A Trans Ode to Sheepstealer, The Unsung Softboy of ‘House of the Dragon’
The breakout character of House of the Dragon’s third season isn’t any of the people the show spent all of last season hyping up. No, it’s a dragon who looks like he’s been through some stuff.
Sheepstealer has a pronounced underbite, ragged wings, and plenty of other deformities. Despite his name, Sheepstealer also looked rather gaunt when he made his first appearance at the tail end of season two. Clearly he was not stealing enough sheep.
It was Sheepstealer’s first engagement in the Battle of the Gullet that won the hearts of the audience, and earned the ire of Queen Rhaenyra. Despite just meeting, with no training whatsoever, Rhaena flew Sheepstealer into an active war zone, with predictable results. The wild dragon had no idea which side he was on, left to guess which ships to burn. In a deviation from the source material, Sheepstealer’s actions resulted in the deaths of Jacaerys Velaryon and his dragon Vermax, causing Queen Rhaenyra to put out an APB on Sheepstealer and his new rider, whom she doesn’t realize is her stepdaughter/cousin. Rhaena probably wishes she didn’t take Nettles’ place in the story. What a mess.
Like Sheepstealer, Rhaena spends the first half of the series lost and on her own, without any real place in the war. She escapes a plan to escort her much younger half-brothers to safety in Pentos to seek out the wild dragon roaming through the Vale. While other dragons engulfed potential riders in flames, Sheepstealer takes an instant liking to Rhaena, embracing the very queer concept of found family. Rhaena is the unwanted stepchild of Team Black, and Sheepstealer is a kind of busted-looking dragon who does not fit neatly into the typical Targaryen mold, but all they really need is each other.
HBO
Is it any wonder that some trans viewers, myself included, have really imprinted hard on the unsung softboy of Westeros? The manosphere has wrought a twisted version of masculinity upon our culture. Most of the other dragons are battle-hardened warriors, espousing aggression in practically every frame. But Sheepstealer is every part the protector as Vhagar or Vermithor, without sacrificing any of the vulnerability that’s so desperately missing from much of our world.
The transgender experience is often defined by the sense of “other” that society bestows upon us. We are frequently forced to forge new families after being cast out from our own, for the sole crime of being different, of not looking the same as everyone else. Nonconformity is met with rejection, and in many cases, fear.
Sheepstealer delivers one of the most tender moments in the series when he shares his namesake food with the famished Rhaena in the season premiere, a thoughtful gesture from a beast written off by most of the characters. If you’ve ever been offered a broke trans girl’s last packet of instant ramen, you know how meaningful this action is. Sheepstealer never knew kindness, but he didn’t let that change him — the eternal trans struggle in an unforgiving climate.
Rhaena is the unwanted stepchild of Team Black, and Sheepstealer is a kind of busted-looking dragon who does not fit neatly into the typical Targaryen mold, but all they really need is each other.”
Sheepstealer did not ask to be part of a Targaryen civil war, just like trans people didn’t ask to be weaponized as part of an ongoing right-wing culture crusade. He didn’t hesitate to answer the call of duty, even if he didn’t really understand what was going on, or why he had to be a part of it. Someone he loved asked something of him, and Sheepstealer rose to the occasion.
Like many trans people who transitioned as adults, Sheepstealer has to learn his new life on the fly. He didn’t grow up speaking High Valyrian with the keepers on Dragonstone. His transition from wild nomad to Rhaena’s ride-or-die is messy, but Sheepstealer approaches his opportunity with an open heart. Anyone who’s ever taken progesterone knows it’s basically dragonfire in a bottle.
Consider the difference in Sheepstealer’s body language from episode one to episode two of season three. In the premiere, Sheepstealer moves awkwardly around Rhaena, clearly a little uncomfortable in his own skin. Dragons in Westeros share a mental link with their riders. By episode two, Sheepstealer is standing confidently behind his new companion, even as Rhaena’s petition for asylum is rejected by the Vale.
Despite his status as the other, Sheepstealer has the same wants and needs as other dragons. Many trans people, especially those of us who grew up prior to the turn of the century, knew who we were before we could put a label on it. Unlike Seasmoke or Silverwing, who chose new riders themselves, Sheepstealer had no idea what he was missing out on, but he still sought out that innate connection. He may be wild, but he still just wants to be a dragon.
HBO
Episode four includes a sequence between father and daughter that many LGBTQ+ people will recognize from their own lives. Daemon’s dragon Caraxes senses Sheepstealer’s presence in a nearby cave. The rogue prince is stunned to find his daughter hiding inside, instead of across the sea in Essos with her half-siblings.
Rhaena rips her father for his lifelong obsession with biological essentialism, saying, “I have been alone all my life. A Targaryen without a dragon. Disregarded, or worse. Pitied. Can you yourself say you ever gave me more than a passing thought? Rhaena the unfortunate. Rhaena, the least among your children.” The idea of the bigoted uncle at Thanksgiving has become a meme over the years, but trans people are often expected to forfeit some of our own dignity to appease the whims of others.
Rhaenyra doesn’t know the truth about Sheepstealer, but still she hunts him, to fill a void in her own heart. Daemon, her husband, who has prioritized the wishes of his third wife over his own children, expects Rhaena to abandon Sheepstealer and return home to beg for mercy from a queen who wants nothing but blood. Instead of listening, Rhaena goes no contact with her father and takes off with Sheepstealer, standing by the friend who was there for her when no one else cared.
The story of Rhaena and Sheepstealer is deeply rooted in agency. Like many trans people, life didn’t give them all their cards at birth. They needed some extra steps. Sure, they look a little haggard after hiding out in a cave, and a lot of their country wants them dead, but they’ve also got one of the strongest bonds in the whole show. What is the point of being alive if not to find connection?
He may be wild, but he still just wants to be a dragon.
Like many Targaryens, there is an aura of irrationality that looms over Rhaenyra. By season three, she’s lost two of her sons, and three of the dragons sworn to her cause. Queen Alicent, her childhood best friend and stepmother, stole her throne. Her son Aemond killed Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys.
Despite that, Rhaenyra has spent much of season three on pleasant terms with Alicent, now her captive, in King’s Landing. Alicent literally ruined her entire life, stole her birthright, but Rhaenyra wants to vilify Sheepstealer, whom she doesn’t understand at all. It’s no coincidence that many of the states with the harshest restrictions on trans rights are also the ones with the highest poverty levels and the worst education rankings in the country. For far too many, it’s easier to hate the “other” than the real problems staring you in the face.
That said, a recent study showed that 85% of Americans believe that trans people should have the same rights as everyone else — a stark contrast from the right-wing efforts to use us as a wedge issue. It’s no wonder that Sheepstealer has become such a fan favorite: America loves an underdog in the midst of a glow-up. The people in power may want to tear them down, but Sheepstealer and Rhaena have already won our hearts.
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