It all started to go wrong for Daenerys right at the very moment she appeared to be on the divine path to glory. Emerging from the flames unscathed, Khal Drogo’s widow revealed her three dragons to the world. She, and the rest of us, thought her path was clear. We were all wrong and Drogon was at the very heart of it, all along.
After eight seasons of plots and betrayals to get the main players in position, it turned out all anyone really needed was one enormous fire-breathing dragon. So long Viserion and Rhaegal, we hardly knew you.
Sure, Daenerys’ Unsullied and the – annihilated at Winterfell but suddenly magically back again – Dothraki all made a grand sight sacking King’s Landing, but the Dragon Queen could have achieved pretty much the same thing with her own personal weapon of mass destruction.
Drogon is the most important piece on the board and always has been, especially once it was made painfully clear the Scorpions are a plot-dependant selectively lethal weapon. Seriously. it only took a couple of bolts to blast Rhaegal out of the sky, but hundreds can not even touch dodgy Drogon.
And now that Dany is gone, his fate lies with another. Perhaps, it always did.
No, it’s not Jon Snow.
Eight seasons building to the revelation he was a secret Targaryen and perfectly suited to ride a dragon, not to mention inexplicably beloved by hordes of warriors above and below the Wall, turned out to be rather pointless. So long Aegon we hardly knew you. Alter-ego Jon, meanwhile, was somewhat unconvincingly packed off back Oop North.
In all the confusion, Drogon dramatically did a runner (or a flyer) clutching his dead ‘mother’ in his claws. But there is one who he may never be able to escape.
The terrifying clue lies in five unassuming words; “Perhaps I can find him.”
These five words might more usefully have been preceeded by, “Perhaps you should watch out for that blindingly obvious Iron Fleet.” Or, “Perhaps you should fly straight to the Red Keep and just blast that to rubble instead.”
But Bran certainly never had Daenerys’ best interests at heart.
His “Why do you think I came all this way?” when offered the throne was perhaps a tad smug but made it clear he doesn’t say or do anything without huge consequences and a whopping chunk of insider knowledge.
What he did do was manoeuvre everyone into position to defeat the Night King and then seed the information that would drive a wedge between Dany and Jon, hastening her descent into paranoia and rage.
Since Bran, aka the Three-Eyed Raven, can see the most important things coming, the fact he is off to ‘look’ for Drogon must mean the Stark seer holds the key to where the last remaining dragon is and what he will do next.
With an entire continent in ruins, it is telling that the only thing he paid any attention to was the location of Drogon. Most tantalising of all is the idea that Bran would have some way to connect with the black beast or even warg into him.
Did Drogon’s fate lie with Bran all along?
