The Cannibal could also be a symbolism of the Dance of the Dragons itself. Given that it's a black dragon with green eyes that eats its kind, it literally symbolizes both Targaryen factions (the blacks and the greens) "eating" each other. It's also interesting that after the civil war where basically almost all members of both factions were dead, it vanished.

It honestly makes a lot of sense that Cannibal disappeared after the Dance of the Dragons. No more dragons being killed and a decline in new hatchlings means his primary food source would have vanished and he would have little reason to stay in Westeros. My guess is he pulled a Drogon and flew East and there's a chance he may still be alive somewhere.

Something that no one seems to consider is that Balerion, our only example of a dragon not dying in combat, was severely injured during his nine month disappearance. He grew notably more lethargic afterward, and I cannot help but thing that the nine foot long, unhealing scars he sustained were somehow magical in nature. For all we know, the average dragon lifespan could be closer to 500 years.

"The cannibal might be simplest name to understand" Sheepstealer: and I took that personally.

I feel like it's implied that Dragons can technically live much longer than Balerion did but he withered and died because of the Dragon Pit (or Maester Conspiracy take your pick), if the Cannibal has always been wild and never confined he could easily be as old as Balerion or almost as old. Maybe he's a Valyrian dragon that fled the doom and not a Targaryen dragon, which would explain why no one was ever able to get close to claiming him, they'd need the blood of a different, extinct Valyrian family.

I really like the idea of him being a dragon that hatched from a clutch that belonged to a different Valyrian family that inhabited Dragonstone long before the Targaryens arrived. It leaves the Cannibal truly wild and not beholden to any Targaryen bloodlines which would explain why he cannot be bonded with by bastards of House Targaryen.

I like the theory that maybe Cannibal has descended from an entirely different line of dragons than the Velaryon and Targaryen dragon... It would explain his hostility and 'cannibalism' to all the rest of the dragons

I can't tell if you're aware or not that wild dragons grow larger than bonded dragons because they don't get stuck in pits and are free to roam and fly. This was shown rather pointedly in GoT with Dany's dragons; Drogon was feral and got much larger than his brothers, who were kept chained beneath Meereen.

He's not a Targaryen dragon in my eyes. If he was, someone in the span of 50-100 years should've claimed him already. He was probably a dragon that resided in Dragonstone that belonged to another Valyrian family before the Century of Blood when Dragonstone was built as the Westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Valyrians are blood related to their dragons, and that's why they wanted to keep their bloodlines pure and not intermarry with other people; even other Valyrians who look exactly like them. Their blood will be diluted and the blood ties with the dragons are diminished. The Cannibal not being a Targaryen dragon is plausible.

I think the Cannibal was a personification of the Targaryen downfall. He was black and green - the greens vs the blacks. He attacked and killed other dragons just as the Targaryen's killed each other and the end of the Dance, he disappeared, signalling an end to their power and the magic they possessed over the dragons.

OH man. I can not wait to see him. I really like the theory that he is actually a Dragon from Valryia, that survived the doom. because he was already nesting across the sea....And the reason he devours the Targaryen Dragons is because he doesn't consider them true Dragon-kin, since they ran away. He considers them weak, so he eats them.

some people say balerion didnt die of old age, but of what hes experienced in the ruins of valyria instead, and it makes sense. think about it, he was perfectly fine before he went there with aerea, but afterwards he became sluggish, and mostly kept to the dragon pit. could be due to some mental trauma, or some parasite he picked up there, but either way it was the ruins of valyria that killed him- maybe. so the cannibal could very well still have been there before the targaryens came if youre going by that point alone

I can’t help but love the irony of the idea that being kept in the dragon pit is what cause the dragons strength to fade and grow small. When in reality it’s likely the reason many of them were able to reach adulthood. It’s like Viserys said, the idea that the Targaryens control the dragons truly is an illusion.

Cannibal is easily one of the most interesting dragons in the ASOIAF universe.

