The Cannibal could also be a symbolism of the Dance of the Dragons itself. Given that it's a black dragon with green eyes that eats its kind, it literally symbolizes both Targaryen factions (the blacks and the greens) "eating" each other. It's also interesting that after the civil war where basically almost all members of both factions were dead, it vanished.
It honestly makes a lot of sense that Cannibal disappeared after the Dance of the Dragons. No more dragons being killed and a decline in new hatchlings means his primary food source would have vanished and he would have little reason to stay in Westeros. My guess is he pulled a Drogon and flew East and there's a chance he may still be alive somewhere.
@@lawinaabraham3073 Assuming Cannibal is still alive, Drogon might come across him out in Asshai or some other part of the East. Which wouldn't be good since Drogon has never fought a non-undead dragon. I don't think Cannibal would try to eat Drogon since he's way too big to make an easy meal of, but I still don't think he'd be happy to have another dragon in his territory. Sheepstealer and Grey Ghost weren't as aggressive as Cannibal so they didn't butt heads with him, but Drogon is a lot more vicious and two aggressive dragons in the same space is just asking for trouble.
@@cassie6146 Well if Cannibal is still alive he might be bigger than Drogon, I mean he's way older so by this point Drogon and pretty much any creature should fit his size criteria
@@lawinaabraham3073 True. I'm sure Cannibal would certainly try to eat Drogon given the chance. And while Drogon would try to fight back the best he could, he'd definitely end up having to flee for his life since there's just no way he can bring Cannibal down.
@@cassie6146 Yeah and u mentioned Drogon not having fought any undead dragons. But the main problem just like the video said, is that when a dragon fight another dragon their fire breath becomes almost completely obsolete. So theirnmain weapon, the main weapon they use for pretty much anything. is gone and they have to rely on clawing and biting eachother to death. And that's hard cuz normaly even highly battle hardened dragons like Vhagar almost never have to rely on brute strength when they can just melt entire armies and castles with their fire, hell probably even Vhagar doesn't have any dragon-on-dragon fighting experience until the Dance. So yeah Drogon would be fcked. His only shot is maybe his resilience and genetics, cuz Drogon is pretty much Balerion come again, who was a freak of nature compared to literally any of the other dragons. So yeah small chances of victory for Drogon.
Something that no one seems to consider is that Balerion, our only example of a dragon not dying in combat, was severely injured during his nine month disappearance. He grew notably more lethargic afterward, and I cannot help but thing that the nine foot long, unhealing scars he sustained were somehow magical in nature. For all we know, the average dragon lifespan could be closer to 500 years.
I don't think so. Vhagar looks really old and the fact that the Targaryens came to westeros with 5 dragons with only Balerion living until Aegons Conquest makes this unlikely. We would know if they had a dragon that died with 400 years in the century of blood.
I think he got hurt by One of the survive dragon lords dragon Aurion or somthing like that was his name and after the doom his troops,his dragon and hisself went back to the ruins and nobody ever heard from them again maybe the dragon is still there 🤷♂️
Balerion did not die of old age, after his nine month disappearance with the princess Area Targaryen they got attacked by some monstrous creatures in Old Valyria, we do not know exactly what Attacked them, but we can all agree that it was something, sinister something horrific, even Balreion the Black Dread who was supposedly the greatest Targaryen Dragon to ever grace the skies of Westorous got huge deep wounds on him that he still bleed when they got back, and we don't have to explain with Princess Area, what her fate was, so Balerion's huge scratch/Cut wounds were the reason he died earlier than what maybe he should have. Cause after his Journey from Valyria, he was not the same again.
@@sebastiansuarez9545 I sincerely hope we get a look into old valyria and what creatures still lurk there. Especially what happened while the princess was there. Her death is the most horrific in my opinion even though it's not ever on screen. Can't imagine the pain they were in. And I wonder why he flew her to valyria 😮
I feel like it's implied that Dragons can technically live much longer than Balerion did but he withered and died because of the Dragon Pit (or Maester Conspiracy take your pick), if the Cannibal has always been wild and never confined he could easily be as old as Balerion or almost as old. Maybe he's a Valyrian dragon that fled the doom and not a Targaryen dragon, which would explain why no one was ever able to get close to claiming him, they'd need the blood of a different, extinct Valyrian family.
They say he died of old age but I think he died from being cooped up. It’s never implied when dragons die from old age, and from what I can tell, the cannibal is almost as old as Balerion and he’s still around killing things, so Balerion was weak and died of old age but the cannibal whose almost as old as Balerion is still alive and flying? So yeah I think it was because of the dragon pit
@@Azur3EditzI think Balerion died early from the wound he got when he flew through Valyria. Some dragons could live for hundreds of years linger then Balerion since he was wounded.
it's not that they'd "NEED" different blood that's not the requirement at all. It's just being of Valyrian blood that are riders. It's never said Targaryens(and therefore the other riding families) can only claim a dragon their family has hatched because even those dragons don't automatically accept any family member as a rider.
I like the theory that maybe Cannibal has descended from an entirely different line of dragons than the Velaryon and Targaryen dragon... It would explain his hostility and 'cannibalism' to all the rest of the dragons
The Targaryen and Velaryon Dragons are all the same, from descent of Old Valyria. So I don't think it's a whole new species at all. Plus, Dragons don't care about Houses. Only riders
@@thalmoragent9344 Have no idea what was the concept in old valyria... Im sure that if somebody actually claimed Cannibal then it would obey all commands, but fact of the matter is that it is now a creature with no reigns and has the world at his feet to do so as he pleases and to choose to kill his kind... seems to me that there would be a deeper explanation for it. Especially when there is absolutely no other dragon that does so
I think Cannibal was female and followed Balerion, as it's mate. She maybe the mother to Drogons Egg, and Balerion gave it to humans causing it to behave that way
I can't tell if you're aware or not that wild dragons grow larger than bonded dragons because they don't get stuck in pits and are free to roam and fly. This was shown rather pointedly in GoT with Dany's dragons; Drogon was feral and got much larger than his brothers, who were kept chained beneath Meereen.
Balerion was the largest in existence and he liked to hang out wherever he pleased . He was a free range Boi lmao. im pretty sure this guy also realizes that lol .
@@sly_wolf4523 Balerion, for at least the last 50 years of his life, was kept in the Dragonpit. Many theorize that was the key fact that led to his decline in health.
I really like the idea of him being a dragon that hatched from a clutch that belonged to a different Valyrian family that inhabited Dragonstone long before the Targaryens arrived. It leaves the Cannibal truly wild and not beholden to any Targaryen bloodlines which would explain why he cannot be bonded with by bastards of House Targaryen.
@@Onii-chan_choso Dragonstone was created as a western outpost/citadel by the Freehold as a whole, not just the Targaryens. They just took up residence there after visions of the Doom of Valyria.
And how about Grey Ghost its also not Bonded with anyone but the Dragonkeepers is Pretty sure its a Targaryen Dragon, Cannibal Story is just a Myth by some Fishermen in Dragonstone its Probably just one of many Hatchling in Second Generation Targaryen Dragons FYI : Dragons can eat anything it can eat Targaryens or other Dragons its not a Special on Cannibal its just majority of it Menu are other Dragons most Probably Hatchlings.
I think the Cannibal was a personification of the Targaryen downfall. He was black and green - the greens vs the blacks. He attacked and killed other dragons just as the Targaryen's killed each other and the end of the Dance, he disappeared, signalling an end to their power and the magic they possessed over the dragons.
He's not a Targaryen dragon in my eyes. If he was, someone in the span of 50-100 years should've claimed him already. He was probably a dragon that resided in Dragonstone that belonged to another Valyrian family before the Century of Blood when Dragonstone was built as the Westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Valyrians are blood related to their dragons, and that's why they wanted to keep their bloodlines pure and not intermarry with other people; even other Valyrians who look exactly like them. Their blood will be diluted and the blood ties with the dragons are diminished. The Cannibal not being a Targaryen dragon is plausible.
@@Force-Multiplier Balerion was wounded and slugged away yrs before his death. He went to Essos with Aerea Targaryen and the Princess was infested by large parasites that led to her death. Same thing happened to Balerion.
And how About Grey Ghost the Dragonkeepers and the Targaryens know this Dragon as one of many Hatchlings in Dragonstone that got away and Also the Showrunner has Confirm that Vhagar is the Oldest and Largest Dragon in Westeros they did not mention it as a Targaryen Dragon but simply the Dragon that means Cannibal origin story is just a Myth by some Fishermen in Dragonstone.
@@rhaenyraitargaryen6360 thats whats scary something hurt him enough despite being the largest known dragon and the strongest creature known at the time.... seeing him wounded scared the shit outta them so they hushed hushed it
True, the simple explanation is that the Cannibal is a dragon that was bonded with an entirely different like of Old Valyria, possibly even the opposite in the gene pool of Targaryen's bloodline, and since no family of dragon tamers with any similar blood exist the Cannibal doesn't trust anyone & just feast on everyone.
some people say balerion didnt die of old age, but of what hes experienced in the ruins of valyria instead, and it makes sense. think about it, he was perfectly fine before he went there with aerea, but afterwards he became sluggish, and mostly kept to the dragon pit. could be due to some mental trauma, or some parasite he picked up there, but either way it was the ruins of valyria that killed him- maybe. so the cannibal could very well still have been there before the targaryens came if youre going by that point alone
I can’t help but love the irony of the idea that being kept in the dragon pit is what cause the dragons strength to fade and grow small. When in reality it’s likely the reason many of them were able to reach adulthood. It’s like Viserys said, the idea that the Targaryens control the dragons truly is an illusion.
