Syrax

Pronunciation:

SIGH-raks

Valyrian Name:

N/A

Nickname(s):

N/A

Status:

Alive

Gender:

She-Dragon

Age:

≈ 34 years old

Coloration:

Golden Yellow

Disposition:

Neurotic, Amiable, Proud, Graceful, Protective, Anxious

Current Rider:

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen

Former Rider(s):

N/A

Table of Contents:

SYRAX - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

SYRAX - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

- Behind the Scenes -

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

SYRAX - Screengrabs

- Color Edits -

SYRAX - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

Syrax from Game of Thrones: Dragonfire

SYRAX - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

HARROLD: I am relieved. Every time that golden beast brings you back unspoiled, it saves my head from a spike.

...

ALICENT: Syrax is growing quickly. She'll soon be as large as Caraxes.

RHAENYRA: That's almost large enough to saddle two.

- House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 1 "The Heirs of the Dragon"

RHAENYRA: Take care not to startle Syrax, my lords. She's rather protective of me.

- House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 2 "The Rogue Prince"

DAEMON: Syrax brought a fresh clutch. Three eggs. Three eggs! See that they are placed in the warming chamber.

- House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 8 "The Lord of the Tides"

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"

RHAENYRA: But if all else fails it is I who must fight. Vhagar is big, but Syrax is quicker.

JACE: So was Meleys.

RHAENYRA: Meleys fought two dragons and one of them is slain.

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

- Behind the Scenes -

Syrax, ridden by Rhaenyra Targaryen, is named after a goddess of Valyria. She is a young dragon with yellow scales and is not yet as forbidding as her counterparts.

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

Yellow/Golden; Elegant; Ostrich Toe; Female Young; No aging or tearing signs; Carvings on horns

- https://youtu.be/Iq49IdKZJOo?si=3pwKTxlvHiCB246P

A SHADOW is cast over Westeros, huge and winged. The dragon, SYRAX, shimmers yellow-gold. A rider is saddled on her back. Syrax dances in the updraft. She rises and dives and wheels, seeming to bask in the glory of flight.

- https://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/2021/Drama/House_of_the_Dragon_1x01_-_The_Heirs_of_the_Dragon.pd

While Serkeris focused his attention on Vhagar, Barybin began designing Rhaenyra Targaryen's dragon, Syrax. Named for a Valyrian goddess, the creature is younger and smaller than Vhagar and sports colorful yellow scales. She's also far swifter. Barybin took inspiration for the creature from the Concorde, the now-retired aircraft capable of flying at twice the speed of sound.

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

"The first dragon you meet is Syrax, which is Rhaenyra's dragon, who at this point is a young adult. Syrax was hatched to Rhaenyra when she was a child. I think the dragons that are born to their riders have a shared, deeper bond than any of the other dragons. We kind of approached her like a bird of prey. So she's an eagle, she's built for speed, she's very proud and honorable."

- https://youtu.be/vxbKCvlaV3Y?si=Kl-C_Fj4CHDaTMW_

Syrax has very long horns and large, semi-rigid scale plates on her neck. An interesting detail is the ornament engraving in one of her long horns, done by her rider Rhaenyra over the years. We made the letters grow, softer and change in color along the horn to show the transformation over the years. Old trees with love engravings were the template.

- https://www.artofvfx.com/house-of-the-dragon-sven-martin-vfx-supervisor-pixomondo/

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen's dragon, Syrax, is a good example of Bickerton meeting Martin halfway.

Syrax, who's been with the princess-turned-queen her entire life, is a muted, reptilian yellow that's in sync with the show's dark palette. "We're trying to reflect the person as well," he says, "so it's a more elegant dragon. Syrax has sort of swept-back horns."

The detail he and his team added is a phrase Queen Rhaenyra carved into the dragon's horn in the high Valyrian dialect years ago. (The production hired a specialist to create a Valyrian language for the show, including all appropriate symbols.) As the creature has grown, the phrase has become slightly stretched and distorted on the horn.

- https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/enter-dragons

For Syrax, the animation we were thinking of was younger and slightly dodging the Red Keep; being a bit more dynamic and playful with the flight

- https://screenrant.com/house-of-the-dragon-vfx-interview/

Syrax was one of the first dragons I had to tackle, while @constantinesekeris started working on Caraxes. Miguel and Ryan wanted to overstate Syrax’ swiftness and speed, so I tried to go for the arrow shaped head and streamlined body, inspired by the beautiful Concorde. Her flexible crown allows her to maximize her momentum when in flight.

- https://www.instagram.com/p/CroXmdpow1N/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Syrax's saddle was the first of the black buck saddles, for #Rhaenyra we wanted to give her a bad ass saddle, as she's a born rider, but it was crucial to make it still feel delicate in parts, the detailed fret work on the decorative back cantle and the stitching and detailed guilding in the front pommel.

All of the saddles reference biomimicry in someway , through function and aesthetic. For #Syrax I looked at baby bats and how they cling to there mothers, the saddle was fabricated by Dominic meyrick-brook and @rozziebutler

- https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0k1a0oLfB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

PAULA: That sounds like Syrax, yeah?

GRETA: Yep. Good one! You are so on it.

...

PAULA: So, she was described to me as being very eagle-like. Like, if you look at that-- her head and all that. So, she's got a lot of eagle, falcon stuff, little weird stuff that's been twisted for those chitters. She's got a couple of funny little things. So, that's the leaning of her elements in that. She's our big bird. (CHUCKLES)

Dragon Deep Dive with Sound Designer Paula Fairfield

https://youtu.be/kU114UbSId4?si=vZiWpH5dPFAV1N6v

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

At seven, she became a dragonrider, taking to the sky on the young dragon she named Syrax, after a goddess of old Valyria.

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

He praised her beauty, declaring her to be the fairest maid in all the Seven Kingdoms. Uncle and niece began to fly together almost daily, racing Syrax against Caraxes to Dragonstone and back.

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

With Driftmark and Dragonstone so close, Daemon and Laena oft visited with the princess, and her with them. Many a time they flew together on their dragons, and the princess’s she-dragon Syrax produced several clutches of eggs.

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

Lord Corlys also had half a dozen nephews, however, and the eldest of them, Ser Vaemond Velaryon, protested that the inheritance by rights should pass to him…on the grounds that Rhaenyra’s sons were bastards sired by Harwin Strong. The princess was not slow in answering this charge. She dispatched Prince Daemon to seize Ser Vaemond, had his head removed, and fed his carcass to her dragon, Syrax.

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

Against that, Prince Daemon had Caraxes and Princess Rhaenyra Syrax, both huge and formidable beasts. Caraxes especially was fearsome, and no stranger to blood and fire after the Stepstones.

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

...and though her sister Rhaena’s egg had hatched a broken thing that died within hours of emerging from the egg, Syrax had recently produced another clutch. One of her eggs had been given to Rhaena, and it was said that the girl slept with it every night, and prayed for a dragon to match her sister’s.

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