The 6 ways to kill a dragon in ‘Game of Thrones’

Warning: major spoilers for season seven of "Game of Thrones" lie ahead, including some speculation from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books. Read at your own risk.

One of the biggest threats to Cersei right now is Daenerys Targaryen, who has a large army and dragons. Dragons!

Unfortunately for Cersei, there's not much known about how to kill the magical, violent, and long-dead creatures.

But in the second episode of season seven, Qyburn (who seems to serve every position on the Queen's council now), shows Cersei an invention that might work.

That weapon is put into action later on in episode four, "The Spoils of War." Bronn, fighting for the Lannisters, shoots Drogon with it. Although the dragon falls, he does not die.

And now, in an unfortunate turn of events, the Night King has made himself a zombie dragon. He successfully took down Viserion with his spear, and brought him back to "life" at the end of episode six.

Although there's no proven and concrete way to kill a dragon, here are some of the ways that dragons could be killed, based on knowledge from the books and the show.

Spears (with a lot of force)

In season seven, episode two ("Stormborn"), Qyburn shows Cersei a secret weapon he's developed that could kill Daenerys Targaryen's dragons. Upon hearing that Dany's dragons were wounded in Meereen by spears, he created a giant ballistae that shoots giant spears. He has Cersei test it out on the skull of Balerion the Black Dread. The spear goes through Balerion's skull, and Cersei has a look of satisfaction that rivals her look as she watched the Sept of Baelor collapse.

Could it work? Maybe. Possibly. In season seven episode four, "The Spoils of War," Bronn hits Drogon with the weapon. Drogon falls, but he doesn't die, and he's not terribly wounded. In the story of Urrax and Serwyn of the Mirror Shield from the books, Serwyn kills the dragon Urrax with a spear through the eye. The spear Cersei shot at Balerion's skull was through the eye. Meraxes, one of the great dragons used by Aegon the Conqueror to conquer Westeros (his the second largest dragon), was killed by an iron bolt to the eye from a scorpion, a weapon similar to what Qyburn made.

Qyburn's device may work on Dany's dragons in the future, but they'll have to be really careful, and aim well. Unlike dragon skulls, living dragons move, fly, and breathe fire. And even the fall of a dragon can kill those near it.

Other dragons

The Dance of the Dragons was a civil war between two Targaryens fighting for the Iron Throne about 170 years before the events of "Game of Thrones." It was the only major war that had dragons fighting on both sides. Most dragons were killed during the war, killing each other.

After Aegon III (who hated dragons) defeated his half-sister, Rhaenyra, he put the remaining dragons in chains. They went extinct within a few years.

Could it work? It's possible, but only if someone can find a way to pit Dany's dragons against each other . . .

Dragonbinder

Dragonbinder, also known as the hellhorn, is a large dragon horn that is supposed to control dragons. In the books, Euron Greyjoy has Dragonbinder. It is said that anyone who blows the horn will die but any dragons that hear it will obey the horn's master. Valyrian glyphs on the horn read, "I am Dragonbinder ... No mortal man should sound me and live ... Blood for fire, fire for blood."

Could it work? If the writers introduce Dragonbinder to the series, it could help someone make Dany's dragons turn on each other. But since it hasn't been introduced yet in the show, Dragonbinder probably won't make it into the series.

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