The Targaryens came from Valyria, which was plentiful with Dragonlords, but where did they come from and how did they learn their skills?

The Valyrians of the Valyrian Freehold were ruled by multiple families of Dragonlords, who used their skills to tame dragons and employ them as both devastating weapons of war and tools to create massive and beautiful structures. The skills and abilities that the Valyrians used were powerful, no doubt, but where did they come from?

In classic Game of Thrones fashion, the history of Dragonlords and the origins of the Valyrian Freehold are muddied by multiple accounts from various sources. The Valryians themselves claim that the original Dragonlords came from the shepherds that roamed the Valyrian Peninsula some 5000 years ago.

Valyrians once claimed that their ancestors ventured into the Fourteen Flames, the ring of volcanoes surrounding the peninsula, and learned to tame dragons using blood magic. However, the Asshai’i offers another account of events.

The people of Asshai, a land in the Easternmost regions of Essos, claim that blood magic originated in Asshai, and so did dragons. The Asshai’i say that it was their blood magic users that came to the Valyrian Peninsula and taught the humble shepherds how to tame dragons. The Asshai’i also claim that their society was the first society to ever exist.

So what reason did Asshai have to teach the Valyrians such powerful magic? There is currently a theory that this was done in pursuit of creating a messiah-like figure. During the origins of the Valyrian Freehold, the Children of the Forest had a much stronger presence in the Westeros mainland continent and there was some concern that they held the ability to warg into dragons.

So, whether the Valyrians or the Asshai’i were the original Dragonlords, the theory goes that their goal was to create a ‘dracomorph’ or a dragon-human hybrid. This hybrid being would be able to lead an army to conquer all of the lands of the known world.

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This theory extends to the current Game of Thrones era, and it is speculated that Aegon the Conqueror’s line might eventually bring forth the ‘dracomorph’ messiah. This speculation comes from the many stillbirths that Targaryens have produced in which the result is a human with dragonlike features— think Daenerys Targaryen’s child with Khal Drogo or Rhaenyra Targaryen’s latest child, Visenya.

When will we get to see a viable ‘dracomorph’? Since there isn’t much in the way of content coming after Game of Thrones Season 8, the strongest current possibility would be the Jon Snow spinoff.

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