Dragon Flying Over Glasgow Baffles Early Morning Commuters
Catching sight of a dragon on your way to work is not how many people expected their week to go, but that is exactly what happened for many commuters in Glasgow, Scotland, this week. They did not only spot a huge sweeping winged beast soaring over the city once either, as the same sight greeted them two days in a row. As you may expect, though, things were not quite as they seemed.
The explanation is pretty straightforward, as at least part of it should be easy to guess. The beast is an animatronic recreation of Syrax, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s golden dragon from House of the Dragon, and it was flown over the OVO Hydro and the SEC Armadillo as an attention-grabbing stunt for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which kicked off in Glasgow on July 23, as well as a handy promotion for the ongoing third season of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel.
This was no cheap inflatable, either. The dragon weighs in at around 13 kilograms and required a team of 14 people to bring it to life. Created by German aeronautics specialists Airstage, the great flying lizard took three months to build and is made up of over 23 moving parts, which explains why it looked so realistic swooping around in the early morning sky. It certainly looks convincing in the videos shared online as you can see below.
A Marketing Stunt That Earned Its Wings
As far as promotional gimmicks go, putting a dragon in the sky and making thousands of people reach for their phones is about as good as it gets. It certainly beats slapping a poster on a bus or even making a moving billboard. HBO launched HBO Max in the UK and Europe earlier this year, and the stunt is certainly one way of reminding people. The platform is streaming the Commonwealth Games along with TNT Sports, so the use of the dragon has really worked on many levels.
In House of the Dragon, Syrax belongs to Rhaenyra, one of the central figures in the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, so anyone who clocked exactly which dragon it was got a small thrill on top of the spectacle. Pairing the reveal with the Commonwealth Games launch only widened the audience, putting the show in front of plenty of people who might not otherwise have been paying attention.
In the end, Glasgow has not suddenly developed a dragon problem – which in many ways is a little disappointing as it would certainly make life a little more interesting than the usual political tension and cost of living crisis. Will it help boost the viewership of the Game of Thrones prequel series? Probably not, but hopefully that doesn’t stop this version of Syrax from getting a few more flights in the future.
(featured image: HBO)
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