Are All Targaryens Immune to Fire? How Did Daemon Fly Through the Flames?

Out of all of the different characters in House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, the Targaryens are the ones who are capable of bonding and riding with dragons. This is something we saw in House of the Dragon, as the Targaryens or those with their blood are the only ones that are gifted with the genetics to ride dragons and even withstand flames. We saw this in the fact that Daenerys survived through fire in Game of Thrones and the fact that Daemon was able to fly through Vhagar’s flames in House of the Dragon. So, does that mean that all Targaryens are immune to fire?

Targaryens are not immune to fire but are simply capable of withstanding flames more than the regular person. In fact, the only Targaryen that was immune to flames was Daenerys due to her status as a prophesized savior. On the other hand, Daemon survived Vhagar’s flames because he wasn’t directly exposed to them.

The myth that Targaryens are immune to fire has always been something that Game of Thrones and even House of the Dragon fans believe, but it has always been a myth. All but one of the Targaryens have shown that they are not immune to flames but are merely capable of withstanding them. As such, let’s talk more about the Targaryens and their relationship with fire.

Are All Targaryens Immune To Fire?

One of the most surprising things that we saw in Game of the Thrones was the fact that Daenerys Targaryen was seemingly immune to fire because, no matter what happened, flames just didn’t affect her at all. This brought about the myth among fans that all of the Targaryens are immune to fire.

Then, in House of the Dragon, this myth was once again bolstered in season 1, episode 6. There was a scene wherein Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon were flying on their dragons while they were in Pentos so that they could impress the Pentoshi prince that hosted them. In that scene, Vhagar unleashed a huge wave of flames that Daemon and Caraxes simply flew through as they were left unharmed.

In that regard, people began to believe that Targaryens are indeed immune to fire and will never get burned, no matter what happens. Nevertheless, this was something that was proven to be false by George RR Martin himself.

“TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE!” he told fans in an online discussion decades ago. “The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.”

It was proven by the author of the books and the creator of this literary world that the Targaryens are not immune to fire and that the only person that was capable of surviving through fire is Daenerys Targaryen due to the fact that she does have magical properties as a prophesized savior. However, the proof that Targaryens are not immune to flames can be seen throughout Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

In Game of Thrones, as Martin himself said, Daenerys’s brother Viserys was not immune to fire because he died when molten gold was poured on his head. Then, in House of the Dragon, we saw Daemon Targaryen getting hurt by a flaming arrow in the fight against the Triarchy in episode 3. Of course, the clear indication that Targaryens are not immune to fire was when Laena Velaryon, who has Targaryen blood due to her mother, was burnt to ashes by Vhagar when she wanted to commit suicide.

It is possible, however, that Targaryens are capable of withstanding fire better than most people. We saw this in the fact that King Viserys was left unharmed when he took his Valyrian Steel dagger from a brazier. Meanwhile, we saw in episode 6 that Rhaena Targaryen, one of the daughters of Daemon and Laena, was holding her dragon egg in front of a fireplace without even getting hurt by the flames.

The possibility that the Targaryens are more resistant to fire than regular people is probably due to the fact that they have been around with dragons for thousands of years, going back to their time in Old Valyria as a house of dragonlords. However, they are not immune to fire as they can still be killed by flames. After all, the dragonlords of Old Valyria died due to a volcanic eruption. Had they been immune to fire, the dragonlords should have survived that catastrophic moment in history.

So, with all that said, the only Targaryen to have shown immunity to fire was Daenerys Targaryen, who is special in the sense that she is a prophesized hero. And it is the fact that she could be the Prince that was Promised that probably makes her a special case among the Targaryens, just as how there are people among the Northerners that are capable of warging, which is the ability to transfer consciousness to animals and even other people.

How Did Daemon Survive Through Vhagar’s Flames?

Now that we have settled the fact that Targaryens are not immune to fire unless they are Daenerys Targaryen, who was called the unburnt for a good reason, why is it that Daemon Targaryen was able to survive through Vhagar’s flames during the stunts that he and Laena pulled off in episode 6?

Well, it could be possible that the only reason that he was able to survive through Vhagar’s flames was the fact that he wasn’t directly exposed to them. Remember that Daemon and Caraxes flew into Vhagar’s flames instead of Vhagar directly breathing fire into them.

What happened there was that Vhagar shot a huge ball of flame right in front of her as she was ascending through the air. After that, Daemon and Caraxes flew right into the flames as they were dispersing.

Two things might have happened in that instance. First, as Daemon and Caraxes flew into the flames, Caraxes protected Daemon by flying head first to make sure that it gets exposed to the flames first, as this was clear from the fact that Daemon’s clothes were not even burned (even Daenerys’s clothes were burned whenever she was exposed to fire).

As such, Daemon was not even exposed to the flames when Caraxes flew right into them with its head and body protecting the Targaryen prince. Second, there’s also the possibility that the flames were no longer as hot as they should be as they had already dispersed into the air shortly after Vhagar released them.

It is also possible that Daemon and Laena spent years practicing this trick, as they are known to bond with one another by flying on their dragons. As such, they must have done this before and have perfected it to the point that Daemon doesn’t get exposed to the flames as much as he should. The evidence could be found in the fact that his clothes were still intact and weren’t even burned.

But had Vhagar breathed her flames directly at Daemon, there is little to no doubt that the Targaryen prince would have survived the ordeal. That was what happened to Laena when she was reduced to ashes after Vhagar reluctantly burned her alive.