OH man. I can not wait to see him. I really like the theory that he is actually a Dragon from Valryia, that survived the doom. because he was already nesting across the sea....And the reason he devours the Targaryen Dragons is because he doesn't consider them true Dragon-kin, since they ran away. He considers them weak, so he eats them.
Dragons existed in the 14 flames, though also canonically as far east as Yi Ti and Ashaii. Now, while the valyrians did domesticate them gradually, wild ones almost certaintly persisted. This is my explanation: Cannibal is from the natural wild dragons, the ones not bonded to valyrians with blood magic, that lived on Dragonstone long before the doom of Valyria, and he was simply the last in that line, the last of his kind. Reasoning for: -There is no record of him hatching from any targaryen brought eggs, nor of being a once tamed now wild dragon, no one knows where he comes from which strongly implies he is completely wild. -Dragonstone is a volcanic island, dragons like volcanoes. -It's in a highly profitable sea for seafood and for prey like whales, meaning dragons will have plenty of food to feed on. -It is also very prominent, boasting caves, cliffs, hillsides, all of which make very good dragon haunts. - The targaryens used dragonstone for dragons, and they all thrived there, making homes and feeding themselves independantly, even in the dance there were other wild dragons doing just fine. -No targaryen or valyrian blooded person could tame him, he treated them all as food, which suggests he is not the same stock, he's something older. -He deliberately ate other dragons, no other dragon is known to do that even the other wild dragons didn't, meaning he might not see other dragons as kin for being a different species. -He's described as enormous, far bigger then any of the dragons the targaryens ride bar maybe Vhagar, and having been around since Aegons conquest, so it's likely he was born well over 200+ years before the dance.
Cannibal is only described as larger than the other two wild dragons. He’s smaller than Vermithor. Only smallfolk rumors claim he’s older than the Targaryen arrival. He’s also only ever eaten eggs and hatchling dragons. Sunfyre hunts down and partially devours Grey Ghost while in Dragonstone.
I like the theory that The Cannibal was the cradle egg of Maegor the Cruel. Maegor was described as having a wary relationship with dragons when he was a child, until he claimed Balerion. So he might have not dared having contact with the hatchling that would become Cannibal. Adding to the theory, it would add a hint of sadness to Cannibal if Maegor rejected him and the start of their bond, only to pick the larger dragon.
If Cannibal was there after the Targaryens showed up, sure. But he's said to have been there beforehand. Still, wouldn't the Targaryens want to stop Cannibal or scare him off from eating their Dragons?
@@thalmoragent9344 That story is made by the smallfolk. It's not really a reliable source. If they want to stop him. I suppose, but the big boy is also culling the weak and keeping the dragon population under control. Cannot say what they'd want.
I like the idea that the Cannibal was inflicted with a disease that cause him to cannibalize other dragons and this disease was something prevalent in Valyria after the doom as a way of explaining how so many dragons disappeared, call it the Madness of Valyria if you will and have it be something that infected both Dragon and dragon lords and have the Maesters, Asshai, Qarth and/or other orders be behind the decline that would go on to curse and infect every Dragonlord descendant and dragon, making their eventual demise all but inevitable regardless of if they escaped the Doom or not. I like the idea that there was a cause for the fall, more than that it was random, and more than it being that only this one family out of millions would have survived. This "disease" probably strengthened by incest, would be the perfect explanation as to why even the dragonlords not living in Valyria at the time of the doom and the dragons not present at the time, would have eventually died out. This would also allow for a route around of GRRM's plain ignoring of the true effects that so much incest would have on the Targaryen and Velaryon bloodlines, which should at this point based on our world's genealogy have long ago led to the retention of SEVERE recessive diseases and illness, leading to many physically disturbing traits and them all essentially looking the same. This would also explain how they fell, despite GRRM giving them the Uchiha treatment.
Here’s a thought - the Targaryen came to dragon stone with five dragons, four died but two hatched. So far we’ve seen dragon clutches are usually three (Caraxes laid three eggs and Deanarys received three eggs presumably from the same clutch). What if the two dragons that joined Balarion in the conquest of Westeros had a third sibling but because there were only two available Targaryens (Aegons sister wives) to mount them only two were claimed and the third sibling was left unclaimed. Perhaps the reason it took to eating other dragons is because after it hatched, or shortly before, the four other dragons from old Valyria had died and the Targaryens didn’t know what to do with the corpses (or were simply unable to dispose of them with limited resources on the island prior to the conquest) and that’s what he ate as a hatchling while his siblings were tamed by the sister wives.
i always thought that denery's eggs were laid by Dreamfyre. It was never confirimed in the books but 3 eggs were stolen from Dreamfyres last clutch which wasa confirmed in the books im pretty sure
@@juliusfishman7222 I thought there was a size chart released by GRR or HBO that showed all 20 dragons and the cannibal is second in size only to vhegar?
@@stevejones3383 in the books vermithor is described as the second largest dragon after vhagar. But I just so a chart not sure if it's official or not but on the chart it's balerion , vhagar,meraxes, cannibal then vermithor so maybe that's what they are going for in the tv show.because Vermithor was said to already be a large dragon third in size to balerion and Vhagar in 48AC that was during the rain of meagor the cruel that means that vermithor was most likely born already while balerion and Vhagar was conquering the seven kingdoms. Cannibal is only described to be larger than sheepstealer which was siad to be born when kind jeaherys was born so he would be a large dragon but not close to the size of vermithor but larger than most dragons including ceraxes and meleys most likely the fourth largest after vermithor but I guess the tv show wants to make him a bit more cooler so there he will be larger than vermithor according to the chart
Imagine that the Cannibal was the one that attacked Balerion. Since he didn't finish his fight with him, followed him back to westeros and claimed that land for his own. Also, being that he is a wild dragon and may come from a barren land with few food sources (plus maybe belonging to another bloodline) he resorted to eat other dragons out of habit
Hopefully they expand Cannibal’s presence in the series like a scene of him going after another wounded dragon to eat or having his slumber disturbed by a dragon fight thus awakening him to defend itself and obviously only itself! Although I like the fact of having a more mysterious dragon I still wanna see how big he really is!
Thinking about it, seems like The Cannibal is the reason for the Dragon pit! As more dragons survived to adulthood that were born and raised in the Dragon pit then on Dragonstone.
The black and green color scheme and the cannibal aspect is an obvious literary reference to how the green and black “dragons” destroyed and canibalized their own house through infighting
@@hosniadnan2623 yeah, I saw a comment someone made that he was just there as a metaphor or something, in the books cause his color scheme is black and green .and it represents the two targerean houses cannibalizing themselves
@@juliusfishman7222 yup the Cannibal is a genius metaphor, his purpose isn't to be some big player in the game killing both sides dragons but a metaphor for how messed up everything is that so much kin are fighting in the first place
No reason to discount the fisherman around Dragonstone about The Cannibal's age. Magic comes and goes into the world of ASOIAF along with the dragons. They are truly a magical creature or a conduit of sorts. The cannibal eats said dragons- possibly absorbing some source of vitality from them. Like The Highlander series, but with a shot clock.
its largely assumed he was the one that messed up balerion(when he came back wounded) * cannibal being native to westerous and possibly older* he got territorial to the only dragon his size when he met balerion and messed him up and left(This upsets people but I love the idea cause it makes him way more badass). (His wound likely came after visiting valyria cause crossing a ocean with a horse sized wound+ wasn't likely)
the cannibal was roaming dragonstone that was his habitat whatever wounded Balerion was in old Valyria at the very least that is what the text tried to imply nothing on it even refers to the cannibal
@@Force-Multiplier thank you o, all this shit theories. What most likely injured balerion is some freak of nature fire wyrms in old valyria or something even more scary the point was to make the reader understand that there are very dangerous monsters still lurking in the doom of valyrian
Didn't mean to upset people just balerion came back wounded and a wound that big would be incredibly stressful to heal from crossing the ocean and likely happened after his valyrian visit was the theory. Not saying some big ass wyrm couldn't have done in old valyria it just no proof as of yet.
The Cannibal came from a different bloodline of dragons than the Targaryen dragons. They make this obvious in the text. That’s why he has green eyes and kills dragons associated with the Targaryen line. The Targaryen’s were an insignificant house in Old Valyria. It’s possible that their dragons were shorter lived as well.
Thats really interesting! So, it’s possible dragons from the most powerful houses were even more scary? I assume it’s because of magic that’s been lost now
@@samurootit makes sense a lot actually each house while they all have the silver hair and purple eyes literally have different dragon blood in them that only certain dragons can obey each house it makes so that no other house in old Valyria could use or steal other dragons it’s like a DNA identification unless they marry and blend bloodlines.
I really enjoyed this a lot and there was obviously a lot of research put into this, not just ASOIAF research - but real world as well. Hats off to you and your team on this channel 👏
Corlys doesn't have the blood of the dragon. Valerons were not dragon riders, his children were only dragon riders through their monthers Targaryen blood
@@gerromecampbell9223 no only valerion dragon lords were known to ride dragons..none of the members of house valerion rode dragons before leana and lenor valerion..they were able to ride dragons because they got the magic blood from their mother. This is why targaryans married their sisters to keep the blood to themselves
@@georgiamackinlay5706 but the two dragons seeds that they said we're his gay sons kids are most likely his. They eluded to that in the books. The valeryons most likely have dragon riding blood by now considering how many times that family line have mixed with tageryans. Corlys could most likely have dragon riding blood but Thier family just aren't allowed to ride dragons normally. Hence why one of the dragon seed that he claimed are the sons of his gay son can actually ride a dragon.
