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Game of Thrones

We need to talk about the end of last week’s episode of Game of Thrones and we need to talk about the beloved character who died.

It was equal parts awful and awesome. Almost as soon as Daenerys and her three dragons swooped in to rescue Jon Snow and the remaining members of his “Suicide Squad,” the Night King hurled an magical ice javelin — sure, “magical ice javelin” is the correct term — straight at Viserion. The frosty spear struck the dragon right in his throat as he was breathing fire, and the ensuing injury seemed to cause his neck to explode. And so, Viserion fell in combat. (Yes, we know for sure it’s Viserion because we watched the show with closed captions.) One of Dany’s dragons died. But then, in the episode’s final moments, the Night’s King brought Viserion back as an ice zombie dragon.

Obviously, this is a game changer…but exactly how? What, pray tell, are an “Ice Dragon’s” powers? Has Westeros seen these kinds of creatures before? What will it take to bring the White Walker-ized Viserion down? Let’s dive into what we do know — and what we can rationally conjecture — about this bold new threat to the characters we love. (Oh, and we’ll dive into why we’re sticking with the name “ice dragon” for now.)

What Could The Ice Dragon’s Powers Be?

In the world of Game of Thrones, dragons are considered mystical, dread beasts. Their very existence seems to amplify, or at least reflect the potency of, the magic around them and they are almost physically indestructible. The death of the Targaryen clan’s dragons seemed to reflect the dynasty’s own slowly dying light. Most of the great dragons died in the family’s internal civil war – the Dance of Dragons – and as magic left Westeros, the dragons found it harder to survive into adulthood, only maturing into the size of small house pets. So Daenerys’s three full-size dragons are especially impressive. Not only are they the first living dragons to be seen in over a century, but they managed to grow to full size. As we’ve seen over the course of the last seven seasons of Game of Thrones, Daenerys’s dragons pack an exceptional amount of fire power on the field of battle. They are all great fliers and share an almost psychic connection with their mother.

So that’s what a plain old dragon can do. What will the newly resurrected Viserion be able to do?

Well, we can make a safe bet that he will be able to fly — and to that end, the Night King should be able to ride him in the same way that Daenerys rides Drogon. After all, the Night King has already exhibited psychic powers and the ability to control the wights in his army. So, that’s scary. But what about firepower (pun intended)? Obviously being turned into a frozen ice zombie will put a damper on Viserion’s fiery breath, but will he be able to breath ice? Ice that kills and converts people into wights instantly?!?!

One other big question we have is where Zombie Viserion will fit in the White Walker hierarchy. From our vantage point, it looked like the Night King performed the same transformational ritual on the dragon that he does on all of the other White Walkers/Craster’s sons. Does that mean that “Ice Dragon Viserion” will have the ability — again — to turn others into wights? To control them? We don’t have a good answer on this yet, especially since ice dragons only pop up in one odd place in Game of Thrones lore…

Everything We Know About Ice Dragons So Far

In George R.R. Martin’s books, ice dragons are mythic creatures who roam the Shivering Sea and White Waste. They reportedly have blue eyes and can, yes, freeze people with their breath.

However, they have gotten a bit of attention in Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series. This interactive game was commissioned by HBO a few years ago and puts players in the world of Westeros — but experiencing the action from ordinary folks on the ground. Still, characters like Cersei Lannister and Jon Snow show up (and are voiced by the same actors who play them on the series). Gareth Tuttle is an original character in the game who takes the Black and finds himself caught up in an adventure that puts him on course to find the mythic “North Grove.” Jon Snow laughs when Gareth tells him his plan and mentions that the Stark’s beloved Old Nan told him stories about the North Grove as a boy – and how it was guarded by ice dragons. As it happens, the real North Grove lies under the constellation of the ice dragon.

What does this all mean? Ice dragons are a thing in Game of Thrones lore and they are mentioned in a spin-off game commissioned by HBO. So we’re thinking that Viserion is now a bona fide “ice dragon.”

How Can Our Heroes — Gulp — Kill An Ice Dragon?

Thanks to Qyburn’s scorpion at the Loot Train Battle, we know that killing plain old dragons is very, very hard with conventional weapons. So how will Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and their co-horts manage to slay an ice dragon? We have three theories:

A Valyrian steel or Dragonglass spear. Much like the Night King’s mystical ice javelin did fast work on the living, fire-breathing Viserion, we’re betting that a similar weapon, forged from the same material that kills White Walkers, could do the trick on Ice Dragon Viserion. Of course, it would be helpful if Team Jon had a super-powered device to help them accurately shoot such a weapon…you know, like the scorpion Cersei has…
Death by Dracarys. Yup. It’s possible that Drogon and Rhaegal will have to douse their undead brother with all the fire they have in their lungs.
Killing the Night King. After last week’s episode, we know that killing a White Walker can kill all the wights in its “possession.” The theory is if you kill the Night King, you kill his entire undead army. That would include his new pet Viserion.

Of course, this is all just informed guesswork and conjecture at this point. Turning Viserion into a weapon for the Army of the Dead amps up the stakes in more ways than one. It adds more emotional drama for Daenerys and gives Jon’s allies a new mythical foe to face down. That said, it’s not hopeless. As we outlined, there are a few ways we can think of taking down an ice dragon — though each would take team work, sacrifice, and a lot of pain. Could there be another way? Sure, Sam could stumbles upon it in his reading or Bran could conjure it from his visions.

So this isn’t the end for our favorite Game of Thrones characters — but it you could certainly say it marks the beginning of the final showdown.