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We all remember Daenerys's quote right after Viserys's death (Season 1 episode 6: "A Golden Crown", and A Game of Thrones chapter Daenerys V):

He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill a dragon.

However, are we sure that this is true? Can a dragon be killed/harmed by fire?

We know that a lot of dragons died during the Doom of Valyria, the cataclysm of an unspecified nature which did contain a lot of fire. In The World of Ice & Fire, there is a picture of dragon with fire on his back with the description A dragon burning during the Doom.. It doesn't say this dragon died because of the fire, but it does prove that dragons can burn (unless we attribute this to the unreliable narrator).

On the other hand, dragons breathe fire and they seem unharmed by their own fiery breath. Also, Daenerys hatched her dragons in pyre and that did not harm her newly-hatched dragons.

So was the fire during the Doom of Valyria simply much hotter than regular fire, and is that the reason it could hurt dragons? Or did the fire during the Doom of Valyria not hurt the dragons, but did they die of other causes (e.g. debris flying around)?

As a side, could a dragon harm/kill another dragon with its fiery breath? Is there any example of this, for instance during the Dance of the Dragons?

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    You should note that much of Dany's "education" was a result of Viserys' idiotic ramblings based off of what he had heard when he was young. In other words, her narration cannot be trusted as she is grossly mis-informed.
    – Möoz
    Jun 24, 2015 at 4:13
  • Also, often people use the terms "Targaryen" and "Dragon" interchangeably. This is because Targaryens are so strongly associated with dragons. See Rhaegar was the last dragon, and Daeron Targaryen's "dragon" dreams
    – Möoz
    Jun 24, 2015 at 4:25
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    See also Is Daenerys Targaryen immune to fire?, which famously points out that Targaryens are not immune to fire!
    – Möoz
    Jun 24, 2015 at 4:29
  • Best place to start: In Game of Thrones, can a dragon be killed?.
    – Möoz
    Jun 24, 2015 at 4:32
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    @Mooz Thank you for your comments (and your answer), I know that 'dragon' is sometimes used to mean 'Targaryen', but I was specifically asking about the winged fire-breathing animals. Also, do you have any proof that the Citadel was involved in the Doom? That's the first I heard of that.
    – PrisonMonkeys
    Jun 24, 2015 at 13:14

3 Answers 3

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The Doom
It is widely believed that the Doom was a cataclysm which involved hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of volcanoes.

These volcanoes are speculated to have been the main cause of the downfall of these dragons.

See, the dragons are immune to fire, up to a certain point. In general, the younger they are, the less resilient they are, also their own fire is weaker in comparison to older dragons.

The Dance
It is probably safe to assume that the dragons involved in The Dance of The Dragons were not affected by each others' fire. Most of them were fully grown and extremely old dragons - the likes of Caraxes, Meraxes, Vhagar, Sunfyre and Balerion the Black Dread.

History
It is true that generally [Targaryen] dragons have died a violent death, this is especially true given that they were used extensively for war purposes, but there has been no known occurrence of dragons burning each other to death during any of these conflicts.
Although, there are some clear examples of dragons burning each other, as exemplified in the answer privided by PrisonMonkeys; killing one is a whole different story.

At best all we know is that their weakness is their age (the younger they are, the less resilient) and their eyes (if you were to poke one in the eye, it would probably hurt them as much as it hurts you).

The Cannibal
The Cannibal was the eldest of three "wild" dragons living around Dragonstone, he was rumoured to have been a "cannibal" in that he consumed other dragons; however there is no evidence that it burned them prior to consumption.

The Phrase
Logically, many people, especially Targaryens themselves attribute themselves to having dragon-like properties, which includes immunity to fire. This clearly stems from the fact that if dragons can't be burned, and Targaryens think that they are dragons, then they also must be immune.

This is where Dany's mistake comes in; she is repeatedly taught that Targaryens are dragons, etc, by her idiotic1 brother, Viserys. This makes her think that she is immune to fire2; when in-fact they are not.

Where to from here?
So let's say you wanted to have a dragon barbecue; what you would need is a nice Mt. Doom level volcano and all you have to do is chuck the dragon in there.

1. In Viserys' defence, he himself has had very little education, and has been jaded and blinded by his ambition to restore his family to the Throne.

2. She also mistakenly believes that she is immune to sickness, which may prove to be a grave assumption for her.

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The World of Ice & Fire gives at least one example of one dragon harming another with its fire, during the Dance of Dragons.

The dragon swooped and clawed and snapped at Sunfyre, raking and tearing until at last a blast of flame blinded the beast. Tangled together, the two dragons fell, and their riders with them.

This is a description of the battle at Dragonstone between King Aegon II on Sunfyre and Princess Baela on Moondancer. Although to me it's a bit unclear which dragon blinded the other, it's a clear example of one dragon harming another with its fire.

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    Blinding doesn't necessarily imply harm, unless the text goes on to say the dragon was permanently blinded. Fire is really bright [citation needed] and if you get a blast of it in your face it would be like someone switching on and off a flashlight in your eyes, you would be disoriented and unable to see clearly for a few seconds. That could be what happened here
    – childcat15
    Jul 27, 2015 at 15:51
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You are asking about a fire during the Doom of Valyria hotter than regular fire, and about something burning a dragon on the picture called "A dragon burning during the Doom" so I remind you it can possibly be Wild fire, the GOT version of Greek Fire.

Once it takes fire, the substance will burn fiercely until it is no more. More, it will seep into cloth, wood, leather, even steel, so they take fire as well.

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  • The burning dragon during the Doom was probably not the result of wildfire, as this is created by the pyromancers and the Doom was a natural event. Do you know of any examples where wildfire met a dragon?
    – PrisonMonkeys
    Jun 27, 2015 at 4:26
  • @PrisonMonkeys You are right, and not I do not have it.
    – Yohann V.
    Jun 27, 2015 at 21:45

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