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Dragons!

 
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Deornoth



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 446

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:14 am    Post subject: Dragons! Reply with quote

There's a few threads floating around (on various forums) about standard cliches in fantasy fiction; some people can't stand elves and dwarves. I personally hate farmboys with a hidden past and a magic sword hidden in a bale of hay... Evil or Very Mad One cliche I haven't seen much hate for though is dragons and this is despite there being dragons in a lot of fantasy fiction. Even some of the big name authors, who are trying to do something different in the genre, will sneak in a dragon or two...
What do you guys reckon? Do dragons escape the net of fantasy cliche or would you rather see the back of them as well?
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Grace



Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 302
Location: Bristol

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dragons are too cool to be cliche... Very Happy

But, on a less flippant note, people don't seem to get bored of them so easily because there are so many different ways of approching them. Being mythical creatures, dragons are different in every culture and authors can draw on whichever view of dragons they wish in order to make their dragons their own.

Personally, I think that Anne McCaffery's dragons are my favourites.
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Drizzt



Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 1081
Location: Easington, UK

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can't beat dragons. They're a one of those creatures who add an extra dimension to a book, and can be used in so many ways by a writer. I like big, mean, ass-kickin' dragons like Sha-Kaan.
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Alia



Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 246

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As for dragons compared with elves and dwarves - with elves and dwarves writers are limited, if they want their kind of elves and dwarves to be recognized as such. But dragons... dragons are a totally different matter. They can be good or evil, very wise or just greedy, and they can meddle in matters of mere mortals or keep a distance and treat them as a kind of entertainment. And they often get the best lines in the novel (if they are of the witty and wise kind).
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NicciM



Joined: 09 Oct 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Toronto, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dragons are a staple of high fantasy. You can easily separate the high from the low fantasy by the dragon content there in.

Then there are books like Roadmarks by Rogers Zelany which touch on the dragon, where in the dragon plays a huge but role but where they are not the main point of the story. Roadmarks wouldn't work without dragons.
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Parmenion



Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 584

PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Naomi Novik came up with a nice change for dragons in her series!!
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Deornoth



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 446

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like Naomi Novik's dragons Very Happy Looking forward to seeing what Peter Jackson does with her books...
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