BEWARE! SPOILERS

So Viserion is gone to the dark side of the force. Look at that disquieting blue eye….

 

 

 

There have been many predictions that at least of one of Dany’s dragons would die, and some saying that the Night King would come up with ice dragons of his own… and a few had been suggesting that one of the dragons would be transformed… and now the last of these theories has been confirmed.

 

To be fair, if one of the dragons was to die or go evil it had to be Viserion. Why? Clearly, because he was named after Dany’s deranged and selfish elder brother. I mean, why would you name a beautiful and noble creature after a psycho?

 

Drogon totally makes sense (because od Drogo), so does Rhaegal because of Dany’s brother (also known as Jon’s Dad), but, Viserys, seriously? There were so many other good name options too : think Balerion (after the dragon that helped conquer Westeros), or even Jaehaerys ( a mouthful, of a name, yes, but a really good Targaryen ruler). Names that basically guarantee sensible fire-breathing monsters. But no, she had to name him after her sadistic brother.

 

It does seem that Viserion has taken after his namesake Viserys and is going to spend his time trying to prevent Dany from taking the iron throne.

 

Or is he?

 

The assumption that Viserion is turned evil is a logical one, given that all dead humans whose eyes turn blue turn into wights (basically zombies who are controlled by the White Walkers. ) But the question is: does that make him an Ice Dragon or just an undead zombie wight dragon? Or is the distinction only a question of technical terms and misunderstandings?

 

We don’t know much about ice dragons. They are used almost as a throwaway reference in the main Song of Ice and Fire books themselves. In The World of Ice and Fire, they are described as

 

“colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, [ice dragons] are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings (….) ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat.”

 

This description doesn’t actually seem to describe Viserion’s current state. He’s not bigger than a Valyrian dragon, nor are his wings translucent.  He is simply a Valyrian dragon transformed into a wight.  Does that mean that ice dragons are a separate type of creature that just hasn’t appeared yet? Or is the TV series fusing the two different types of dragon into one? Or is the TV series just not being very accurate as to what ice dragons are supposed to look like? Or were the reports of ice dragons present in Westeros confused?

 

 

The other source we have that speaks of ice dragons is George R.R. Martin’s short children’s book The Ice Dragon. The problem with it as a source is that George R.R. Martin claims the book is not linked to the Song of Ice and Fire. (although its publishers notoriously do).

 

The description of an ice dragon in this book, however, lines up pretty neatly with what we have in The World of Ice and Fire

 

“The ice dragon was large; half again the size of the green scaled war dragons(…) The ice dragon was crystalline white, that shade of white that is so hard and cold that it is almost blue. It was covered with hoarfrost, so when it moved its skin broke and crackled as the crust on the snow crackles beneath a man’s boots (…) It’s eyes were clear and deep and icy. Its wings were vast and batlike, colored all a translucent blue. Adara could see the clouds through them. (…) The ice dragon breathed cold.”

 

 

But the ice dragon of The Ice Dragon book, though it brings ‘death and quiet and cold’ into the world is actually a lovely friendly creature who sacrifices its life to protect the heroine of the book, the child, Adara, and her family.

 

Now granted, Adara is a bit special – she is called “a winter’s child”. As Daenerys does not feel the heat of her hot baths and the scorching fire, Adara does not feel the cold of the ice or the snow. Dany rides, fire-breathing dragons, and Adara rides the Ice Dragon.

 

What does this mean for the Game of Thrones?

 

A great deal of things. If Viserion transformed is supposed to be an “ice dragon”, he needn’t necessarily be purely evil. It might be that with a good rider, he might turn to the correct side.

 

If, however, as I suspect, Viserion is not actually an ice dragon as described in the tales, that leaves us with a great many options.

 

1. It could be that he is simply a wight and therefore only controlled by the wight’s king. Ice dragons as described in the tales do not exist. The simplest option. It’s a safe assumption.
2. Ice dragons as described in the tales do exist, and one might actually still appear. Possibly the coolest option? (Forgive me the pun) They could either be good or evil (or as most of George R.R. Martin characters, a little bit of both). A possible candidate for an ice dragon rider could be

a) Jon Snow, as he is already living on borrowed time….

b) Or possibly Arya ( like Adara she is a child and a girl. However, we have not heard that she is immune to the cold and she is definitely a summer child)

c)There’s also Bran, who is the Three-Eyed-Raven and therefore not quite human anymore.?

 

What do you think? Is Viserion actually an ice dragon? Or are there different ice dragons? Who would make a great ice dragon rider?