House of the Dragon: Which Dragon’s Skull is Found in Dragonstone?

Dragons are alive in the times of House of the Dragon, there are wild dragons, ancient dragons that saw great battles, like Vhagar, and new dragons that belong to Rhaenyra, her half-brothers, and her children, but we also know that there are some dragons that have already passed on to a better life. And we’re not just talking about Meleys, who died in the battle against Vhagar, and Arrax, Luke’s dragon who is killed alongside him when Aemond and Vhagar appear in their path, but also about the dragons whose skulls we’ve seen throughout the series. At Dragonstone lies a skull that has been seen at least twice, including when Rhaenyra decides to tell her eldest son, Luke, the same story that Viserys I told her, about Aegon the Conqueror‘s dream and its meaning. But what nobody does is mention the name of that dragon, although many believe they know who it is.

House of the Dragon: Which Dragon’s Skull is Found in Dragonstone?

According to Fotogramas, this dragon is not new but is one of the dragons that helped Aegon I carry out his conquests, unify the kingdom, and give much more power to his family. Dragons that came to be considered as gods (Vhagar, who passed from Laena Velaryon to Aemond Targaryen, previously belonged to Visenya, Aegon’s other sister/wife). The skull is not that of Baleron, who was the largest dragon of all and was nicknamed the Black Dread, and ridden by Aegon I, but that of Rhaenys, his sister and wife (Rhaenys, Corlys’s wife who was played by Eve Best, is named after this warrior princess).

The theory, according to Photograms, says that it is Meraxes, who was larger than Vhagar (it is said that he was so big that he could even devour a horse in one bite) and had silver scales and golden eyes.

“Meraxes was born from one of the dragon eggs preserved on Dragonstone during the Bloody Century. He was named after an ancient god of the Valyrian Freehold,” the Fandom site Ice and Fire says. The Bloody Century began after what is known as the Doom of Valyria, and it is said that only Aenar Targaryen, his sons, and their respective dragons survived during that time, with Aegon I Targaryen being one of his descendants.

Meraxes flew alongside Valerian and Vhagar, with their riders, and was key to achieving the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, it was Meraxes who helped win the battle known as the Last Storm, where the last of the Storm Kings, Argilac Durrandon, died, giving victory to Orys Baratheon, founder of his house. Rhaenys and Meraxes were killed in battle in Dorne after a scorpion was used to attack the dragon. “Years later Prince Nymor Martell sent as a token of goodwill Meraxes’ skull to be used, along with eighteen other Targaryen dragon skulls, to adorn the wall of the throne room in the Red Keep,” the site says.

Now, why is it believed that Meraxes’ skull is the one we see at Dragonstone? At the Battle of Dorne, Meraxes was wounded in the eye, and the skull at Rhaenyra’s castle seems to bear the marks of that wound, and that is what points to it being the dragon that belonged to Rhaenys, but it is not explained why it would be at Dragonstone and not at the Red Keep, as the books indicate. Could it be a wild, older dragon, one that was there before the Targaryens came? House of the Dragon may never explain.