Every Dragon In HBO's House Of The Dragon, Ranked By Strength

This article contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon."

"House of the Dragon" has really surpassed all expectations for what a prequel to a beloved (then very hated) TV show can be, carrying over all the good political intrigue and backstabbing from "Game of Thrones," while also finding the time to give us truly weird and bizarre subplots like Daemon going through his own version of "Luigi's Mansion" at Harrenhal.

Of course, the raison d'être for "House of the Dragon" is being able to see a time when the titular dragons ruled the skies and went into battle relatively constantly. So far, the show has delivered on the promise of absolute mayhem and seeing hellfire falling from the sky in the medieval equivalent of nuclear warfare. As the war between Team Black and Team Green rages on, and new dragon riders come into play, it's time to recap every dragon that we know (including the ones we have sadly lost), and explore how scary, powerful, and also silly they are.

That's right, this is every dragon in "House of the Dragon," scientifically ranked by strength.

We are grouping every smaller dragon, from Moondancer to Tessarion, including Tyraxes, Stormcloud and even the dragon eggs that will one day become Viserion, Rhaegal, and Drogon. These dragons are not strong enough or even big enough to go into battle, and their strength may be comparable to a medium-sized eagle. Sure, they can do damage, and Tessarion and Moondancer are even big enough to be ridden, but they are not going anywhere near a battle just yet.

Down the line, maybe in a few decades, these dragons will be strong enough to be contenders for the title of best dragon in Westeros. We know at least one of the eggs, Drogon, will be strong enough to fight the Night King himself centuries from now during The Long Night in "Game of Thrones." As of right now, however, they are glorified magical pets. Adorable pets, for sure, but not really weapons of war.

There's no denying it, Arrax is the most useless dragon of them all. Dragons are meant to be — at the very least — powerful beings capable of great feats of strength and of delivering plenty of destruction. They can't all be Balerion the Black Dread, for sure, but at least be able to escape from a fight and live to rain hellfire another day.

Sadly, Arrax is not that dragon. A very young dragon, he was mature enough to be ridden by Prince Lucerys Velaryon, but not anywhere near strong or big enough to actually go into battle. It didn't help, of course, that Arrax' first fight against a dragon was with Vhagar the blind old nuke with wings. It didn't take much effort from the giant Vhagar — who was five times as big as Arrax — to pluck the young dragon from the sky and extinguish the light from its eyes in one swift attack.

Just slightly older and bigger than Arrax is Vermax, who belongs to Lucerys' older brother Jacaerys Velaryon. Much like Arrax, he hatched from a dragon egg given to Jacaerys at a very young age, bonding with his rider from birth. We don't know much about Vermax's relationship with Jacaerys or their personality, but we do know that Vermax doesn't like snow and cold very much.

Still, unlike Lucerys, Prince Jacaerys is more eager and better prepared to go into battle — or as prepared as a teenage boy can be in a world that hasn't seen war in decades. Vermax at least has the agility, the youth, the strength, and the eagerness to prove themself and their rider that they might have a chance to survive in battle more than Arrax did, provided they don't get sneak attacked by old lady Vhagar. Their chance to test themselves in battle will come soon enough.

Dreamfyre is one of the oldest dragons in "House of the Dragon," as she hatched during the reign of Aegon the Conqueror and bonded with his nine-year-old granddaughter Rhaena Targaryen around a century before the Dance of the Dragons that we're seeing unfold. Though large in size and with more than a few decades of wisdom under her, Dreamfyre has never seen battle before, so it's unknown whether she is strong in a fight. Instead, Rhaena liked to travel with her dragon, and the two visited much of Westeros in their day.

In the time of "House of the Dragon," however, Dreamfyre is bonded with Queen Helaena Targaryen, who has not really done much beyond stay at the Red Keep and speak in cryptic predictions of events to come. Still, credit to Dreamfyre, she has the honor of being the first person to recognize what a little jerk Aemond is, because when he tried to bond with her, she responded by trying to burn him alive.

