Sunday, 18 May 2014

How To List Your Dragons

Lately I have been re-watching Dragons:Riders of Berk part1 alongside part 2 in anticipation of How to Train Your Dragon 2 which comes out in July. For those who know the film but not the TV series, its brilliant, the series bridges the gap between the two films perfectly, introducing new characters, villains but more importantly, new dragons!

I know before season 4, especially the lead up to season 3 of Game of Thrones, mention of dragons or that 'dragons were coming' was posted everywhere. Well I thought this was appropriate:


At work I had a brief discussion/argument over Toothless the dragon with a colleague. He said that Toothless was not a cool dragon and his example was a screenshot of Toothless looking sweet. I pointed out that he was a Night Fury, said to be born from lightening and death itself, that's pretty darn cool.

I was thinking of other dragons in film and came up with a list, quite short unfortunately, as most dragons appear in terrible films.

Smaug - The Hobbit

The legendary dragon from tales of Middle Earth, the one that destroyed the mighty dwarf kingdom under The Lonely Mountain and laid waste to the city of Dale. Smaug, claims himself to be the only king under the mountain, not Thorin Oakenhshield. Smaug is so powerful that I was compelled to have an illustration of him on my arm. Of course, first portrayed in the book, The Hobbit and first appearing in The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Estmated at 60m, he is a mighty beast, especially having only one weakness, a small black patch on his left side, pierced by a black arrow.

Mushu - Mulan

Although Mulan was a really historical person, Mushu was a creation Disney made up, voiced by Eddie Murphy. In the story as comic relief, he is a small red Chinese dragon, with little strength but is sent to aid Mulan in her quest and help to bring honour to her family. Complete opposite to Smaug.


Gorebash/Smergol - Flight of Dragons

Two of my favourite dragons in film, old Smergol and his nephew Gorebash who is actually taken over by Sir Peter for most the film after a spell went wrong but more on the story later in The Afternoon Movie. Both strong and powerful fire breathers, although as Sir Peter, Gorebash isn't the strongest flyer but both are awesome. Not only can they do all the things that dragons do, fly, brief fire, drink 10 gallons of beer but they can also converse with humans and wizards about science. Clever boys.

Toothless - How To Train Your Dragon


Couldn't miss out Toothless. Not a fearsome name but a deadly and (as long as Hiccup is riding him) an amazing flyer. Apart from being loyal, Toothless is firece and not only is the only one of his kind (so far) he has unique fire power. I sound like I'm trying to sell something but what I'm trying to say is that the dragons of Berk are all fascinating, which makes for excellent films AND TV series.

Here are some other dragons you can include in lists if you so wish.


This diagram shows the height of and scale (I joke) of dragons in literature and film.


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