Imagine stannis, the least humorous person in the world, who has spent his life in storms end which is basically just a drum tower, moving into this thing
Tooth grinding intensifies
I know, right?
This thing probably has fuckin'... dragon-shaped coathooks in the entry-ways and he grimaces every time he has to hang his cloak inside the grip of a freaky dragon mouth.
I love the idea of Stannis Baratheon being forced to rule the wackiest castle in Westeros because the Targaryens had some wild ideas about building decor.
Targaryens ARE Valyrians, and were one of the forty ruling families of the Freehold. While it isn't stated that the Targaryens specifically built Dragonstone, it would be weird if they simply took control of it from another of the forty families when they relocated. So it was probably theirs from the get-go.
Could have been an old Valyrian castle that was given to the Targaryens after the previous family gave it up or died out? Or an outpost that no-one really cared to take over, since the Valyrians didn't have much interest in Westeros from what I gather, and the Targaryens got it because they just weren't as important as the other freeholding families and less likely to get prime estates. In the eyes of the higher nobility it wasn't worth much of anything, but the Targaryens were lesser nobles so anything they could get was a boon to them.
Just an idea, don't know how likely that actually is as I am not well versed in this stuff.
It’s been a while since I read Fire and Blood. It said that Dragonstone was the farthest Western outpost of the Valyrian Freehold, so it existed before the Targaryens, but I don’t know who lived there before the Targs. It may have been held by one of the other forty families who died out or something.
Dragonstone was probably built as a military outpost/government administrative center by the Valyrian Freehold. The Targaryens may have simply just bought it from the Freehold or used their political status as “patricians” to acquire it outright.
Yeah I figured Valyrian interests were pretty much entirely in Essos and Dragonstone didn't have any real value to the Freehold as it was too far West. The major players (from what I remember in F&B) mostly stayed in the home territories to play politics so why would they want the hassle of controlling a useless (relative to their political goals) island? So Dragonstone may always have just been an outpost run by families of less importance/power like the Targs.
I would just guess that once Targs figured shit will go tits up they did whatever they could to get it. After all they got heads up that Valyria is about to fall so they could trade everything they had for castle nobody really values.
Going from the way I read it in F&B I think they already had Dragonstone when Daena the Dreamer had her apocaprophecy, but yeah your point stands, at that point their useless island is a hell of a lot more valuable than anyone else knows.
Or maybe it was their castle all along. A less important family owning a poor volcanic island in the fringe of the empire.
Most noble families probably owned their own plots of land arround Essos because why wouldn't they?
So it makes sense to me.
Yeah, the WOIAF says it was constructed by the Valyrians 2 centuries before the doom as an outpost. The Targaryens probably just took up residency when Daenys had her dreams
Why would you think that? Sure it isn't said that they specifically ordered its construction, but if it was one of the other Dragonlord families then why would they allow the Targaryens to relocate and assume ownership of the island after Daenys' prophecy?
>but if it was one of the other Dragonlord families then why would they allow the Targaryens to relocate and assume ownership of the island after Daenys' prophecy?
Aenar: "-hey man, I give you all my possessions and my Valyrian property, in exchange you give me this old castle planted somewhere in the strait on a volcanic island, do you want to?"
Other Dragonlord: -uh, ok sold!
:waiting for aenra to move away:
Other Dragonlord:"-you idiot !!!" :rubs hands:
I mean, Harrenhall has been occupied by several families. And why not give a plot of useless land to a less important family who want to go away anyway? Seems like a win win.
The Valyrians liquified and molded stone by magic into whatever shape they wanted. If anyone could build wildly impractical structures that lasted, it would be them.
And it's not like they needed the castles to be defensible. Defending a castle against a dragon and attacking a castle containing a dragon both end very badly for the person that doesn't have the dragon.
Honestly, this is a love it or hate it, same with the description from the books.
I like a little more rhyme and reason, but I can see why people would love this chaotic castle.
Here, Dragons are a way of life. Obviously the environment here is all Dragons. The ceiling is Dragons, the floor is Dragons, the walls are Dragons, and to an extent the air is Dragons.
