Why Did Aemond Targaryen Dragon Turn The Tide In Battle?

Watching Aemond claim his dragon felt like watching a myth get stitched into film — and the creature work behind it is what really sells that moment. For the show, Aemond’s dragon (the ancient Vhagar in the story) was realized by the production’s art and visual effects teams rather than a single celebrity artist. The heavy lift was done by the show’s creature and VFX departments, with Wētā FX often credited as one of the primary studios responsible for bringing the dragons in 'House of the Dragon' to life. That means concept artists, sculptors, texture painters, riggers, and animators all contributed: concept sketches from the art department set the tone, then the VFX houses iterated on scale, skin texture, wing membranes, and the sort of battle scars that suit a dragon like Vhagar. The design choices—massive, leathery wings, armored plating, and an ancient, lived-in look—were clearly meant to reflect Vhagar’s age and Aemond’s personality. I love that it’s such a collaborative piece; every roar and battered scale feels like the work of a whole team of artists, not just one person.

I'm the sort of person who gets goosebumps thinking about that moment where a massive, ancient dragon chooses its rider — it's gritty and savage and oddly intimate all at once. In both the book and the show the short version is similar: Vhagar had become riderless and Aemond made the bold, dangerous move to claim her. Dragons in the Targaryen world don't passively take whoever shows up; there has to be a confrontation, a show of will, and most of all the dragon's acceptance. Aemond put himself in Vhagar's path and Vhagar accepted him. If you dig into 'Fire & Blood' you get the historical, slightly darker tone: Vhagar was one of the oldest dragons around, huge and not easy to sway. After her previous rider was gone, Aemond — who had a reputation for being fierce and unyielding — seized the chance. The texts make it clear that dragons can and do accept new riders after their old ones die, but it isn't automatic: the would-be rider must show courage, claim, and a kind of kinship, and the dragon must willingly accept. Aemond’s temperament and Targaryen blood helped, but it was also a risky, physical act of claiming. Watching the same beats translated in 'House of the Dragon', the scene is visceral: the camera lingers on Aemond's stare, the leap, the moment of contact where Vhagar chooses to let him climb aboard. To me that captures the core of dragon-rider bonds in the setting — not just ancestry or ritual, but force of will, timing, and the dragon’s own choice. It always feels a little like a test of character when a dragon picks someone; Aemond passed that brutal exam, and Vhagar answered back in the only way she could: by taking him as hers.

There's a brutal contrast when you put Aemond Targaryen's mount up against Rhaenyra's dragon, and I love how that contrast tells you more about the riders than the beasts themselves. Watching the scenes in 'House of the Dragon' and rereading bits of 'Fire & Blood', Vhagar just reads as ancient and weathered—huge, battle-scarred, and terrifying in presence. It’s the kind of dragon that doesn't need to prove itself; its size and reputation do the heavy lifting. That gives Aemond a kind of blunt, psychological advantage on the battlefield: opponents see Vhagar and feel small, which is half the battle in medieval-style warfare. By contrast, Syrax (Rhaenyra’s dragon) feels intimate and responsive. Syrax is younger, faster, and more attuned to Rhaenyra’s moods. That makes their pairing more about finesse and bond than sheer intimidation. In one-on-one fights or when maneuverability matters—scouting, quick strikes, protecting a rider—Syrax can be more useful. Rhaenyra’s dragon also carries emotional weight in ways Vhagar doesn’t; watching their interactions, you can tell Syrax is an extension of Rhaenyra’s will, whereas Vhagar is an ancient force that Aemond tries to channel. Tactically, you could boil it down to blunt force versus precision and loyalty. Vhagar can smash lines and crush castles; Syrax can outmaneuver and protect what matters. Personally, I love that neither is strictly “better.” It’s like comparing a battleship to a fighter jet—both have moments to shine, and both reveal something about who’s sitting in the saddle.

Late one night during a rewatch I got obsessed with the exact moment Aemond’s dragon shows up on screen, because that reveal felt like a punch of pure fantasy nostalgia. In the HBO series 'House of the Dragon', Aemond Targaryen’s dragon, Vhagar, first appears on-screen after the big time jump in Season 1. The moment lands in episode 6, which is titled 'The Princess and the Queen' — it’s where the older generation is fully introduced and Aemond is shown as a grown dragonrider aboard Vhagar. Watching that scene for the first time, I was struck by how the show condensed material from George R.R. Martin’s 'Fire & Blood' into a single, dramatic beat: the transfer of a fearsome dragon into the hands of a younger Targaryen who’ll become a major player in the Dance of the Dragons. The visual of Vhagar — massive, ancient-looking, and claiming the sky with this cocky, dangerous kid on its back — really sells the danger and scale of the conflict. I tend to obsess over creature effects, and Vhagar’s first on-screen presence felt like a promise: this is going to get messy, loud, and heartbreaking. If you want to see the turning point where Aemond’s presence on the dragons’ side becomes a serious plot engine, jump to that episode and watch the dragon enter the scene — then maybe bring popcorn, because it’s not subtle.

