'House of the Dragon' Just Gave 'Fire & Blood' Fans Hope With These 5 Words

Published Jul 14, 2026, 7:43 PM EDT

Julio is a Senior Author for Collider. He studied History and International Relations at university, but found his calling in cultural journalism. When he isn’t writing, Julio also teaches English at a nearby school. He has lived in São Paulo most of his life, where he covers CCXP and other big events. Having loved movies, music, and TV from an early age, he prides himself in knowing every minute detail about the things he loves. When he is older, he dreams of owning a movie theater in a small countryside town.

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4.Another episode of House of the Dragon, another week of Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) “buddy comedy” storyline with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). This time, however, things take an emotional turn for the runaway king, as he finds his dragon, Sunfyre, left for dead in the woods of Rook’s Rest after the battle in Season 2. The creature had been marked as dead by Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) in the previous episode, but now, upon touching him again, Aegon feels that Sunfyre might be alive, after all. While this hardly confirms the dragon’s status, it gives fans hope, since, according to Fire & Blood and Game of Thrones, he should indeed survive.

Seeing Sunfyre at all in this week’s episode was a surprise, but it makes sense, considering Rook’s Rest is the site of the fateful battle where Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) had Vhagar burn both Aegon and his dragon. While Aegon was rushed back to King’s Landing to treat the burns, Sunfyre’s fate was never addressed, so when it was mentioned that Baela found Sunfyre’s body dead and rotting, many fans were concerned, and not just because of book canon.

Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don’t. That’s very much up to you.

Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.

You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.

You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.

You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.

You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn’t quite reach the eyes.

We first meet Sunfyre in Season 2 right before the battle, when Aegon fetches him at the Dragonpit. The golden dragon gently nuzzles his rider, hinting at the special bond they share. According to the books, Aegon and Sunfyre are closer than most riders and their dragons, and although he isn’t particularly big or even battle-tested, Sunfyre flies Aegon into battle precisely because of this bond, making the whole outcome even sadder for him.

This connection is why Aegon might have felt that Sunfyre is alive. Not much time has passed between the battle and this week’s episode, so it’s not unlikely that the dragon has survived all this time and is simply unable to move. Perhaps what Sunfyre really needed to regain some of his strength was to feel Aegon was close by, and, given the nature of their bond, that could be enough to get him moving again. It’s often said in the books that dragons are “fire made flesh,” so rekindling this flame might be good for Sunfyre.

Editor’s Note: The below contains major spoilers for the Fire & Blood book and the ending of the Dance of the Dragons.

It was surprising to hear that Sunfyre was dead at first, and although Larys Strong still seems to believe that to be the case, the possibility of the dragon surviving is actually important for the series going forward. Sunfyre plays a crucial role in the Dance of the Dragons beyond the Battle of Rook’s Rest, becoming a sort of symbol of everything one has to lose at war — including themselves. He is among the most beautiful Targaryen dragons and is especially gentle and elegant, but by the end, he is barely recognizable.

In the books, Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) garrison keeps Sunfyre alive at Rook’s Rest until soldiers loyal to the Blacks find him and attempt to kill him, forcing him to finally take flight again towards Dragonstone, coinciding with Aegon’s own arrival at the ancestral Targaryen seat following the fall of King’s Landing to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). By then, Sunfyre can no longer fly straight, but still meets Baela and Moondancer in battle and slays the green dragon, though at the cost of one eye and being permanently crippled.

After that, Sunfyre can no longer fly and resists even moving. He only does it when Rhaenyra returns to Dragonstone after fleeing King’s Landing herself. That’s when Aegon feeds his half-sister to Sunfyre, but even then, it’s said that the dragon’s interest is only piqued when Rhaenyra is stabbed, and he smells her blood. Finally, Sunfyre starts refusing food and eventually dies from his wounds. Arguably the saddest fate for one of the most beautiful dragons to ever come out of House Targaryen.

window.arrayOfGalleries[“article-gallery-1-358507207”] = ’“<div class=“w-gallery-carousel”><section id=“main-carousel-1-358507207” class=“splide splide-gallery” data-gallery-expanded-id=“main-expanable-carousel-1-358507207” data-gallery-expanded-thumbnail-id=“expanded-gallery-thumbnails-1-358507207”><button class=“expand icon i-expand” type=“button”></button><div class=“splide__track”><ul class=“splide__list” style=“—gallery-aspect-sm: 2 / 1; —gallery-aspect-md: 2 / 1; —gallery-aspect-lg: 2 / 1;” ><li class=“splide__slide gallery-main-img”>