Sordidbask

I find it fascinating how old, mighty, fierce and fearsome Balerion, survivor of a hundred battles, allowed a willful and hot-headed teenage girl to ride him.

Not only that but the fact that even if Aerea never truly bent Balerion to her will, there must have been some kind of bond between them at least for him to look after her, his young and terrified rider for a whole year in the literal hell on Earth that was Valyria.

Even if in the end he wasn't able to fully protect her and save her, he did wait until she was on his back to carry her back across half a world to King's Landing like a desperate and horror-stricken adult carrying a sick and dying child in their arms charging through hospital doors and screaming for someone to help him save this poor little girl.

Even after Aerea's horrible and tragic fate, one could argue that Balerion never fully recovered from their ordeal either and that the specially gruesome and horrific passing of his rider took a heavy mental/psychological toll on him. He was old, tired and more wearisome than ever. He probably barely ate, never battled again and only took flight one last time before dying shortly after. The causes for this could be narrowed down to everything from firewyrm parasites writhing within him, the grievous wounds he suffered in Valyria or simply old age.

Props to them for not losing their shit, I would have gone feral.

I can just imagine a seventeen/eighteen-year-old Swann going to her favourite jewelsmith in Vancouver to get her Kat inspired raven pendant and just going on and on about the details like

"I need you to listen carefully, I want a pendant to remember someone special, it needs to be a raven because that was her spirit animal, also the raven needs to be facing sideways and also their belly needs to be an eye but not just any eye, an eye like lapis lazuli, with an iris as blue as the color of her beautiful eyes."