The Reality of Filming Dragons
According to A Wiki of Ice and Fire: Dragons are magical creatures, which existed on the continents of Westeros and Essos, and up until recently were considered to have been extinct for over one hundred and fifty years. The only remaining traces of the dragons were skeletal remains and dragon eggs which were thought to have turned to stone, until Daenerys Targaryen managed to hatch three of these dragon eggs.
According to The World of Ice and Fire, Dragons most likely were born from the a chain of volcanoes referred to in ancient texts as “The Fourteen Fires.” (The eruption of said chain all at once is the generally accepted theory behind the Doom of Old Valyria.) Though there are other theories as to where dragons came from, including hatching from a second moon that once hung heavy over the planet, the presence of dragon fossils in all parts of both Essos and Westeros suggest that they lived for thousands of years before the ancient Valyrians learned to tame them.
According to Making Game of Thrones, they are “ornery creatures. Some days, no matter how hard you coax them, they just continue to not exist.”
Instead, the props department finds themselves supplementing forthcoming CGI with a four headed blowtorch. Not exactly the stuff of legends, nor does it seem like something one would ride on to conquer an entire continent.
But a prop person’s gotta do what a prop’s person’s gotta do on the days when reality sets in. Making GoT muses:
Did our Brian McGraw – a stand-by chargehand prop in the Dragon Unit – ever look down at the bones and earth he was scorching and silently roar, imagining his protective suit as scales and the fuel rig on his back as wings?
Probably not. He was busy enough trying not to cook his legs. Or anything else down there.
I suppose extra warmth is better than those who are having them freeze off beyond the Wall…..
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