8:29 just a small tidpit when dragons are compared to worms in asiof they don't mean literal invertebrate worms we're familiar with, they're actually yalking about fire wyrms which are a serpentine mythical fire breathing reptile kin to dragons
Technically wyrm is just a synonym for dragon, wyvern, drake, et cetera, but in terms of classification I would say a wyrm is just a dragon species with no limbs or wings.
@@kylelee5966 Fair enough. I haven't read A Song of Ice And Fire because I can't stand George R. Martin so I wasn't sure if that was the case here or not.
I always Thought Viserys II was meant to claim one of the wild dragons on Dragonstone and its one of the main reasons his egg wouldn't hatch. Also cannibal is known to have eaten eggs and hatchlings just smaller dragons in general.
In GOT- we saw the skulls of several other dragons along with that of The Black Dread. We were told that dragons became smaller and smaller until they weren’t much bigger than dogs until they died out because they were all in captivity & caged within the Dragon Pit, not because Cannibal ate them all.
Listen to the vid, yes there were a lot of dragons but there couldve been potentially a lot more had canniball not been around since he ate so many eggs.
sheiit homie the pure and blissful innocence of being a child. I remember VIVIDLY wanting to eventually be a outerspace, intergalactical capable F-14 tomcat fighter pilot with a sasquatch bodyguard/co-pilot that would obviously 1-up Chewbacca in size, speed, strength, smarts, toughness etc.. that could also speak English. And I would obviously have to 1-up Han Solo cause, lets face it, an F-14 tomcat with there retractable wings looks waaaaaay fuxkin cooler then the millennium falcon. I had such a no shxt, firm belief that this WOULD be my eventual adulthood life that my mom held onto multiple poems and other little writing assignments from when i was 6yrs old in 1st fuxkin grade all on this eventual future adulthood.
I guess we will see in the Snow sequel, if Jon needs drogon's help to fight the night king returning along with the dagger he stabbed dany with, but its all still not enough... its possible drogon could've made friends with the Cannibal and bonded with him, something no other dragon or man or women has ever done before. It would be crazy and probably won't happen but that would mean the Cannibal can fly to the lands beyond the North to help and would be bigger than Balerion the black dread was.
Are you sure we're gonna see him next season? Cos I was hoping we could see Balerion in a flashback or something and even that made me excited. Hearing that the cannibal is gonna be shown excites me greatly
What if the cannibal did live there before the targaryens went to dragon stone and just happened to live as long as it did because it ate other dragons. Balerion never ate other dragons so that could explaib why he died of old age while the cannibal keeps living.
Interesting stuff, indeed. I'm kinda thinking he's going to be coming back in winds of winter. I don't think he died off, just went east and has been living off of the dragons over that way. I've always thought the dragons were alive and well over there, and not hindered by captivity/riders. I think the fact that ol' Balerion disappeared for most of a year and returned tore up from the floor up(along with his lady rider) with a massive wound that didn't want to heal points towards there being something bigger and badder than the biggest and baddest dragon in the known world. Maybe over in Valyria the dragons live a lot longer and get a lot bigger. Maybe that's what's going on with Cannibal. I think it would be really cool to see him come back in the last book... and then have them rewrite the last couple seasons of game of thrones... Just give them a mulligan🙂
Black bodies, green eyes. Cannibal and Shaggydog share the same features. Both are connected to Rickon’s storyline, a warg that’s yet to grow. Could that lead to anything significant?
I knew I wasn't the only one to make the connection between shaggydog and Cannibal! Could mean there is a connection to the old gods and perhaps he flew to Skagos after the Dance and Rickon finds him alive or dead there
The temperaments are also similar. Shaggydog is vicious and wild, by far the most aggressive out of the Starks' direwolves and Cannibal is well...Cannibal, impossible to tame (at least so far, but we know that Sheepstealer was tamed, while all attempts to tame Cannibal ended horribly) and wild. Considering that Rickon and Shaggydog are currently on Skagos, infamous for cannibalism it sounds too big of a coincidence
So Cannibal is the representation of Targaryans, it is fitting than that he leaves at the end of Dance of Dragons. Since Targaryans never fully recovered from it, him leaving symbolizes the start of the end of dominance.
It would be cool if House of the Dragon ended with a post-credit scene sort of thing with Cannibal (pulling a Vhagar-like appearance in the clouds) going somewhere, maybe Skagos or Old Valyria, maybe even the Shadowlands.
actually it is possible cannibal hatched from wild eggs unrelated to the targs, reason being is that GRRM/the story does/did state that wild/unaided dragon eggs do still have a chance to hatch without targ help but most of the time to do turn to stone but every now and then a egg or 2 in a wild clutch will hatch on it's own, this is likely the case with cannibal considering the fact he is described is having a unique appearance compared to other dragons which could be bc of a deformity like caraxes but could also be bc he is a sub species of dragon not related to the 3 sub species the targs own which would explain why no one could ever bond with him bc the blood magic/connection the targs have with the 3 sub species of dragons that own/created and bred would not exist with in cannibal since he is either from a completely wild sub species of dragon or belongs to a sub species that was owned by 1 of the now extinct valerian houses that perished during the doom and this would further explain why he is so hostile towards even other dragons bc he sees them as invaders/enemies/competition unlike the targ dragons that usually tolerate each others presence most of the time with exceptions being when the 2 dragons are bonded to riders that have a feud/hatred with/for each other or they are ordered by there rider to attack that other dragon compared to cannibal that will attack any other dragon unprovoked and will often feast on them as well in the same way wolves will often kill and even eat domestic dogs bc they see them as competition but also do not see them as a member of the same species hence why they sometimes devour the dogs they kill but almost never eat another wolf that they have killed unless they are starving.
"None of the dragonseeds were fool enough to disturb the Cannibal" - Gyldayn "If we do not trouble him, the Cannibal will not trouble us " - Robert Quince Silver Denys tried to master Sheepstealer (another huge wild dragon ), the dragon tore off his arm. As his sons struggled to stanch his wound, the Cannibal descended on them, drove off Sheepstealer, and devoured Silver Denys and his sons .Yep this dragon is no joke
We so most definitely need an amazing open world GOT game. Say you pick which house your from and you’ve got to travel the realm and bring together an army to take down the king who’s a bad guy. Or better you play as a Targaryen dragon rider which as your character gains experience and grows stronger so does your dragon. The main goal is to bring together the 7 kingdoms before the long night returns and kills everyone.
But the cannibal wasn't a targaryen dragon. The cannibal was already at dragonstone when the targaryen's first landed in Westeros. He's a dragon but not the same three species of dragon the targaryen's. The cannibal was assumed to be slightly younger than balerion. But both vhagar and balerion were larger than the cannibal. After the events between the blacks and green. No one knows what happened to the cannibal and based off age and how dragons grow people assume he got larger than balerion.
i always wonder who was on dragonstone before the targaryens come to island. did they leave? or did they die out? i know one family of valyrian descent die out because they inbreed and had no immune to a disease so it wipe them all out. so did the family who was there could they have be force out? or kill off?
As dragonstone existed before the Targaryens arrived, an dragonrider could have been stationed there for a time and its dragon could have laid the egg, making the cannibal older than the doom
To be honest, the Cannibal may very well have been older and possibly bigger than Belarion because of his feral nature. Keeping dragons in castles/pits might have stunted their growth. And perhaps even more of a stretch being that since he feasted on the eggs and whelps of dragonkind, perhaps he gained their strength, because blood magic works like that in this universe. So really, there is a substantial case to make the Cannibal the biggest and oldest of all dragons. I'm actually of the opinion he would have given Balerion a run for his money if they ever had a duel.
Cannibal is smaller than Vermithor. Vhagar is stated to be the largest living dragon at the beginning of the Dance. Vermithor is stated to have already grown to be the third largest dragon after Balerion and Vhagar by 48 AC. Also, no, blood magic doesn’t work like that in this universe. You don’t get something’s power by eating it.
@Enough Dwarves to kill a bear. ya never know man, a lot of secrets about the dragons and the vylerian people were lost in the doom, so theoretically it could be possible for GRRM to write that in at some some point if he wanted to.
Nice video, one suggestion may be to try keep the pronunciations of names the same, as it can get confusing if there pronounced in slightly different ways throughout the video i.e. valyria, dragonmont
I have a theory that the dragons got smaller because of the dragon pits, reptiles need d3 to process calcium and grow healthy they can get mbd or metabolic bone disease without basking under sunlight. Being kept in the dark without sunlight means the dragons dont get enough d3 to grow strong and health which would cause unhealthy off spring especially with the inbreeding they do.
another great video! I wanted them to change Daemon's end, we know that the dameon's body is not found nor Cannibal, what if the daemon escapes and goes to live with the nettles? i would love it
Also Cannibal isn't a targaryen dragon, he was at dragonstone long before the targaryens came to westeros hence the "wild" as he can't be controlled by targaryens, same with sheepstealer and why nettles ends up being his dragon rider
Yup that say that vhagar died before vermithor, doesn't mention the 3 wild dragons, read the books and come back to me, don't find single quotes and watch 1 adapted TV series and think you know everything
Not really a theory but more of a fan fic but I always wanted to believe that although stormcloud hatched in the cradle of ageon the third he never bonded with the beast given his upmost fear and instead the dragon bonded with viserys. Ageon lied about this as a means to avoid actually having to tame a dragon but later during some point he somehow tamed cannibal but never actually rode it. ( I know this is 100% not true but I always believed that the dragon bane would best suit the beast and would explain why no one could tame it during the dance of dragons. )
I thought the same of dragon going bad boy and Jon surprisingly meeting cannibal in the north somewhere and claiming it as he is the prince who is promised.