Waking up to the sound of rain and rereading a chapter of 'Fire & Blood' made me notice something I hadn’t really put together before: Aemond’s dragon is less a pet and more a walking, flying piece of family history that drags the past into every battlefield. Vhagar—ancient, scarred, and huge—carries with it the weight of Visenya’s iron-handed conquest and the early Targaryen habit of settling disputes with flame. When Aemond climbs onto Vhagar, it’s like he’s wearing the old dynasty’s armor; the dragon’s age and wounds are a living record of all the violence that shaped the throne, and that visual tells you everything about what Aemond believes power should look like. I find the one-eyed motif really resonant too. Aemond One-Eye plus a veteran dragon suggests a kind of narrowed vision: single-minded ambition, a refusal to see the cost until it’s too late. Vhagar’s black, bruised scales and history of surviving other riders gives it an inevitability—when it appears in the sky, it’s less a creature and more fate. In 'House of the Dragon' that becomes cinematic shorthand: where Vhagar goes, old grudges come alive, households are reshaped, and the future tilts toward ruin. It’s brutal, tragic, and oddly poetic to watch a living monument of conquest become the instrument of a civil war that eats the Targaryens. On a personal note, seeing that pairing always leaves me with mixed feelings. I admire the sheer, terrifying beauty of the dragon, but I also feel sad for the way legacy can chain people to repetition—Aemond’s aggression almost reads like a prophecy he’s trying to fulfill. It’s the kind of stuff that keeps me turning pages late into the night.

If you're on the hunt for Aemond Targaryen's dragon, you're basically hunting Vhagar — and yes, there are toys that represent her, though how explicitly they tie to Aemond varies. I spent a weekend trawling online toy shops and my local comic store shelf and found a few different kinds of options. Big manufacturers like Funko and McFarlane put out 'House of the Dragon' merch, and you'll see dragons labeled as Vhagar or sold alongside Aemond figures. Those range from cute vinyl 'Pop!' style pieces to more detailed, articulated figures meant for display or light posing. If you want something that screams “this is Aemond’s ride,” look for products that explicitly list Aemond + Vhagar. For collectors, companies like Sideshow, Iron Studios, or smaller high-end sculptors sometimes do polystone statues or limited-run collectibles that capture the scale and menace of a dragon like Vhagar. If mainstream pieces are sold out (they often are), I’ve had luck with Etsy sellers and 3D-print shops — people model their own Vhagar sculpts and either sell printed models or STL files you can print and paint. Prices vary wildly: Funko-sized toys sit in the $15–30 range, McFarlane-style figures around $25–60, and premium statues can be hundreds. A practical tip from my shelf-diving: check product photos and listings carefully. Some dragons are generic or renamed for licensing reasons and won’t come tagged as Vhagar. Use searches like “Aemond Vhagar figure,” “Vhagar statue,” or “'House of the Dragon' Vhagar” and set alerts on sites like eBay, BigBadToyStore, and Entertainment Earth. If you’re patient, reissues and con exclusives pop up, and sometimes fellow fans trade in Facebook groups and Reddit. Happy hunting — there’s something for every budget, whether you want a tiny Pop or a colossal display piece.

I still get a little giddy any time Vhagar shows up on screen or the page. When people ask how big Aemond Targaryen's dragon is compared to the others, I always say: think ancient juggernaut. Vhagar is one of the oldest dragons in Westerosi history — a Conquest-era dragon — and that age translates into raw size and battle-hardened presence. In terms of scale, Vhagar is only outclassed by Balerion the Black Dread; she sits in the top tier alongside Vermithor. Compared to the younger, flashier mounts like 'Meleys' or 'Syrax', Vhagar is a literal mountain in the sky. I remember watching a particular aerial clash in 'House of the Dragon' with a mug of tea on my knee, and when Vhagar dove into the fray it felt like someone turned the volume up on the whole scene. The dragon's wings, the scars, the slow deliberate power — those are traits you see in older dragons. Size isn't just spoilers and spectacle though; it changes tactics. Vhagar can smash through formations, carry heavier burns and riders through prolonged fights, and intimidate younger dragons into making mistakes. If you're picturing scale, put Vhagar in the same class as Vermithor and just a step below mythic Balerion — not a casual big dragon, but a battlefield titan that dwarfs most of Rhaenyra's and Aegon's mounts in sheer mass and presence.

I still get chills thinking about how Aemond and Vhagar are painted in 'Fire & Blood' — it's one of those pairings that feels like destiny and menace at once. Vhagar itself is ancient long before Aemond ever claimed it: one of the dragons from the Conquest-era brood, grown enormous and full of old scars and memories. By the time of the Targaryen civil war, Vhagar was no playful hatchling; she was a living war machine, dangerous to try to master and grudging toward new riders. Aemond’s backstory with Vhagar is basically a story of boldness and brewing resentment. Born into the Greens’ faction, he seized Vhagar when the opportunity rose — a calculated, almost theatrical move that instantly raised his status among the king’s party. People in the book talk about him becoming colder after losing an eye in youth, and that bite of ferocity fit well with Vhagar’s own temperament: he wasn’t a gentle ruler of dragons, he was an uncompromising commander atop an ancient engine of destruction. Their pairing shaped much of the violence of the Dance of the Dragons, because an aggressive rider on one of the largest surviving dragons is a strategic game-changer. What I like about Martin’s telling is how it treats dragons as characters in their own right. Vhagar’s history — its prior riders, scars, and age — colors every aerial clash. Aemond used that legacy for power, but you can also feel the way an old dragon’s will interacts with a young man’s need to prove himself. It’s dramatic, ugly, and oddly tragic when you think of both rider and dragon getting swept up in dynastic hate.