What does an Ice Dragon breathe?

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Not Littlefinger
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Thu Aug 24, 2017 6:48 pm

Fire? That doesn't sound right, not for an ice dragon. What about ice shards. Or snow. That would be cool. Or just a cold blast of air that freezes everything nearby.

onefromaway
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Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:58 pm

I wondered the same thing in a thread and the reply I received was ice. However, I like your idea of a cold blast of air that freezes things, or at least turns them cold enough to be ineffective. For example, a group of humans get so cold they shiver uncontrollably and are rendered useless. Or just freeze them, maybe not to death, but encased in ice. Then the wights/WW/NK can come along and deal with them without resistance.

An additional question is people have commented that with an ice dragon, the NK can take down sections of the wall. How? Is it just that the NK flies over it and that breaks the magic and the wall falls? Or is there some magical concept of something being so cold it burns....as in the dragons ice breath "cold melts" the wall. I dunno and my tinfoil hat is getting tight!

Edit - I recall from a geography class I took years ago that ice, like glaciers, can evaporate without going into a liquid state. Go from solid to vapor, if I am remembering correctly. Its call sublimation. Maybe this process could factor into what happens when ever an ice dragon breathes as well as how the wall comes down.

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Not Littlefinger
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 8:10 am

onefromaway wrote:
Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:58 pm
Edit - I recall from a geography class I took years ago that ice, like glaciers, can evaporate without going into a liquid state. Go from solid to vapor, if I am remembering correctly. Its call sublimation. Maybe this process could factor into what happens when ever an ice dragon breathes as well as how the wall comes down.
Sublimation is when ice "melts" (or sublimes) directly into a gas, you are correct about that, but it think it only happens when the substance does not have a liquid state. Carbon dioxide is the most common example, it freezes into what is called "dry ice" and sublimes directly to a gas when the temperature rises because carbon dioxide does not have a liquid state. Water does, therefore it will always have to "melt" into a liquid before it becomes a gas, even if it is just for a split second.

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QueenofThrones
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 12:21 pm

Not Littlefinger wrote:
Fri Aug 25, 2017 8:10 am
onefromaway wrote:
Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:58 pm
Edit - I recall from a geography class I took years ago that ice, like glaciers, can evaporate without going into a liquid state. Go from solid to vapor, if I am remembering correctly. Its call sublimation. Maybe this process could factor into what happens when ever an ice dragon breathes as well as how the wall comes down.
Sublimation is when ice "melts" (or sublimes) directly into a gas, you are correct about that, but it think it only happens when the substance does not have a liquid state. Carbon dioxide is the most common example, it freezes into what is called "dry ice" and sublimes directly to a gas when the temperature rises because carbon dioxide does not have a liquid state. Water does, therefore it will always have to "melt" into a liquid before it becomes a gas, even if it is just for a split second.
At unusual (very low) pressures, Ice will sublimate into vapor: http://www.energyvanguard.com/sites/def ... e-heat.jpg

...I'm not sure how Ice Dragon breath would achieve this, however! :)

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evenwind
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:59 pm

Since normal dragon breath is hot enough to melt stone (Harrenhall), it wouldn't surprise me if ice dragon breath was cold enough to freeze things solid - like a blast of liquid nitrogen.

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Grandmaester Flash
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:12 pm

evenwind wrote:
Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:59 pm
Since normal dragon breath is hot enough to melt stone (Harrenhall), it wouldn't surprise me if ice dragon breath was cold enough to freeze things solid - like a blast of liquid nitrogen.
And maybe then they shatter into tiny pieces, leaving the equivalent of ash .... ?

onefromaway
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 3:22 pm

Grandmaester Flash wrote:
Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:12 pm
evenwind wrote:
Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:59 pm
Since normal dragon breath is hot enough to melt stone (Harrenhall), it wouldn't surprise me if ice dragon breath was cold enough to freeze things solid - like a blast of liquid nitrogen.
And maybe then they shatter into tiny pieces, leaving the equivalent of ash .... ?
Oh yes...like ash. Or snowflakes.
Maybe dragon's breath will create a similar visual effect like when Long Claw strikes a WW and the WW just explodes as shards and bits of ice and add in the ash or snowflakes. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

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Raeslewolhn
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 7:50 pm

#1 mystery in my mind this week. By now I feel like it narrows down to 2 questions, 3 possibilities.

I also feel like it has to destroy. It can't be a way to turn people into wights or anything useful. That's not how ice or fire magic have been working by their own laws yet. So..

It causes a process or it causes total stillness is the first question.

Maybe it can be survived (albeit damaged like the few soldiers who made it to the Blackwater rush in time in EP 4). Or it can't, because it is a different kind of magic than fire dragons in a way that makes it more powerful. I'm inclined to think his fire column will be the same size,and other basic similarities that didn't change for the WW or wights.

So the second question is, is it more powerful?

Like could regular dragon fire take down the wall? Or will it be:

ice dragon "fire" : the wall :: dragonglass spear : white Walker ('s heart)

Therefore frozen fire. In a different sense. Which means it's not about degree of power, but type.


So either everyone freezes/shatters or can be shattered, and it's the same power as fire dragons but a different type. (Super cold air)

Or everyone experiences an all new kind of 'fire' and they 'burn' in a weird way or turn to cold ash. (Sublimation, a diff type but also more powerful, like a laser gun)

The only other possibility is that they melt in a weird ice way. (Freezing Fire) but Ido think the previous two ideas (from earlier posts) make sense.

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evenwind
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Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:53 pm

Fondly remembering the breath of our carnivorous dogs in my childhood and trying to imagine how bad a dead, carnivorous, reptile's breath might be, how about an alternate theory: Dead Viserion breathes the world's foulest breath on the opposing soldiery. Half immediately drop to the ground with tearing eyes and heaving guts. The rest run off the field yelling things like "for the love of the gods, use some mouthwash!" and "Altoids! Get some Altoids!" and "Uncle Joe, I take back everything ever thought about you!"

8-)

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Not Littlefinger
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Sat Aug 26, 2017 5:49 pm

evenwind wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:53 pm
Fondly remembering the breath of our carnivorous dogs in my childhood and trying to imagine how bad a dead, carnivorous, reptile's breath might be, how about an alternate theory: Dead Viserion breathes the world's foulest breath on the opposing soldiery. Half immediately drop to the ground with tearing eyes and heaving guts. The rest run off the field yelling things like "for the love of the gods, use some mouthwash!" and "Altoids! Get some Altoids!" and "Uncle Joe, I take back everything ever thought about you!"

8-)
I'm really buying this one

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