Syrah means yellow in some languages in Africa and the indies That’s why Syrax is yellow Hence the name I thought at first Also Cyrax Mortal kombats yellow ninja(robot)
my headcanon is that the only other survivor of valyria we hear of is aurion, who had an army at qohor then went to reclaim valyria and was never seen again, as the cannibal eats targaryen dragons is this because it is a dragon of another house (aurion?) after the dance it moved east and eventually becomes the skeleton daeny finds in the red waste
2:12 "Giving a Dragon a name based on appearance, or something that their rider holds dear to themselves." Sheepstealer either looked liked a sheep stealer, or Nettles highly valued stealing sheep. So far, this tracks.
"Why is that mountain moving?" Everyones last words when they came across the cannibal. Probably why theres no other info after he dipped. Cause he ate everyone and everything. 🤣
Only if dragons don't have a maximum lifespan in which case they most certainly do since they grow and are able to die, but since no one knows how long wild dragons live for if he's still alive come time of GoT then yea he would be absolutely massive
@@travissmith5945 He would be 35 years older than balerion by the time Dance of the dragons take place in 129 AC following the death of Viserys. So far the theory is that dragon grow through out their life if they are left free not to mention Balerion was rider less for a long period of time his last recorded flight was around 55-56 AC when returned to red keep with princess aerea after more than a year of disappearance with several injuries and became the first dragon to be kept in the dragon pit where he lived for until Viserys took him for his last flight of 3 rounds of king's landing in 93AC And yes there's no way of calculating a dragon's actual life span in the books
But like... how many loose dragons were there for this dragon to eat? In the books it only eats 1 of the other dragons during the Dance era. Or am I wrong? It's not like there were just lots of of dragons flying about for it to snack on every now and again? All the Targaryan dragons were quite protected while being raised due to their high value. So where did all the other dragons come from that the Cannibal ate?
@@sdqsdq6274 Yeah that how George RR Martin describes them in his world. 3 main archetypes. I don't see Daemons dragon as wolf like, seems more snake like to me. Dragons aren't real tho, so...
The cannibal’s behaviour makes a lot of sense. Considering that it’s a wild dragon, it has grown far larger than its smaller and weaker kin who were caged in the dragon pit, and like other irl animals it kills of any younger dragons who are essentially evolutionarily dead ends.
People need to stop saying that Balerion died of old age. He is the only example we have of a dragon not dying in combat but that doesn't mean it was due to old age. Balerion had been wounded on the trip to Valyria and would never recover. Subsequently, he had been staying in the dragonpit. Basically his equivalent of a deathbed. Viserys, who was the last person to mount him, had claimed that Balerion seemed extremely weak and unable to fly as he planned to fly to Dragonstone and not just over the capital. The distance from KL to DS is not that great, especially for a dragon of his size. Balerion's death was not caused by his age.
I would for the surviving dragons to appear in Jon Snow spin off. Only dragon to have known to die from old age was Balaryon, but he was in many battles. Writers could use the excuse that years of injuries led to his eventual death.
If he is alive he will proberly be on skaggos islands of the cannibals also another hint is that rickion is on the islands with his direwolf which is black with green eyes same as the cannibal.
It's also not lost on me that none that tried to claim him were true valarian (Velaryon,Targaryen, or any other house with the blood of Old Valaria) or a woman. Maybe it's some silly ideas of other potential characters within the setting. I luv the lore behind these critters.
The Cannibal could also be a symbolism of the Dance of the Dragons itself. Given that it's a black dragon with green eyes that eats its kind, it literally symbolizes both Targaryen factions (the blacks and the greens) "eating" each other. It's also interesting that after the civil war where basically almost all members of both factions were dead, it vanished.
@@blagoje7 and? It being known even before the Dance doesn't mean it couldn't be a "sign" from an in-lore perspective
@@srntnjl523 don't mind him, some people don't understand literature
this.
This was Verminthor
@@blagoje7 Dude your reading comprehension is zero, please go back to 8th grade.
It honestly makes a lot of sense that Cannibal disappeared after the Dance of the Dragons. No more dragons being killed and a decline in new hatchlings means his primary food source would have vanished and he would have little reason to stay in Westeros. My guess is he pulled a Drogon and flew East and there's a chance he may still be alive somewhere.
That would be pretty cool to have a potentially bigger dragon than Vhagar was and Drogon is just flying around somewhere unknown to anyone
@@lawinaabraham3073 Assuming Cannibal is still alive, Drogon might come across him out in Asshai or some other part of the East. Which wouldn't be good since Drogon has never fought a non-undead dragon. I don't think Cannibal would try to eat Drogon since he's way too big to make an easy meal of, but I still don't think he'd be happy to have another dragon in his territory. Sheepstealer and Grey Ghost weren't as aggressive as Cannibal so they didn't butt heads with him, but Drogon is a lot more vicious and two aggressive dragons in the same space is just asking for trouble.
@@cassie6146
Well if Cannibal is still alive he might be bigger than Drogon, I mean he's way older so by this point Drogon and pretty much any creature should fit his size criteria
@@lawinaabraham3073 True. I'm sure Cannibal would certainly try to eat Drogon given the chance. And while Drogon would try to fight back the best he could, he'd definitely end up having to flee for his life since there's just no way he can bring Cannibal down.
@@cassie6146
Yeah and u mentioned Drogon not having fought any undead dragons. But the main problem just like the video said, is that when a dragon fight another dragon their fire breath becomes almost completely obsolete. So theirnmain weapon, the main weapon they use for pretty much anything. is gone and they have to rely on clawing and biting eachother to death. And that's hard cuz normaly even highly battle hardened dragons like Vhagar almost never have to rely on brute strength when they can just melt entire armies and castles with their fire, hell probably even Vhagar doesn't have any dragon-on-dragon fighting experience until the Dance. So yeah Drogon would be fcked.
His only shot is maybe his resilience and genetics, cuz Drogon is pretty much Balerion come again, who was a freak of nature compared to literally any of the other dragons. So yeah small chances of victory for Drogon.
"The cannibal might be simplest name to understand"
Sheepstealer: and I took that personally.
Shoutout my boy sheepstealer, underated simply because man wanted his sheep
They should have made Sheepstealer black
@@codeKhana01?
@@codeKhana01 Bro
@@codeKhana01
Something that no one seems to consider is that Balerion, our only example of a dragon not dying in combat, was severely injured during his nine month disappearance. He grew notably more lethargic afterward, and I cannot help but thing that the nine foot long, unhealing scars he sustained were somehow magical in nature. For all we know, the average dragon lifespan could be closer to 500 years.
THIS❗️ Balerion got hurt and lil Aerea or however it's spelled got infected with demon creatures. We don't know a Dragon's life span
I don't think so. Vhagar looks really old and the fact that the Targaryens came to westeros with 5 dragons with only Balerion living until Aegons Conquest makes this unlikely. We would know if they had a dragon that died with 400 years in the century of blood.
I think he got hurt by One of the survive dragon lords dragon Aurion or somthing like that was his name and after the doom his troops,his dragon and hisself went back to the ruins and nobody ever heard from them again maybe the dragon is still there 🤷♂️
Balerion did not die of old age, after his nine month disappearance with the princess Area Targaryen they got attacked by some monstrous creatures in Old Valyria, we do not know exactly what Attacked them, but we can all agree that it was something, sinister something horrific, even Balreion the Black Dread who was supposedly the greatest Targaryen Dragon to ever grace the skies of Westorous got huge deep wounds on him that he still bleed when they got back, and we don't have to explain with Princess Area, what her fate was, so Balerion's huge scratch/Cut wounds were the reason he died earlier than what maybe he should have. Cause after his Journey from Valyria, he was not the same again.
@@sebastiansuarez9545 I sincerely hope we get a look into old valyria and what creatures still lurk there. Especially what happened while the princess was there. Her death is the most horrific in my opinion even though it's not ever on screen. Can't imagine the pain they were in. And I wonder why he flew her to valyria 😮
I feel like it's implied that Dragons can technically live much longer than Balerion did but he withered and died because of the Dragon Pit (or Maester Conspiracy take your pick), if the Cannibal has always been wild and never confined he could easily be as old as Balerion or almost as old. Maybe he's a Valyrian dragon that fled the doom and not a Targaryen dragon, which would explain why no one was ever able to get close to claiming him, they'd need the blood of a different, extinct Valyrian family.
