Why Did The Dragons Get Smaller In Game Of Thrones

The dragons in Game of Thrones did not get smaller; the dragons were different sizes from birth and continued to grow at varying rates.

Have you ever wondered about the size of dragons in Game of Thrones? Some might ask, why did the dragons get smaller in Game of Thrones when we clearly saw them massive in later seasons? It’s a fascinating question that sparks a lot of debate amongst fans. The truth is, they were simply different sizes from the beginning.

Rhaegal and Viserion began as smaller dragons, and Drogon was always the largest. The variation in size is consistent with their individual growth patterns, and they didn’t shrink. It’s an important detail of how the mythical creatures were visualized.

Why Did the Dragons Get Smaller in Game of Thrones?

Okay, so you’ve probably noticed it too. Those magnificent dragons in Game of Thrones, especially as the show progressed, seemed to… shrink a bit. They weren’t the colossal, fire-breathing behemoths we initially imagined based on the books or the early seasons. This isn’t just your imagination playing tricks on you; there are several reasons why the dragons, particularly Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, appeared smaller over time. It’s a mix of practical filmmaking challenges, storyline necessities, and some creative choices made by the showrunners. Let’s dive deep into the fascinating world of dragon size evolution in the show.

The Initial Immensity: Dragons as Symbols of Power

When Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons first hatched, they were tiny, adorable little lizards. But as they grew, they became not just bigger, but also more potent symbols of her growing power. In early seasons, especially when the dragons were smaller, the show used a variety of techniques to make them feel huge. They utilized creative camera angles, digital enhancements, and forced perspective. Remember how, in the first seasons, we often saw them from ground level, with their wings towering overhead? This made them seem immense. The initial focus was on showcasing the dragons as magical creatures, living weapons, a mythical element returned to the world. The show wanted to impress upon us the sheer scale of their reemergence.

Early Dragons: Visual Techniques and Their Impact

To achieve the initial visual effect of huge dragons, the show heavily relied on CGI and also physical props where they can use. These included:

CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery): This was, and is, the most important tool. The digital artists created the dragons from the ground up, building detailed models and animations. They could manipulate the dragon’s size, shape, and movements easily.
Forced Perspective: This filmmaking technique involves using camera angles and positions to make an object appear larger or smaller than it is. By filming the dragons from below or using specific lenses, they appeared massive compared to humans and their environments.
Sound Design: The roars of the dragons, their wing flaps, and their general presence were amplified and intensified through sound engineering. These auditory details helped enhance the idea of their massive physical size.
Limited Human Interaction: Early on, the dragons’ interactions with humans were often limited. This also helped the show avoid directly showing the scale issues and making the dragons seem bigger than they might have been on set.

The Challenges of Depicting Growing Dragons

As the dragons grew, the challenge of making them appear consistently huge also grew. It’s one thing to show a tiny dragon being impressive, and quite another to depict an animal as big as an airplane interacting realistically with humans and buildings. The scale started to present significant challenges on several fronts:

Practical Filmmaking Limitations

Imagine having to film a scene with a creature the size of a Boeing 747. There would be a lot of issues. Some of the problems include:

Budget Constraints: Rendering large, detailed creatures in CGI is incredibly expensive. The more detail and time spent on each shot, the higher the production cost. Continuously showing the dragons at their maximum theoretical size would have been a huge financial burden.
Time Investment: Computer rendering takes time. A single shot of a dragon flying can take hours or even days to complete. The more complex and bigger the dragon is, the more time it takes for the VFX team. They needed to produce many shots per episode.
Set Logistics: Imagine having to create a set that could accommodate a creature the size of a small building. It would be incredibly difficult and expensive to construct and film. A lot of the scenes had to take place in the world.
Animation Realism: The more massive a dragon, the more complex its movements become. Animating its flight, interactions with the world, and especially close-ups required a huge amount of computer work and rendering. The team has to manage the workload in a reasonable time.

Storyline and Character Interactions

The dragons were not just special effects spectacles; they were also characters with their own behaviors and interactions with other characters. This became increasingly important as the show progressed. Factors that limited their size are:

Ridable Dragons: As Daenerys starts to ride Drogon, the dragon needs to appear large enough to carry her but small enough to not be overwhelmingly huge in comparison. This means scaling the dragon down just slightly.
Emotional Range and Interactions: The dragons needed to express emotion and respond to commands or their bond with Dany. Showing a huge dragon making subtle face movements or being in a small space would be really tough. Keeping the dragons at a reasonable size made these moments work better.
Battle Sequences and Set Pieces: When the dragons engaged in combat or interacted with other elements of the scene, the sizes had to be workable. A dragon the size of a mountain would cause chaos. For them, keeping it a bit smaller made the scenes more coherent.