Dragons existed in the 14 flames, though also canonically as far east as Yi Ti and Ashaii. Now, while the valyrians did domesticate them gradually, wild ones almost certaintly persisted. This is my explanation: Cannibal is from the natural wild dragons, the ones not bonded to valyrians with blood magic, that lived on Dragonstone long before the doom of Valyria, and he was simply the last in that line, the last of his kind. Reasoning for: -There is no record of him hatching from any targaryen brought eggs, nor of being a once tamed now wild dragon, no one knows where he comes from which strongly implies he is completely wild. -Dragonstone is a volcanic island, dragons like volcanoes. -It's in a highly profitable sea for seafood and for prey like whales, meaning dragons will have plenty of food to feed on. -It is also very prominent, boasting caves, cliffs, hillsides, all of which make very good dragon haunts. - The targaryens used dragonstone for dragons, and they all thrived there, making homes and feeding themselves independantly, even in the dance there were other wild dragons doing just fine. -No targaryen or valyrian blooded person could tame him, he treated them all as food, which suggests he is not the same stock, he's something older. -He deliberately ate other dragons, no other dragon is known to do that even the other wild dragons didn't, meaning he might not see other dragons as kin for being a different species. -He's described as enormous, far bigger then any of the dragons the targaryens ride bar maybe Vhagar, and having been around since Aegons conquest, so it's likely he was born well over 200+ years before the dance.

I like the theory that The Cannibal was the cradle egg of Maegor the Cruel. Maegor was described as having a wary relationship with dragons when he was a child, until he claimed Balerion. So he might have not dared having contact with the hatchling that would become Cannibal. Adding to the theory, it would add a hint of sadness to Cannibal if Maegor rejected him and the start of their bond, only to pick the larger dragon.

I really enjoyed this a lot and there was obviously a lot of research put into this, not just ASOIAF research - but real world as well. Hats off to you and your team on this channel 👏

I like the idea that the Cannibal was inflicted with a disease that cause him to cannibalize other dragons and this disease was something prevalent in Valyria after the doom as a way of explaining how so many dragons disappeared, call it the Madness of Valyria if you will and have it be something that infected both Dragon and dragon lords and have the Maesters, Asshai, Qarth and/or other orders be behind the decline that would go on to curse and infect every Dragonlord descendant and dragon, making their eventual demise all but inevitable regardless of if they escaped the Doom or not. I like the idea that there was a cause for the fall, more than that it was random, and more than it being that only this one family out of millions would have survived. This "disease" probably strengthened by incest, would be the perfect explanation as to why even the dragonlords not living in Valyria at the time of the doom and the dragons not present at the time, would have eventually died out. This would also allow for a route around of GRRM's plain ignoring of the true effects that so much incest would have on the Targaryen and Velaryon bloodlines, which should at this point based on our world's genealogy have long ago led to the retention of SEVERE recessive diseases and illness, leading to many physically disturbing traits and them all essentially looking the same. This would also explain how they fell, despite GRRM giving them the Uchiha treatment.

The Cannibal came from a different bloodline of dragons than the Targaryen dragons. They make this obvious in the text. That’s why he has green eyes and kills dragons associated with the Targaryen line. The Targaryen’s were an insignificant house in Old Valyria. It’s possible that their dragons were shorter lived as well.

Thinking about it, seems like The Cannibal is the reason for the Dragon pit! As more dragons survived to adulthood that were born and raised in the Dragon pit then on Dragonstone.

Here’s a thought - the Targaryen came to dragon stone with five dragons, four died but two hatched. So far we’ve seen dragon clutches are usually three (Caraxes laid three eggs and Deanarys received three eggs presumably from the same clutch). What if the two dragons that joined Balarion in the conquest of Westeros had a third sibling but because there were only two available Targaryens (Aegons sister wives) to mount them only two were claimed and the third sibling was left unclaimed. Perhaps the reason it took to eating other dragons is because after it hatched, or shortly before, the four other dragons from old Valyria had died and the Targaryens didn’t know what to do with the corpses (or were simply unable to dispose of them with limited resources on the island prior to the conquest) and that’s what he ate as a hatchling while his siblings were tamed by the sister wives.

Hopefully they expand Cannibal’s presence in the series like a scene of him going after another wounded dragon to eat or having his slumber disturbed by a dragon fight thus awakening him to defend itself and obviously only itself! Although I like the fact of having a more mysterious dragon I still wanna see how big he really is!

