Warrior Wednesday & Sword & Saturday Prompt: Here there be Dragons

DRAGOOOOOON-MONTH

A few years ago, when first starting out on youtube, Dan and I did a book-analysis/bookclub of the Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams (the book Martin plagiarised for his Game of Thrones), amused by the first chapters (which are remarkably well-written, the best in the saga), I took to joking about the chambermaid dubbed Rachel the ‘Dragon’, for her temper.

Now while the later books are not to my tastes, it was when cracking those jokes that we got carried away and we after hitting the stop, and export buttons that I turned to Dan and said, ‘You know what Dan? Dragons are the best part of fantasy, imagine if we covered them, and only them for a month.’

Then we get to discuss how and when to organise such an event, it happened that the appropriate time had passed, so we moved on to other things even as we kept discussing it. And in time, when at last we switched from nonsensical videos with little flavour and quality, to more hard-core and in depth fantasy stuff, and LOTR & Howard, we at last did our Dragon-Month.

Then we did it a second year in a row, and it happened that we had a blast then also, now the trouble is that yt is hardly an appropriate place for such things. Youtube being youtube it isn’t a great site due to all the problems with the algorithm, which is sad as it was once pretty awesome.

That said, Dragon-Month was born, in our second year on yt really, and we were to dedicate a number of videos to the month, which spanned from the 23rd of Feb to March 23rd. The reason being to give us 2 days before Tolkien Reading Day (a major Tolkien event on yt).

Speaking frankly I’ve always loved dragons in fiction. Not the mindless, dumb ones with little character and less flavour of Martin. If mindless I want them to have menace, flavour and gravitas like those I saw in Legend of Dragoon growing up (I watched my eldest brother play the game). I also like them like the dragon in the movie Dragonslayer, that one had real flavour and weight to it.

But honestly, because of Dragonheart, which I saw at about 5 years or so, I’ve always liked the more intelligent dragons. Those who combat for honour, have that Connery dignity about them, and who even act in some ways as mentors as Draco did for Bowen. Yet who have their own arcs, their own stories and come packed with plenty of philosophy and heart.

Not Eragon, I hated that franchise, it did it poorly before anyone mentions it. I did read it and was thoroughly disgusted, as Saphira had none of the intelligence or gravitas of a Draco, it felt like what Rey was to Luke Skywalker. Not to mention Eragon himself and his cast of characters had little to attract me.

That said, I also saw dragons in Suikoden, and in that game they were vulnerable, and good for little else at first glance than for hitching a ride on. But once unleashed in the army vs army battles, they were the ‘wild-card’ and so some of my favourite go to options (and came with great visuals for my 5 years old brain).

I know there are those who say, ‘Dragons ahhh phooey, who cares about them?’ well I care, and the reason is that to my mind if you hate dragons you hate fantasy. Because fantasy is wonder, is about chivalry and is about magic. All of that is encapsulated and embodied by dragons that represent the greatest force of Wonder and Terror in the whole of mythology and literature!

So yes, I do love dragons, I love them in all fantasy worlds and it is the one thing I find lacking in the Hyborian Age. Because to my mind, it is a disgrace that Conan has never fought a proper dragon, as it would be awesome if he did.

Joy, wonder and terror and magic are the best part of old epics in my view. Sure, not every dragon is well done, for a series dubbed ‘Dragonlance’, there’s very few dragons in that series with the only one of note who is good being Huma’s Silver Dragon. There is of course Skye who is a great evil dragon, and there is also Cyan Bloodbane but that’s it, there are no other major dragons (and these ones play a secondary role to other villains and characters).

Dragonbone Chair mentions them, has one appear for 5 pages then writes it out. But it is in Tolkien’s Legendarium with Smaug & Glaurung who play prominent roles with both being great characters.

So here’s my prompt for you all, the gauntlet I am throwing down for the period of the 23rd of Feb to 23rd of March period.

A short-story or collection of chapters for Warrior Wednesday with the following ideas in it:

• The hero could be a knight, a warrior, a king or mage or what have you, but something must be lost along the way in the Quest to slay the dragon. It could be a friend, a limb, a symbol of innocence if he is on a quest to slay the dragon

• Or if the dragon is the lead, you may make him a mentor, a student or an ally of some sort, also emphasise the size, and otherworldly element of these creatures, and they don’t all have to be fire-breathers, you can use other elements like lightning, ice and acid

• Please no dragon-riding, unless you’re doing something different like with the story from Dragonlance Proper Tribute with Tariskatt & Lyndruss. That’s a great short-story, and the only heroic dragon-riding duo I’ve ever really gotten around to

• Story must be at least 8,000 words long and could be as long as you like

• If there’s an army brought in against the dragon, have the lizard win (I’m joking here please no armies)

• There must be one non-human character in the story, you may choose the role be it an Elf, an Orc, a Dwarf or what have you

For Sword & Sorcery

• Same rules as above apply, but if you go for dragon-slaying, make sure to get into the nitty-gritty, something must be lost and the hero cannot escape unscathed

• There must be a tragedy; princess is evil, or dies, or the hero dies shortly thereafter, I’m looking to Children of Hurin here, think tragic like that but make the tragedy slightly unconventional.

• Story has to be at least 5,000 words. Due to the nature of pulps I feel it necessary to state that the story should probably be shorter than otherwise

• Include an evil warrior if you can, like what Dragonslayer did, ‘cause that’s awesome

For the essay writers;

• 6 pages long

• Make it something positive about dragons

For the Poets and bards out there:

• Make it an epic poem or song with at least 5-6 pages behind it

• It can be a chivalric dragon-slaying quest

• If it ends up being a song, no minimum or max length, but do please post the video for us all to listen

For my buddy

Josh Tatter

let there be a Lionsguard member who kills a dragon, seriously bro, we need that in our lives.

And let a Dwarf kill a dragon in

Redd Oscar

’s story and an Otter do it in

The Lord Otter

Now as to the artists here’s your challenge;

• The Dragon must be menacing in some capacity

• Hero must be valiant

• And choose a certain culture, be it Roman, Ancient Greek (or Byzantine Greek as those are awesome too!), Norse, Irish, French, Japanese or something and your hero must belong to one of them. Heck try getting two of them done if you can.

All this is due by the 23rd of March, with the official start date being Feb 23rd, I’m just posting this early.