The Destruction of Valyria was foretold by the ancestors of the Dragon House Targaryen long before they arrived in their realms, and this prophecy has a larger meaning in the plot of Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon is set two centuries before the birth of the Mother of Dragons and shows House Targaryen at the height of her reign.
The silver-haired Targaryens aren’t the only prominent household in the HBO miniseries with ties to Old Valyria, however, the Doom plays a much larger role in the Targaryens’ background than any of the others.
What is fate and what caused it
The Fate of Valyria is believed to have occurred centuries before the Conflict of the Five Kings. Ancient Valyria has been wiped off the map, along with the rest of the Valyrian Peninsula. After tens of thousands of years of sovereignty over much of Essos, the Valyrian Freehold finally fell due to the annihilation of their nation’s capital in a single day.
Many attribute the Apocalypse to a geological calamity caused by a volcanic explosion, while others believe it was accidentally triggered by the magic of the Valyrians themselves. Whatever the reason, Valyria and her fire-eaters were wiped out, along with the Valyrian language, documented records, and all known magic and wisdom. The Freehold collapsed once its energy core was eliminated. House Targaryen, which had reconstituted on Dragonston decades before Fate, was the only surviving member of the powerful houses of dragonlords that controlled the Kingdom.
The aftermath of The Doom of Valyria
After the central region of Freehold was completely wiped out, its remaining settlers sailed west and east and declared independence, electorally dividing the landmass and sparking a sequence of bloody wars for supremacy widely recognized as the “Century of Blood”, in which Volantis dared to restructure the Valyrian Kingdom under their rule. A number of these outposts eventually merged with the free colonies to the west and the bay towns of Slaver’s Bay.
Given the Dothraki perspective, the Apocalypse began its own glory years of conquest and prosperity when the Valyrians, along with their dragons, were no longer there to hold them in line as their armies rode across the world from the great grasslands of the Dothraki Sea. .
The secret city of Braavos, established by freed slaves who left Valyria, emerged northwest of Essos. When the other Valyrian settlements crumbled, Braavos was an oasis of calm; it lacked any diplomatic or financial relations with the Freehold, so it prospered and eventually became the most important of the Free Cities.
In four hundred years after the Doom, Valyria has remained a blazing wasteland. Even bandits are afraid to sail through the smoldering sea for fear of calamity if they try to cross it or colonize the area. There are rumors of monsters and other perils still lurking on the shore as ships sail around the Valyrian coast.
Many sufferers of advanced Grayscale Disease, known as “Stone Men”, are exiled to the Valyrian Coast by the Independent Cities, and there some of them live in the darkness of the remains.
How the Targaryens Survived Fate
Viserys, the Guardian of the Iron Throne, tells his impending heiress Rhaenyra that their great-great-grandmother, Daenys Targaryen, had a very prescient vision regarding the Doom twelve years before it happened. In 114 BC, Daenys informed her father Aenar of her vision, and Aenar, after considering it, agreed to move the Targaryen family and their possessions, namely five dragons, to Dragonstone.
The Dragon Rider family had already entrenched themselves in Dragonstone by the time the Doom of Valyria struck 12 years later, making them the only Dragon Lords to escape disaster.
Valyria reference in Game of Thrones
Jorah Mormont visits Quaithe in Year 2 of Game of Thrones to discuss his painting of a sailor leaving Old Valyria and heading for the smoldering sea. The curse nevertheless reigns in Valyria, she says, so the tattoo serves as protection against it. Jaime Lannister said in Season 4 that true Valyrian steel hadn’t been made since the fall of Valyria when he received a freshly made Valyrian steel blade from his father. Tywin reveals that Oathkeeper was once a Valyrian steel sword, but it has since been reforged.
In season five, Ser Jorah Mormont, on his way through Volantis to Meereen alongside his prisoner Tyrion Lannister, must travel through the tangled remains of ancient Valyria, which has been partly submerged by the tides of the sea. smoking. As they watch Drogon soar through the sky and deliver a sonnet about the disaster, the Stone Men unexpectedly board their canoe and begin attacking them.
The Song of Ice and Fire
Based on the Song of Ice and Fire series books, the fall of Valyria was a watershed event that altered the path of civilization. Huge waves hit several distant shores after being triggered by volcanoes and tremors.
Nevertheless, the towns of Cedar Island were swallowed up by the waters and the peninsula has since been abandoned. The three main civilizations of Slaver’s Bay were protected from storm surges by the Isle of Cedars, a vast peninsula separating Valyria Bay.
