Vermax

Pronunciation:

VEER-maks

Valyrian Name:

N/A

Nickname(s):

N/A

Status:

Alive

Gender:

He-Dragon

Age:

≈ 16 years old

Coloration:

Olive Green Scales

with Pale Orange Membranes

Disposition:

N/A

Current Rider:

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon

Former Rider(s):

N/A

Table of Contents:

VERMAX - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

VERMAX - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

- Behind the Scenes -

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

VERMAX - Screengrabs

- Color Edits -

VERMAX - Design Development (Images):

- Promotional Material -

VERMAX - Design Development (Quotes):

- House of the Dragon -

DRAGONKEEPER: Call Vermax to heel Prince Jacaerys.

JACE (In Valyrian): Serve! Halt!

DRAGONKEEPER ELDER (In Valyrian): Well done.

JACE: Vermax! Vermax!

DRAGONKEEPER (In Valyrian): Halt!

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.

JACE: Can I say it? Dracarys, Vermax!

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

ALICENT: It's a wonder to me their eggs ever hatched.

- 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"

RHAENYRA: Your dragon is young. Will you fly before Vhagar as Luke did?

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

RHAENYRA: The third brother is untested. He's never left Oldtown, and his dragon is younger than Vermax.

- House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 8 "The Queen Who Ever Was"

- Behind the Scenes -

Vermax is a younger dragon, bonded from birth to Jace Velaryon. He has olive green scales and pale orange wing membranes.

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

Serkeris gave the mature Vermax a more streamlined silhouette than Drogon, with fewer spikes at his elbows and on his tail. His face was also imbued with a canine quality, whereas Drogon more closely resembles a dinosaur.

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

For Vermax, the team researched the movements of larger real-world lizards, eagles, vultures, and creatures like Komodo dragons to give them a basis for creating its quick and sharp reptilian movements.

- https://www.mpcvfx.com/en/filmography/house-of-the-dragon/

The young Vermax seen in what Bell called the "How to Train Your Dragon sequence" in Episode 6 ("The Princess and the Queen") was based on Komodo dragons, birds of prey, and packs of wild dogs.

"When you see [dogs] in the wild, they're always scanning the horizon and looking for threats and danger. They're never just sitting and thinking, they're always looking and questioning. In Episode 6, you can always see Vermax looking at the individuals ... weighing them up all the time. 'Who are you? Why are you here? Should I kill you?'"

- https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/house-of-the-dragon-vfx-interview-game-of-thrones-prequel?amp

PAULA: Bad boy Vermax burning goats. (GRETA LAUGHS)

PAULA: He is a spitty little guy. (JASON AND GRETA LAUGH)

PAULA: I loved making him. He was so much fun, honestly. He's got some bird stuff.

GRETA: I was going to ask if there was bird stuff in there.

PAULA: Yeah, there's some kind of, I think, some like little vulture things, I think some like badger spits and different things like that, you know?

GRETA: That's so cool.

PAULA: Make him angry.

JASON: What about the eating sounds? That kind of mastication sounds, how do you create that?

(GRETA LAUGHS) PAULA: You know, if I told you that, I'd have to kill you.

GRETA: Ooh! (JASON LAUGHS)

...

PAULA: There's dog stuff, there's goose stuff, stuff like that.

- Dragon Deep Dive with Sound Designer Paula Fairfield -

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

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

By royal decree, each of the Velaryon boys was presented with a dragon’s egg whilst in the cradle. Those who doubted the paternity of Rhaenyra’s sons whispered that the eggs would never hatch, but the birth in turn of three young dragons gave the lie to their words. The hatchlings were named Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes. And Septon Eustace tells us that His Grace sat Jace upon his knee atop the Iron Throne as he was holding court, and was heard to say, “One day this will be your seat, lad.”

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

Rhaenyra’s three sons by Laenor Velaryon were all dragonriders; Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes were thriving, and growing larger every year.

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

Soon after, Jacaerys Velaryon was flying north upon his dragon, Vermax, his brother Lucerys south on Arrax, whilst Prince Daemon flew Caraxes to the Trident.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: A"

Meanwhile, a very different story was playing out to the east, where Jacaerys Velaryon descended upon the Eyrie on his young dragon, Vermax, to win the Vale of Arryn for his mother.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: A Son for a Son"

Snow and ice and cold made Vermax ill-tempered, it is said, so the prince did not linger long amongst the northmen, but many a curious tale came out of that short sojourn.

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: A Son for a Son"

(Mushroom also claims that Vermax left a clutch of dragon’s eggs at Winterfell, which is equally absurd. Whilst it is true that determining the sex of a living dragon is a nigh on impossible task, no other source mentions Vermax producing so much as a single egg, so it must be assumed that he was male. Septon Barth’s speculation that the dragons change sex at need, being “as mutable as flame,” is too ludicrous to consider.)

- Fire and Blood "The Dying of the Dragons: A Son for a Son"