What happened to Sunfyre in ‘House of the Dragon’?

House of the Dragon fans are used to tense, slow-burning episodes full of intrigue, meaningful glances, and muttered secrets. That’s all well and good, but we’re here for one thing that’s right there in the show’s title. And let’s just say it isn’t houses…

Fortunately, season 2 episode 4 – ‘The Red Dragon and the Gold’ – didn’t disappoint. After watching Daemon trip balls in a haunted castle for a bit the ball began to roll towards an epic conclusion as Criston advanced on Rook’s Rest.

With his troops in the open Rhaenyra was eager to incinerate them with dragonfire, though Rhaenys and Melys stepped up to take the mission. She wiped out the army, only to find herself unexpectedly going toe-to-toe with a drunken King Aegon aboard his dragon Sunfyre. As if this wasn’t dragon drama enough Aemond and the colossal Vhagar entered the fray, resulting in a three-way dragon face-off. A “dance” if you will.

No dragon flew away unscathed, but only Aemond came off unharmed. Vhagar suffered some brutal chest wounds from Melys, Rhaenys and Melys plunged to their deaths after Vhagar chomped through its horned neck. And the King and his dragon? They plummeted into the forest below. The last we saw of Sunfyre he was barely alive, with King Aegon’s status unknown.

What the show tells us

It’s difficult to see exactly what happened to Sunfyre in the show, but judging from the sounds he certainly didn’t sound like he was flying away anytime soon. It was only in the season finale that we learned Sunfyre’s true fate. Aegon was bemoaning his life after the battle and mournfully said that his dragon had died. So, sorry Sunfyre, we guess you didn’t make it.

But, thankfully there’s a slightly happier ending for Sunfyre in the books, though this is riding straight into spoiler country so beware.

What happens in the book?

In George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood Sunfyre has one of his wings almost torn off in this battle and the crash grievously injures King Aegon. Aegon is rushed to King’s Landing to be healed, but Sunfyre is simply too big to be moved back home. As such he’s cared for by Criston’s men where he fell, first being fed with the bodies of soldiers and then on calves and sheep.

Sunfyre does eventually recover from his injury and is even able to fly, though his bone is set at an awkward angle and he’s relatively clumsy and uncoordinated in the air. Sunfyre the suffered injuries in another dragon battle and went through yet another period of recovery, though this one didn’t take and he eventually died of his wounds.

We don’t know if House of the Dragon will be completely faithful to the original story, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see these story beats happen in some form, though obviously not with the apparently dead Sunfyre.