Jason Pargin, author
Region: US
Monday 20 July 2026 00:31:06 GMT
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Hamlet TheDane :
Except…. You’re forgetting that as body size goes up, metabolic rate goes down- so a whale has a much lower metabolic rate than a human, who has a much lower metabolic rate than a mouse. So you can’t directly extrapolate upward from body weight go food requirement, without taking this into account.
2026-07-20 00:38:56
3776
Sup :
Reptiles don’t eat as much. Large snakes eat once a month. Sometimes longer.
2026-07-20 02:21:57
5616
DiesDas :
What makes you think dragons are incapable of farming?
2026-07-20 18:27:02
2071
pryme8 :
According to Kleiber’s Law, a dragon like Vhagar would need to eat between 4 to 6 horses worth of meat per day if she has a warm-blooded metabolism, or roughly 1 to 2 sheep per day if she scales like a cold-blooded reptile.Kleiber's Law (\(R \propto M^{0.75}\)) states that an animal's metabolic rate scales to the \(\frac{3}{4}\) power of its mass. This means that as an organism gets exponentially larger, its metabolism becomes incredibly efficient per pound of flesh.Here is how the numbers break down depending on Vhagar's biology:1. Estimating Vhagar's MassVisual effects producers confirm Vhagar is roughly 150 meters (492 feet) long.Adjusting for avian-like hollow bones to allow flight, physicists estimate her weight to be around 2,000 to 3,000 metric tons (approx. 2.5 million kg).2. The Mammalian / Warm-Blooded ModelIf Vhagar has "hot blood" to fuel her internal fire and constant high-energy combat:Daily Caloric Need: Plugging 2,500,000 kg into the mammalian Kleiber formula (\(70 \times M^{0.75}\)) gives a resting requirement of roughly 14,000,000 kcal per day.The Menu: This equates to eating 4 to 6 horses or 30 to 40 sheep every single day.3. The Reptilian / Cold-Blooded ModelIf Vhagar possesses a highly efficient, slow reptile metabolism (like a massive crocodile):Daily Caloric Need: Reptile resting metabolism is about \(\frac{1}{7}\)th of a mammal's. She would only need around 2,000,000 kcal per day.The Menu: This means she could comfortably survive on just 1 to 2 sheep a day, or gorge on one blue whale every few weeks and sleep it off.4. The Flight & Fire Factor (The Real Calorie Burner)Kleiber's Law only measures resting energy. Taking off into the air with that much weight breaks standard physics.To fly for just 30 minutes, Vhagar would burn an extra 38 million calories.A single battle or patrol flight would instantly force her to consume an extra 40 horses or 270+ sheep just to recover her energy! This explains why the crown had to tax citizens 1/10th of all livestock in Westeros just to keep the faction's dragons fed during the war.✅ Result SummaryBased on Kleiber's Law, a resting Vhagar requires a minimum of 2 million calories (reptilian) to 14 million
2026-07-20 23:48:04
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LAB :
They eat whales and use the whale fat for fire. Done
2026-07-20 00:45:32
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The~Don 👑🔥 :
Bro you’re overthinking it
2026-08-02 23:14:08
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A.j :
they ought to have ranches of bisons and elephants😂😂😂
2026-08-02 20:43:33
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Gold Cartel :
Aura farming
2026-08-02 09:07:33
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Zaik :
There used to be hundreds of millions of these thing roaming around our planet and they did just fine for millions of years. I think Westeros can accommodate a few dozen oversized quetzalcoatluses on their ecosystem
2026-07-20 06:48:20
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prophet of God patience :
compare it to polar bear it doesn't eat much
2026-08-02 20:09:18
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Suzie Wrong :
i think about how big their poop would be falling from the sky 😬
2026-07-20 01:36:15
889
popiwankenobi :
Magical metabolism ✨
2026-07-20 03:52:49
1879
Aymen Slim Box :
just dont think about it
2026-08-02 03:07:05
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Dark :
They were breastfed by Daenerys.
2026-07-20 07:48:18
363
Cody Fraley :
Think of the caloric cost to breathe fire!
2026-07-20 00:35:49
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Okebito :
For all the people they are not dragons they are wyverns or wyrms
2026-07-26 17:41:58
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Sabreline :
I mean there's a million ways to ruin a fantasy universe if you deliberately refuse to suspend disbelief and take it seriously. That's the point of fantasy to be fantastical.
2026-07-20 23:25:09
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Butsmasher65 :
I think you’re forgetting one key fact and that is dragons are reptiles. Compare the eating habits to a snake or an alligator. Not a hawk.
2026-07-22 13:10:38
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hcucuc :
fantasy problem, assume fantasy solution.
2026-07-22 19:55:09
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God D. SG :
Lizards don't eat alot though.
2026-07-22 06:29:25
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Mitsu Hadeishi :
It turns out this isn't how it works. It would not scale linearly with mass. An elephant eats far less of its body weight as a percentage than a mouse. The actual equation is that it is proportionally to M^0.75. A more realistic calculation comes to around 1 cow every couple of days, assuming the dragon rests most of the time, and only flies occasionally. The unrealistic thing is more the way the dragons fly - at that size it's difficult to make it work that they constantly take off from the ground and accelerate around as they do in the books/show.
2026-07-21 18:07:48
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blacklilithh :
Omg I bring this up all the time when I’m talking to my husband about House of the Dragon when I’m trying to explain why the common folk dont actually fuck with Targaryen’s like that because the budren of feeding the dragons literally takes food off their plate.
2026-07-20 03:20:10
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Elevensies :
Maybe they are like other reptiles..snakes..and don’t have to eat constantly. But the default answer is that they’re magical.
2026-07-20 02:36:14
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Jannol :
if it sleeps a lot, it needs less food
2026-07-21 05:19:10
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NormalUsername :
Godzilla did it best. The giant radioactive water dragon doesn’t need to eat anything except radiation in order to survive which it can absorb through the air. But when he does eat, he eats one of the many other large kaiju that also exist.
2026-07-20 21:23:37
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