Out of the younger dragons, Sunfyre is the only one we've seen ride into battle properly, after his rider Aegon II — aka the biggest clown in all Seven Kingdoms — decided to charge into battle unannounced. This act of buffoonery cost Aegon great pain and suffering that left his body charred after being "mistakenly" attacked by Aemond and Vhagar, and it seemingly killed poor, sweet, Sunfyre.

Indeed, even if Sunfyre managed to engage in a dragon battle with Meleys, he didn't last very long as the she-dragon severely wounded Sunfyre before Vhagar finished the job. And it is in this fight that we get one of the most heartbreaking scenes with dragons on "House of the Dragon," with Sunfyre looking unequivocally sad as he realizes his impending doom, crying out for Aegon as both an apology and a goodbye to his one and only rider. It's sad stuff, but Aegon brought this on himself.

So, this is a bit of a cheat as we have not even seen what Sheepstealer looks like, how strong he is, what his personality is, or whether he can actually fight. Still, we know exactly two things about him — he loves sheep and eats a lot of them. Based on the huge charred fields filled with carcasses left in his wake, it is safe to assume that Sheepstealer is not on the smaller side when it comes to the dragons on this list. Whether he can stand toe to toe with Vhagan remains to be seen, but the show's source material describe Sheepstealer as having a comparable size to Dreamfyre.

Even if Sheepstealer is not super strong, he is already one of the better dragons on "House of the Dragon" because of his affinity for sheep. Whatever strength he has, it comes only from sheep. He doesn't give a crap about people, he doesn't seem to attack the nearby towns, or even farmers, he is only in it for the sheep.

Here's the thing about Syrax, we have at least seen her on-screen — as opposed to Sheepstealer. And we know she is a big gossiper, as seen when Rhaenyra confronts Addam of Hull about bonding with Seasmoke and Syrax and the she-dragon both start shrieking in excitement as they share the news about Seasmoke finding a new human. 

When it comes to strength, it is hard to picture Syrax being any skilled at combat. After all, being the dragon of the king's only child, Syrax spent her entire life being a pampered princess showpony of a dragon, a giant lizard housecat who never had to lift a finger. Indeed, Syrax was mostly kept at the Red Keep (and now at Dragonstone) with servants feeding her all the time. She's a dragon who's been pampered for so long now that she now refuses to hunt for herself. She may be adorable but not exactly the fierce leader the other dragons need.

Now we're getting somewhere. Silverwing is among the older dragons here, born during the reign of Jaehaerys I. For better and worse, Jaehaerys' reign was a rather peaceful one, so Silverwing is not a seasoned warrior like, say, Vhagar. But she does have massive points for her personality. That's because she is essentially the dragon from "Shrek," choosing a new rider in a seemingly random fashion.

Indeed, while Rhaenyra was too preoccupied killing bastards until she found a rider for Vermithor, Silverwing (whose first rider was the wife and queen of Vermithor's rider, Jaehaerys himself) was feeling FOMO and boredom in her old age. Such was her desire to just leave her house for once this decade that she literally picked the first clown who stumbled upon her little cave and stepped on her eggs. Perhaps, in her old age, Silverwing actually thought that Ulf was a weird-shaped dragon who hatched from one of her eggs. Perhaps she just thought he was cute for some reason. Or, perhaps, she thinks of him as a pet, a stray puppy who she literally gives a boop to upon first meeting, then takes out for a walk. Silverwing may not be the strongest dragon physically, but she has the strongest personality.

Seasmoke automatically gets a lot of cool points because he is the first dragon we know of who literally went out of his way to choose his own rider (even if it might break canon that his previous rider is technically still alive). Tired of having random people presented in front of him who have the audacity to claim they are worthy of him, Seasmoke just went out to the beach and chased his hubby, hunting him like prey until he submitted and agreed to be a dragonrider. This is unprecedented, and it shows that dragons have more agency, intelligence, and personality than both the audience and all the show's characters previously thought.

And he has proven his strength in battle, already — unlike most other dragons on this list. Seasmoke is a veteran of the War for the Stepstones and helped utterly defeat the Triarchy back in season 1. He is fast, strong, and a capable fighter, so having him on Team Black is a huge win for them (especially after losing one of their star players).