They say he died of old age but I think he died from being cooped up. It’s never implied when dragons die from old age, and from what I can tell, the cannibal is almost as old as Balerion and he’s still around killing things, so Balerion was weak and died of old age but the cannibal whose almost as old as Balerion is still alive and flying? So yeah I think it was because of the dragon pit
@@Azur3Editz it reminds me how my grandpa always say if he stop moving he’ll die since he old 😭
@@Azur3EditzI think Balerion died early from the wound he got when he flew through Valyria. Some dragons could live for hundreds of years linger then Balerion since he was wounded.
it's not that they'd "NEED" different blood that's not the requirement at all. It's just being of Valyrian blood that are riders. It's never said Targaryens(and therefore the other riding families) can only claim a dragon their family has hatched because even those dragons don't automatically accept any family member as a rider.
No he actually succumbed to his wounds that he had gotten during a nine month disappearance to Old Valyria
I like the theory that maybe Cannibal has descended from an entirely different line of dragons than the Velaryon and Targaryen dragon... It would explain his hostility and 'cannibalism' to all the rest of the dragons
The Targaryen and Velaryon Dragons are all the same, from descent of Old Valyria. So I don't think it's a whole new species at all.
Plus, Dragons don't care about Houses. Only riders
@@thalmoragent9344 Have no idea what was the concept in old valyria... Im sure that if somebody actually claimed Cannibal then it would obey all commands, but fact of the matter is that it is now a creature with no reigns and has the world at his feet to do so as he pleases and to choose to kill his kind... seems to me that there would be a deeper explanation for it. Especially when there is absolutely no other dragon that does so
Alert 🚨 dragons aren’t real this is a fictional world!!! No one’s theories matter!! 😂😂😂
@@call_in_sick 🤓🤓
I think Cannibal was female and followed Balerion, as it's mate.
She maybe the mother to Drogons Egg, and Balerion gave it to humans causing it to behave that way
I can't tell if you're aware or not that wild dragons grow larger than bonded dragons because they don't get stuck in pits and are free to roam and fly. This was shown rather pointedly in GoT with Dany's dragons; Drogon was feral and got much larger than his brothers, who were kept chained beneath Meereen.
Just like a fish in a pond!
Balerion was the largest in existence and he liked to hang out wherever he pleased . He was a free range Boi lmao. im pretty sure this guy also realizes that lol .
@@sly_wolf4523 Balerion, for at least the last 50 years of his life, was kept in the Dragonpit. Many theorize that was the key fact that led to his decline in health.
@@lordtopsy5666 yeah, he was also wounded many times because of battle, so that might have also helped shorten his lifespan
Not sure that theory pans out. Her dragons wouldn’t eat when they were held captive.
I really like the idea of him being a dragon that hatched from a clutch that belonged to a different Valyrian family that inhabited Dragonstone long before the Targaryens arrived. It leaves the Cannibal truly wild and not beholden to any Targaryen bloodlines which would explain why he cannot be bonded with by bastards of House Targaryen.
I thought the targaryens created dragon stone?. Or do u mean the location in general
@@Onii-chan_choso location probably
I've always thought that aswell and could have possibly been a dragon from house belaerys
@@Onii-chan_choso Dragonstone was created as a western outpost/citadel by the Freehold as a whole, not just the Targaryens. They just took up residence there after visions of the Doom of Valyria.
And how about Grey Ghost its also not Bonded with anyone but the Dragonkeepers is Pretty sure its a Targaryen Dragon, Cannibal Story is just a Myth by some Fishermen in Dragonstone its Probably just one of many Hatchling in Second Generation Targaryen Dragons FYI : Dragons can eat anything it can eat Targaryens or other Dragons its not a Special on Cannibal its just majority of it Menu are other Dragons most Probably Hatchlings.
I think the Cannibal was a personification of the Targaryen downfall. He was black and green - the greens vs the blacks. He attacked and killed other dragons just as the Targaryen's killed each other and the end of the Dance, he disappeared, signalling an end to their power and the magic they possessed over the dragons.
Nope. He is in the season 1 finale
@@Thegamer12342 no he isn't lol.
@@Thegamer12342 nope,that was Vermithor.
GRRM LOVES Symbolism! That exactly what Cannibal is. But he most likely is real. Song of ice and fire is FULL of Symbolism
@@niallrampersad9124 So is there cannibal in season 2 house of the dragon?
He's not a Targaryen dragon in my eyes. If he was, someone in the span of 50-100 years should've claimed him already. He was probably a dragon that resided in Dragonstone that belonged to another Valyrian family before the Century of Blood when Dragonstone was built as the Westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Valyrians are blood related to their dragons, and that's why they wanted to keep their bloodlines pure and not intermarry with other people; even other Valyrians who look exactly like them. Their blood will be diluted and the blood ties with the dragons are diminished. The Cannibal not being a Targaryen dragon is plausible.
Wouldn't that mean that he should have died of old age before Balerion?
@@Force-Multiplier Balerion was wounded and slugged away yrs before his death. He went to Essos with Aerea Targaryen and the Princess was infested by large parasites that led to her death. Same thing happened to Balerion.
And how About Grey Ghost the Dragonkeepers and the Targaryens know this Dragon as one of many Hatchlings in Dragonstone that got away and Also the Showrunner has Confirm that Vhagar is the Oldest and Largest Dragon in Westeros they did not mention it as a Targaryen Dragon but simply the Dragon that means Cannibal origin story is just a Myth by some Fishermen in Dragonstone.
@@rhaenyraitargaryen6360 thats whats scary something hurt him enough despite being the largest known dragon and the strongest creature known at the time.... seeing him wounded scared the shit outta them so they hushed hushed it
True, the simple explanation is that the Cannibal is a dragon that was bonded with an entirely different like of Old Valyria, possibly even the opposite in the gene pool of Targaryen's bloodline, and since no family of dragon tamers with any similar blood exist the Cannibal doesn't trust anyone & just feast on everyone.
some people say balerion didnt die of old age, but of what hes experienced in the ruins of valyria instead, and it makes sense. think about it, he was perfectly fine before he went there with aerea, but afterwards he became sluggish, and mostly kept to the dragon pit. could be due to some mental trauma, or some parasite he picked up there, but either way it was the ruins of valyria that killed him- maybe. so the cannibal could very well still have been there before the targaryens came if youre going by that point alone
I can’t help but love the irony of the idea that being kept in the dragon pit is what cause the dragons strength to fade and grow small. When in reality it’s likely the reason many of them were able to reach adulthood. It’s like Viserys said, the idea that the Targaryens control the dragons truly is an illusion.
Veserys said that because he was not the best dragon rider at his time
@@Alvince_ you can’t know as he never rode another when balerion died
@@sleepless9994 he didn't show a lot of interest in dragons. He truly understood that dragons were dangerous even for them.
OH man. I can not wait to see him. I really like the theory that he is actually a Dragon from Valryia, that survived the doom. because he was already nesting across the sea....And the reason he devours the Targaryen Dragons is because he doesn't consider them true Dragon-kin, since they ran away. He considers them weak, so he eats them.
We'll have to wait and hope to see him in 2024 now. At least we got to see Vermithor.
@@Steve_McMillen I'm so confused...vermithor is which?
@@dilichiohabuire2183 the dragon Daemon was singing too
@@Dragonbot2h really I thought it was caraxes
@@slizzle6632 caraxes is Daemon’s dragon. He was singing to Vermithor readying him for a new rider.
Dragons existed in the 14 flames, though also canonically as far east as Yi Ti and Ashaii.
Now, while the valyrians did domesticate them gradually, wild ones almost certaintly persisted. This is my explanation: Cannibal is from the natural wild dragons, the ones not bonded to valyrians with blood magic, that lived on Dragonstone long before the doom of Valyria, and he was simply the last in that line, the last of his kind. Reasoning for:
-There is no record of him hatching from any targaryen brought eggs, nor of being a once tamed now wild dragon, no one knows where he comes from which strongly implies he is completely wild.
-Dragonstone is a volcanic island, dragons like volcanoes.
-It's in a highly profitable sea for seafood and for prey like whales, meaning dragons will have plenty of food to feed on.
-It is also very prominent, boasting caves, cliffs, hillsides, all of which make very good dragon haunts.
- The targaryens used dragonstone for dragons, and they all thrived there, making homes and feeding themselves independantly, even in the dance there were other wild dragons doing just fine.
-No targaryen or valyrian blooded person could tame him, he treated them all as food, which suggests he is not the same stock, he's something older.
-He deliberately ate other dragons, no other dragon is known to do that even the other wild dragons didn't, meaning he might not see other dragons as kin for being a different species.
-He's described as enormous, far bigger then any of the dragons the targaryens ride bar maybe Vhagar, and having been around since Aegons conquest, so it's likely he was born well over 200+ years before the dance.
Cannibal is only described as larger than the other two wild dragons. He’s smaller than Vermithor.
Only smallfolk rumors claim he’s older than the Targaryen arrival. He’s also only ever eaten eggs and hatchling dragons.
Sunfyre hunts down and partially devours Grey Ghost while in Dragonstone.
Cannibal is easily one of the most interesting dragons in the ASOIAF universe.
But your comment is the least interesting one in the youtube universe.
@@HansPeter-hx5dx thank you! I strive for mediocre indifference and yet I failed because I provoked a response.
@@InAverySilentWay I'm sure you will do much better next time and nail a perfect mediocre indefference, so literally no one cares. I believe in you.
@@HansPeter-hx5dx your wish of indifference makes all the difference. Thanks you!
Yup
I like the theory that The Cannibal was the cradle egg of Maegor the Cruel. Maegor was described as having a wary relationship with dragons when he was a child, until he claimed Balerion. So he might have not dared having contact with the hatchling that would become Cannibal.
