Taming a dragon and ordering it to breathe fire through the use of the term “dracarys” is part of the rite of passage for all Valyrians. One can argue that the reason why the Targaryen and Velaryon families survived and thrived for so long is due to their perceived monopoly and control of the dragons raised to be mounted for the royal families. No other nation would dare oppose such formidable strength. Yet it’s this prideful hubris to control the dragons that brought the families close to destruction on multiple occasions.

The Doom and Aegon’s Landing

300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, The Doom fell upon the ancient kingdom of Old Valyria. The Doom is an unspecified cataclysmic event that rocked the entirety of Essos, leaving the prospering civilization of Valyria in ruins and bringing forth a new era of chaos and conflict. Many attempts were made to retake the old kingdom, but none ever returned or were heard from again. Even now, the lands are still under the effects of the Doom, and the region is fabled to be ruled by demons and unspeakable terrors. The people of Westeros treat the desolated lands of old Valyria as a death sentence for those infected with Greyscale, a near-fatal affliction that corrodes the flesh and minds of its victims and makes them appear to turn to stone.

Driven by a mysterious vision of another cataclysm known as the Frost, Aegon Targaryen I set off to invade and conquer the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros with his two sisters Visenya, and Rhaenys, establishing a new home for the two families. Aegon’s Conquest was swiftly completed due to the Targaryens having the strength of their formidable dragons, Meraxes, Vhagar, and Balerion the Black Dread. Thousands perished in the resulting, war and soon after the Field of Fire, the remaining powers swiftly yielded to Aegon and his house. The Targaryens would rule as the absolute power of Westeros, along with their related allies, the Velarions, until the infighting that occurred during the Dance of Dragons nearly brought the family to ruin once again.

Conclusion

The Doom of Valyria has similar thematic elements to the mythical fall of Atlantis, A large bustling civilization whose destruction and erasure from history represent the hubris of humanity’s hold on the idea of civilization and power. One other example of literary work that has a glorious city or civilization that gets destroyed includes the ancient City of Numenor in Tolkein’s Middle Earth books. In these cases, they tend to be the result of some divine punishment or intervention. The Doom of Valyria seems to be more of an inevitable force that was bound to happen as opposed to these other archetypes of the fallen civilization tropes.