Sunfyre

Pronunciation:

SUN-fire

Valyrian Name:

Vēsperzys

Nickname(s):

"The Golden"

Status:

...

Gender:

He-Dragon

Age:

≈ 20 - 34 years old

Coloration:

Glittering Golden Scales

with Pale Orangish-Pink Membranes

Disposition:

Excitable, Daring, Affectionate

Current Rider:

King Aegon II Targaryen

Former Rider(s):

N/A

Table of Contents:

SUNFYRE - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

SUNFYRE - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

- Behind the Scenes -

- George R.R. Martin Speaks -

- Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin -

SUNFYRE - Screengrabs

- Color Edits -

SUNFYRE - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

SUNFYRE - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

DRAGONKEEPER ELDER (in Valyrian) and DRAGONKEEPER TRANSLATOR: You must hold mastery over your dragon, my young Princes. As Prince Aegon has with Sunfyre. Once they're fully bound to you, they will refuse to take instruction from any other.

- House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 6 "The Princess and the Queen"

BARTIMOS: Pray forgive my bluntness, Your Grace, but talk of men is moot. Your cause owns a power that has not been seen in this world since the days of old Valyria. Dragons!

RHAENYRA: The Greens have dragons as well.

DAEMON: They have three adults, by my count. We have Syrax, Caraxes, and Meleys. Your sons have Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes. Baela has Moondancer.

RHAENYRA: Daemon, none of our dragons have been to war.

DAEMON: There are also unclaimed dragons. Seasmoke still resides on Driftmark. Vermithor and Silverwing dwell on the Dragonmont, still riderless. Then there are the three wild dragons, all of whom nest here.

RHAENYRA: And who is to ride them?

DAEMON: Dragonstone has 13 to their 4. I also have a score of eggs incubating in the Dragonmont.

- House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 10 "The Black Queen"

CRISTON: I left a meager garrison behind to protect it, and the King's dragon. Sunfyre was long in the dying.

- House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 "Regent"

- Behind the Scenes -

Sunfyre is the most eye-catching dragon in the realm. His golden scales glisten when the sun shines upon them.

- https://www.hbo.com/house-of-the-dragon/dragon-index#sunfyre

Radiant sheen, fragile core; Smaller frame, less resilient; Suffers crippling injuries; Crashes down in ruin

- From House of the Dragon's Pixomondo Presentation at the 26th International VFX Computer Graphics Conference (A Dragon Ride: The Texturing Journey of House of the Dragon)

Sunfyre, the dragon claimed by Viserys's older son, Aegon, is just as visually arresting—the ideal accessory for the spoiled prince. Described in Fire & Blood as the most beautiful dragon Westeros has ever seen, the large beast has gleaming scales that shine like beaten gold.

Serkeris designed the creature's wings to be iridescent, like a butterfly's.

“He's this bronze-y, pinkish dragon with a nice aqua iridescence," Serkeris says. "His palette is more bronze, pink, and purple.”

- Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of a Targaryen Dynasty

"That dragon was described so specifically in the book as the most beautiful dragon who ever lived," Condal says.

"I think it was incumbent upon us to try to rise and meet that challenge, but doing so in a way that didn't seem like we were making a dragon from a different show — a 'fantasy dragon,' for lack of a better word. So Sunfyre had to exist as a cut above that would be recognized as distinctly beautiful within a world that has 17 other dragons running around."

Those distinctions came down to the texturing, the dragon's movement, how it was animated, and what its dragon call sounds like.

"More on that to be revealed, but designing Sunfyre was fun and challenging," Condal says.

- https://ew.com/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-dueling-trailers-ryan-condal-breaks-down-secrets-8611648

Sunfyre presented a different challenge for the reality of Westeros, says Horton.

Described by George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood historian narrator as one of the most beautiful dragons ever to exist, the team searched the animal kingdom for reference points for animals that were naturally brightly colored or iridescent without looking “fantasy.”

The short of it: They spent months looking at frogs. “But the bigger the [reptiles] get, they [tend to] get kind of matted and brown, and bigger and lumpier. The trick was to get something that could scale to dragon size.”

