Another anon asked:

When Elissa Farman left Dragonstone with 3 eggs and her trail went cold in Pentos, Grand Maester Benifer said the eggs may turn to stone if they’re taken away from heat/Dragonstone. Are these the eggs that Illyrio gave Daenerys that she hatched in AGOT?

Tricky question, this. Trickier than you might think. Major spoilers for Fire & Blood follow:

First, a note as I’ve seen this misunderstanding already – these three eggs were not from Dreamfyre’s clutch laid on Fair Isle. F&B says straight up that:

The eggs that Dreamfyre had laid on Fair Isle had all hatched once on Dragonstone, and Rhaena Targaryen had made certain that her daughter made their acquaintance.

Elissa Farman did steal three dragon eggs from the hatcheries on Dragonstone,

Three dragon eggs were missing, and days of searching had not turned them up. After questioning every man who had access to the dragons closely, Ser Merrell was convinced that Lady Elissa had made off with them.

but their draconic parentage is unknown. Not even suggested.

Second, this line has certainly got people speculating:

“They may not hatch,” Benifer said. “Not away from Dragonstone. The heat…it is known, some dragon eggs simply turn to stone.”
“Then some spicemonger in Pentos will find himself possessed of three very costly stones,” Jaehaerys said.

Oh ho, a reference to Illyrio Mopatis, right? Nope! Well, that is, GRRM may be making a reference, but the connection is not direct. If you keep reading, you’ll find out that Elissa Farman did not sell the dragon eggs in Pentos. She continued on to Braavos, and sold the eggs to the Sealord, to hire the resources of the Arsenal, to build an ocean-worthy ship. After her ship turned up in Oldtown to hire a crew (before sailing off west – more on that in another post), Jaehaerys figured out where it had been made, and he sent Septon Barth, his new Hand, to talk to the Sealord about it.

And in Braavos, Barth and the Sealord came to an agreement – the Targaryens wouldn’t fly over with dragons to burn down the city, and the Sealord wouldn’t use the Faceless Men to kill the royal family. The Sealord wouldn’t turn over his “stones”, but the Iron Bank would forgive the entire principal of their loan to the crown of Westeros. Jaehaerys was satisfied, as long as the “stones” remained stones. And that’s where F&B leaves off on this subject, with no discussion of it ever again in the rest of the book.

But the Braavosi could have sold them to someone who sold them to someone who sold them to Illyrio eventually, right? And didn’t the promo for F&B say: “What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle…” So it’s certain, right?

Nope again!

Targaryen Loyalist (May 1, 2018 at 8:41 pm):

Thank you, Mr. Martin! Can’t wait to find out the origins of Dany’s babies. ❤️ And everything else in between.

grrm (May 1, 2018 at 11:42 pm):

Uh… I never said anything about Dany, that was added by Bantam.  Please disregard.

RJ Morrison (May 2, 2018 at 1:21 am):

Was the part about finding out why travellers can’t go to Valyria accurate or was that an addition by them as well?

grrm (May 2, 2018 at 6:12 am):

Hmmmm… well, I think some of the hype is overblown but that is the nature of advertising.

There are a few bits and scenes and suggestions in the text from which one can extrapolate certain things and concoct theories… but in the case of things like Valyria and the dragon eggs, it is all possible answers, not meant to be definitive.

And that bit about the origin of Dany’s eggs does not appear on the flap of the published F&B (or in the description on Amazon), even though the rest of the text is identical to the promo, so GRRM apparently told Bantam something like “dudes, don’t make stuff up just because there’s three lost dragon eggs in this book.”

So… GRRM has confirmed there is no definite connection between Elissa’s stolen eggs and Dany’s eggs. It’s possible there’s a connection, that they were eventually sold or stolen and made their way to Illyrio’s possession, but it’s also possible that the eggs are in the Sealord’s Palace today, or somewhere else in Braavos. Or it may be that the subject will be addressed in F&B volume 2. (Like Alys Rivers, another obvious plot dangler.)

But frankly, I think the Asshai origins of Dany’s eggs are still more likely than anything else. The eggs coming from Dragonstone is a possibility, but not one that I think Illyrio knew, or he would have drawn on that family connection to appeal to Dany. And you never know, in TWOW it may be that Arya, at the Sealord’s Palace or elsewhere in Braavos, may discover three old and beautiful stones…

Keep reading