The latest Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is set during a time between the dragons. The ones from House of the Dragon are dead, and Daenerys hasn’t been born yet to receive the eggs and make them hatch. However, that hasn’t stopped the show from finding a way to add dragons into the story.
No, it’s not through flashbacks. Nor is it through someone believing that dragons are still alive. It all comes from a very real method of storytelling from the past.
Why are there no dragons on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?
It doesn’t feel like a Game of Thrones series without dragons, does it? Well, there was a time in Westeros when dragons were considered extinct. They were a thing of the past, with some people still likely remembering the real deal due to the timing of when the last dragon died.
Dragons died out during the Dance of the Dragons. The Targaryens went to war with each other, and that meant the dragons had to fight each other. They all knew what would happen with this, but it didn’t make any of them hold back. Instead, they pulled in the dragons who didn’t have riders and found them riders to make sure every single dragon had a chance to fight for the side their riders would be on.
We’re around 50 years after the death of the last dragon, so there is only one real way for the show to include dragons.
Dragons are still part of the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms story
With dragons still remembered, it makes sense that people would tell stories of them. Sure enough, there is a traveling entertainment show at the tourney, and the people there have a large puppet of a dragon. They even use tools to make it look like the dragon is breathing fire.
This is a great way to keep the memory of the dragons alive. It’s also realistic, as we’ve seen storytelling used throughout Game of Thrones to entertain the masses. These plays would tell the story that people in power would want to tell, although it does look like the traveling performers in this series are doing it with more heart and honesty than the type of performers we saw on Game of Thrones.
Don’t expect to see real dragons throughout the story, though, even as more Targaryens come into it.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms airs on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.