Adding to the theory, it would add a hint of sadness to Cannibal if Maegor rejected him and the start of their bond, only to pick the larger dragon.
The Cannibal was in Westeros before Aegon's conquest. So that can't be true.
If Cannibal was there after the Targaryens showed up, sure. But he's said to have been there beforehand.
Still, wouldn't the Targaryens want to stop Cannibal or scare him off from eating their Dragons?
@@thalmoragent9344 That story is made by the smallfolk. It's not really a reliable source.
If they want to stop him. I suppose, but the big boy is also culling the weak and keeping the dragon population under control. Cannot say what they'd want.
cannibal was already on dragonstone for 80 yrs or so when aegon arrived
@@OldFarmerJoe1 Aegon did “arrive” he was born there
I like the idea that the Cannibal was inflicted with a disease that cause him to cannibalize other dragons and this disease was something prevalent in Valyria after the doom as a way of explaining how so many dragons disappeared, call it the Madness of Valyria if you will and have it be something that infected both Dragon and dragon lords and have the Maesters, Asshai, Qarth and/or other orders be behind the decline that would go on to curse and infect every Dragonlord descendant and dragon, making their eventual demise all but inevitable regardless of if they escaped the Doom or not. I like the idea that there was a cause for the fall, more than that it was random, and more than it being that only this one family out of millions would have survived. This "disease" probably strengthened by incest, would be the perfect explanation as to why even the dragonlords not living in Valyria at the time of the doom and the dragons not present at the time, would have eventually died out. This would also allow for a route around of GRRM's plain ignoring of the true effects that so much incest would have on the Targaryen and Velaryon bloodlines, which should at this point based on our world's genealogy have long ago led to the retention of SEVERE recessive diseases and illness, leading to many physically disturbing traits and them all essentially looking the same. This would also explain how they fell, despite GRRM giving them the Uchiha treatment.
Here’s a thought - the Targaryen came to dragon stone with five dragons, four died but two hatched. So far we’ve seen dragon clutches are usually three (Caraxes laid three eggs and Deanarys received three eggs presumably from the same clutch). What if the two dragons that joined Balarion in the conquest of Westeros had a third sibling but because there were only two available Targaryens (Aegons sister wives) to mount them only two were claimed and the third sibling was left unclaimed. Perhaps the reason it took to eating other dragons is because after it hatched, or shortly before, the four other dragons from old Valyria had died and the Targaryens didn’t know what to do with the corpses (or were simply unable to dispose of them with limited resources on the island prior to the conquest) and that’s what he ate as a hatchling while his siblings were tamed by the sister wives.
The cannibal
Was there even before they arrived
Smh or the cannibal is just a normal dragon probably around Vermithor's age or younger. Which makes a lot more sense
i always thought that denery's eggs were laid by Dreamfyre. It was never confirimed in the books but 3 eggs were stolen from Dreamfyres last clutch which wasa confirmed in the books im pretty sure
@@juliusfishman7222 I thought there was a size chart released by GRR or HBO that showed all 20 dragons and the cannibal is second in size only to vhegar?
@@stevejones3383 in the books vermithor is described as the second largest dragon after vhagar. But I just so a chart not sure if it's official or not but on the chart it's balerion , vhagar,meraxes, cannibal then vermithor so maybe that's what they are going for in the tv show.because Vermithor was said to already be a large dragon third in size to balerion and Vhagar in 48AC that was during the rain of meagor the cruel that means that vermithor was most likely born already while balerion and Vhagar was conquering the seven kingdoms. Cannibal is only described to be larger than sheepstealer which was siad to be born when kind jeaherys was born so he would be a large dragon but not close to the size of vermithor but larger than most dragons including ceraxes and meleys most likely the fourth largest after vermithor but I guess the tv show wants to make him a bit more cooler so there he will be larger than vermithor according to the chart
Imagine that the Cannibal was the one that attacked Balerion. Since he didn't finish his fight with him, followed him back to westeros and claimed that land for his own. Also, being that he is a wild dragon and may come from a barren land with few food sources (plus maybe belonging to another bloodline) he resorted to eat other dragons out of habit
Hopefully they expand Cannibal’s presence in the series like a scene of him going after another wounded dragon to eat or having his slumber disturbed by a dragon fight thus awakening him to defend itself and obviously only itself! Although I like the fact of having a more mysterious dragon I still wanna see how big he really is!
Thinking about it, seems like The Cannibal is the reason for the Dragon pit! As more dragons survived to adulthood that were born and raised in the Dragon pit then on Dragonstone.
The black and green color scheme and the cannibal aspect is an obvious literary reference to how the green and black “dragons” destroyed and canibalized their own house through infighting
Wow I never thought of it that way
Cannibal isn't even that important of a dragon , he was just there for being cool
Yeah. He would have been extremely important if someone was able to mount him..the war might have been over with him in green or blacks side
@@hosniadnan2623 yeah, I saw a comment someone made that he was just there as a metaphor or something, in the books cause his color scheme is black and green .and it represents the two targerean houses cannibalizing themselves
Depends. Blacks have Vermithor 2nd largest dragon and greens have vhagar the largest dragon. It would’ve been over had he committed to either one
@@ralphdadon3026 spoilers
Vermithor fought for both sides
@@juliusfishman7222 yup the Cannibal is a genius metaphor, his purpose isn't to be some big player in the game killing both sides dragons but a metaphor for how messed up everything is that so much kin are fighting in the first place
No reason to discount the fisherman around Dragonstone about The Cannibal's age. Magic comes and goes into the world of ASOIAF along with the dragons. They are truly a magical creature or a conduit of sorts. The cannibal eats said dragons- possibly absorbing some source of vitality from them. Like The Highlander series, but with a shot clock.
its largely assumed he was the one that messed up balerion(when he came back wounded) * cannibal being native to westerous and possibly older* he got territorial to the only dragon his size when he met balerion and messed him up and left(This upsets people but I love the idea cause it makes him way more badass). (His wound likely came after visiting valyria cause crossing a ocean with a horse sized wound+ wasn't likely)
the cannibal was roaming dragonstone that was his habitat whatever wounded Balerion was in old Valyria at the very least that is what the text tried to imply nothing on it even refers to the cannibal
@@Force-Multiplier thank you o, all this shit theories. What most likely injured balerion is some freak of nature fire wyrms in old valyria or something even more scary the point was to make the reader understand that there are very dangerous monsters still lurking in the doom of valyrian
This is one of the worst theories I have ever seen
Didn't mean to upset people just balerion came back wounded and a wound that big would be incredibly stressful to heal from crossing the ocean and likely happened after his valyrian visit was the theory. Not saying some big ass wyrm couldn't have done in old valyria it just no proof as of yet.
@@Complexcore-lz8de shut up
The Cannibal came from a different bloodline of dragons than the Targaryen dragons. They make this obvious in the text. That’s why he has green eyes and kills dragons associated with the Targaryen line. The Targaryen’s were an insignificant house in Old Valyria. It’s possible that their dragons were shorter lived as well.
Thats really interesting! So, it’s possible dragons from the most powerful houses were even more scary? I assume it’s because of magic that’s been lost now
@@samurootit makes sense a lot actually each house while they all have the silver hair and purple eyes literally have different dragon blood in them that only certain dragons can obey each house it makes so that no other house in old Valyria could use or steal other dragons it’s like a DNA identification unless they marry and blend bloodlines.
@@Mcherri That is a very good theory
I really enjoyed this a lot and there was obviously a lot of research put into this, not just ASOIAF research - but real world as well. Hats off to you and your team on this channel 👏
It is an interesting idea that the reason Cannibal could not be claimed is because it secretly had a rider. Maybe not Corlys, but who knows.
Corlys doesn't have the blood of the dragon. Valerons were not dragon riders, his children were only dragon riders through their monthers Targaryen blood
All Valyrian’s can ride dragons. The Targaryen’s just kept control of all of them.
@@gerromecampbell9223 this is not true. I believe only the 40-50 Dragon lord families can tame and bond to dragons.
@@gerromecampbell9223 no only valerion dragon lords were known to ride dragons..none of the members of house valerion rode dragons before leana and lenor valerion..they were able to ride dragons because they got the magic blood from their mother. This is why targaryans married their sisters to keep the blood to themselves
@@georgiamackinlay5706 but the two dragons seeds that they said we're his gay sons kids are most likely his. They eluded to that in the books. The valeryons most likely have dragon riding blood by now considering how many times that family line have mixed with tageryans. Corlys could most likely have dragon riding blood but Thier family just aren't allowed to ride dragons normally. Hence why one of the dragon seed that he claimed are the sons of his gay son can actually ride a dragon.
If they introduce the Cannibal in house of dragons that would be extraordinary!
Spoiler alert the Cannibal is the only survivor besides silverwing I think .
@@reapersexotics1129 Didn't Sheepstealer survive as well, there are hints that the burned man clan is connected to Nettles and Sheepstealer.
8:29 just a small tidpit when dragons are compared to worms in asiof they don't mean literal invertebrate worms we're familiar with, they're actually yalking about fire wyrms which are a serpentine mythical fire breathing reptile kin to dragons
Technically wyrm is just a synonym for dragon, wyvern, drake, et cetera, but in terms of classification I would say a wyrm is just a dragon species with no limbs or wings.