My fav mythical animal I am definitely fascinated by dragons when I was child I deadass wanted to be a dragon archeologist for a living 😂🤣

If they introduce the Cannibal in house of dragons that would be extraordinary!

its largely assumed he was the one that messed up balerion(when he came back wounded) * cannibal being native to westerous and possibly older* he got territorial to the only dragon his size when he met balerion and messed him up and left(This upsets people but I love the idea cause it makes him way more badass). (His wound likely came after visiting valyria cause crossing a ocean with a horse sized wound+ wasn't likely)

It is an interesting idea that the reason Cannibal could not be claimed is because it secretly had a rider. Maybe not Corlys, but who knows.

This is my favorite dragon! Thank you for this video

I always Thought Viserys II was meant to claim one of the wild dragons on Dragonstone and its one of the main reasons his egg wouldn't hatch. Also cannibal is known to have eaten eggs and hatchlings just smaller dragons in general.

I like to think the dragons don't chose their riders out of the blue, there's a reason for it when they allow someone to claim them, especially older dragons (like Vhager chose to accept new riders). Considering nobody could have 'two' dragons, the dragons somehow knew when a human was claimed by a dragon (Dany being the exception, but I do also believe Drogon chose her from the start and the two others adored her because she was all they knew, but she wasn't their rider, she was Drogon's) So either Cannibal truly never had a rider or he did but history isn't one to remember people who don't have a certain name or reputation, so nobody remembers or cares to tell the tale. And Cannibal just has not found a worthy human, so he rather toasts them all. For the behaviour against other dragons.. in nature bigger and heavier predators will often eat smaller one of their own kind. Not because they're "cannibals" by nature, but out of pure laziness. It's easier to catch something that thinks it's safe even if smaller than prey that actually runs. Also wouldn't a dragon have more to eat on another dragon than on a horse or some other small animal ? I hope if we see him that he just burns everyone who comes to claim him XD

I LOVED this, terrific video.

Love the use of all mighty Fatalis scenes for this, Nice video

Using Scorn to further your point was brilliant (Props to the editor (if there is one.))

Ok, so I didnt want to like the video, not because I didnt think I would enjoy it, but simply because I knew liking it would at you to my recommended algorithm and no disrespect.. I just dont think I ENJOY this stuff THAT much to the point I want this genre of stuff added into my already thick algorithm of interests.. BUT!!! With all of that being said. I ended up watching the whole thing and I cant deny, I enjoyed it so much I was compelled to hit that like button for you. I had no idea I was going to be so into this! I always have enjoyed lore of writers creations (when it is something I am interested in of course) but lately not my forte as I am a busy man.. but this was AWESOME! Thank you for reminding me why I enjoyed reading so much when I was younger.

you mentioned there are 3 dragon types for the designs, I never noticed Caraxes has wolfish I always saw it as more snake like.

No reason to discount the fisherman around Dragonstone about The Cannibal's age. Magic comes and goes into the world of ASOIAF along with the dragons. They are truly a magical creature or a conduit of sorts. The cannibal eats said dragons- possibly absorbing some source of vitality from them. Like The Highlander series, but with a shot clock.

The black and green color scheme and the cannibal aspect is an obvious literary reference to how the green and black “dragons” destroyed and canibalized their own house through infighting

The fact that you have fatalis the black dragon as your intro is great

"Why is that mountain moving?" Everyones last words when they came across the cannibal. Probably why theres no other info after he dipped. Cause he ate everyone and everything. 🤣

Cannibals a good metaphor for the targayeans and how they treated each other

Are you sure we're gonna see him next season? Cos I was hoping we could see Balerion in a flashback or something and even that made me excited. Hearing that the cannibal is gonna be shown excites me greatly

Cant't wait to see it flying and burning in season 2. Love HOTD.

Since Cannibal went in absentia, it means that there are other dragons in Westeros besides of Drogon.

I highly respect that you used footage of Fatalis for the first few seconds. The one dragon I have never beaten. Please do a video on Fatalis one day!

another great video! I wanted them to change Daemon's end, we know that the dameon's body is not found nor Cannibal, what if the daemon escapes and goes to live with the nettles? i would love it

8:29 just a small tidpit when dragons are compared to worms in asiof they don't mean literal invertebrate worms we're familiar with, they're actually yalking about fire wyrms which are a serpentine mythical fire breathing reptile kin to dragons

What if the cannibal did live there before the targaryens went to dragon stone and just happened to live as long as it did because it ate other dragons. Balerion never ate other dragons so that could explaib why he died of old age while the cannibal keeps living.

