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Whenever we talk about White Walkers in Game of Thrones, the first thing that comes to mind is ice and fire. They have weapons made of ice, and they are immune to fire though it kills their army (the wights).

One of their most deadly abilities is to reanimate the dead as their servants, known as Wights. They are actually capable of reviving any dead animals as wights, as a few White Walkers have been seen riding undead horses.

Do you think White Walkers can revive a dead Dragon and make it their servant?

What could happen if it's the case?

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  • 1
    But they are not immune to dragon fire...
    – Catija
    Jun 12, 2015 at 8:55
  • 1
    The simple answer is yes, because according to GoT lore dragons are animals. However they are strongly associated with fire, so... Jun 12, 2015 at 8:56
  • But what about their non immunity to Valyrian Steel which is made of steel and dragon fire
    – Mourad
    Jun 12, 2015 at 8:59
  • 1
    I think the books refer to rumours of an ice dragon (and I think both books and TV show mention ice spiders) Jun 12, 2015 at 17:23
  • 2
    Damn. Guess we have our answer now. Aug 21, 2017 at 16:18

3 Answers 3

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Just to expand on my comment...

But they are not immune to dragon fire...

I haven't read the books. I'm not besties with George... etc. I'm basing this on logic.

Here's the facts we know from the show:

  1. White Walkers can be killed using "Dragonglass".

This actually has little to do with the argument at hand but I think it's very interesting.

Dragonglass is a common name in Westeros for the substance known as obsidian, a form of volcanic glass. Along with Valyrian steel, it is one of the two known substances capable of killing White Walkers.

Large amounts of dragonglass can be found on Dragonstone island.

Dragonstone Island is where the dragons lived. And, interestingly enough, it seems that using dragonglass to make weapons was very rare because it's very brittle.

Large amounts of dragonglass can be found on Dragonstone, but it isn't a precious or even particularly useful material, being too brittle to make weapons and too sharp to use in building.

Personally, I find it telling that they correlate something that's volcanic with dragons and it just so happens to also be useful against White Walkers.

  1. White Walkers can be killed using Valyrian Steel.

We know this now as of Hardhome, Season 5 Episode 8.

And where does Valyrian Steel originate? The home of the ancient dragon tamers and the origin of House Targaryen... and lore claims that it's made using dragonfire:

According to legend, Valyrian steel was forged with spells and dragonfire.

If you read a bit farther down in the article into the realms of information from the books, it confirms this but, interestingly enough, the use of Valyrian Steel (also known as dragonsteel) against White Walkers hasn't actually occurred in the books yet.


So my leap of logic comes in here... it makes sense that the dragon fire is what makes it possible to use Valyrian Steel against White Walkers, so, similarly, there is something obviously antithetical between the two creatures, so if an object simply made with dragon fire can kill a White Walker, it logically follows that fire direct from the beasts themselves would have a similar effect...

Thus, White Walkers, must not be immune to dragon fire.


So, how does this relate to the question at hand...

As far as I know, we haven't seen a dragon die in the show but we know they're magical creatures and that they were thought to be extinct before Daenerys' three new ones.

Similarly, White Walkers are magical and we have seen what happens when they die... they evaporate into powder.

Upon being stabbed by dragonglass, a White Walker's body will begin to freeze into ice from the point at which it was stabbed, causing the Walker great pain. Finally, it will begin to fall apart, as its now icy body shatters until there is nothing left but powder. Valyrian steel has much the same effect, but works much more rapidly, shattering White Walkers with a single blow.

So, this makes me wonder if there would be anything left of a dragon's body if it were to die. It could follow a similar process, bursting into flame rather than freezing, and then turning to ash. It would be difficult for a White Walker to revive a corpse that didn't exist.

One argument against this is that they have shown dragon bones around. I believe Arya runs into dragon bones at some point in season one, for example.

There's one other bit from the show that might mean something...

They are actually capable of reviving any dead animals as wights, as a few White Walkers have been seen riding undead horses. They cannot, however, revive a corpse into servitude if the fallen creatures have died by fire.

In an earlier episode (I don't remember which), I remember seeing them burn bodies to prevent them from being reanimated. Considering that fire is so inherent to a dragon's being and fire prevents White Walkers from being able to reanimate corpses, I feel that this, too, argues that it would not be possible for a White Walker to revive a dead dragon (should the body still be intact).

That being said, this is all based on logic built on facts from the show. But, at this point, the entire question is speculative, so I think this is the best one can hope for.

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  • I believe Arya runs into dragon bones at some point in season one - this happens in S01E05: gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/The_Wolf_and_the_Lion
    – ANeves
    Jun 29, 2016 at 14:05
  • Valyrian Steel is forged with spells, this is what makes it possible to kill White Walkers, just like Lightbringer, which was also forged with spells. Even if Valyrian Steel is forged with Dragon Fire, which we have seen no evidence for, that is no indication that they aren't immune to the fire itself. We have seen that the White Walkers, or the Night King at least, creates an aura so cold that fir cannot come near him, however we know from Harrenhal that dragonfire is hotter than just a normal fire so it is possible that it would be hot enough but we cannot assume that. Jan 7, 2017 at 21:54
  • @MatthewStevenson I'm getting that info from a quote on the wiki. If you disagree, get the wiki changed but, as far as I'm aware, spells and dragonfire are required.
    – Catija
    Jan 7, 2017 at 22:52
  • Dragons don't burst into flames and burn up when they die, unfortunately. Many dragons have been killed and their remains are scattered across Westeros and Essos, but nice theory. +1 Aug 18, 2017 at 19:51
  • So, now that the latest episode proves that this (completely speculative) answer is bogus, what do we do? It shouldn't really be the accepted answer Aug 21, 2017 at 18:13
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Technically speaking Dragons are reptiles. So it should be possible for the walkers (Others) to control them. But there is a catch here. Both Dragons and Others are magical in nature. So I don't expect things to be straight forward.

In some ways they are opposite of each other.

Dragon:

His scales were hot to the touch, like armor left too long in the sun. Dragons are fire made flesh. She had read that in one of the books Ser Jorah had given her as a wedding gift.

Excerpt From: A Dance With Dragons

White Walkers:

The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… the Sidhe made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous

George R. R. Martin wrote it in an email to the comic book artist Tommy Patterson

http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Others

Fire vs Ice:

I think it will all depend on whether the White Walker is stronger than the dragon. But in cases where magic is involved it is very hard to predict. But if you take magic out of the equation one of Dragon or White Walker have to die. Because either White Walker would melt or the Dragon's fire would burn off.

I would love to see the creation of ice dragon when the power of Dragon and White Walkers merge together.

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  • It's worth mentioning that the first quote is from the books, while the second is from an email from GRRM to a comic book artist Jun 14, 2015 at 16:24
  • Technically speaking Dragons are reptiles How do you know this? Does a character in the show make this distinction? Seems very odd, considering classification into clades was not invented until Darwin (in our non-fictional universe), so unless it's specified somewhere or you can cite this claim it's just pure speculation. I love how you add Technically in there, too, xD. Aug 17, 2017 at 8:20
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It's made clear in S07E06,

The Night King hits one of Daenerys's dragons (Viserion) with a spear and then later revives that dead dragon, resulting in it having blue glowing eyes.

enter image description here

So the answer to your question: Can dragons be controlled by White Walkers?

is

yes. But there is a debate as to whether the Night King made the dragon a wight (zombie) or a White walker. Refer to the respective reddit discussion.

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