The Inconsistency Conundrum: Perceived vs. Actual Size

It’s important to note that the perceived size of the dragons was often inconsistent throughout the series. Sometimes they seemed absolutely gigantic, and sometimes, especially in the final seasons, they seemed more like large, albeit very formidable, animals. The visual storytelling required some flexibility and so we have some perceived variations:

The Impact of Different Shots and Scenes

Depending on the context of a scene, the show adjusted the size of the dragons. For example:

Long Shots vs Close-Ups: In long shots, dragons might appear massive when in the wide expanse of the environment. In close-ups, especially with characters, they might appear smaller to allow for visual consistency and focus on the emotions and reactions of the human characters.
Flying Sequences vs Landing: The dragons were visually more impressive in flight, giving them the space to soar and appear huge. When they landed, they often seemed less massive, mainly so the interaction between the human characters was not overwhelmed.
Battle Scenes: In large battle sequences, a slightly scaled-down dragon is easier to integrate into the overall visual flow of the fight, ensuring the action is comprehensible and not too chaotic.

The “Rule of Cool” vs. Narrative Needs

Sometimes, the perceived changes in size came down to the “rule of cool” – the idea that what looks awesome on screen is prioritized over logical consistency. But this needs to balance with the story.

Visual Spectacle: The dragons needed to look impressive and awe-inspiring. Sometimes, the team may have slightly altered their size to enhance their visual impact during certain scenes.
Storytelling Necessity: Ultimately, the dragons are a part of the storyline. The creative team sometimes adjusted the dragon size to better suit plot points and character interactions rather than going for strict biological accuracy, given they were also mythical.

Did the Dragons Actually Shrink, or Was It Our Perception?

Now, the big question: did the dragons actually get smaller in the show, or was it all in our heads? The truth is, it’s a bit of both. While their size wasn’t literally shrinking, the way they were depicted and the choices made by the showrunners led to the perception of diminished size over time.

The Evolution of Visual Effects

The VFX techniques evolved with time, while the dragons became more detailed and realistic, the overall sense of size may have been subtly altered:

Increased Realism: As the series continued, the digital models of the dragons became more detailed and refined. This might have altered our sense of scale compared to the less refined early depictions.
Changing Visual Styles: The visual style of the show changed from season to season. This also may impact our perception of how big the dragons really are and change how we see them.

The Dragon Size as a Storytelling Element

The size and presence of dragons were tools to further the story, which, again, led to adjustments in appearance based on the story’s needs.

The Maturation of the Dragons: Early in the show, we see them as babies and adolescents. Their size growth, even if not perfectly consistent, was one way to show how much time had passed and the evolution of these creatures from tiny hatchlings to formidable beasts.
Shifting Power Dynamics: The dragons represented Daenerys’ power. As the show progressed, their role changed, and the visual changes may have been symbolic of these shifts, even though the dragons were the same size.

The Book Perspective: George R.R. Martin’s Vision

It’s worth briefly touching upon the source material. In George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, the descriptions of dragons are, if anything, even more exaggerated than in the early seasons of the show. The books describe them as truly massive creatures, easily capable of destroying entire castles and causing immense destruction. However, due to budgetary and logistical challenges, such massive scale would have been near impossible to replicate fully on screen.

Book Dragons vs. Show Dragons: Scale Discrepancies

There are notable differences in scale between the dragons in the books and the show:

Size Description: In the books, the dragons are described as large enough to block out the sun and capable of melting stone with their fire. The show’s dragons did not really get to that size, at least not on screen.
Realistic limitations: The television show had to make choices about budget and the technology available, which is a hurdle the books do not have. These choices impacted the dragons’ appearance on screen.
Narrative vs Visual: The books are able to create the scale through the writer’s language. The show has to create scale through visual, which often leads to a shift in the actual size of the dragon.

Overall, while the show may have intended for the dragons to seem like they were constantly growing, it ultimately opted to reduce their perceived size for a number of practical reasons and to better serve the narrative of the series. This resulted in the dragons feeling somewhat smaller as the show went on.

Ultimately, the perceived shrinking of the dragons in Game of Thrones is a complex result of filmmaking practicalities, storytelling requirements, and shifts in visual representation. While the initial vision of the dragons may have been of truly colossal creatures, the show’s creative team made choices to balance visual spectacle with narrative and production needs. So, while the dragons may have seemed smaller at times, their presence remained central to the story and the impressive visuals made sure they continued to play the most important roles in the show.

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Final Thoughts

The dragons’ shrinking size in later seasons likely reflects budgetary constraints and storytelling priorities. Visual effects became expensive, so depicting smaller dragons required fewer resources. They prioritized character development over epic scale.

The narrative also shifted focus away from dragons as weapons of mass destruction. The “why did the dragons get smaller in game of thrones” question largely boils down to a combination of practical and creative choices by the show’s makers.