Tessarion, the New Dragon in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Explained

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) may have found new riders for her dragons, but the Greens still have a few hidden aces of their own. In the Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, they bring up not one, but two new dragons, and one of them is a sight to behold. All dragons are, really, but the smaller, cobalt-blue dragon that flies over the Hightower army as it marches toward King’s Landing in the final sequence of the season is something else. That’s Tessarion, the young female dragon of Prince Daeron Targaryen, who is yet to show up in the series. She is special for a number of reasons, and fans have waited to see her in live-action for a long time, even though it was for a very brief moment.

House of the Dragon

The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.

Release Date

August 21, 2022

Creator

Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

4

Distributor

HBO

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Tessarion Is a Unique Dragon in the ‘Game of Thrones’ Franchise

What we see of Tessarion in the season finale isn’t more than what was already shown in the promo for the episode. She just shows up briefly, as an omen of all the bad things there are ahead for the war, as the army of House Hightower marches from Oldtown towards King’s Landing. Still, it’s enough to note a few things about her. She may not look like much, but she is actually a unique dragon, not only in House of the Dragon, but in the whole Game of Thrones franchise. At this point in the story, she is still young, hence her smaller dimensions, but she has some traits and characteristics that really make her stand out.

The Blacks have just bolstered their ranks by adding three dragons to their fold: Hugh Hammer’s (Kieran Bew) Vermithor, Ulf the White’s (Tom Bennett) Silverwing, and Addam of Hull’s (Clinton Liberty) Seasmoke. However, it seems like it’s the Greens who have the most beautiful dragons in the war (apart from Vhagar, of course). Tessarion is perhaps the most beautiful of them all, compared only to Helaena’s (Phia Saban) Dreamfyre. She has cobalt-blue scales, and her spikes and wings are the color of copper, which earned her the nickname “the Blue Queen.” Right now, she is still young and small, but eventually, she will grow to three-thirds the size of Vermithor, which is already a deadly size for a flying beast that rains fire from the sky.

Speaking of fire, Tessarion is also unique in this aspect. Dragonfire is known to be different from regular fire; it’s stronger, hotter, and has some explosive qualities to it. Still, it looks just like regular fire, and all the dragons in the series so far have it like this. Tessarion, however, is the only dragon to breathe blue fire in Westeros. Her flames are as beautiful as her scales and make for a beautiful display of deadly power because it’s just as bad as regular dragonfire. In Game of Thrones, after Viserion is resurrected by the Night King (Vladimir Furdik), he also breathes blue fire, but for different reasons. Viserion never really comes back to life, and his blue fire is proof that the creature is now zombified, and not the same dragon that was once Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) child. Tessarion’s flames, on the other hand, are naturally blue.

Why Hasn’t Tessarion Shown up Until Now in ‘House of the Dragon’?

Prince Daeron Targaryen is the fourth and youngest child of King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). As such, it was very difficult for him to have any chance of becoming heir to the Iron Throne, since there were at least three people in front of him – Rhaenyra herself, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). So he was sent to foster in Oldtown. There, he was a squire and cupbearer for Alicent’s cousin and the head of House Hightower, Lord Ormund Hightower.

In Fire & Blood, Daeron still spent time in King’s Landing as a child and bonded with Tessarion when he was six years old. He couldn’t ride the dragon until she grew older and bigger, but the bond was established, so she was taken with him to Oldtown. In this season’s Episode 7, “The Red Sowing,” it’s finally said that Tessarion has taken to wing, shortly before Aemond sees Silverwing flying over King’s Landing with Ulf the White on her back. According to Lord Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy), the Master of Laws in the Green Council, the army of Lord Ormund Hightower is on its way to King’s Landing, with Daeron and Tessarion having finally joined them.

Daeron and Tessarion Will Play Key Roles for the Greens in Season 3

While there is still no casting news for Season 3 of House of the Dragon, it’s expected that Daeron will finally show up, and, with him, Tessarion, too. He is known to be a handsome and polite young man — a first in his branch of the family — and the rider’s traits are usually taken by their dragon, too. Young and light, Tessarion is said to be fast and nimble when flying, which may pose an advantage when the time comes for her to join in battle.

In the book Fire & Blood, Daeron and Tessarion have some feats of bravery of their own before joining in the main fights of the Dance of Dragons. As soon as the two of them catch up with the Hightower host, they are ambushed by an army of House Beesbury on the way, who are furious with the Greens since Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) killed Lord Lyman Beesbury (Bill Patterson). This is also part of Lord Jasper’s report to Aemond in “The Red Sowing.” The Hightowers are losing and about to be defeated by the Beesburys until Daeron shows up on Tessarion’s back in the nick of time, burning the enemy troops. This earns Daeron his nickname, “Daeron the Daring,” by Lord Ormund.

After this, their way is clear until Tumbleton, since no one wants to face a dragon in battle. If House of the Dragon is to faithfully followFire & Blood, though, Daeron and Tessarion may find some trouble going past Tumbleton, as the market town is the site of a series of major battles in the war, and many dragons are involved. Hopefully, though, we get to see the Blue Queen in all her blue-flamed glory.

All of Season 2 of House of the Dragon is streaming on Max.

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