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Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes After GAME OF THRONES’ Dragon Physics

“Oh, so you’re okay with the existence of dragons, but you have a problem if they fly too fast?”

Yes, exactly. While this particular writer has no problem accepting magic on Game of Thrones, we’re not okay when it defies the laws of physics. And that’s why I am here for Neil deGrasse Tyson killjoying sharing his scientific observations about the most recent season.

But before you think it’s all gloom and doom, it turns out that while Thrones may stretch credulity with their flight speed, the show gets the rest of its dragon science actually right.

Tyson took to Twitter to share some thoughts about the show, which—as anyone who has ever heard him tear down the shoddy science of a space movie could tell you—had the potential to be scathing. But the only real flaw he found had to do with the scene of the wights dragging Viserion’s dead body out of that frozen lake. But it had nothing to do with how or where the Night King found those giant chains north of the Wall, but with the technique his dead soldiers employed with them.

Duly noted in case we’re ever dragging a monster from a lake. (You don’t need that kind of information until you really need it).

But as far as the actual biology of dragons go, the show apparently got things right.

Unlike Renaissance painters.

Take that, stupid Renaissance artists. But it’s not just dragon wing span that Game of Thrones nailed, Tyson said they also accurately showed how one would walk, like when Drogon ambled down the rubble of the Dragonpit in the season finale.

I never thought of a dragon being like a bat before, but now all I can think about is how terrible dragon guano must be. Dragonstone must be a nightmare island covered in feces now. And the Dragonpit must have smelled awful.

Finally, the famed astrophysicist touched upon arguably the biggest science question of the season, but couldn’t actually give us an answer to it: did the dead Viserion breathe ice or blue flame? We don’t know, but if it was flame we have an idea of how much hotter that is than his living brothers.

So if that is a blue flame, that would make the dead Viserion three times more dangerous than either of his dragon brothers. And you don’t need to be an astrophysicist to know that’s not good.

Although maybe the show could still consult one to figure out how fast a dragon could fly from Dragonstone to the Wall. We’re fine with a dead, magical dragon, but we’d still like him to follow the laws of physics.

What other science question from Game of Thrones would you like him to address next? Send a raven with your thoughts to our comments below (or just type them).

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Images: HBO

Featured Image: HBO

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