‘House of the Dragon’: How Many Dragons Are on Each Side After Episode 4

Fair warning: there are spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon through Season 2, Episode 4! After a season and a half of setup with mounting conflict and a few skirmishes, House Targaryen has finally gone to war. The analogy of the dragon eating its own tail feels quite apt this week, as “The Battle at Rook’s Rest” was costly for both Team Green and Team Black. Here’s a look at the combatants remaining on each side, and the losses so far.

As far as dragon-on-dragon fighting goes, it’s easy to construe Team Green as the aggressors so far, and that trend continued this week when Aegon II himself (Tom Glynn-Carney) joined his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in a risky battle plan. Meanwhile, Team Black sent a single dragon and rider – Rhaenys (Eve Best) riding on Meleys “The Red Queen” into a trap. Rhaenys believed she was flying against an army of men, while Aemond intended to ambush her. When the king joined the fray impulsively, Aemond’s strategy had to change.

Right now, the results aren’t entirely clear. We know that Meleys was badly wounded and she and Rhaenys fell from the sky, and it seems safe to assume both of them are dead. However, they took Aegon and Sunfyre down earlier in the battle – if a little less decisively. Both Aegon and Sunfyre seemed to be alive but horribly wounded at the end of that episode.

That means Aemond and Vhagar were the only ones unscathed – and the only common factor in the two dragon deaths of this war so far. The duo took down Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) in the Season 1 finale, along with his dragon Arrax. Other than that, there’s only one more pair to consider among the “losses” – Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan) and his dragon, Seasmoke. We saw Laenor fake his death and sail away in Season 1, and it seems he left Seasmoke behind. However, in Episode 3 we heard that Seasmoke is “restless,” possibly indicating that his bond with Laenor has withered and broken, or perhaps even that Laenor has died.

With the losses accounted, let’s assess the fighting dragon strength available to each side, starting with Team Black. Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is still ready to fly to battle on the back of her dragon Syrax, as is her son and heir Jacaerys (Harry Collett) on his dragon Vermax. They are also relying heavily on Jace’s betrothed, Baela (Bethany Antonia) and her dragon Moondancer. They have two other dragons bonded dragons who are not yet old enough to fight – Prince Joffrey (Oscar Eskinazi) riding Tyraxes, and Prince Aegon (Jake and Rory Heard) riding Stormcloud. In Episode 3, Rhaenyra sent these undersized dragons and riders to the Vale of Arryn both to protect them and to keep her bargain with Lady Arryn. This was a change from the book, but it’s unclear if it will impact the story much at all going forward.

Technically, we should count Daemon (Matt Smith) and his dragon Caraxes among their strength, but Daemon has gone rogue in the Riverlands, and isn’t taking orders or coordinating with the queen, so he’s not the ideal ally. Those are all the riders ready to fly to battle, but as we saw in Season 1, Team Black also has access to all the unclaimed dragons living on Dragonstone, including some that have gone to war before.

Meanwhile, Team Green is ostensibly led by Aegon II and his dragon Sunfyre, who seemed to be wounded at the end of this week’s episode. Their real powerhouse is Aemond riding on Vhagar, but they have other riders as well. Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) rides Moondancer, though there has been no hint of her going to war just yet. We’ve also heard the counselors talk about Prince Daeron and his dragon Tessarion, who have been living in Oldtown with Alicent’s family so far. That means the scales are tipped a bit in favor of Team Black as far as available dragons, though the overwhelming power of Vhagar makes it hard to predict any airborne battles.

Finally, there are two dragons that are present by this point in the book, Fire & Blood that have not made it to the show yet. I’ll mention them even though they weren’t of much consequence to the war as far as we read. Aegon and Helaena’s children Jaehaerys and Jaehaera each have a dragon in the book – Shrykos and Morghul, respectively. It’s unclear if these dragons hatched in their cradles or not, but they are kept in the Dragonpit at King’s Landing. Again, the youth of the riders makes these dragons irrelevant to the war, though many viewers would likely enjoy some scenes of children bonding with young dragons, calling back to the early seasons of Game of Thrones. It’s possible that producers don’t want to pay for CGI dragons that won’t move the plot forward or contribute to the action.

For those keeping track, the final tally is four fighting dragons for Team Black (counting Daemon) and three fighting dragons for Team Green (counting Helaena). However, we can already see how the individual motivations of the riders – and, at times, the dragons – can fracture the team dynamics and skew the battle drastically. Dragons are not like cavalry horses, and sending them to battle is risky for everyone involved. House of the Dragon Season 2 continues on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.