Game of Thrones season 7: Why did Viserion die?

Why did Game of Thrones settle on killing Viserion and not Rhaegal or Drogon? Here’s our theory as to why it happened that way.

Note: If you’re here, you probably know what happened in Game of Thrones, but regardless, better safe than sorry. Spoilers abound.

Game of Thrones taught us a key lesson way back in season 1: “Fire cannot kill a dragon.” It turns out that an expertly-thrown ice spear by the lord of the undead can … or at least force the dragon into icy-cold water and drown it.

So now the Night King has Viserion — not Drogon and not Rhaegal — as part of his army. Though it seems as though it might be random, as though the writers flipped a coin between the two dragons that Daenerys Targaryen doesn’t ride, there could be some underlying explanation as to why Viserion had to die. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the show creators focused more on the impact of it, while also making sure we know it’s Viserion who’s gone. We’re going to look at the narrative reasons.

First off, killing Drogon would effectively kill Daenerys, so that’s right out. Killing Daenerys, much as it’s been stressed as a way to completely kill any efforts to change the Seven Kingdoms, just wouldn’t work right now, since it would bring a major conflict to a screeching halt without any sort of real resolution.

But Rhaegal is more important to the heroic narrative than Viserion. Remember, Daenerys named her three dragons after three key men in her life: her brothers Viserys and Rhaegar, and then her husband, Drogo. Of Daenerys’ two brothers, the story has conditioned us to like Rhaegar more than we like Viserys, because people who have negative perceptions of Rhaegar (Robert Baratheon, namely) are dead, and then we’ve met Viserys, and he was a jerk, to put it very mildly. Rhaegal represents part of the legacy Rhaegar Targaryen has left behind: an inspiration to his younger sister.

The other part of Rhaegar’s legacy is Jon Snow, his son. We’ve already seen that the dragons don’t hate Jon, and if there’s going to be a second rider, it’s likely that he’s it. What better way for Jon to embrace his Targaryen heritage than by riding a dragon literally named after his father?

We said, however, that the heroic narrative is better served by leaving Rhaegal among the living. Viserion dying actually serves the antagonistic narrative, and not just because he now serves the Night King. We called Viserys a jerk earlier, but he was also an antagonist by the definition given by Oxford Dictionaries online:

"“A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.”"

“Hostile to someone” pretty well sums up Viserys’ character at the end, doesn’t it?

Next: Game of Thrones season 7: 5 predictions for the finale

How fitting that his namesake has now followed in his footsteps and opposes Daenerys.