Description

Sheepstealer was a wild male dragon during the Dance of the Dragons with a taste for mutton. It lived at the back of Dragonmont and would hunt between Driftmark and Wendwater. The smallfolk of Dragonstone named it for a self-evident reason. At the start of the Dance of the Dragons, he was one of three wild dragons living on Dragonstone.

Sheepstealer's coloring was an ugly mud brown. He was not aggressive towards humans unless provoked, but could be vicious and ill-tempered. He had a taste for mutton. While he devoured the occasional sheep dog, he never harmed a shepherd.

Grand Maester Munkun described Sheepstealer and his rider Nettles as 'a skinny brown girl on a skinny brown dragon', though it is also noted that Munkun never actually saw Nettles. Thus the accuracy of Munkun's description is unknown. Sheepstealer was not a young dragon by the time Nettles bonded with him, well over fifty years old. On the other hand, Dreamfyre was even older than Sheepstealer, but was consistently described as 'slender' - thus it's possible that Sheepstealer could have both been large and of slender build.

Nettles, a girl born out of wedlock, successfully gained the trust of a wild dragon, Sheepstealer, using a clever strategy. Each morning, she left a newly slaughtered sheep for the dragon, gradually making him comfortable with her presence until he allowed her to ride him. Alongside the other dragonriders serving Rhaenyra Targaryen, Nettles and Sheepstealer participated in the Battle of the Gullet and the swift conquest of King's Landing. Subsequently, Sheepstealer chose to reside in the Dragonpit.

Nettles and Sheepstealer teamed up with Prince Daemon Targaryen and his dragon Caraxes to track down Aemond Targaryen and Vhagar along the Trident. They set up camp in Maidenpool and resumed their search every morning. When Queen Rhaenyra accused Nettles of treachery, the latter departed Maidenpool with Sheepstealer at dawn after feeding him the largest black ram from the castle. Their final sighting was over the Bay of Crabs. After the death of Queen Rhaenyra and King Aegon II's ascension to the Iron Throne, there were rumors that Sheepstealer had been sighted at Crackclaw Point and the Mountains of the Moon. In 134 AC, during King Aegon III Targaryen's reign, Ser Robert Rowan led an army to the Vale of Arryn to aid Ser Joffrey Arryn. Robert's forces encountered Nettles and Sheepstealer in a cave deep in the Mountains of the Moon, and a battle ensued that resulted in the deaths of sixteen men and injuries to threescore more. Nettles and her dragon were last seen flying further into the mountains.