Silverwing

Silverwing was a dragon, apparently female, ridden by Alysanne Targaryen, who took great pleasure in flying on her back.

Rather calm and docile according to Mushroom, she was silver in color, which surely gave her her name. This one was perhaps also a reference to Vif-Argent, the dragoness of Aenys I Targaryen, Alysanne's father.

History

Alysanne Targaryen

According to legend, in the year 36, Princess Rhaena Targaryen placed a dragon's egg in the cradle of her newborn sister, Alysanne. From this egg, Silverwing is said to have emerged, who bonds with Alysanne.

In the year 42, Alysanne's father, King Aenys I Targaryen dies in Peyredragon during the War of the Faith. During his funeral, Silverwing helps Vif-Argent and Vermithor to burn his pyre. Soon after, Alysanne's uncle, Maegor I Targaryen usurps the crown.

In 44, Jaehaerys, his sister, his mother and their dragons escape Maegor's surveillance and find refuge in Accalmie, with Robar Baratheon.

In the year 48, Vermithor is old enough to be ridden by Alysanne Targaryen, who is twelve years old. That same year, Alysanne's brother, Jaehaerys Targaryen, declared his claim to the Iron Throne against their uncle, Maegor I Targaryen.

Jaehaerys' main supporter, Lord Rogar Baratheon, seems to be planning to use Silverwing and Vermithor against Balerion. They are joined by Rhaena Targaryen, Jaehaerys' older sister, and Alysanne, riding her dragon, Firebird. Together, the three dragons are spotted above King's Landing nine days after the mysterious death of Maegor I Targaryen.

During the Golden Wedding of '49, the arrival of the bride's children, Jaehaerys on Vermithor and Alysanne on Silverwing, enchanted and surprised the crowds in Fossedragon.

That same year, Alysanne flies on Silverwing to Peyredragon to escape the forced marriage planned for her by the small council. She is accompanied by her brother Jaehaerys on Vermithor, whom she marries.

Over the next few years, the young couple live in seclusion in Peyredragon, far from the court of King's Landing. They often fly with their dragons, around Montdragon or to Lamarck.

In the year 51, Silverwing carried Alysanne from Peyredragon to King's Landing, where she married Jaehaerys a second time.

At the beginning of the year 54, Alysanne Targaryen accompanies her brother on Silverwing to Villevieille, in order to avoid the election of a High Septon who would be unfavorable to the doctrine of Exceptionalism.

The dragon carries the queen and Ser Joffrey Doguette of the Royal Guard, while Vermithor carries the king and Jonquil Sombre, the queen's liege shield, to balance the weight.

The city is amazed by Silverwing, who makes an impression by landing on top of the Great Tower and fanning the flames of the tower's lantern with a flutter of his wing. At the end of the journey, the royal couple join their mother, Alyssa Velaryon, who is dying in Accalmie, on the back of a dragon.

Later that year, Alyssa and Silverwing returned to Peyredragon to console the bereaved Rhaena Targaryen. They soon leave, only to be met with bitterness by the Queen of the East and her daughter, Aerea.

At the end of the year, Rhaena and Songefeu arrive in King's Landing in a hurry. When they arrive, Vermithor and Silverwing stand up with a roar. The three dragons threaten to clash, shrieking and snapping their teeth.

In the year 56, as the Targaryens begin to settle their dragons in Fossedragon, Vermithor and Silverwing remain at the Red Keep, near their dragonriders.

In the year 58, Silverwing transports Alysanne on her royal wanderings in the North. In Blancport, tens of thousands of Norsemen come to cheer the queen and admire the dragoness. None of them had ever seen a dragon before. They then travel to Winterfell.

Landing in front of the castle gates, they are greeted by Lord Alaric Stark and his sons. The lord immediately announces that he does not want a dragon within his walls, fearing a fire, as Harrenhal suffered during the Conquest.

During the queen's stay, he eventually softens and agrees to approach Silverwing, but not without some mistrust. Alysanne then rides on his back to the Wall. The men of the Night's Watch are stunned by the creature.

