The highly acclaimed HBO series House Of The Dragon (HOTD) is nearing its first season finale. As soon as the preview was released for the finale, fans worldwide started their speculations and theories on what could happen in it. In one of its scenes, Daemon is seen advancing slowly toward a huge dragon. So, which dragon is it? Is it Vermithor? And what are Daemon’s intentions? Let’s speculate.

The Knocking of War

As the penultimate episode of HOTD made it clear, the Targaryen civil war known as ‘Dance of the Dragons’ is about to commence between the Blacks and the Greens. The episode ended with Alicent’s eldest son Aegon being crowned as the King of the seven kingdoms. King Viserys, before his passing, had declared his daughter Rhaneyra (from his first wife) to be his heir. However, after his death, his second wife (Alicent Hightower) and her father (Otto Hightower) decided to crown Aegon instead. This was kept secret from Rhaenyra Tragrayen who was on Dragonstone with his husband Daemon Targaryen, at that instant. War was inevitable and both sides knew this, as Rhaneyra would surely challenge this betrayal.

While the penultimate episode was centered on the Greens (Targaryen faction supporting Aegon), the finale episode is expected to mainly focus on the Blacks (Targaryen faction supporting Rhaneyra). Blacks know that their main ‘nuke’ in the war is – Dragons. In order to add one more dragon to his arsenal, in the trailer, Daemon is seen going (cautiously) toward a dragon. This dragon is none other than – Vermithor.

Firepower

As mentioned in the book ‘Fire and Blood’, at the start of the Dance of the Dragons, six wild and semi-wild dragons—the Cannibal, Grey Ghost, Seasmoke, Sheepstealer, Silverwing, and Vermithor— had made their lairs in the smokey caverns of the volcano called as Dragonmont.

The Firepower on both sides of the war was significant. On the Blacks side, there were five dragons that were grown enough for war. They were – Rhaenyra’s Syrax, Daemon’s Caraxes, Jacaerys’s Vermax, Lucerys’s Arrax, and Rhaneys’s Meleys. Joffrey’s Tyraxes, Young Aegon’s Stormcloud, and Baela’s Moondancer were too small for a battle. On the opposite side, Greens had fully gwon four dragons – King Aegon’s Sunfyre, Queen Halaena’s Dreamfyre, Aemond’s Vhagar, and Daeron’s Tessarion. For more details read our article on these dragons here.

Vermithor

Also known as ‘Bronze Fury’, Vermithor had accepted Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen as his rider by 48 AC when he became a king, after the death of Maegor I Targaryen. Vermithor was bronze in color with massive tan wings. However, after Jahaerys’s death, Vermithor remained riderless. He remained on the Dragonstone and made his lair in the caverns of the Dragonmont.

By the start of the Dance of the Dragons, Vermithor was already around 100 years old. Hence he was massive, only second to Vhagar among the living dragons. When riled upon, he was a truly terrifying dragon and rained down hell on the armies he fought.

Daemon’s Intentions

Prince Aemond’s Vhagar out of all was the most massive among all the living dragons and it gave the Greens an edge over the Blacks in their firepower. Therefore, the Blacks must have decided to increase their firepower by attempting to tame the older and wilder dragons that were in Dragonmont. This would increase the number of dragons on their side and may help them in their victory. This is why in the trailer for the finale we can see Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) cautiously advancing toward the old Vermithor, while singing softly in Valerian to calm him down.

According to the book, however, Vernithor bent his neck to Ser Hugh Hammer (a blacksmith’s bastard). Since Daemon (Matt Smith) already has Caraxes he would not be declaring for another. So either he must be going toward Vermithor out of curiosity or he is accompanied by Ser Hugh Hammer, who remains out of frame. But Daemon is clearly adamant about avenging his wife against the betrayal by the Greens. Whatever the case, having Vermithor on their side would surely surge Blacks firepower manifolds. War is about to begin, Dragons will roar!