Game Of Thrones Recap: What Happened to Jon's Dragon Rhaegal? (Season 8)

We are in the final phase now. Episode 3 of the last season of Game of Thrones is over and that means Season 8 is halfway through. Sunday's episode 3, "The Long Night", recorded a record time of 82 minutes, beating even the latest episodes yet to come, which also exceed the normal running time of the GoT. These 82 minutes were composed almost exclusively of the biggest battle scene in the series, while the forces of the night king finally arrived to engage the Battle of Winterfell (and Jon's dubious battle plan).

A key element of this major fight was the role the dragons played (or did not play). After a bit of training earlier in the season, we could see Jon on Rhaegal and Daenerys on Drogon. At one point, the two players clashed with Night King and Viserion, and after falling back to earth and throwing Jon on the back, Rhaegal was not seen again. As with Ghost, despite the long duration of the episode, we still had to wonder about the fate of Jon's dragon mate after the fighting ended. So what happened to Rhaegal?

Although Rhaegal looked very grueling in the middle of the battle, we know for sure that he survived the Battle of Winterfell. This is because it appears, albeit very briefly, in the HBO teaser for episode 4 .

Rhaegal and Drogon, the dragon Daenerys was walking, were a mighty force in battle until a snowstorm. destroyed all visibility, and the dragons struggled to help the fighters on the ground. When the King of the Night appeared riding the Viserion of the undead, the situation became even more agitated.

Viserion and Rhaegal literally crashed into the snowstorm, the cursed dragon trying to cook Rhaegal's rider while they mutilated themselves. The Night King took the opportunity to try to attack Rhaegal and put him to the ground for good, just as he did with Viserion during the episode of season 7 Beyond the Wall. But Rhaegal finally won the fight, tearing a piece of Viserion's face, and the night king and the evil dragon both fell to the Earth. But Rhaegal's injuries were rather serious and he also fell to the ground – he crashed, throwing Jon off his back, and that's the last time we saw the dragon.

The question that remains now is: what condition? Rhaegal will be ahead. Like other Daenerys forces, Rhaegal was beaten during the battle with the king of the night, Viserion making a huge cut in his chest. It also looks like he has tears in his eyes in the teaser (though it's hard to tell the dragons from any distance). It is very likely that it will not come back 100% for some time, which could call into question its role in the battle for the Iron Throne at King's Landing.

Daenerys has already lost much of his military power. until his last attempt to defeat Cersei Lannister, and the dragons have always been his ace in the hole. We saw it do a lot with one dragon, but a weakened Rhaegal (and maybe Drogon) will certainly be a setback.

If you are all trapped in Game of Thrones before episode 4, be sure to check out our Easter eggs and references from Episode 3 – there were plenty of them, and count Given the problems some people had with the level of darkness and visibility of Episode 3, you may have missed something. You might also be interested in a comprehensive overview of all the people who have not survived the battle and by our perspective on whether The Long Night has achieved its conflict resolution goals with the King of the night.