Fire? Ice? ‘Game Of Thrones’ Director Reveals What That Dragon Was Breathing

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, SO, SO MANY SPOILERS

When Viserion was hauled out of an icy lake beyond the Wall and resurrected by the Night King, many wondered what that meant for his abilities. He, along with Drogon and Rhaegal, has saved Daenerys Targaryen's ass too many times to count over seven seasons, largely by burning people alive and reducing ships to charred remains at the bottom of the sea.

But now that he's a part of the White Walkers, does he breathe fire, ice or something else?

Credit: HBO/Game of Thrones

Thankfully, that burning question has been cleared up by the episode's director Jeremy Podeswa, who told Huffington Post: "The way I looked at it was, when the Sept burned down, that was green fire, and so then the dragon is going to have some kind of blueish fire.

"It's certainly still fire - it has the ability to burn the Wall and melt snow. But it's going to have a different kind of magical quality to it, because it's coming from an undead dragon."

via GIPHY

But that's a slight deviation from the way that Viserion was portrayed in the books by George R. R. Martin. In A World Of Ice And Fire, Martin says: "Of all the queer and fabulous denizens of the Shivering Sea, however, the greatest are the ice dragons.

"These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky."

"Whereas common dragons breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat."

via GIPHY

So, when Veserion destroys the Wall, it's kind of like how the only thing that can scratch a diamond is another diamond...?

I guess we have to go with Podeswa's word because we're talking exclusively about the TV version of Viserion - and anywaym it'll be interesting to see how the living can combat this new type of dragon. Up until now, one of the easiest ways to ensure that a body wouldn't be turned into a wight was to burn it.

Considering the dragon has fire stored in its belly, does that mean it's immune from fire?

Luckily, the living can rely on Valyrian steel or dragonglass, which are the only other known defences against White Walkers. So, they'll have to manufacture a spear that's big enough to take down the dragon in a similar style to the Night King. Hopefully they'll wise up quick enough and attach either the steel or glass to the massive weapon that maester Qyburn developed.

Credit: HBO/Game of Thrones

Director Podeswa also explains that the team who put that epic final scene together took ages getting everything just right: "There was a little bit of R&D involved in that in terms of exactly what it should look like and feel like, what the hue of it should be, what the impact of it should be.

"We actually shot the lighting effect on the Wall before we did anything else, so we had to know very early on what the impact of that flame was going to be before we even knew what the actual flame was."

Hopefully the next season will settle all the confusion and explain exactly what's going on with Viserion.

Sources: Huffington Post, NME, HBO

Featured Image Credit: HBO/Game of Thrones

Topics: HBO, Game of Thrones

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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