Rest in peace, Meleys, we hardly knew you. Meleys was born in the time of Jaehaerys I and bonded with Alyssa Targaryen, mother to Viserys and Daemon. She was considered to be the fastest dragon in all of Westeros, which is saying a lot considering how quickly the clown-in-chief Aegon II ran to the action with Sunfyre. And she was strong, too, as seen when Meleys and her second rider Rhaenys defeated Aegon and Sunfyre at the Battle at Rook's Rest. She even held her own against both Sunfyre and Vhagar for a while.

Unfortunately, as strong and fast as Meleys was, fighting two dragons wasn't easy, and Vhagar the old, decrepit hag was too much to handle. As Vhagar delivered a killing blow, Meleys gave us arguably the saddest dragon moment since Drogon's cry following Daenerys' death in "Game of Thrones." In her final moments, the she-dragon delivered one last sad look of goodbye to Rhaenys, as both fell to their death.

First of all, Caraxes has one of the coolest designs in all of "House of the Dragon." He looks like a big red menace, a Carnotaurus with wings. Living up to that description, Caraxes has seen battle several times. First, he and his rider Prince Aemon Targaryen (Rhaenys' father) fought against the Dornish fleet during the Fourth Dornish War, with Caraxes accomplishing great feats of strength — despite his rider dying ridiculously in the process. Later, with Prince Daemon, Caraxes fought against the Triarchy together with Seasmoke during the War for the Stepstones, helping to defeat the formidable Crabfeeder (rest in peace, you magnificent weirdo).

As cool and badass as Caraxes is, however, he has spent the majority of season 2 of "House of the Dragon" stuck at Harrenhal with Daemon. It's unknown whether the dragon is also experiencing hallucinations, but it is at least clear that he is extremely bored there.

The moment he shows up on screen, Vermithor "The Bronze Fury" immediately makes an impact, with his intimidating size, and menacing design that makes him look like a grumpy old man with a spiky beard and side hair. As big as Vermithor is, however, he surprisingly hasn't seen battle as he bonded with King Jaehaerys I, also known as The Conciliator due to the lack of widespread war during his reign. After the king's death, Vermithor refused to be claimed to the point where the Targaryens stopped trying due to the dragon's strong will and stubbornness (and, well, his skill to kill and burn people to a crisp).

Upon Rhaenyra throwing a bunch of bastards at Vermithor trying to find a person for the old man to bond with, the giant lizard that acts like a grumpy cat starts acting like a starved man at a buffet. Blood flows like water as Vermithor starts a one-dragon production of "Jurassic Park" and shows that dragons aren't just scary from the sky, but are absolutely terrifying no matter how close or far you are from them. He devours, burns, and otherwise obliterates dozens of bastards just because he is bored, until he finds someone loud enough to get his attention. 

Was there ever any doubt of which dragon would be number one on this list? Vhagar is the biggest and oldest dragon alive in "House of the Dragon," the last living being from the time of Aegon the Conqueror, the bane of Dorne, and the floppiest and chonkiest dragon in all the land. This is a dragon with a design that is instantly memorable and unique, with her droopy face and hanging wattle, and a personality that can best be described as a lethargic, moss-riddled old lady, a hard-of-hearing, cataract-covered abuela with dementia. Indeed, watching "House of the Dragon," it is hard not to think of Vhagar refusing to listen to any of Daemon's commands as anything other than the old hag being all confused and thinking she is still conquering Dorne and committing war crimes with Visenya Targaryen. When Vhagar saw Lucerys, the black haired kid, she must have thought that somehow the Dornish stole a dragon and went on the attack to protect Aegon's dream, despite the commands of Aemond, aka boy Visenya.

Still, this war criminal with memory problems simply loves killing more than anything in this world, and she is quite good at it. Whether it was conquering Westeros with Visenya alongside Balerion and Meraxes, or massacring innocents in Dorne, or even being unafraid to do some light cannibalism, Vhagar is truly a terrifying sight. It's no wonder every other dragon hates this old beast, who refuses to die even after nearly two centuries.

The "House of the Dragon" season 2 finale premieres August 4, 2024, on HBO and Max.