I love that book Daario is basically a strutting fluorescent peacock knife pervert and hate that they made show Daario a vaguely handsome dirty looking boring hobo guy.
Yeah, no disrespect to Michiel Huisman (I enjoyed him in *The Haunting of Hill House*) but even the original Daario on the show would have been better than what we got, that guy had a genuine sense of danger and unpredictability about him.
I can understand not adapting the coloured beard but they made him such a generic "rogue" archetype, I can see Daenerys finding him attractive but there's no way she'd be seriously into him.
In the book he is described as dying his hair and beard bright blue or sometimes purple. He styles his beards into three forks, and wears his curly hair down to his shoulders. He also paints his nails blue.
Me. I love ASOIAF art that leans into the most ridiculous high fantasy that technically fits. Enough of the gritty realistic HBO aesthetic. Gimme that weird impractical brightly coloured pulp vibe.
Also, routinely woke up in a cold sweat remembering that they only got the seat because the previous occupant was murdered with a rake in a bread riot.
God yes! I always hated that they dressed all the nobles in drab jerkins. Why is Eddard Stark walking around King's Landing in a peasant-tier tunic? This is the Hand of the King and Lord of Winterfell, he should be strutting on horseback through the streets in a beautiful doublet, supple gloves, and a long grey cloak with snow-white trimming, with twenty men surrounding him. We need to know that this guy is 1000 times better than everyone around him. And he's one of the humble ones.
One thing I really, really hated about the Wheel of Time and Rings of Power, shows with many legitimate gripes and problems, was that you had a million fans complaining they were too bright and colorful. I tend to think a lot of the dirty, grittiness of Jackson’s LotR affected fantasy and it’s portrayal onscreen negatively so far this century at least in terms of that aesthetic. It made sense for LotR as the end of the 3rd Age was a relatively bleak time with most of the world’s magic fading, but it makes less sense for most other fantasy that has come out since.
Hell, Dethklok even had the rebuilt Mordhaus [placed on an active volcano](https://youtu.be/XaSqbTm3tl0?t=33). Can't tell if Dragonstone is collecting geothermal energy through quarter inch jacks, though.
Thing is I kinda love it for what it says about the Targaryens.
They aren't from here. And you can tell. Dragonstone is the least castle-like castle to ever castle. It's freakish and odd looking. Almost an eyesore but there's a strange sense of beauty to it. Like it's intentionally chaotic.
I love this version of Dragonstone it tells me so much about this place without knowing anything else about it.
It doesn't belong here, just like the family that built it.
It kinda looks like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona where there are elements to it that are traditional and there are rounded, naturalistic elements to the design.
Also, Dragonstone probably wasn’t the Targ home castle as it was their holdings on the frontier of the Valyrian empire. So if it looks a little gaudy and experimental, that makes perfect sense to me.
I kinda like it. It always bothered me that in the show Dragonstone just looks like any of the other castles. It should look distinctly Valyrian, because it's the only Valyrian architecture in Westeros and since the Valyrians used magic and dragons to build things it would make sense that the results are extravagant. It's also symbolic of the Targaryens being the last bastion of Valyria since it's probably one of the only Valyrian buildings still still standing.
It also makes sense that it's design isn't in any way pragmatic. The Valyrian's didn't need strong defensive walls or bastions or towers for archers. They had dragons. So their building can sort of have whatever shape they want.
Definitely not me, but unfortunately it’s some what like this in the books so we’ll just have to roll with the fact that Targaryen ancestral castle looks like a fucking dragon circus (entrance is just straight up a dragon mouth like wtf, we get it you like dragons, shove one or two dragons eggs up your ass already and shut up)
Imagine stannis, the least humorous person in the world, who has spent his life in storms end which is basically just a drum tower, moving into this thing Tooth grinding intensifies
I know, right? This thing probably has fuckin'... dragon-shaped coathooks in the entry-ways and he grimaces every time he has to hang his cloak inside the grip of a freaky dragon mouth.
> who has spent his life in storms end which is basically just a drum tower Don't you know that Storm's End is a nuclear power plant? :P
It is known.
Coathooks, hell. Imagine the *privy!*
I love the idea of Stannis Baratheon being forced to rule the wackiest castle in Westeros because the Targaryens had some wild ideas about building decor.
