Game of Thrones has aired its final episode, but if you thought that would put an end to theories about the goings-on in Westeros and beyond, you’d be as wrong as Edmure Tully thinking he should be king. The latest — and this is a fun one — posits that Drogon may have taken Daenerys Targaryen’s body to Volantis, home of the Temple of the Lord of Light, so the priests and priestesses there could resurrect Dany like Melisandre did Jon Snow.
Our only bit of onscreen evidence comes in Tyrion’s Small Council meeting, when the subject of Drogon comes up. No one knows exactly where he is, although Samwell Tarly seems to start to say “Volantis” before being cut off.
Volantis is a city on Essos, far to the east of King’s Landing, which is the direction Drogon was last seen flying away. Volantis is home to the Temple of the Lord of Light, basically the Vatican for followers of R’hllor. It’s home to the religion’s oldest and most experienced priests and priestesses, one of whom might know the resurrection magic used to raise Jon, and earlier Beric Dondarrion, from the dead. So if Drogon did bring Dany’s body there, there’d at least be a chance she’d be brought back…right?
There are several issues to deal with here. First, going from King’s Landing to Volantis is hardly a quick trip, even for a dragon. Across the Narrow Sea, Drogon would still need to fly over roughly a third of the continent of Essos to reach the city. Conservatively, we’d say it would take him several days to make the trip, and who knows how many more before he could make his intent known the Red Priests and Priestesses. When Melisandre resurrected Jon, it wasn’t long after he’d died, in the cold of the North, which preserves. Drogon’s body heat, on the other hand, would speed up decomposition. Dany might not be looking her best when she arrived in Volantis.
Thanks to Kinarva’s speech to Varys and Tyrion in season 6, we know the followers of R’hllor believed Dany to be the chosen one prophesied to save the world. Now, whether or not they believe the world still needs to be saved after the Night King’s defeat is a different story, but assuming the Red Priests are still loyal to Dany, would anyone actually know the spell to raise her?
While the existence of the spell was known to a priestess such as Melisandre, one who’d served the Lord of Light for hundreds of years, she was surprised when she learned that Thoros of Myr actually managed to pull it off. After successfully performing the spell herself on Jon in season 6, Melisandre went back to Essos in season 7, and named Volantis as her destination. That means she most likely passed what she had learned on to her superiors at the Temple. So that part at least checks out.
Setting aside decomposition issues or the willingness on the part of Red Priests to raise Dany at all, the biggest issue with this theory is Drogon. How would he know of anyone capable of bringing his mother back to life? Sure, Drogon’s destruction of the Iron Throne hints at a deeper intelligence and a strong bond with his mother, but he still wouldn’t know geography, or the history and abilities of a religious order he’d never had any meaningful contact with.
Honestly, we can’t come up with a reason why Drogon would know to take Dany to Volantis, so this theory becomes hard to believe.
But that’s just us. What does everyone else think? Could Drogon somehow bring Dany back? Let us know your thoughts!
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h/t Esquire
