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Saturday, June 8, 2013

The Dragon Ingredient

Dragons are probably the most famous of all beasts to dwell in the fantasy genre. Like eggs and flour are used in making cake, so dragons and magic have been used to make up a fantasy story—at least that seemed to be the norm for many years. Dragons have been written in many ways: from wild beasts that are to be slain; exotic creatures needing to be tamed for riding; or the talking colossal being to make alliance with.

Let’s list a few small examples in popular literary fiction:

  • Smaug is probably one of the most notorious dragons in the genre. He was the treasure-hoarding beast in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, that plagued the town of Dale and took over the Lonely Mountain from the dwarves.

  • Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books placed dragons in a Science Fiction setting where they were the product of creation through genetic manipulation. Their riders could communicate with them through telepath.

  • In the YA books, Dragons in our Midst by Bryan Davis, dragons of long ago (King Arthur times) have transformed into human beings with long lives, and they married and had (human) children with their human spouses in modern time. These children had special abilities that were useful in their struggle against modern-day dragon slayers who sought their demise.

  • The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik, brings dragons into the Napoleonic Wars, where they are used in warfare.

Let’s face it, dragons are cool. They have been in fiction since the beginning; and they’ll never go out of style. But, with that said, are dragons becoming tiresome in fantasy? Are they turning into a monotonous cliché? I think it all depends on how an author uses them in their story. I, personally, don’t care too much for stories where dragons are the main focus; however, I think it’s different in regards to cinema (e.g., Reign of Fire, DragonHeart, How to Train Your Dragon, and Eragon).

To me, in literary fiction, the characters and the story plot have to be solid and engrossing. An author should not throw dragons in their story just to have dragons in the story, thinking that it’s going to add some kind of excitement (or bonus points) to the tale. If the writer is putting dragons in, then they better be crucial to the story or the setting; not just there for show. That’s been done enough times already. Dragons should be used in a unique way these days.

Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books are an interesting spin on the story of dragons. Even though there is absolutely nothing new about dragons being used in combat, putting them in our world in the historical setting of the Napoleonic Wars is appealing. Whether it was done well or not, that is in the opinion of the reader.

The release of Marie Brennan’s new fantasy book this year, A Natural History of Dragons, is the start of a new series set in a quasi-Victorian age. The book is written in the narrative of the character, Lady Isabella Trent; like she’s writing a memoir of her years of studying dragons. In this tale, dragons are simply mysterious wild animals that are difficult to study.

Another interesting take on dragons is Jo Walton’s Tooth and Claw book. This is a story with a Victorian-like setting with nobles and servants in an established civilization, filled with family honor, political intrigue, romance and marriage (they even have a church); yet, all the characters are dragons. The only fantasy element in this book are the dragons themselves. They fly, (some) breathe fire, and it’s customary for the children to eat their deceased parents, or for the strong to eat the weak, to gain strength and power.

Dragons are not necessary for a fantasy book, but when they are used in the right way, they can bring phantasm to a basic story, or embellish the setting of an engrossing epic. Dragons have become trite in the genre, and there’s really not much reason to use them anymore. In this day and age, great characters and great worldbuilding are the main ingredient in fantasy.  



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