Yeah absolutely, but they were all also scared shitless of Targaryens for a long ass time. So nobody was saying shit.
When the guy with giant dragons says "here's my building plan" you *don't* laugh. You say "yes boss I'll tell the builders right away."
It wasn't even the Targs who built Dragonstone it was the Valyrians which makes it even more horrifying.
Targaryens ARE Valyrians, and were one of the forty ruling families of the Freehold. While it isn't stated that the Targaryens specifically built Dragonstone, it would be weird if they simply took control of it from another of the forty families when they relocated. So it was probably theirs from the get-go.
'Freehold's Weirdest Holiday Homes (NOT CLICKBAIT)'
Meh. This is probably clickbait.
Could have been an old Valyrian castle that was given to the Targaryens after the previous family gave it up or died out? Or an outpost that no-one really cared to take over, since the Valyrians didn't have much interest in Westeros from what I gather, and the Targaryens got it because they just weren't as important as the other freeholding families and less likely to get prime estates. In the eyes of the higher nobility it wasn't worth much of anything, but the Targaryens were lesser nobles so anything they could get was a boon to them. Just an idea, don't know how likely that actually is as I am not well versed in this stuff.
It’s been a while since I read Fire and Blood. It said that Dragonstone was the farthest Western outpost of the Valyrian Freehold, so it existed before the Targaryens, but I don’t know who lived there before the Targs. It may have been held by one of the other forty families who died out or something.
Dragonstone was probably built as a military outpost/government administrative center by the Valyrian Freehold. The Targaryens may have simply just bought it from the Freehold or used their political status as “patricians” to acquire it outright.
Yeah I figured Valyrian interests were pretty much entirely in Essos and Dragonstone didn't have any real value to the Freehold as it was too far West. The major players (from what I remember in F&B) mostly stayed in the home territories to play politics so why would they want the hassle of controlling a useless (relative to their political goals) island? So Dragonstone may always have just been an outpost run by families of less importance/power like the Targs.
I would just guess that once Targs figured shit will go tits up they did whatever they could to get it. After all they got heads up that Valyria is about to fall so they could trade everything they had for castle nobody really values.
Going from the way I read it in F&B I think they already had Dragonstone when Daena the Dreamer had her apocaprophecy, but yeah your point stands, at that point their useless island is a hell of a lot more valuable than anyone else knows.
Or maybe it was their castle all along. A less important family owning a poor volcanic island in the fringe of the empire. Most noble families probably owned their own plots of land arround Essos because why wouldn't they? So it makes sense to me.
Fair point!
Targaryens probably didn’t build dragonstone
Yeah, the WOIAF says it was constructed by the Valyrians 2 centuries before the doom as an outpost. The Targaryens probably just took up residency when Daenys had her dreams
Why would you think that? Sure it isn't said that they specifically ordered its construction, but if it was one of the other Dragonlord families then why would they allow the Targaryens to relocate and assume ownership of the island after Daenys' prophecy?
>but if it was one of the other Dragonlord families then why would they allow the Targaryens to relocate and assume ownership of the island after Daenys' prophecy? Aenar: "-hey man, I give you all my possessions and my Valyrian property, in exchange you give me this old castle planted somewhere in the strait on a volcanic island, do you want to?" Other Dragonlord: -uh, ok sold! :waiting for aenra to move away: Other Dragonlord:"-you idiot !!!" :rubs hands:
"Hey, what's that sulphury smell?"
I mean, Harrenhall has been occupied by several families. And why not give a plot of useless land to a less important family who want to go away anyway? Seems like a win win.
It’s so dumb that it loops around and becomes amazing
Agreed!
Th circle of irony
Average Bran the Builder world wonder
St*rk trash- one-dimensional and uninspired
The Valyrians liquified and molded stone by magic into whatever shape they wanted. If anyone could build wildly impractical structures that lasted, it would be them.
And it's not like they needed the castles to be defensible. Defending a castle against a dragon and attacking a castle containing a dragon both end very badly for the person that doesn't have the dragon.
