So what exactly do we know about the Ice Dragon?

Well, nothing really if you’ve only been following the TV show but if you’ve been reading the books or reading up on the internet, there is a whole lot you can learn about them.

First things first, they’re not wights or undead like the horses and the polar bears beyond the wall that we saw in Episode 6. As it turns out, they’re way cooler and much more powerful!

Long before he wrote The Song Of Ice & Fire series, George R. R. Martin wrote a children’s book called The Ice Dragon back in 1980. It was republished in 2007, just before the TV show went into production.

Based in a world which is strikingly similar to Westeros, The Ice Dragon is the story of a little girl Adara who was born during the longest winter in history. Unlike other girls, she did not laugh or smile and had skin that was too cold to touch. She was also very fond of playing in the snow, and she became friends with an ice dragon that used to terrorize her village. She would play with it and ride on its back.

When seven fire dragons attacked her village, she rode on her ice dragon and fought them off. Adara and her dragon fought off all seven fire dragons but after they won, the ice dragon succumbed to injuries. It melted into a pool of water and with it a part of Adara died as well. After that, she was able to laugh and play like other kids.

The most important observation here is that the ice dragon is a lot of stronger than fire dragons, considering it fought of 7 of them in the book. What also needs to be noted is that it can however be beaten.

Ice dragons are also mentioned in a couple of books in the Ice & Fire series: A Storm Of Swords & A Dance With Dragons. The books reveal that they are far bigger than the fire dragons of Valyria and that they roam the Shivering Sea and the White Waste. The fact that they dissolve into a puddle upon their death meant there was never any proof of their capture and hence their existence has always been refuted by the Maesters.

Winterfell’s Old Nan has mentioned ice dragons in her bedtime stories to Ned Stark’s kids. Jon Snow has heard these stories and recalls them in his dreams.

And now, the million dollar question: do ice dragons also spit fire or do they spit ice, freezing everything in their path? The books suggest that they have a breath of cold, but I guess we will only have a confirmed answer whenever the resurrected Viserion makes an appearance on the TV show.

Feature image source: BGR