@@hernehaugen6878 yeah thats true, but I mean in the song of ice and fire universe wyrms are a seperate species from dragons
@@kylelee5966 Fair enough. I haven't read A Song of Ice And Fire because I can't stand George R. Martin so I wasn't sure if that was the case here or not.
People don’t know about them fire worms, them shits viscous
I always Thought Viserys II was meant to claim one of the wild dragons on Dragonstone and its one of the main reasons his egg wouldn't hatch. Also cannibal is known to have eaten eggs and hatchlings just smaller dragons in general.
But he claimed the black Dread himself tho.
@@shaheenshad5012 Viserys the second, Rhaenyra and Daemons son
If you have the subtitles on you’ll see that the dragon Daemon approaches while singing is Vermithor not the Cannibal.
20:30 I guess we gotta "Hope" for season 3 or 4 to have Cannibal
In GOT- we saw the skulls of several other dragons along with that of The Black Dread. We were told that dragons became smaller and smaller until they weren’t much bigger than dogs until they died out because they were all in captivity & caged within the Dragon Pit, not because Cannibal ate them all.
*It's cat
Listen to the vid, yes there were a lot of dragons but there couldve been potentially a lot more had canniball not been around since he ate so many eggs.
@@m_zero3009 I dont think they watched the vid at all.
My fav mythical animal I am definitely fascinated by dragons when I was child I deadass wanted to be a dragon archeologist for a living 😂🤣
I just wanted to be an archaeologist but a dragon archaeologist sounds way more fun
@@thatsthat2612 hell yea I wudda had a dragon tooth necklace and a dragon skull on my wall 💪🏽💯
Dragons in most of lores are not animals.
@@kunik61 wat are dey den?
sheiit homie the pure and blissful innocence of being a child. I remember VIVIDLY wanting to eventually be a outerspace, intergalactical capable F-14 tomcat fighter pilot with a sasquatch bodyguard/co-pilot that would obviously 1-up Chewbacca in size, speed, strength, smarts, toughness etc.. that could also speak English. And I would obviously have to 1-up Han Solo cause, lets face it, an F-14 tomcat with there retractable wings looks waaaaaay fuxkin cooler then the millennium falcon. I had such a no shxt, firm belief that this WOULD be my eventual adulthood life that my mom held onto multiple poems and other little writing assignments from when i was 6yrs old in 1st fuxkin grade all on this eventual future adulthood.
Since Cannibal went in absentia, it means that there are other dragons in Westeros besides of Drogon.
Maybe. But the Dance happened so long before the events of the main series, that he would still be dead by the time Drogon flew east
Eggs maybe but they clearly haven’t hatched
I guess we will see in the Snow sequel, if Jon needs drogon's help to fight the night king returning along with the dagger he stabbed dany with, but its all still not enough... its possible drogon could've made friends with the Cannibal and bonded with him, something no other dragon or man or women has ever done before.
It would be crazy and probably won't happen but that would mean the Cannibal can fly to the lands beyond the North to help and would be bigger than Balerion the black dread was.
It was said there are still dragons living wild in Asshai so maybe cannibal went to Essos
I LOVED this, terrific video.
Are you sure we're gonna see him next season? Cos I was hoping we could see Balerion in a flashback or something and even that made me excited. Hearing that the cannibal is gonna be shown excites me greatly
No one knows what dragons will be shown next season. Anyone who claims otherwise, this far out from the 2024 release, is blowing smoke up your ass.
Yes
Daemon spoke about Cannibal
@@Dracarys_123 what scene?
@@shroomjak200 S1E10 black council scene
you mentioned there are 3 dragon types for the designs, I never noticed Caraxes has wolfish I always saw it as more snake like.
What if the cannibal did live there before the targaryens went to dragon stone and just happened to live as long as it did because it ate other dragons. Balerion never ate other dragons so that could explaib why he died of old age while the cannibal keeps living.
Interesting stuff, indeed. I'm kinda thinking he's going to be coming back in winds of winter. I don't think he died off, just went east and has been living off of the dragons over that way. I've always thought the dragons were alive and well over there, and not hindered by captivity/riders. I think the fact that ol' Balerion disappeared for most of a year and returned tore up from the floor up(along with his lady rider) with a massive wound that didn't want to heal points towards there being something bigger and badder than the biggest and baddest dragon in the known world. Maybe over in Valyria the dragons live a lot longer and get a lot bigger. Maybe that's what's going on with Cannibal. I think it would be really cool to see him come back in the last book... and then have them rewrite the last couple seasons of game of thrones... Just give them a mulligan🙂
Black bodies, green eyes. Cannibal and Shaggydog share the same features. Both are connected to Rickon’s storyline, a warg that’s yet to grow.
Could that lead to anything significant?
I knew I wasn't the only one to make the connection between shaggydog and Cannibal! Could mean there is a connection to the old gods and perhaps he flew to Skagos after the Dance and Rickon finds him alive or dead there
And Rickon in the books is struck in the island of cannibals.
The temperaments are also similar. Shaggydog is vicious and wild, by far the most aggressive out of the Starks' direwolves and Cannibal is well...Cannibal, impossible to tame (at least so far, but we know that Sheepstealer was tamed, while all attempts to tame Cannibal ended horribly) and wild. Considering that Rickon and Shaggydog are currently on Skagos, infamous for cannibalism it sounds too big of a coincidence
@@BronzeSeiya Skagos is also a volcanic island, same as dragonstone
Smallfolk: "Cannibal!! Why do you keep eating your own kind?"
Cannibal: "Just goofin' around. Party hardy"
So Cannibal is the representation of Targaryans, it is fitting than that he leaves at the end of Dance of Dragons. Since Targaryans never fully recovered from it, him leaving symbolizes the start of the end of dominance.
@:26
So how exactly would they roost atop a tower before it was even created?
Right? Was thinking the same thing. Makes no sense
It would be cool if House of the Dragon ended with a post-credit scene sort of thing with Cannibal (pulling a Vhagar-like appearance in the clouds) going somewhere, maybe Skagos or Old Valyria, maybe even the Shadowlands.
I highly respect that you used footage of Fatalis for the first few seconds. The one dragon I have never beaten. Please do a video on Fatalis one day!
Black dragons are hard to kill in general. Fatalis prolly being the hardest one.
Lore wise - white Fatalis is the oldest and strongest.
If you're on xbox, I can help to kill it :D
I got all his armor and several weapons
I keep thinking it, EVERYONE in Westersos needs a hug and therapy, even the Dragons 😂😂
My little tin foil theory, Daemon survived the gods eye and took cannibal
Has a human every taken a 2nd dragon? I know dragons can bond w more than one human if their rider dies, but is the same true in the inverse?
@@usaclaimsthemoon4198
It's not just the human that's the issue. Attempting to tame a dragon that has never known a master is suicide
@@lawinaabraham3073 we’re talking Daemon here, he already committed suicide:)
Don't you dare tease me.
too much wishful thinking Daemon died with Caraxes Aemond and Vhagar
Balerion had a lot of injuries that could have make his life way shorter.
actually it is possible cannibal hatched from wild eggs unrelated to the targs, reason being is that GRRM/the story does/did state that wild/unaided dragon eggs do still have a chance to hatch without targ help but most of the time to do turn to stone but every now and then a egg or 2 in a wild clutch will hatch on it's own, this is likely the case with cannibal considering the fact he is described is having a unique appearance compared to other dragons which could be bc of a deformity like caraxes but could also be bc he is a sub species of dragon not related to the 3 sub species the targs own which would explain why no one could ever bond with him bc the blood magic/connection the targs have with the 3 sub species of dragons that own/created and bred would not exist with in cannibal since he is either from a completely wild sub species of dragon or belongs to a sub species that was owned by 1 of the now extinct valerian houses that perished during the doom and this would further explain why he is so hostile towards even other dragons bc he sees them as invaders/enemies/competition unlike the targ dragons that usually tolerate each others presence most of the time with exceptions being when the 2 dragons are bonded to riders that have a feud/hatred with/for each other or they are ordered by there rider to attack that other dragon compared to cannibal that will attack any other dragon unprovoked and will often feast on them as well in the same way wolves will often kill and even eat domestic dogs bc they see them as competition but also do not see them as a member of the same species hence why they sometimes devour the dogs they kill but almost never eat another wolf that they have killed unless they are starving.
"None of the dragonseeds were fool enough to disturb the Cannibal" - Gyldayn
"If we do not trouble him, the Cannibal will not trouble us " - Robert Quince
Silver Denys tried to master Sheepstealer (another huge wild dragon ), the dragon tore off his arm. As his sons struggled to stanch his wound, the Cannibal descended on them, drove off Sheepstealer, and devoured Silver Denys and his sons .Yep this dragon is no joke
Theory: each line of dragons requires a human sacrifice of the blood of the one hatching it.
Rhaego was Daenerys' sacrifice.
We so most definitely need an amazing open world GOT game. Say you pick which house your from and you’ve got to travel the realm and bring together an army to take down the king who’s a bad guy. Or better you play as a Targaryen dragon rider which as your character gains experience and grows stronger so does your dragon. The main goal is to bring together the 7 kingdoms before the long night returns and kills everyone.
