Daenerys's dragons are the last of their kind. As far as I can tell neither the books nor the TV show give any hint about them laying new eggs of their own.

The main wiki says:


So, can Daenerys's dragons lay eggs, and if not, then why?


Technically they should be able to lay eggs.

A common misconception is that Daenerys' dragons are all males. That is not true.

Dragons do not have a fixed gender1. They can change to male or female at will.

AFFC - Samwell IV

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But we do not yet know when do Dragons become capable of laying eggs and reproducing.

Daenerys' dragons are a couple of years old, so they could be considered children among a species which lives for centuries.

Presumably, They should be able to start reproducing at least after 10-20 years. Syrax was born in reign of King Jaehaerys I (Implied as Rhaenyra who was born in 97 AC during reign of the Old King named the young dragon, which implies it was a hatchling and had no previous rider or name). It grew up during reign of King Viserys I and known to have laid eggs during that period. Viserys reigned from 103 AC to 129 AC for 26 years. If we assume that Syrax was born in 97 AC2 (As it existed back in the day of Jaehaerys I), Syrax must have been at least 10-20 years old when it first laid eggs in reign of King Viserys. It can't be emphasized enough that this is merely my speculation, Syrax could have been younger (Could be more like <10 but that seems wrong given that dragons must have some stage in their early life when they are incapable of reproducing like all animals).

The secrets of Dragonkind were lost when King Baelor ordered Septon Barth's Unnatural History to be burnt through out the Kingdom. So as of now, their nature is a mystery.

So Spake Martin

GRRM says the following on Draconic Reproduction and genders:

Q: [Are dragons male, female, hermaphroditic, or is there something magical involved in their reproduction?]

GRRM: Sexing dragons is difficult. More in future books.

1. There are those who dispute it but Barth was the leading expert in Dragonlore in Westeros and he actually had a first hand chance to observe dragons during reign of Jaehaerys I. Maester Aemon is also a great scholar and if he agrees with Barth instead, So do I. Munkun only saw the extinction of Dragons and the only Dragons he ever observed were sickly and dying. Thomax on the other hand, we do not know when did he live so we can't speculate on accuracy of his views.

2. 97 AC because that's when Rhaenyra was born, during the reign of Jaehaerys I. It was a custom of Targaryens to lay dragon eggs in cribs of new born Targaryens, and it would hatch and grow with the child.

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    Also, that one dragon (Vermax) couldn't lay eggs doesn't tell us much. Vermax could have been infertile, or have had unusual biology that made him (in this case) get stuck in male form. – Adamant Jun 16 '18 at 22:48
  • Wonder if they need to have sex before laying eggs – PrashanD Apr 6 at 21:12

We don't have enough knowledge about their nature and biology, so we can't rule out that they are capable to lay eggs.

From an in universe point of view, there were many studies and different opinions about the reproduction of dragons; being them magical (so the natural rules of other animals don't necessarily apply in their full extent) and rather uncommon creatures (only the Targaryen kings had them in their possessions), it is not surprising that a real consensus was not agreed upon.

Like Aegon (the user!) correctly reported in his answer, the most detailed and probably authoritative study was Septon Barth's Unnatural History; he lived during the reign of Jaehaerys I, and his theory was that dragons have no fixed genre:

"No one ever looked for a girl," he said. "It was a prince that was promised, not a princess.
What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it." Just talking of her seemed to make him stronger. "I must go to her. I must. Would that I was even ten years younger."
A Feast for Crows, Samwell IV

His view was shared by Maester Aemon, that was convinced by alleged errors of translations from Valyrian, and linking the nature of the real dragons to the metaphorical ones (the Targaryens).

Later, Maester Yandel (living during the reign of the Baratheons), in his The World of Ice and Fire, claimed that Barth's view was essentially only a metaphor. Yandel's works were mainly based on those of Maester Gyldain (living during the reign of Aegon V):

As Archmaester Gyldayn notes in his fragmentary history, there is no record that Vermax ever laid so much as a single egg, suggesting the dragon was male. The belief that dragons could change sex at need is erroneous, according to Maester Anson's Truth, rooted in a misunderstanding of the esoteric metaphor that Barth preferred when discussing the higher mysteries.
The World of Ice & Fire - The North: Winterfell

With the assumption that there is no certainty about the mating and reproductive habits of dragons, how to determine their sex, or even if they have a fixed gender at all, we can't rule out that they are at least capable of laying eggs; there were dragons that were not observed to lay eggs, but this doesn't really mean that they were not able to do that; even if they indeed had a fixed genre, we don't really know if Daenerys' dragons are males of females (I suppose lifting their tails to have a look is not as simple as with a cat).

Furthermore, Daenerys's dragons are still very young. It is possible that they haven't yet reached sexual maturity, and that the time when they are ready to lay eggs and fertilise them has not yet come.

  • Thanks, but the first answer here already covers this. – Shadow The Princess Wizard Sep 6 '17 at 13:12
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    We wrote them at the same time I think – Sekhemty Sep 6 '17 at 13:17
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    I have expanded and improved my answer to make it more useful. – Sekhemty Sep 7 '17 at 20:16
  • Vermax could easily have been infertile, though. It’s curious that they’d leap from one dragon not laying eggs to believing that dragons had fixed sexes. – Adamant Apr 20 '18 at 18:51

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