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game of thrones - Why did the Targaryens choose Dragonstone after the visions of Daenys?


Daenys "The Dreamer" Targaryen had visions of the Doom of Valyria, so Aenar "The Exile" Targaryen relocated his whole clan to Dragonstone.


Is there any explanation of why he chose specifically Dragonstone, when he could have chosen any place in the Valyrian Freehold, which spanned almost all of Essos?


One explanation could be Daenys also foresaw the Century of Blood, but did she?



Answer



This cannot be answered from any canon source so following would be informed speculation and logical inference.


Uncertainty of Dragon Dreams


Daenys saw doom of Valyria in her dreams. Since we know that dragon dreams are just signs involving dragons, whose truth can vary quite opposite to the dreamer's interpretation, Daenys could not be sure if the dream was about just mainland Valyria or her complete Empire. From Dunk & Egg: The Hedge Knight, we see an example of Dragon dream, seen by Prince Daeron Targaryen:




“I dreamed of you,” said the prince.


“You said that at the inn.”


“Did I? Well, it’s so. My dreams are not like yours, Ser Duncan. Mine are true. They frighten me. You frighten me. I dreamed of you and a dead dragon, you see. A great beast, huge, with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive and the dragon was dead.”



Another example of Dragon Dream, dreamed by Daemon II Blackfyre, from Dunk & Egg: The Mystery Knight:



"A dragon will hatch? A living dragon? What, here?"


"I dreamed it. This pale white castle, you, a dragon bursting from an egg, I dreamed it all, just as I once dreamed of my brothers lying dead. They were twelve and I was only seven, so they laughed at me, and died. I am two-and-twenty now, and I trust my dreams."



As you see these, dreams do not indicate exact future. They just symbolise it. In first Dream, the dreamer could not determine which Dragon would be killed by Ser Duncan. In second dream, the dreamer mistook exposing Prince Aegon's true identity to be indicative of a real dragon hatching.



So as you can see, Dreams can be wrongly interpreted which is why other Dragon Lords did not believe Daenys' dreams.



Doom of Valyria


We know that in Doom, Valyria burnt from both earth and air. In ADWD Chapter 38, Tyrion recalls that it was written that on the day of Doom every hill for 500 miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed.


Great rents had opened in the earth, swallowing palaces, temples, entire towns. Lakes boiled or turned to acid, mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock a thousand feet into the air, red clouds rained down dragonglass and the black blood of demons, and to the north the ground splintered and collapsed and fell in on itself and an angry sea came rushing in


So it is possible that Daenys may have seen fire engulfing Valyria or fire engulfing dragons. Sadly we do not know the exact dream Daenys saw. But since she made her father leave Valyria and Aenar chose Island of Dragonstone, the choice seems to be made with preference of keeping a body of water between Valyria and themselves.



Why Dragonstone?


Valyrians had conquered Dragonstone 200 years before the Doom. It was at that time the Western most extent of the Valyrian Freehold. So the probable reasons for Aenar's choice seem to be following:




  1. Dragonstone was the Western most outpost of Valyria. This was as far as Aenar could have run without exiling himself from the Freehold entirely.

  2. Daenys could not be sure about true extent of her dream. Did it mean the whole Empire or did it mean just Valyria itself?

  3. Dragonstone was an Island and was seperated from rest of the Freehold by Sea. If Daenys had seen a great fire in her vision, it would make sense to put a body of water between them and the great fire. They could not flee to Eastern most outposts of the Freehold because they were all connected to Valyria by Land. Remember Valyria only became an Island after the doom. Before Doom, it was a Peninsula.


But judging on these reasons, another candidate land arises. The Island of Lorath. Lorath is Northern most outpost of the former Freehold and it is also an Island. Why did Aenar choose Dragonstone instead of Lorath is something which can't be answered is actually answered by Travis Kindred below.


EDIT: Our esteemed Member Travis Kindred has provided an excellent argument about Dragonstone's good environmental conditions for Dragon Breeding. Not stealing his point, just using it to answer Why did not Aenar choose Lorath instead of Dragonstone?. The Answer would be that Aenar was more inclined to choose Dragonstone because of the favourable environment. Just summarising it for someone who might not reach this conclusion from Travis' answer.



Did She see Essosi wars between Valyrian Colonies?


We cannot say if she did see that. But even if she did see that, Targaryens would have no cause to worry because they had a dragon while the colonies had none. Also since Targaryens, Velaryons and Celtigars were of the pure blood of Valyria, they would be most welcome by the city state of Volantis which was the closest to Valyria than all other colonies. So that does not appear to be a reason behind the self-imposed exile to dragonstone.


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