Dragon eggs
The three dragon eggs are among the most extraordinary objects in the known world, the last surviving remnants of the dragons that once made House Targaryen supreme. Given to Daenerys Targaryen as a bride gift by Magister Illyrio Mopatis on the day of her wedding to Khal Drogo, they are described as the most beautiful things she has ever seen, each one different from the others, patterned in rich colors that at first seem crusted with jewels. They are so large that it takes both of Daenerys's hands to hold one. Despite their appearance, Illyrio explains that the eons have turned them to stone, and he tells her they come from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. Daenerys treasures them always, though she knows they are only stone, and the dragons are all dead.
Appearance and Origin
The three eggs are distinct in color and pattern. One is a deep green with burnished bronze flecks that come and go depending on how it is turned. Another is pale cream streaked with gold. The third is black, as black as a midnight sea, yet alive with scarlet ripples and swirls. The surface of each shell is covered with tiny scales, and as Daenerys turns an egg between her fingers, they shimmer like polished metal in the light. Despite being petrified, the eggs are much heavier than they appear, as if they are all of solid stone. Illyrio tells Daenerys they are from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai, a mysterious and distant region at the edge of the known world. The eggs are a truly magnificent gift, though Daenerys knows that Illyrio can afford to be lavish, having collected a fortune in horses and slaves for his part in selling her to Khal Drogo.
Daenerys's Connection to the Eggs
From the moment she receives them, Daenerys feels a powerful, almost supernatural connection to the eggs. She keeps them close, often holding them, and finds that just being near them makes her feel stronger and braver, as if she is drawing strength from the stone dragons locked inside. During her pregnancy, she cradles one of the eggs in the hollow between her swollen belly and her breasts, and she feels the child within her move as if reaching out, brother to brother, blood to blood. She whispers to her unborn son that he is the true dragon. The eggs also feature in her dreams; after a particularly brutal night with Khal Drogo, she dreams of a dragon whose scales are black as night, wet and slick with blood, and whose eyes are pools of molten magma. The dragon opens its mouth and flame comes roaring out, and she feels no pain, only strength and renewal. The next day, her physical pain lessens, and she touches the largest of the eggs, the black-and-scarlet one, and finds it strangely warm beneath her fingers.
The Hatching
After Khal Drogo's death and the stillbirth of her son Rhaego, Daenerys is left with nothing but her grief and her dragon eggs. When she learns that Mirri Maz Duur's blood magic has left Drogo a living corpse, she decides to take a desperate, seemingly mad course of action. She has Drogo's body placed on a funeral pyre, and she places the three dragon eggs around him: the black beside his heart, the green beside his head, and the cream-and-gold down between his legs. She then has Mirri Maz Duur bound to the pyre as well, telling the maegi that only death can pay for life. As the pyre is lit, Daenerys walks into the flames, unafraid. The fire consumes the pyre, and when it dies, Daenerys emerges unscathed, naked and covered with soot, her hair burned away. The three dragon eggs have hatched. The cream-and-gold dragon is suckling at her left breast, the green-and-bronze at her right, and the black-and-scarlet beast is draped across her shoulders. For the first time in hundreds of years, the night comes alive with the music of dragons.
Significance
The hatching of the dragon eggs is a world-altering event. It marks the return of dragons to the world, creatures that had been extinct for over a century and a half since the last Targaryen dragons died during the reign of Aegon III, who was called the Dragonbane. The event also transforms Daenerys from a frightened exile into a figure of immense power and prophecy. The Dothraki who witness the hatching fall to their knees and swear allegiance to her as their leader, recognizing her as the blood of the dragon. The dragons themselves, named by Daenerys in later events, become her most potent weapons and symbols of her claim to the Iron Throne. The eggs, once thought to be mere pretty rocks, prove to be the catalyst for the rebirth of magic and the return of the Targaryen dynasty's power.
