nothing left.
Unhatched eggs are literally little time capsules.
