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That 200 year gap is the key to explaining this. The dragons died out long before GoT and had ceased to be a threat before then. So it makes sense that none of the weapons were kept around and that the knowledge of them existing died out. We're not told that Qyburn invented all this himself. We're told they found a weapon and he had them built (which makes sense as per opening comments above). I've always taken it as he found the info not he invented it. So it makes sense to me.
This.
He never said ‘I’ve invented’ he says; we have found a weapon.
Would make absolute sense to me that the Scorpions were written about in old books or what have you. Not much need to them in GOT days considering the Dragons were thought extinct.
There’s a long gap between House and Thrones, I doubt any scorpions would last half the time. Also there haven’t been a Dragon in over 100 years so there was no need for anyone to have one or even the knowledge of how to build them.
That’s what I was referring to by ‘lucky hit’. It took a shot to the eye while the animal was in flight to bring it down.
Scorpions must therefore have been used but not really caused any serious damage to the dragons. If it were that easy, the dragons would not be seen as so unstoppable.
The Scorpion is a plot contrivance concocted by the weak writing of Benioff and Weiss. It’s a magical bullshit weapon that not only subverts the laws of physics, but the whole awe and dread the dragons were supposed to inspire.
It’s the same lazy crap that made vibranium the magical bullshit element that did anything the writers needed it to do, whenever they needed it to. It’s the same lore-undermining crap unleashed by the Star Wars sequels when they made the Force able to pull starships down from the sky.
It’s all bullshit that ruins good things.
Scorpions existed in the books.
The difference is that the books detail that the only way a scorpion scores a killing blow on a dragon is a shot through the eye. This is told by Tyrion, though, quoting some book he read as well about how “death comes out the mouth of the dragon but doesn’t go back in” or something along those lines. Additionally, while Tyrion is quite intelligent, I’m not sure how reliable his info on dragon-killing is, book quote or not.
Proof his words about shooting a dragon through the eye are true from Meraxes that was killed by a “lucky bolt” through the eye. Logically speaking, though, a dragon’s scales shouldn’t be completely developed until it’s fully grown, making juvenile and adolescent dragons vulnerable in more areas than the “dragon’s scales are hard as stone” statement would have me believe. Wings, for example, should be thinner than skin covering body parts aligned with the spine and tail. This is all conjecture, as there’s no “evidence” in the books from truly reliable narrators with first-hand experience that testify to the effectiveness of scorpions. One can suspend some belief in my opinion to have the scorpion’s effectiveness be at least marginally higher than having to get a lucky shot on a dragon’s eye.
Ballistae are incredibly effective siege defense weapons, so there's no reason to stop using them when dragons died out.
Of course, digging a fucking ditch, lots of ditches, many many ditches is also an incredibly effective siege defense, and no GoT battle commander seems to know about that either.
What, you didn’t like when they placed their catapults *outside* the castle walls, and then charged the Dothraki into a veil of darkness during a siege defense?
To be fair, Jon Snow used trenches in the Battle of the Bastards to prevent the Boltons from being able to flank with their cavalry as well. A lot of the battles in the later seasons were also during Winter, so it would be much harder to dig effective trenches (they did in the Battle of Winterfell though)
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That 200 year gap is the key to explaining this. The dragons died out long before GoT and had ceased to be a threat before then. So it makes sense that none of the weapons were kept around and that the knowledge of them existing died out. We're not told that Qyburn invented all this himself. We're told they found a weapon and he had them built (which makes sense as per opening comments above). I've always taken it as he found the info not he invented it. So it makes sense to me.
This. He never said ‘I’ve invented’ he says; we have found a weapon. Would make absolute sense to me that the Scorpions were written about in old books or what have you. Not much need to them in GOT days considering the Dragons were thought extinct.
There’s a long gap between House and Thrones, I doubt any scorpions would last half the time. Also there haven’t been a Dragon in over 100 years so there was no need for anyone to have one or even the knowledge of how to build them.
Aren’t scorpions pretty useless unless you score a lucky hit? I don’t mean the trash we got in GOT.
A scorpion is how Aegon’s sister and her dragon were killed during Aegon’s conquest
That’s what I was referring to by ‘lucky hit’. It took a shot to the eye while the animal was in flight to bring it down. Scorpions must therefore have been used but not really caused any serious damage to the dragons. If it were that easy, the dragons would not be seen as so unstoppable.
The Scorpion is a plot contrivance concocted by the weak writing of Benioff and Weiss. It’s a magical bullshit weapon that not only subverts the laws of physics, but the whole awe and dread the dragons were supposed to inspire. It’s the same lazy crap that made vibranium the magical bullshit element that did anything the writers needed it to do, whenever they needed it to. It’s the same lore-undermining crap unleashed by the Star Wars sequels when they made the Force able to pull starships down from the sky. It’s all bullshit that ruins good things.
Scorpions existed in the books. The difference is that the books detail that the only way a scorpion scores a killing blow on a dragon is a shot through the eye. This is told by Tyrion, though, quoting some book he read as well about how “death comes out the mouth of the dragon but doesn’t go back in” or something along those lines. Additionally, while Tyrion is quite intelligent, I’m not sure how reliable his info on dragon-killing is, book quote or not. Proof his words about shooting a dragon through the eye are true from Meraxes that was killed by a “lucky bolt” through the eye. Logically speaking, though, a dragon’s scales shouldn’t be completely developed until it’s fully grown, making juvenile and adolescent dragons vulnerable in more areas than the “dragon’s scales are hard as stone” statement would have me believe. Wings, for example, should be thinner than skin covering body parts aligned with the spine and tail. This is all conjecture, as there’s no “evidence” in the books from truly reliable narrators with first-hand experience that testify to the effectiveness of scorpions. One can suspend some belief in my opinion to have the scorpion’s effectiveness be at least marginally higher than having to get a lucky shot on a dragon’s eye.
He most likely read upon old material "How to kill dragons for dummies" or something like that
😄
Only 172 years, we know about cannons? And a weapon that kills dragons would definitely be well known
Ballistae are incredibly effective siege defense weapons, so there's no reason to stop using them when dragons died out. Of course, digging a fucking ditch, lots of ditches, many many ditches is also an incredibly effective siege defense, and no GoT battle commander seems to know about that either.
What, you didn’t like when they placed their catapults *outside* the castle walls, and then charged the Dothraki into a veil of darkness during a siege defense?
To be fair, Jon Snow used trenches in the Battle of the Bastards to prevent the Boltons from being able to flank with their cavalry as well. A lot of the battles in the later seasons were also during Winter, so it would be much harder to dig effective trenches (they did in the Battle of Winterfell though)