Meleys, called the Red Queen, is a supporting character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its TV adaption House of the Dragon. She was a she-dragon whose only riders were Princess Alyssa Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. During the Dance of the Dragons, Meleys supported Rhaenyra Targaryen and the Blacks, her supporters, in claiming the Iron Throne from their rival faction, the Greens, but was killed along with Rhaenys at Rook's Rest.
Appearance[]
Meleys' scales are scarlet in color and her wings have pink membranes, which gave her the alias the Red Queen, while her crest, horns, and claws were bright as copper. Meleys was described as "splendid" and magnificent. In 75 AC, she was considered to be of the swiftest of the Targaryen dragons and can easily outpace Caraxes and Vhagar. By 129 AC, she had grown lazy and would get angry when aroused.
In House of the Dragon, Meleys scale and wing membrane colors are the same along with her horn color but is depicted with a crown of horns.
Biography[]
Meleys hatched from her egg in or before 75 AC and by that year Meleys resided in the Dragonpit, having gotten no rider of her own. When Princess Alyssa Velaryon, who had just married Prince Baelon Targaryen, went to the Dragonpit to claim a dragon, she initially chose Balerion the Black Dread, who used to be the mount of Aegon I Targaryen, Maegor the Cruel, and Princess Area Targaryen, but was dissuaded by the Dragonkeepers, who convinced Alyssa that the Balerion is now too old and slow and she should prefer a swifter dragon. She eventually chose Meleys and Princess Alyssa would afterwards rarely stayed away from the dragonpit for long. As promised, Meleys herself proved to be a swift dragon, as when Alyssa flew together with her two brothers, Princes Aemon and Baelon, she managed to outfly them.
3 years later in 77 AC, Princess Alyssa flew Meleys with her baby son, the nine-day-old Prince Viserys, while he is strapped to her chest. A few years later in 81 AC, Alyssa did the same thing with her second son, Prince Daemon Targaryen within a fortnight of his birth. 4 years later, after she passed away from difficult labor, Meleys was left riderless. However in 87 AC, she was claimed by Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, who rode Meleys to Highgarden 2 years later so as to accompany King Jaehaerys I Targaryen during his royal progress to the Shield Islands. When Rhaenys wed Lord Corlys Velaryon in 90 AC, she insisted on riding to the wedding on Meleys.
Dance of the Dragons[]
Rhaenys rode Meleys during the Dance of the Dragons in support of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her supporters, the Blacks, against her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen and his supporters, the Greens. When the Gullet was closed off by the Velaryon fleet, who sailed from Dragonstone and Driftmark to block all shipping from Blackwater Bay, it was planned by the Blacks so that Rhaenys and Meleys will fly overhead to keep the Greens from attacking the fleet with their dragons.
Battle of Rook's Rest[]
Meleys during the Battle at Rook's Rest.
In 129 AC, Ser Criston Cole, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and aided by King Aegon II and his brother Aemond, leads the Greens Army in laying siege to Rook's Rest, the seat of House Staunton. However, Lord Staunton was forewarned of the Greens' approach and he closed the gates of Rook's Rest. Despite this, he was unable to prevent Criston and his army from burning fields and slaughtering the smallfolk and livestock. After supplies in Rook's Rest had run low, Lord Staunton proceeded to send a raven to Dragonstone, in which he asked Rhaenyra Targaryen for aid.
Having been sent by Rhaenyra, Princess Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys arrived at Rook's Rest alone to engage the Greens in battle, as Rhaenyra forbade her sons Princes Jacaerys and Joffrey Velaryon, from joining. Rhaenys and her dragon were unaware that they had flown into a trap set by Criston Cole, who was already prepared for their arrival. He has his archers fire arrows and scorpion bolts at the two. While Meleys was unharmed by the attacks, this only angered her, and she retaliated by burning many of Criston's soldiers, leaving 800 dead. When Ser Criston sprang his trap, King Aegon (on his dragon Sunfyre) and Prince Aemond (On the dragon Vhagar) ambushed Rhaenys and Meleys.
Death[]
The broken and mangled body of Meleys beside the presumed burnt body of Rhaenys Targaryen.
While Meleys battled Sunfyre and Vhagar, she closed her jaws around Sunfyre's neck before Vhagar fell upon them, causing all three dragons and their riders to crash to the ground. While Prince Aemond and Vhagar were the only ones who were uninjured, King Aegon II was severely burned while one of Sunfyre's wings was half-ripped from his body. As for Meleys, her corpse is left broken and ripped to pieces, as a result of the fall. A blackened and charred body was also found, but the corpse is so blackened and burned that it is impossible for it to be identified, though it could possibly be Princess Rhaenys.
Meleys' head along with Lord Staunton's were then taken to King's Landing, which left the Smallfolk in awe, though it was said that the heads installed them with fear, causing them to begin leaving King's Landing to seek safer lands until Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower ordered that the city gates be closed and barred.
The loss of Meleys and her rider became a severe blow to Rhaenyra and the Blacks. Lord Corlys Velaryon was angered over the death of his wife, and he and Rhaenyra got into a quarrel with each other, in which Corlys blamed her for Rhaenys' death.
House of the Dragon[]
Season 1[]
We Light the Way[]
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen rode Meleys towards King's Landing where Princess Rhaenyra's wedding to Ser Leanor Velaryon is being held. Rhaenys is accompanied by Leanor himself, who rode his dragon Seasmoke by her side.
Driftmark[]
Meleys, along with the other Targaryen dragons, stays at High Tide, the ancestral seat of House Velaryon, during the funeral of Lady Laena Velaryon, who was burned alive by her dragon Vhagar on her orders, as she refused to die a painful death, due to having difficult labor.
The Green Council[]
During the coronation of King Aegon II Targaryen, Meleys was chained in the Dragonpit, however, Rhaenys, who was hidden amongst the crowd that had gathered, secretly snuck away to free her dragon before riding her out of the Dragonpit. During their escape, they emerged through the floor of the Dragonpit, accidentally killing many Smallfolk in the process. At this, the Dragonpit erupted into chaos; Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, yelled out to the Gold Cloaks to open the doors to allow the Smallfolk to escape to safety, but they didn't hear him. With Rhaenys and Meleys bearing down on the Greens, the Red Queen lets out an angry roar, cowing Dowager Queen Alicent and King Aegon. Though she has the Greens faction at her mercy, Princess Rhaenys withheld her command to have her dragon kill them.
After giving Alicent a cold look, Rhaenys and Meleys then leaves through the doors of the Dragonpit while Alicent and Aegon II cautiously looked on, as they are aware that they are heading for Dragonstone to tell Rhaenyra of Aegon's coronation, as Rhaenyra had been chosen by her late father King Viserys I Targaryen, to be his heir.
Following Rhaenyra's coronation, which was held in retaliation for King Aegon's coronation, Rhaenys and Meleys flew off to begin their patrol of the Gullet and to reinforce the Velaryon fleet's blockade of the shipping lanes to King's Landing.
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