- https://www.polygon.com/24191638/house-dragon-season-2-episode-4-dragon-battle-details

Since Sunfyre was barely seen in Season 1, we created his model from scratch, investing considerable time in sculpting, texturing and shading to ensure he lived up to his title as ‘the most beautiful dragon in Westeros,’ as described in the books.

Throughout production, Ryan Condal [Executive Producer/ Showrunner] and Dadi Einarsson worked closely with us to fine-tune Sunfyre’s look, balancing his golden beauty without pushing too far into the realm of fantasy so he would still feel grounded in the scene alongside other dragons.

- https://www.vfxvoice.com/pixomondo-puts-the-dragon-into-house-of-the-dragon-season-2/

SUNFYRE : King Aegon’s saddle is the most ornate of all the saddles, it was briefed that it needed to clash with Aegon’s armour, as he would be donning ‘Aegon the Conquerors’ Valyrian armour for the scene.

This saddle had some preliminary design from season 1, so I took these elements and went completely over the top to create ornate and embellished show pony of a saddle.

The armour is heavily influenced by ornate royal Spanish armour of the 1500s , and baroque style riding saddles, coupled with custom motorcycle engraving.

The form of the buck again insect like riffs from the shapes of the Brenthis Daphne crystalis.

- https://jackcornell.net/house-of-the-dragon-season-2/

- George R.R. Martin Speaks -

What new dragons are you most excited to see in both House of the Dragon and Rise of the Dragon?

I can't say I'm particularly eager for any one dragon, although I do describe Sunfyre as the most beautiful dragon that anyone has ever seen. He looks like he's not a real dragon, but a dragon made of gold. His scales and armor are bright gold, like a flash in the sun. So let's try to capture that when we see him on-screen.

- George R.R. Martin in Interview Portion of The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One

- Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin -

Both Aegon and Helaena were dragonriders. Helaena now flew Dreamfyre, the she-dragon who had once carried Rhaena, Maegor the Cruel’s “Black Bride,” whilst her brother Aegon’s young Sunfyre was said to be the most beautiful dragon ever seen upon the earth.

- Fire and Blood "Heirs of the Dragon: A Question of Succession"

After the coronation, the remaining Kingsguard escorted Aegon to his mount, a splendid creature with gleaming golden scales and pale pink wing membranes. “Sunfyre” was the name given this dragon of the golden dawn. Munkun tells us the king flew thrice around the city before landing inside the walls of the Red Keep. Ser Arryk Cargyll led His Grace into the torchlit throne room, where Aegon II mounted the steps of the Iron Throne before a thousand lords and knights. Shouts rang through the hall.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: The Blacks and the Greens"

King Aegon had his Sunfyre. A splendid beast, though young.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: The Blacks and the Greens"

Then came an answering roar. Two more winged shapes appeared: the king astride Sunfyre the Golden, and his brother Aemond upon Vhagar. Criston Cole had sprung his trap, and Rhaenys had come snatching at the bait. Now the teeth closed round her.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: The Red Dragon and the Gold"

Against Vhagar alone she might have had some chance, but against Vhagar and Sunfyre together, doom was certain. The dragons met violently a thousand feet above the field of battle, as balls of fire burst and blossomed, so bright that men swore later that the sky was full of suns. The crimson jaws of Meleys closed round Sunfyre’s golden neck for a moment, till Vhagar fell upon them from above. All three beasts went spinning toward the ground. They struck the ground so hard that stones fell from the battlements of Rook’s Rest half a league away.

Those closest to the dragons did not live to tell the tale. Those farther off could not see for the flame and smoke. It was hours before the fires guttered out. But from those ashes, only Vhagar rose unharmed. Meleys was dead, broken by the fall and ripped to pieces upon the ground. And Sunfyre, that splendid golden beast, had one wing half torn from his body, whilst his royal rider had suffered broken ribs, a broken hip, and burns that covered half his body. His left arm was the worst. The dragonflame had burned so hot that the king’s armor had melted into his flesh.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: The Red Dragon and the Gold"