This Week’s Prompt:

There are many interpretations of dragons in literature – evil, wise, talking, non-talking, etc. Do you have a favorite way of portraying dragons or a specific book you loved the dragon(s) in?

My Thoughts

The dragons that first came to mind when I sat down to write this post are the dragons of my youth: Saphira from Eragon, Smaug from The Hobbit, and Firethroat from the Unicorn Chronicles. I had to peruse my bookshelves to see if I could think of any other stories I’ve enjoyed with dragons. That reminded me that Nevermoor has dragons of the animalistic kind. And The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart has intelligent dragons, but the dragon form plays less of a role than you might expect.

No other books on my shelves feature dragons. It seems dragons are a fantasy trope which I might say I enjoy but rarely read, alongside pirates, unicorns, and mermaids. I have the sense that dragons were more common in classic fantasy, which I struggle with. I tried several books of the sort when I was in high school, searching for fantasy novels written for adults that I would enjoy. That was pre-Goodreads so I don’t recall any of the titles except for A Game of Thrones, which I’ll touch on below. One famous dragon series I know I did not attempt was Ann McCaffrey’s Pern books. I thought I had enough dragonriders with Eragon, and I had heard the series had more of a scifi bend. So I was never that interested in picking it up.

I haven’t read any of the How to Train Your Dragon books. In recent years, I’ve come to enjoy the film via its music. While I’d often enjoyed the soundtrack, I only watched the original animated movie a few years ago. Its humour and hero’s journey impressed me. I recently attended a screening of the movie with the symphony playing the soundtrack. Highly recommend. Anyway. The dragons in that story seem similar to dogs, though some have greater intelligence. A Song of Ice and Fire is another series famous in part for its dragons that comes to mind. I only read A Game of Thrones. The dragons I think play a relatively minor role?? My impression is that they look cool and they help Daenerys with her goals but overall they aren’t a main focus. But what do I know lol I only read book one like 15 years ago, before the show came out.

Now, to get the question of whether I have a favourite interpretation of dragons. I do love the riddling and viciousness of Smaug. An intelligent, communicative dragon provides more entertainment than a non-talking one, I think. I have no preference as to whether said dragon(s) are helping or hindering our hero. But then, I also like distant, mysterious, vicious dragons who don’t communicate with humans. They can make a fantasy feel truly epic and otherworldly. It’s the dragons treated as housepets that I would generally cite as my least favourite portrayal (sorry, HTTYD). The nature of a dragon, to me, means they are too impressive and majestic for that!

I had written 500 words for this post before I recalled Naomi Novik’s Temeraire. This is a good place to mention it, as the series in a way unpacks both types of portrayals of dragons. While humans in the series treat dragons as little more than animals, they are intelligent, communicative creatures. The fight for their rights and independence is a key thread throughout the series. While I wouldn’t normally think to enjoy an alternative history with a fantastical creature inserted, I enjoy the strong dragon focus in this series.

(Researching this post reminded me that Murtagh came out a couple years ago. The original series immensely disappointed me when it sidelined him. Maybe I should pick up his book and see if he gets justice, or if the writing has improved. Researching this post also meant I asked my sister if she had read any books about dragons. She reminded me that we read Kelly Barnhill’s When Women Were Dragons. That is decidedly not my favourite portrayal of dragons.)