I didn’t realize how much pressure was on Deanery’s shoulders until I watched HotD. You don’t realize how mighty the Targaryen dynasty was

If you have the subtitles on you’ll see that the dragon Daemon approaches while singing is Vermithor not the Cannibal.

Black bodies, green eyes. Cannibal and Shaggydog share the same features. Both are connected to Rickon’s storyline, a warg that’s yet to grow. Could that lead to anything significant?

Interesting stuff, indeed. I'm kinda thinking he's going to be coming back in winds of winter. I don't think he died off, just went east and has been living off of the dragons over that way. I've always thought the dragons were alive and well over there, and not hindered by captivity/riders. I think the fact that ol' Balerion disappeared for most of a year and returned tore up from the floor up(along with his lady rider) with a massive wound that didn't want to heal points towards there being something bigger and badder than the biggest and baddest dragon in the known world. Maybe over in Valyria the dragons live a lot longer and get a lot bigger. Maybe that's what's going on with Cannibal. I think it would be really cool to see him come back in the last book... and then have them rewrite the last couple seasons of game of thrones... Just give them a mulligan🙂

It would be cool if House of the Dragon ended with a post-credit scene sort of thing with Cannibal (pulling a Vhagar-like appearance in the clouds) going somewhere, maybe Skagos or Old Valyria, maybe even the Shadowlands.

In GOT- we saw the skulls of several other dragons along with that of The Black Dread. We were told that dragons became smaller and smaller until they weren’t much bigger than dogs until they died out because they were all in captivity & caged within the Dragon Pit, not because Cannibal ate them all.

Okay this was an interesting video to pop up after watching the episode 10 preview 🤔

Didn’t think about it till recently but hope to see to e cannibal in the next season or 3rd

The dragonseeds are such a great addition

Can never get enough cannibal

damn i love how you used fatalis as an intro

Cannibal isn't even that important of a dragon , he was just there for being cool

Love the inclusion of Fatalis dragon scenes from monster hunter games

Love all dragons

Really interested to see how they are gonna do the dragon seeds.

To be honest, the Cannibal may very well have been older and possibly bigger than Belarion because of his feral nature. Keeping dragons in castles/pits might have stunted their growth. And perhaps even more of a stretch being that since he feasted on the eggs and whelps of dragonkind, perhaps he gained their strength, because blood magic works like that in this universe. So really, there is a substantial case to make the Cannibal the biggest and oldest of all dragons. I'm actually of the opinion he would have given Balerion a run for his money if they ever had a duel.

Nice video, one suggestion may be to try keep the pronunciations of names the same, as it can get confusing if there pronounced in slightly different ways throughout the video i.e. valyria, dragonmont

Not really a theory but more of a fan fic but I always wanted to believe that although stormcloud hatched in the cradle of ageon the third he never bonded with the beast given his upmost fear and instead the dragon bonded with viserys. Ageon lied about this as a means to avoid actually having to tame a dragon but later during some point he somehow tamed cannibal but never actually rode it. ( I know this is 100% not true but I always believed that the dragon bane would best suit the beast and would explain why no one could tame it during the dance of dragons. )

i always wonder who was on dragonstone before the targaryens come to island. did they leave? or did they die out? i know one family of valyrian descent die out because they inbreed and had no immune to a disease so it wipe them all out. so did the family who was there could they have be force out? or kill off?

Syrah means yellow in some languages in Africa and the indies That’s why Syrax is yellow Hence the name I thought at first Also Cyrax Mortal kombats yellow ninja(robot)

Pls can you Tell me what cinematic material is from 7:55 - 8:07 ?, Looks like a movie or game?

@:26 So how exactly would they roost atop a tower before it was even created?

What game or animation is being played in the background? It looks like dragon age a bit

Where did you find that thumbnail image?

I'm a sucker for the use of the ArcheDemon game play footage from Dragon Age Origins. Miss that game.

I have a theory that the dragons got smaller because of the dragon pits, reptiles need d3 to process calcium and grow healthy they can get mbd or metabolic bone disease without basking under sunlight. Being kept in the dark without sunlight means the dragons dont get enough d3 to grow strong and health which would cause unhealthy off spring especially with the inbreeding they do.

