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From A Storm of Swords:

“Give me the boy for R’hllor,” the red woman said, “and the ancient prophecy shall be fulfilled. Your dragon shall awaken and spread his stony wings. The kingdom shall be yours.”

A Storm of Swords, Davos V

Which dragons was Stannis planning to awaken? Did Dragonstone have a cache of dragon eggs hidden somewhere?

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It is implied that the dragons Melisandre is talking about are part of the architecture of Dragonstone. As described by Salladhor Saan when Davos is pondering about the various dragon-shaped features of Dragonstone:

"If the red woman brings them to life, the castle will come crashing down, I am thinking. What kind of dragons are full of rooms and stairs and furniture? And windows. And chimneys. And privy shafts."

A Storm of Swords, Davos V

I do not think Stannis had any dragon eggs, because as Cersei says:

"If any such eggs remained, Stannis would have sold them to pay for his rebellion," the queen told him.

A Feast for Crows, Cersei VIII

Which would then imply that it was, in fact, stone dragons that Melisandre thought to wake. She most likely based this on the Azor Ahai prophecy that says that he shall wake dragons from stone:

"It is written in prophecy as well. When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone."

A Storm of Swords, Davos III -- Melisandre

Since Melisandre is convinced Stannis is Azor Ahai, she assumes that's how the dragons will be awakened. However, we readers have already seen Daenerys being reborn in a fire, hatching her petrified dragon eggs.

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  • Are you saying Melisandre misread the prophecy because we, readers, already saw it fulfilling with Daenerys ? Now I see it clearly, don't know why I didn't until now, it's so obvious
    – Kalissar
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 13:48
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    @Kalissar Well, we know that Daenerys fits her description much better than Stannis, so it is a fairly safe assumption to say that she is wrong. In ADWD, we see that high priest Benerro has already come to that conclusion.
    – TLP
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 13:58
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She was talking about Dragonstone, the keep where Stannis held court. It was carved out of the rocks of the island to looks like a dragon. One of her basic gimmicks for manipulating Stannis is to look for anything in sight that she can use to tie Stannis and R'hllor together via the prophecy, no matter how much of a stretch it might seem to us.

In addition, dragon in her statement was a symbolic reference to the Targaryans, who were the original owners of Dragonstone and who came in and conquered the Seven Kingdoms from their base in that keep. She was using that imagery to encourage Stannis to do what she wanted, and in exchange, he would conquer the kingdoms in the same way.

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  • Are you certain it was symbolic? Reading the various passages in the book where they discussed awakening the dragons gave me the impression they meant it literally. The Targaryans throughout the ages had sought to birth new dragons from eggs as well.
    – Ayrx
    Commented May 2, 2013 at 14:42
  • Some of the Targaryans did, but they always failed. I've never read anything to indicate that other people besides the Targaryans thought it was possible. Even Illyrio, who gave Dany her dragon eggs, didn't seem to think they would really hatch, but rather represented her family.
    – KutuluMike
    Commented May 2, 2013 at 14:44
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    And from Mel's POVs in book 5 we find out that she truly believes that Stannis is Azor Ahai, so I doubt that she wants to manipulate him in that way.
    – System Down
    Commented May 2, 2013 at 15:07
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The very architecture of Dragonstone is seeped with magic of the likes never seen since the age of the Valyrians who had mastered Dragon magic, so I really wouldn't be surprised if the early Targs had somehow infused Dragons into the stones of Dragonstone.

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