However, Alysanne notices that Silverwing does not like the Wall. She shrieks and snaps her teeth at every gust of wind. Three times, the queen flies over Castle Black and tries to fly over the Wall, but Silverwing refuses.

The queen is troubled, for never before has the dragoness refused to take her where she asks. Having found Jaehaerys at Winterfell and having visited Quart-Torrhen and Tertre-bourg again, the two dragonriders mounted their dragons to make the return journey to King's Landing.

In the year 82, the queen rode her dragon to the bedside of her pregnant daughter, Daella Targaryen, in Eyrie.

At the beginning of her Second Quarrel in the year 92, Alysanne rode Silverwing and left King's Landing for Peyredragon, where she stayed for two years.

In the year 93, age and fatigue overtook Alysanne. She rides Silverwing for the last time. She painfully climbed down from her back, crying. Seven years later, Alysanne dies, leaving Silverwing without a dragon rider.

Ulf the White

Silverwing has been without a dragonlord for thirty years. She has established her lair in a cave in Montdragon on Peyredragon, when the war of succession known as the Dance of the Dragons breaks out.

During the first dark council, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen recommends finding dragon riders to ride the island's dragons into battle, however, for the time being, the party of the pretender Rhaenyra Targaryen knows they cannot rely on them.

Towards the end of the year 129, the Prince of Peyredragon Jacaerys Velaryon promises land and knighthood to any man who can subdue a dragon during the Red Season.

Silverwing is deemed the most docile dragoness on the island, so several adventurers attempt to ride her, especially the queen's dwarf jester, Mushroom. Finally, a man-at-arms named Ulf the White, manages to subdue her.

On the fifth day of the year 130, Silverwing participated in the Battle of Gosier. Some time later, Rhaenyra's forces took King's Landing. Ulf the White flew over the capital to scare the population. They land on Rhaenys Hill, near Fossedragon.

Silverwing sets up his lair there for a while, before leaving for new battles. Ser Ulf White and Ser Hugh Hammer are then sent to Chutebourg with their dragons, to support the defenders loyal to the queen against the army of Lord Ormund Hightower, loyal to Aegon II Targaryen.

During the first battle of Chutebourg, the two dragonriders turn their dragons against those they were supposed to defend and burn the city. After his betrayal and the victory of his new side, Ulf the White indulges in debauchery.

According to the Mushroom Testimony, he rapes three virgins each night and feeds all those who fail to satisfy him to his dragon.

While the army is stationed in Chutebourg, Silverwing and Vermithor settle in a field south of the city, where they curl up together. One night, Silverwing is awakened by the sounds of the second battle of Chutebourg. A crossbowman tries to shoot him and dies.

The dragoness then flies away and stays away from the conflict throughout the battle, merely flying over the city and the camps and taking advantage of the hot winds from the inferno below her to rise even higher.

She did not come down until the following night to see the other dead dragons. According to the singers, she lifted Vermithor's wing three times with her snout, as if to incite him to fly again, but Archmaester Gyldayn believes that this is only a fable.

The next day, she feasts on the charred corpses of horses, men and cattle left to rot.

Shortly after the second battle of Chutebourg, Ulf Blanc is murdered by the Chausse-Trapes, and Aile-d'Argent is once again without a dragonlord.

Return to the wild

In order to replace Ulf Blanc as Silverwing's dragonrider, Lord Unwin Peake offers a reward of a thousand gold dragons to any knight of noble birth capable of riding it. Three men try their luck: the first has his arm torn off, the second burns to death and the third changes his mind.

Less than a year later, in the year 131, Silverwing seems to have left Chutebourg, to settle on a rocky island in the Red Lake in the Reach. King Aegon II Targaryen, needing a new dragon to face his opponents, gave up claiming it, as the journey was too long and his own health too degraded for such a long journey.

Five years later, in the year 136, Silverwing is still at the Red Lake, which prompts Lord Torrhen Manderly, then Hand of the King, to change the route of the royal pilgrimage he is organizing, bypassing Rougelac. The Hand thinks that this will preserve the young king, Aegon III Targaryen, who has a panic fear of dragons.

Along with the Cannibal, Sheep Thief and Daybreak, Silverwing is one of the last dragons alive after the Dance of the Dragons.