The fact that they can naturally tame and ride dragons contradicts the idea that they’re just regular people. The same with the Starks, and other first men descendants with the ability to skin change.
@@fmgmackit kinda was they were one in forty something families and they have not lived in their homelands for generations while mixing with the people of westeros. Whatever health buff they had would be lost with the death of dragons and the loss of magic until Dany.
@@madambutterfly1997 we don’t know how Celtigars look, there is very little info about them. However it is possible that after centuries of interbreeding with westerosies they lost their valyrian features.
I think the immunity to sickness could be due to them bonding with their dragons…..Dany gets sick after she left Drogon but as soon as she reunites with him her sickness is never mentioned Same thing with Bran in AGOT Cat and Robb notes that when Bran is with Summer he gets stronger
Yes, this is part of it imo. The general health and hardiness of their race is tied to the fact that they are both physically and mentally linked to dragons.
Dany doesn't get sick, she gets diarrhea from drinking unclean water. That's not like a virus or a disease, it's most commonly parasites. Aerea Targaryen was vulnerable to parasites as well, even though she was riding Balerion.
Having lost the blood magic of old Valyria, they pretty much slowly withered away and died. They couldn't be bothered to take more with them when they left they just grabbed their five dragons, their children, and just GTFO’d
They didn't lose it, they maybe weren't as well learned as more powerful houses. Even then, hard to keep up without libraries of it around to read from.
Haven’t watched the video yet but didn’t Daenerys get ill in 5th book or Jon getting ill when he was a child. Then there is the whole great spring sickness which killed 3 Targaryen
It's not that they can't get ill/sick, but they definitely find it harder to get sicker than most other people in the story. Dany also got sick from eating berries after she flew away on Drogon
Actually. I can recall that Aegon the 5th's eldest brother, Daeron died from a pox he caught from a whore. So we can add him to the list of Targaryens who died of sickness.
Viserys had the issue of his entire world going to shit at the age of seven years old, and his mother made the good intentions albeit shortsighted decision to shield him from the truth
Great video! My impression from reading the books is Targaryens are only protected from sickness when they are bonded to a dragon. This connection changes them. For example, the change we see in Aemond when he bonds with Vhagar. Or the fact that King Viserys gets sick. I am sure he would have been okay if he was bonded to a dragon. When it comes to Dani being sick at the end of book 5, well she was not really bonded to her dragons at that point. She had rejected them. When she was sick, Quaithe was talking to her trying to get her to remember she was the blood of the dragon. And it worked, at the very end of the chapter and book, Drogon joins her and she is no longer sick. Anyway, food for thought.
An then Jaehaery's went on to lose several children to sickness. I'm fairly certain that had to sting him hard. He wasn't a god he was just a man. Targaryens were just people who were crazy and kept it too close in the family.
Jaehaerys did believe that the reason his Daenaerys died was because she didn't have a Dragon, the same could be said for Maegelle. The only Targaryen the really seemed to die from illness who had a Dragon was Aenys and that was more from stress really, and Baelon's sounds closer to internal injury than illness with part of his body bursting.
So, the way I see it: we know heat kills off most diseases, its how Fevers work. Their blood is naturally warmer than most, and is due to their shared genetics with Dragons. That said, the Valyrians are likely more resistant than most other ethnic groups, such as First Men/Andals etc. The bond with a Dragon also helps. Whatever magical and psychological bond is made seems to help strengthen the human of the pair (as the human is the more fragile being among the two, the other being a literal dragon). So, the answer is yes, Valyrians can get sick, but only to the more dangerous and contagious diseases. The common cold is likely something they just don't have to worry about, but things lkke "The Shivers", "Great Spring Sickness" and "Grey Scale" aren't low-level things. Viserys having leprosy is certainly a higher level disease, not to mention Aegon III' mental health likely played a part in his sickly demise, given that; "Bad humours of the mind can adversely affect the body", as said by the Grand Maester in HotD. And we all know Aegon's mental health was... anything but strong or healthy. Which ironically could point back to the "the only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon, was itself".
Funny how the show incorporated leprosy when greyscale itself is already like a fusion of leprosy, rabies, and smallpox all on steroids. I've read books 1-5 in A Song of Ice and Fire, the Dunk and Egg novellas, Fire and Blood, and The World of Ice and Fire, and I don't think the word "leprosy" itself appears in any of those books with a 1.3 million and counting word count combined.
