Who Stole Vhagar in Fire & Blood? (& Why)

Episode 6 unveiled the biggest dragon in the world during the time of House of the Dragon when Vhagar showed up as Laena Velaryon’s dragon mount. However, we all know that Laena ended up killing herself near the end of the series, as she wanted to go out on her own terms after struggling with childbirth. But the episode 7 preview allowed us to see one of Laena’s daughters saying that someone stole Vhagar. So, who stole Vhagar in the book?

Aemond Targaryen most probably stole Vhagar. That’s because the only one that could claim a dragon is someone who has Targaryen blood. Of course, because Vhagar no longer had a rider and Aemond didn’t have a dragon, the Targaryen prince was free to claim the massive dragon as his own.

While the series does make us believe that Vhagar was “stolen,” dragons are never the properties of the Targaryens or the ones bonded to them. They merely bond with their dragonriders, but such a bond is broken once the dragonrider dies. That’s why Vhagar was a “free” dragon after Laena’s death, and Aemond was also free to claim her as his own dragon.

Who Stole Vhagar In Fire & Blood?

We are only in episode 6 of House of the Dragon, but the series has already featured more dragons than all eight seasons of Game of Thrones ever did. Of course, while two new dragons were introduced in episode 6, the one that ultimately stole the show was Vhagar, who is the most legendary of the many different dragons that took part in the Dance of the Dragons.

Vhagar is one of the three dragons that Aegon the Conqueror brought to Westeros more than a hundred years before the events of House of the Dragon. With the help of Vhagar, who was the smallest of the three dragons that conquered the entire continent, Aegon and his sisters were able to unite almost all of Westeros under the Targaryen banner. But Vhagar was the only dragon left out of the three.

In episode 6, we finally got to meet Vhagar for the very first time as the massive dragon introduced itself as Laena Velaryon’s dragon mount while she and Prince Daemon Targaryen were flying their dragons to impress the Pentoshi prince that they were staying with while they were traveling in Pentos. While Caraxes is already a huge dragon, Vhagar is so much bigger as it is said to be twice as big as the Blood Wyrm and is the only dragon that came close to Balerion the Dread’s size.

However, while Laena did indeed enjoy her time as Vhagar’s rider and even told her daughter that she was able to claim Vhagar when she was just 15 years old, she died an early death because she wanted to go out on her own terms when she struggled with giving birth to her third child. As such, she committed suicide by ordering Vhagar to burn her alive, as this was the best way she could die, considering her circumstances at that time.

The fact that Laena was already dead meant that Vhagar no longer had a dragonrider. For those who don’t know, dragons bond with only one dragonrider at a time and will never recognize more than one. Once its dragonrider dies, the dragon is free to bond with a new dragonrider. In that regard, Vhagar is now free to bond with a new dragon.

In the episode 7 preview, we saw that there was a funeral held for Laena Velaryon, as the children of all of the Targaryens involved in the series were able to reunite. However, while Jacaerys Velaryon was asleep, one of Laena’s children woke him up and told him that someone had stolen Vhagar.

At this point, we don’t know who stole Vhagar in House of the Dragon because the series is free to do what it wants with the dragon and the different characters involved. But in the Fire & Blood book, who stole Vhagar?

The one that stole Vhagar in Fire & Blood was none other than Aemond Targaryen. We met Aemond earlier in the episode when he was made fun of by his brother and nephews because he was the only one that didn’t have his own dragon. Aegon II had Sunfyre, Jacaerys had Vermax, and Lucerys had Arrax. This made Aemond desperate enough to march into the dragonpit to see the dragons, hoping that he could claim one of them as his own.

In the book, Aemond Targaryen was able to claim Vhagar after the death of Laena Velaryon because he realized that the largest and strongest dragon in the world was now free. In that regard, he was able to bolster the forces of his mother when he claimed the mighty Vhagar, who was impressed enough by Aemond’s courage that she allowed the young boy to claim her. 

As such, Aemond never “stole” Vhagar because dragons are free for the taking for anyone with Targaryen blood the moment that their dragonrider dies. That was the same case for Vhagar, who became a free dragon that Aemond could claim. In that regard, Vhagar was never stolen but was merely claimed by another. But the fact that Vhagar was once with the Velaryon camp may have given the Velaryons the impression that the dragon had been stolen from them.

Why Did Aemond Steal Vhagar?

In a way, the Aemond “stole” Vhagar because he was the only one that didn’t have a dragon among all of the Targaryen children that grew up together in King’s Landing. That’s because he never had a chance to claim his own dragon and was not given his own dragon egg, unlike Jace and Luke. As such, when he saw that Vhagar was ripe for the talking just after the largest dragon in the world had lost her dragonrider, he realized that this was his best shot to claim the massive beast.

Nevertheless, it was also possible that Aemond claimed Vhagar as his own due to the orders of his mother, Queen Alicent. We all know that Alicent wants to weaken Rhaenyra’s claim and her camp as much as possible. 

As such, because the Velaryons were allied with both Rhaenyra and Daemon, who were both against her, Alicent must have realized that allowing Aemond to claim Vhagar would not only weaken the opposing camp but would also insult them. After all, “stealing” a dragon from the enemy just after the death of one of their own would be a massive insult to them. That was probably the reason why Aemond claimed Vhagar, as Alicent must have told him to do so, regardless of how she felt about how dangerous dragons are.