But the cannibal wasn't a targaryen dragon. The cannibal was already at dragonstone when the targaryen's first landed in Westeros. He's a dragon but not the same three species of dragon the targaryen's. The cannibal was assumed to be slightly younger than balerion. But both vhagar and balerion were larger than the cannibal. After the events between the blacks and green. No one knows what happened to the cannibal and based off age and how dragons grow people assume he got larger than balerion.
i always wonder who was on dragonstone before the targaryens come to island. did they leave? or did they die out? i know one family of valyrian descent die out because they inbreed and had no immune to a disease so it wipe them all out. so did the family who was there could they have be force out? or kill off?
As dragonstone existed before the Targaryens arrived, an dragonrider could have been stationed there for a time and its dragon could have laid the egg, making the cannibal older than the doom
I didn’t realize how much pressure was on Deanery’s shoulders until I watched HotD. You don’t realize how mighty the Targaryen dynasty was
This is my favorite dragon! Thank you for this video
Using Scorn to further your point was brilliant (Props to the editor (if there is one.))
Syrax has such a unique face
I had to rewind when they showed her face after showing the balerion skull. Her head is like 5 times smaller than balerion lol
To be honest, the Cannibal may very well have been older and possibly bigger than Belarion because of his feral nature. Keeping dragons in castles/pits might have stunted their growth. And perhaps even more of a stretch being that since he feasted on the eggs and whelps of dragonkind, perhaps he gained their strength, because blood magic works like that in this universe. So really, there is a substantial case to make the Cannibal the biggest and oldest of all dragons. I'm actually of the opinion he would have given Balerion a run for his money if they ever had a duel.
Cannibal is smaller than Vermithor. Vhagar is stated to be the largest living dragon at the beginning of the Dance. Vermithor is stated to have already grown to be the third largest dragon after Balerion and Vhagar by 48 AC.
Also, no, blood magic doesn’t work like that in this universe. You don’t get something’s power by eating it.
@Enough Dwarves to kill a bear. ya never know man, a lot of secrets about the dragons and the vylerian people were lost in the doom, so theoretically it could be possible for GRRM to write that in at some some point if he wanted to.
They had to include the wild dragons because the dragon seeds claim 4 out of the 6 wild dragons
Yep
Nice video, one suggestion may be to try keep the pronunciations of names the same, as it can get confusing if there pronounced in slightly different ways throughout the video i.e. valyria, dragonmont
The Cannibal was waiting for Corlys Velaryon to claim him.
I have a theory that the dragons got smaller because of the dragon pits, reptiles need d3 to process calcium and grow healthy they can get mbd or metabolic bone disease without basking under sunlight.
Being kept in the dark without sunlight means the dragons dont get enough d3 to grow strong and health which would cause unhealthy off spring especially with the inbreeding they do.
another great video! I wanted them to change Daemon's end, we know that the dameon's body is not found nor Cannibal, what if the daemon escapes and goes to live with the nettles? i would love it
I'm a sucker for the use of the ArcheDemon game play footage from Dragon Age Origins. Miss that game.
Also Cannibal isn't a targaryen dragon, he was at dragonstone long before the targaryens came to westeros hence the "wild" as he can't be controlled by targaryens, same with sheepstealer and why nettles ends up being his dragon rider
This is not true.
@@scottboyle3161 ah the books lied then, you must be right and GRRM is wrong.
@@xsalad_dodgerx8428 "And truly, with Vhagar dead at last, the oldest and largest living dragon in all of westeros was Vermithor."
Yup that say that vhagar died before vermithor, doesn't mention the 3 wild dragons, read the books and come back to me, don't find single quotes and watch 1 adapted TV series and think you know everything
@@xsalad_dodgerx8428 The OLDEST and LARGEST in ALL OF WESTEROS
all of westeros
Largest
Oldest
All of westeros
that scene at 5:59 with daemon hugging caraxes, what episode was that from? i dont remember seeing it
It's ep 1
What if Cannibal was Orys Baratheon's dragon and they suppressed this fact to hide him being a Targaryen bastard.
A worm and a wyrm are two VERY different things, any comparison between them is spurious af.
Not really a theory but more of a fan fic but I always wanted to believe that although stormcloud hatched in the cradle of ageon the third he never bonded with the beast given his upmost fear and instead the dragon bonded with viserys. Ageon lied about this as a means to avoid actually having to tame a dragon but later during some point he somehow tamed cannibal but never actually rode it. ( I know this is 100% not true but I always believed that the dragon bane would best suit the beast and would explain why no one could tame it during the dance of dragons. )
Love the use of all mighty Fatalis scenes for this, Nice video
It would be Mind Blowing if Jon Snow were to mount Cannibal in "Snow" Just a thought..
I thought the same of dragon going bad boy and Jon surprisingly meeting cannibal in the north somewhere and claiming it as he is the prince who is promised.
He used to be a Rhaegal's rider.
I think Jon will claim drogon
Hello, do you know who is the artist of the video thumbnail or if you have the direct link of the image?
Really interested to see how they are gonna do the dragon seeds.
Pls can you Tell me what cinematic material is from 7:55 - 8:07 ?, Looks like a movie or game?
I wish we had a ice dragon confirmed in the lore they are far larger than Targaryen dragons.
Something in me, because I'm stupid: I could claim him. I'm different.
Syrah means yellow in some languages in Africa and the indies
That’s why Syrax is yellow
Hence the name I thought at first
Also Cyrax Mortal kombats yellow ninja(robot)
my headcanon is that the only other survivor of valyria we hear of is aurion, who had an army at qohor then went to reclaim valyria and was never seen again, as the cannibal eats targaryen dragons is this because it is a dragon of another house (aurion?) after the dance it moved east and eventually becomes the skeleton daeny finds in the red waste
Love the inclusion of Fatalis dragon scenes from monster hunter games
Dragons did not originate in Ashai, they originated in the volcanos of ancient pre-imperial Valyeia, this is supported in the text.
I wonder if I was the only one who saw Fatalis and got excited for a monster hunter lore video
So just curious on your opening line how is it a Targaryen dragon if it's wild and never had a rider??
2:12 "Giving a Dragon a name based on appearance, or something that their rider holds dear to themselves."
Sheepstealer either looked liked a sheep stealer, or Nettles highly valued stealing sheep. So far, this tracks.
Cant't wait to see it flying and burning in season 2. Love HOTD.
"Why is that mountain moving?" Everyones last words when they came across the cannibal. Probably why theres no other info after he dipped. Cause he ate everyone and everything. 🤣
You have a great voice
Going by the theory of dragons growth Cannibal will be largest of all living dragons even larger than balerion
Only if dragons don't have a maximum lifespan in which case they most certainly do since they grow and are able to die, but since no one knows how long wild dragons live for if he's still alive come time of GoT then yea he would be absolutely massive
@@travissmith5945 He would be 35 years older than balerion by the time Dance of the dragons take place in 129 AC following the death of Viserys.
So far the theory is that dragon grow through out their life if they are left free not to mention Balerion was rider less for a long period of time his last recorded flight was around 55-56 AC when returned to red keep with princess aerea after more than a year of disappearance with several injuries and became the first dragon to be kept in the dragon pit where he lived for until Viserys took him for his last flight of 3 rounds of king's landing in 93AC
And yes there's no way of calculating a dragon's actual life span in the books
@@travissmith5945 drogon meets cannibal end of season 8😂
Fatalis legit causes the fall of Valyria such a deep lore
This could be the dragon that appears on the episode 10 trailer with Daemon.
That might be vermithor
its vermithor
But like... how many loose dragons were there for this dragon to eat? In the books it only eats 1 of the other dragons during the Dance era. Or am I wrong? It's not like there were just lots of of dragons flying about for it to snack on every now and again? All the Targaryan dragons were quite protected while being raised due to their high value. So where did all the other dragons come from that the Cannibal ate?
Daemons dragon reminds me of being more snake like than wolf like.
Daemons dragon is mutated
lol dont know how you get wolf like comments , dragon are obvious copied from monitor lizards , look up argus monitor , is has long neck
@@sdqsdq6274 Yeah that how George RR Martin describes them in his world. 3 main archetypes. I don't see Daemons dragon as wolf like, seems more snake like to me. Dragons aren't real tho, so...
The cannibal’s behaviour makes a lot of sense. Considering that it’s a wild dragon, it has grown far larger than its smaller and weaker kin who were caged in the dragon pit, and like other irl animals it kills of any younger dragons who are essentially evolutionarily dead ends.
lets diverge from the books and get Cannibal ridden
People need to stop saying that Balerion died of old age. He is the only example we have of a dragon not dying in combat but that doesn't mean it was due to old age. Balerion had been wounded on the trip to Valyria and would never recover. Subsequently, he had been staying in the dragonpit. Basically his equivalent of a deathbed. Viserys, who was the last person to mount him, had claimed that Balerion seemed extremely weak and unable to fly as he planned to fly to Dragonstone and not just over the capital. The distance from KL to DS is not that great, especially for a dragon of his size. Balerion's death was not caused by his age.
I would for the surviving dragons to appear in Jon Snow spin off. Only dragon to have known to die from old age was Balaryon, but he was in many battles. Writers could use the excuse that years of injuries led to his eventual death.
If he is alive he will proberly be on skaggos islands of the cannibals also another hint is that rickion is on the islands with his direwolf which is black with green eyes same as the cannibal.
It's also not lost on me that none that tried to claim him were true valarian (Velaryon,Targaryen, or any other house with the blood of Old Valaria) or a woman. Maybe it's some silly ideas of other potential characters within the setting. I luv the lore behind these critters.