Targaryens are closer to gods than men, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) reminds her sons Jace (Harry Collett) and Luke (Elliot Grihault) in the finale episode of House of the Dragon this week. Her words were meant to remind her sons of their pedigree as well as remind us of the caution her father Viserys, the peaceful, provided her in the first episode of the season: Targaryens control dragons is a myth, “they are the power men should have not trifled with,” he tells her, and now we know why. In a recent appearance, on the Game of Thrones podcast series creator Ryan Condal, discuss why dragon power is dangerous.

For the first time in the history of Game of Thrones, fans saw what happens when dragons get out of control. In order to bully Luke, his uncle Prince Aemond takes to the sky on Vhagar, the oldest she-dragon in the realm, while the former is flying his young dragon Arrax, which has the advantage of speed and agility given its smaller size. However, at one point both dragon riders lose control of their dragons and in the aftermath Vhagar swiftly kills little Arrax and his rider. It was painful to watch, and more horrible was the realization that dragons are indeed weapons of mass destruction.

Condal compares the dragons to nuclear bombs while explaining the Kings point of view. He said, “Viserys rode Balerion. The reason he climbed off that dragon and never rode another one again, in our mind in the backstory of this, was because he had ridden a nuclear bomb and had realized the awful power of it and was afraid of it in a way that a person that respects the power of a gun or a warplane would respect it.”

house-of-the-dragon-episode-10-hbo
Image via HBO

RELATED: 'House of the Dragon': Director Greg Yaitanes Explains Aemond's Mindset After Luke's Death

In George R.R. Martin’s lore, some maesters believe that dragons are more intelligent than men. While the old Valyrians especially the Targaryens were able to bind dragons with blood magic, the beasts still have their own will. As Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) once said in the original series, "a dragon is not a slave." The makers previously explained that each dragon has its own behavior and temperament. Condal elaborates, “I think that’s the thing that we have to realize with these dragons is there is sentience to them. They’re gods that we are in control of, to a degree.”

House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max. You can check out Condal’s comments below: