Hello! I love your designs for the asoiaf dragons. I find myself picturing them whenever I'm reading the books, they're that great 💜
I also wanted to know if you've thought about the dragons' genealogy? Iirc based on your designs Stormcloud and Morning come from Syrax, so I'm curious about what other headcanons you have in regards to this matter.
Thank you so much, it means the world to me that someone is out there picturing my designs while reading the books ♥️
As for whether I’ve thought about the dragons’ genealogy… Yes. A lot. Probably more than anyone else in this fandom, if I’m honest. The doc where I’ve written my asoiaf dragons thesis lags when I open it (and it’s not even finished)
In fact, I’ve thought about this so much that I’m pretty sure it eventually led to me choosing my major in genetics a few years back lol
The Syrax-Morning parentage is actually canon! In fact, it’s the only one that’s canon. The rest of what I’ve written down below is all speculation.
It’s still a very lengthy post, but I’ve shortened this a lot from what I’ve actually got written down, because it’s very long and boring and there’s a lot of timeline analysis and theorising on how certain physical traits are passed down, and even how dragons reproduce. I might make more detailed posts on all of this if people actually want to read it : )
The most important thing is that I believe in the Barth theory that dragons can change sexes, so I do have gay dragons in my headcanons! And also I think dragons can also reproduce asexually, because at some point Dreamfyre lays eggs without any other dragons around for years; not sure if this maybe means that dragons have a very long gestation period, or if it’s a mistake by GRRM, but that’s another headcanon.
Now, actual headcanons, (mostly) in chronological order : ) Unfortunately the dragons are more inbred than the Targs, but there really was no avoiding it
(MILD FUTURE HOTD SPOILERS NEAR THE END)
Quicksilver is Meraxes’s daughter. Just makes sense, I’m pretty sure this is everyone’s headcanon. I like Balerion as her other parent (because drama), so in my design she has reddish eyes
Dreamfyre is Quicksilver’s daughter, and Vhagar is her other mother. I like this because she has to get the blue from somewhere and Vhagar has turquoise markings
Vermithor and Silverwing are Dreamfyre’s. Maybe they have another parent, or maybe not. Dreamfyre is built different, she don’t need no 2nd parent. This is another reason for me making Vhagar Dreamfyre’s mom, because now Vermithor gets his bronze scales from one of his grannies
Meleys is Vhagar and Balerion’s. For drama’s sake, and because she needs to get red from somewhere. Plus I like green-eyed Meleys, and Vhagar is the only dragon who canonically has green eyes
I headcanon Caraxes as Aemon’s cradle egg, so to me it makes sense for him to be Silverwing and Vermithor’s son. As such, I gave Silverwing blue eyes because I like blue-eyed Caraxes. Caraxes gets his red from Vermi ig, bronze isn’t too far removed from red
Sheepstealer is also Vermithor and Silverwing’s
Syrax is Meleys’s. I know people really like Silverwing as her mom in the show (even though it’s not explicitly canon), but idk, I prefer Meleys because it’s like that in the CK mod🧍. I gave my Syrax black horns, because Morning (her daughter) and Stormcloud (probably also her offspring) have black horns
For Seasmoke though, it’s Meleys and Silverwing as his parents (don’t worry, Silverwing didn’t cheat, it was a three-way, Vermithor was also there). I find it highly unlikely that Jaehaerys would allow a cradle egg to be given to a Velaryon child, so Seasmoke’s egg must’ve been laid by Meleys, and Seasmoke can get his turquoise from granny Vhagar. Silverwing is there to lend her grey scale genes; I guess she can be Syrax’s other mom after all
Sunfyre is Syrax and Caraxes’s. Just makes sense to me, especially in the show, Sunfyre is showing some of those noodle genes. Plus I can easily see how yellow becomes gold. Sunfyre has his papa’s blue eyes
Tessarion and Grey Ghost are from the same clutch, and Vermithor and Silverwing are their parents. I have no proof to back this up, I just thought it’d be cute. Grey Ghost gets his grey from Silverwing, and Tessarion gets her blue from Silver (and Dreamfyre a generation back) and her copper from Vermi
Vermax, Arrax, Tyraxes and Stormcloud are all Syrax’s as well. During the period of time the first three were born, Syrax, Caraxes, Seasmoke and Vhagar were all hanging around each other, so any of them could have formed a couple during this time. I personally think Arrax, Tyraxes and Stormcloud are Seasmoke’s, and Vermax is Caraxes’s, but they could go either way tbh. I my designs, I gave them all golden eyes like Seasmoke though
Moondancer is definitely Caraxes’s, but I’m not sure about the other parent. Vhagar and Seasmoke both have the turquoise that could give Moondancer her pale green, and Syrax was around too. I personally prefer Vhagar here
Shrykos is Tessarion’s. I wanted to give her at least one child, and Shrykos is copper like some of Tess’s scales. I headcanon Sunfyre as the other parent here, but it could’ve been a one-parent job as well
Morghul is Dreamfyre and Syrax’s. I needed to force the Syfy ship in somewhere, and I think Morghul is Dreamfyre’s anyway, so why can’t Syrax be the other parent? At least now he gets his black scales from somewhere
As I said, the Morning-Syrax parentage is canon. I think Caraxes is her other parent, because pink is just pastel red
The Last Dragon I headcanon as being Morning’s, since there aren’t any other grown dragons in Targ custody to be laying eggs around this time :,)
Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion are definitely the eggs that Elissa Farman stole, but it’s never actually said in the book that those eggs were laid by Dreamfyre, or that they’re even from the same clutch. They could’ve been laid by any dragon alive at that time. I personally think it their parents were Vhagar and Balerion, since Dany’s dragons look so much like the Conquerors trio, so it makes sense to me
I almost forgot Cannibal. Aight, I headcanon that he’s Balerion’s son, because of his colouring, but I haven’t really decided on a general birthdate for him. He could be Vhagar’s as well, because of the green eyes, but I also really like the idea of him being older than her, and having been born before the Conquest. Doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s bigger, either, Vermithor is bigger than Dreamfyre while he’s younger. Perhaps his growth was stunted or smth, it’s known to happen. I don’t know, it feels wrong to make any conclusions about Cannibal, whose whole appeal is being mysterious
That’s about it, I think I’ve covered all of them, let me know if I missed any dragons or you want to know more about my opinions lol
I really tried to keep this concise, but it got out of hand anyway. I might try to draw a family tree again, but it's near impossible to do so :,)