The Strongest Dragons In Game Of Thrones & House Of The Dragon, Ranked

Based on the title alone, you'd expect the HBO series "House of the Dragon" to feature plenty of fire-breathing flying beasts ... and it certainly delivers. The series focuses on the bloody civil war amongst members of the royal Targaryen family famously known as the Dance of the Dragons, and throughout the show's first two seasons, pretty much all of them battle atop enormous, dangerous dragons, each of whom only responds to their sworn rider. Sometimes, to be fair, it can be hard to tell all of these massive Westerosi nuclear weapons apart — and that's to say nothing of the three dragons ridden by Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen in the original series "Game of Thrones."

"House of the Dragon" begins its story nearly 200 years before Daenerys is even born and definitely offers the audience way more dragons than the series that kicked things off, but still, you might be wondering: how powerful are the dragons in this narrative, and which one is the most powerful? From Daenerys' three steeds that made their debut in "Game of Thrones" Ito the powerful dragons seen in "House of the Dragon," here are five of the strongest winged beasts in all of Westeros, ranked.

"House of the Dragon" might be home to a larger number of dragons than "Game of Thrones," but that doesn't mean that the three dragons in "Game of Thrones" weren't incredibly strong. We'll return to Drogon, the largest of the three, later, but for now, let's take a look at Viserion and Rhaegal, the golden and green dragons (respectively) that hatch along with their red brother Drogon after Daenerys brings three seemingly-dormant dragon eggs into a fire. When she rises from the ashes, the three dragons are tiny and need protection, but they grow exceedingly quickly ... and though Drogon is more powerful than his siblings, they're not exactly slackers.

Unfortunately, Viserion and Rhaegal end up locked away in the bowels of Mereen after Drogon's hunting habits lead to the death of a child on Daenerys' watch, but when they emerge, they prove formidable as their "mother" Daenerys rides alongside them on Drogon. Viserion gets a tragic boost to his overall power at the end of the show's seventh season when he's killed and then reborn at the hand of the Night King, who turns him into a zombie ice dragon powerful enough to blast a hole clean through the Wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms from the far North. As far as Rhaegal's weirdly sudden death goes (he's killed by a scorpion shot fired by Pilou Asbæk's Euron Greyjoy in Season 8), that speaks less to his overall power and more to the fact that the showrunners were in a hurry.

With a nickname like "The Blood Wyrm," it's probably not surprising that Caraxes — the steed ridden by Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) in "House of the Dragon" — made his way onto this list. A positively massive dragon with a lot of battle experiences, Caraxes was previously ridden by Prince Aemon Targaryen (the son of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen), meaning that by the time Daemon took up the saddle, Caraxes was quite formidable.

At the very beginning of "House of the Dragon," Daemon goes to war for his brother King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) in a contested seaside area known as the Stepstones, and the show goes out of its way to show off moments where Daemon and his dragon work in tandem to absolutely annihilate their enemies. In "Fire & Blood," the source material penned by George R.R. Martin, the author notes that Daemon and his niece-wife Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy in the series) both have powerful dragons, but that Caraxes isn't exactly a novice when it comes to war: "Caraxes especially was fearsome, and no stranger to blood and fire after the Stepstones." Not only are both Daemon and Caraxes legendary fighters, but they're ruthless and cruel when it comes to battle; as "House of the Dragon" continues, we'll probably see more of Caraxes' fighting prowess.

Vermithor's first showing on "House of the Dragon" was a brief Season 1 finale, but he certainly made an impression ... and it's important to know just how powerful this beast is. In that episode, "The Black Queen," Daemon journeys into the darkest depths of Dragonstone, where he and Rhaenyra's Team Black have taken up residence, and starts singing a mysterious song in the ancient language of High Valyrian. As he does, an absolutely massive dragon emerges from the darkness, approaching Daemon in a way that's not particularly friendly ... but it doesn't mean that the dragon attacks as Daemon faces him down. This is important, because Vermithor, who was born while King Jaehaerys I was alive and has been hibernating under Dragonstone ever since, is incredibly old and strong.

This brings us to Season 2, when Rhaenyra tests out some potential dragonriders near Vermithor's lair under Dragonstone ... and the dragon arrives just in time to barbecue some hapless hopefuls. When he's presented with Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) — who, it turns out, is the long-lost son of Princess Saera Targaryen, one of Jaehaerys I's many daughters — Vermithor finds his next rider, which definitely means that we'll see more of Vermithor's sheer power whenever Season 3 arrives.

You can't rank the strongest dragons across "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" and not include Daenerys Targaryen's largest and most destructive steed, Drogon. Named in honor of her late husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), Drogon is pretty clearly Daenerys' favorite dragon, based on the fact that she rides him the most often; he's also the only one to survive until the end of the series after his brothers Rhaegal and Viserion are taken down by the aforementioned villains Euron Greyjoy and the Night King.

Drogon is an absolute battering ram, especially with Daenerys as his rider — yes, her tendency to set a massive fire first and ask questions later backfires in a pretty nasty way when she sacks King's Landing even after it surrenders, but throughout most of "Game of Thrones," there's no question that fans got a huge kick out of watching Drogon and Daenerys absolutely decimate their enemies. (A young Drogon torching an evil slave master during Season 3 at Daenerys' command is certainly one of the show's highlights.) It's undeniable that Drogon packs quite a lot of literal firepower, and it actually gets to a point in the show where it starts to feel like a "deus ex dragon" situation ... but again, you can't possibly discuss super-strong dragons and not mention Drogon.

Sorry, Drogon. There's only one dragon who can possibly top this list, and that's Vhagar, flatteringly described as a "hoary old b*tch" by Daemon at the beginning of "House of the Dragon" Season 2. One of the most ancient dragons seen on either "House of the Dragon" or "Game of Thrones," Vhagar was first ridden by Visenya Targaryen, queen to Aegon the Conqueror, and when we see her in Season 1 of "House of the Dragon," she belongs with Lady Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell). Unfortunately, when Laena experiences complications during childbirth, she decides she wants to die as a dragonrider instead of in her birthing chamber and self-immolates with Vhagar's help; after that, the dragon should pass to her eldest daughter. That doesn't pan out, though.

What actually happens is that a young Prince Aemond Targaryen (Leo Ashton) climbs atop Vhagar and tames her, effectively stealing her. He loses an eye for that after a scuffle between the Targaryen and Velaryon children, but Aemond thinks it's worth it ... as he tells his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), he lost an eye but gained a dragon. As an adult, Aemond — now played by Ewan Mitchell — uses Vhagar as a weapon of mass destruction, killing his own nephew Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) with the beast as well as his aunt Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) along with their respective dragons. Vhagar is, without question, the strongest dragon we've seen in either of the Westeros-based shows.

"House of the Dragon" and "Game of Thrones" are both available to stream on Max.