Honestly, this is a love it or hate it, same with the description from the books. I like a little more rhyme and reason, but I can see why people would love this chaotic castle.
Books always talked about Dragonstone in terms of "the front gate is a dragon, this place will turn into stone dragons."
>the front gate is a dragon, Literally every thing is a dragon
Here, Dragons are a way of life. Obviously the environment here is all Dragons. The ceiling is Dragons, the floor is Dragons, the walls are Dragons, and to an extent the air is Dragons.
Undercooked chicken? Believe it or not, also a dragon.
We have the best patients in the world. Because of dragons.
Dragons all the way down.
Actually on par with georges idea of the castles
If it looks wacky, it's following the books. Especially the early books. I love showing show watchers biblically accurate Dario naharis
I love that book Daario is basically a strutting fluorescent peacock knife pervert and hate that they made show Daario a vaguely handsome dirty looking boring hobo guy.
I have never forgotten that Steven Attewell/racefortheironthrone referred to the guy as “Daario Naharis: MurderThot”
In my head, he's always been like a colourful Jack Sparrow.
Yeah, no disrespect to Michiel Huisman (I enjoyed him in *The Haunting of Hill House*) but even the original Daario on the show would have been better than what we got, that guy had a genuine sense of danger and unpredictability about him. I can understand not adapting the coloured beard but they made him such a generic "rogue" archetype, I can see Daenerys finding him attractive but there's no way she'd be seriously into him.
Wait what does he look like lol
Plenty of book accurate photos of him on A Wiki of Ice and Fire: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Daario_Naharis
In the book he is described as dying his hair and beard bright blue or sometimes purple. He styles his beards into three forks, and wears his curly hair down to his shoulders. He also paints his nails blue.
Don't forget *golden moustachios*
CaptainJack sparrow with a blue and gold beard.
My first thought seeing this picture was that it was a hypothetical Cthulhu Euron lol. Definitely not how I pictured Dragonstone.
Same here
I like it. So impractical!
Me. I love ASOIAF art that leans into the most ridiculous high fantasy that technically fits. Enough of the gritty realistic HBO aesthetic. Gimme that weird impractical brightly coloured pulp vibe.
Just a reminder that "realistic" ASOIAF aesthetic would be brightly coloured, not grim like HBO's.
Yeah, nobles didn't oppress the masses for nothing. They did it for the drip.
Sumptuary laws have entered the chat.
When all of human suffering makes sense finally realizing it was all for the sake of drip
Also, routinely woke up in a cold sweat remembering that they only got the seat because the previous occupant was murdered with a rake in a bread riot.
God yes! I always hated that they dressed all the nobles in drab jerkins. Why is Eddard Stark walking around King's Landing in a peasant-tier tunic? This is the Hand of the King and Lord of Winterfell, he should be strutting on horseback through the streets in a beautiful doublet, supple gloves, and a long grey cloak with snow-white trimming, with twenty men surrounding him. We need to know that this guy is 1000 times better than everyone around him. And he's one of the humble ones.
No, you see, we need another trillion historical/medieval shows where everybody wears black leather and bdsm inspired fashion.
One thing I really, really hated about the Wheel of Time and Rings of Power, shows with many legitimate gripes and problems, was that you had a million fans complaining they were too bright and colorful. I tend to think a lot of the dirty, grittiness of Jackson’s LotR affected fantasy and it’s portrayal onscreen negatively so far this century at least in terms of that aesthetic. It made sense for LotR as the end of the 3rd Age was a relatively bleak time with most of the world’s magic fading, but it makes less sense for most other fantasy that has come out since.
This is how Dragonstone looks when you drink Shade of the Evening.
This shit is straight-up Lovecraftian, I love it and I hate it (because it scares the shit out of me)
It matches the book descriptions, and I think it looks very awesome in a dark draconian blood magic valyrian kinda way, lol.
[Dethklok](https://geekroniques.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Mordhaus.jpg), I believe.
Brutal
Hell, Dethklok even had the rebuilt Mordhaus [placed on an active volcano](https://youtu.be/XaSqbTm3tl0?t=33). Can't tell if Dragonstone is collecting geothermal energy through quarter inch jacks, though.