I do think that over the years they lost they’re connected with their blood magic as it thinned out, them losing their bonds with dragons when they went extinct, but I also think that being located in KL had some affect on them. Dragonstone has a volcano and is heavily implied has their blood magic infused but KL is normal
So, scientifically (I know, not a great way to start a comment about a fantasy series, haha) if the Targ’s have a slightly higher standard body temp, as is indicated throughout the books like you said they seem very comfortable in the heat; that actually could explain why diseases don’t afflict them. Many viruses and even small organisms can only survive in certain environments, even a slight variation means they simple can’t reproduce and survive. So if they were like, say, two degrees Fahrenheit warmer, closer to a base 100.6 instead of 98.6, it’s actually very likely that viruses which do not cause fever would be unable to survive. Fun fact: Bees have a heat tolerance just two degrees above their main threat, hornets, so when one invades the nest, the bees swarm him and vibrate their bodies to create heat, effectively roasting the intruder alive. Absolutely badass evolutionary advantage. Conversely, low temps also pose an unappealing environment to viruses: this is why, despite being basically dangerous bug and tick garbage disposals, the north American possum is pretty much immune to any dangerous diseases the food they eat carries. They also cannot be afflicted with rabies, even if bitten by an infected animal, because the rabies virus can’t survive in such a low body temp! I love possums. They have a bad rap but they’re great for eliminating pests and they’re not a nuisance whatsoever where I live. We have a big one that lives somewhere near us cuz we always see it wandering around; he’s bigger than our cats but they don’t seem bothered by him at all. He just sometimes wants the outdoor cat’s food😂
The Targs that bond with dragons don't get sick. Jae's daughter that died from the shiver's didn't have a dragon, and in her last hours Jae sent word for one to be brought to her but it was too late. Same is the case for Magelle(?), Jae's daughter who joined the Faith. She didn't bond with a dragon and eventually died from contracting greyscale while treating the afflicted. Aegon III's dragon died during the Dance, leaving him without a bond when he got TB. After all the dragon's were dead, Daeron II and his grandkids died of the plague as well.
@@zaja2418wasn't that said to be more like stress and worry that did him in though? Honestly it's so convoluted it's hard to pin point the right answer.
It would be intresting to know if Valyrians have any Cultural Hygiene processes that most of Westeros lacks. More Bathing and more regular hand washing will lead to less sickness even if you dont know about germ theory. These traditions could have been lost over the generations in westeros and so the targs became sick more often.
Doesn't the fact that they consistently reach 70-80 years of age in the setting of the story support this theory? I would guess the average lifespan of those who make it past childhood is 40-50
The biggest contribution to good health and “immunity” is access to good nutrition, good health care, good habits, and proper sanitation. I know it’s not a glamorous factor, but GRRM is pretty savvy about mixing the real and mystical and also leaving it up to the audience to piece all the clues together. These people are the billionaire rock stars of the world - its not fair to compare their vulnerability to disease with the run of the mill farmer or towns people.
The fact that Aenys was sickly and frail even when he had already bonded with Quicksilver leads me to believe that Targaryens being immune to diseases is just pure propaganda, much like the claim that all Targaryens are closer to gods than they are to men... when a good number of them died like little biches.😆
Jaehaerys was not really the best king, literally propaganda you’ve fallen victim to. The maesters got you, fool! Anyway besides this one thing i disagree with you on i do love your videos.
I just kind of figured they were hotter then nomral people, its the same reason cats dont get sick. bacteria have a hard time living in a host to hot for them.
Are the Targaryens based on the rh negative bloodline? If you look into the theories regarding rh negative blood it fits in many ways.... oh and it is believed to have come from Atlantis... just sayin'.... you should check it out... thanks for the content 😊
Student Paramedic here so take everything with a pinch of salt. Did a little reading and I'm sorry to say but being rh negative, apart from being amazingly rare is no more special then most other blood. Main difference being they don't have the rh protein which effects what blood they can take and in some instances can result in pregnancy complications if the baby is rh positive. It's cool in theory though. As for origins I couldn't find anything concrete, I personally don't think Atlantis was real at least in how we view it today but who knows.
Hello 👋🏼 I’m finishing up a degree in molecular & cellular biology, and I’ve published a single piece of supernatural historical fiction. I think what has happened here is that the medieval ppl in the series do not understand the difference between immunity and resistance. Targaryens are resistant to disease, not immune to it. Although dragons may take that resistance up a notch to immunity. Or it may not, and only strengthens the original resistance.
Not you using Jon Snows picture when Daenerys, the literal face of house Targaryen and the character you talked about extensively in the video is right there. Weird af!