But the cannibal wasn't a targaryen dragon. The cannibal was already at dragonstone when the targaryen's first landed in Westeros. He's a dragon but not the same three species of dragon the targaryen's. The cannibal was assumed to be slightly younger than balerion. But both vhagar and balerion were larger than the cannibal. After the events between the blacks and green. No one knows what happened to the cannibal and based off age and how dragons grow people assume he got larger than balerion.

you gave me a ptsd style flash back by showing fatalis

my headcanon is that the only other survivor of valyria we hear of is aurion, who had an army at qohor then went to reclaim valyria and was never seen again, as the cannibal eats targaryen dragons is this because it is a dragon of another house (aurion?) after the dance it moved east and eventually becomes the skeleton daeny finds in the red waste

I wish we had a ice dragon confirmed in the lore they are far larger than Targaryen dragons.

that scene at 5:59 with daemon hugging caraxes, what episode was that from? i dont remember seeing it

A worm and a wyrm are two VERY different things, any comparison between them is spurious af.

Syrax has such a unique face

So Cannibal is the representation of Targaryans, it is fitting than that he leaves at the end of Dance of Dragons. Since Targaryans never fully recovered from it, him leaving symbolizes the start of the end of dominance.

Smallfolk: "Cannibal!! Why do you keep eating your own kind?" Cannibal: "Just goofin' around. Party hardy"

So just curious on your opening line how is it a Targaryen dragon if it's wild and never had a rider??

The first couple mins were lifted right off the asoiaf wiki lol

Wondering if the cannibal be making an appearance on house of the dragon 🐉

actually it is possible cannibal hatched from wild eggs unrelated to the targs, reason being is that GRRM/the story does/did state that wild/unaided dragon eggs do still have a chance to hatch without targ help but most of the time to do turn to stone but every now and then a egg or 2 in a wild clutch will hatch on it's own, this is likely the case with cannibal considering the fact he is described is having a unique appearance compared to other dragons which could be bc of a deformity like caraxes but could also be bc he is a sub species of dragon not related to the 3 sub species the targs own which would explain why no one could ever bond with him bc the blood magic/connection the targs have with the 3 sub species of dragons that own/created and bred would not exist with in cannibal since he is either from a completely wild sub species of dragon or belongs to a sub species that was owned by 1 of the now extinct valerian houses that perished during the doom and this would further explain why he is so hostile towards even other dragons bc he sees them as invaders/enemies/competition unlike the targ dragons that usually tolerate each others presence most of the time with exceptions being when the 2 dragons are bonded to riders that have a feud/hatred with/for each other or they are ordered by there rider to attack that other dragon compared to cannibal that will attack any other dragon unprovoked and will often feast on them as well in the same way wolves will often kill and even eat domestic dogs bc they see them as competition but also do not see them as a member of the same species hence why they sometimes devour the dogs they kill but almost never eat another wolf that they have killed unless they are starving.

Theory: each line of dragons requires a human sacrifice of the blood of the one hatching it. Rhaego was Daenerys' sacrifice.

Man I cant wait for cannibal

Two things I want to see/know… the design for Cannibal in HoD and it’s force. And I want to know what happen to Drogon and will Jon ever see him again

Next season huh ??? Nice !!

Hello, do you know who is the artist of the video thumbnail or if you have the direct link of the image?

Fatalis perfectly fits tje context of "strongest dragon"

Dragons did not originate in Ashai, they originated in the volcanos of ancient pre-imperial Valyeia, this is supported in the text.

I watched the last episode this man was right.

The cannibal dragon looks terrifying can wait to see season 2 they show this beast unleashed on West forest. 💀🐉

My FAVORITE DRAGON👑

I wonder if I was the only one who saw Fatalis and got excited for a monster hunter lore video

As dragonstone existed before the Targaryens arrived, an dragonrider could have been stationed there for a time and its dragon could have laid the egg, making the cannibal older than the doom

We will be extremely lucky, if we get season 2 in 2023. Its looking more like early, to mid 2024, be4 thats going to happen.

what game or games are being played in the video?

I'm wondering if he is a made up boogieman dragon, that gets blamed for damage caused by any of the tamed dragons. Or, alternately multiple over the years wild adolescent unnamed dragons. That either give up their hatchling and egg stealing habits after they grow up or end up killed by older dragons sick of them messing with their nests. And their dead, probably half eaten bodies, would also add to the legend of Cannibal.