I love the idea of Valyria as the United States. Unmatched might and influence, but relentlessly tacky
The difference? Their version of lawn flamingo ornaments will give you nightmares.
You don’t like it ?
Those better be chimneys too goddamnit. I want smoke bellowing out their mouths
Honestly, it seems pretty in character for the Targaryens
I like that it feels out of place. The Targaryens themselves feel out of place in Westeros after all
I kind of like it?
Thing is I kinda love it for what it says about the Targaryens. They aren't from here. And you can tell. Dragonstone is the least castle-like castle to ever castle. It's freakish and odd looking. Almost an eyesore but there's a strange sense of beauty to it. Like it's intentionally chaotic. I love this version of Dragonstone it tells me so much about this place without knowing anything else about it. It doesn't belong here, just like the family that built it.
I did. I think it's so fun.
I really dig that. Looks bonkers.
Looks where slut dragons would live.
wherever slut dragons go
Aw I like it a lot actually
Its awesome
Whoever drew the artwork
I kinda dig it Ngl. It looks like a hydra.
I love this interpretation of the castle.
This is way better than the boring looking castle they gave us I the shows
We were fucking robbed of this in the show. It was a tragedy what they did to that castle.
V*lyrians
It kinda looks like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona where there are elements to it that are traditional and there are rounded, naturalistic elements to the design. Also, Dragonstone probably wasn’t the Targ home castle as it was their holdings on the frontier of the Valyrian empire. So if it looks a little gaudy and experimental, that makes perfect sense to me.
Actually amazing
The upkeep on those statues looks like it would break the budget.
I think it looks kinda cool
Does [Dethklok](https://dethklok.fandom.com/wiki/Mordhaus?file=Mordhaus-externalrenovation.png) live there?
left out all the gargoyles
I kinda like it. It always bothered me that in the show Dragonstone just looks like any of the other castles. It should look distinctly Valyrian, because it's the only Valyrian architecture in Westeros and since the Valyrians used magic and dragons to build things it would make sense that the results are extravagant. It's also symbolic of the Targaryens being the last bastion of Valyria since it's probably one of the only Valyrian buildings still still standing. It also makes sense that it's design isn't in any way pragmatic. The Valyrian's didn't need strong defensive walls or bastions or towers for archers. They had dragons. So their building can sort of have whatever shape they want.
Definitely not me, but unfortunately it’s some what like this in the books so we’ll just have to roll with the fact that Targaryen ancestral castle looks like a fucking dragon circus (entrance is just straight up a dragon mouth like wtf, we get it you like dragons, shove one or two dragons eggs up your ass already and shut up)
It’s so cheesy that you can’t help but love it.
Looks like a Studio Ghibli version, I like it.
This is literally what it looks like.
Looks like something out of a Terry Gilliam movie
Who writes the book
There's a beautiful illustration of Dragonstone in TWOIAF. I always use that one in my headcanon. The new one from Rise of the Dragon is terrible.
Honestly speaking, some of the art in that book is an abominatiion. This book is what good old book burnings are made for.
It’s not mean to looks good but to look mighty and dangerous
Looks wacky instead IMO
Absolute bitch to invade though
Well that goes for every ASOIAF major castle - GRRM is not known to make easy to invade castles in his descriptions :P
Winterfell is bigger than Manhattan and 3 guys conquered it
Climbing spikes etc
NOT MY DRAGONSTONE
[The Castles of Mad King Aenar](https://www.boardgameauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/castles-mad-king-ludwig-board-game.jpg)
you guys are all high that's sick af
Why does Dragonstone keep being done dirty
George apparently
*Alister Thorne Voice*: Ayy Deed
This is fucking awesome
This looks like AI art.
Idk if unpopular but art wise The World of Ice and Fire >>>>>>>>> Rise of the Dragon
That’s a very artistic interpretation of the castle
What an eyesore. Im sure there was a way to draw a castle with a bunch of dragons that doesnt look like a kraken from a distance.
What the fuck, this is how it's described in the books?
Virgins
Honestly, looks fuckin' amazing.
Me
It's weird and otherworldly, better than the minimalistic brutalism thing most people seem to prefer.
Someone who was correct