Guest Author: Different Types of Dragons in Storytelling by Elizabeth J.M. Walker

I am excited to welcome Elizabeth J.M. Walker, who is celebrating the release of her debut novel, She Dreamed of Dragons.

EWalker-She Dreamed of DragonsTrina is a fifteen-year-old dragon mage in a kingdom ruled by witches and wizards – the same people who have brought dragons and other magical creatures near extinction. Trina can barely control her fire powers and is desperate for an apprenticeship, but finding a fellow dragon mage to be her teacher is proving more difficult than coming across an actual dragon.

Then there’s the Royal Tourney – a competition presented by the Queen to find a successor to the throne. Trina heads to the competition in the hopes of sparking some interest in the mage society and earning herself an apprenticeship.

She never intended to be a frontrunner in the competition.
She never meant to catch the attention of the evil witch trying to take over the throne.
She never expected to fall for a wizard.

Now Trina must face tough decisions about who she is and who she could become. Trina must ask herself: Can she really win the Royal Tourney?

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Different Types of Dragons in Storytelling

There is great diversity when it comes to dragons in books, television, and movies – friendly, scary, or a little bit of both. Below I take a closer look into different types of dragons.

1. Friendly Beast Who Can Talk

They’re big, they’re scary, they breathe fire…but they can also talk and are quite friendly to humans who are in return friendly to them. In Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons, the main character Princess Cimorene goes to work for the dragon Kazul and from there a beautiful friendship blossoms. Disney’s Mulan also has a friendly dragon companion, who can speak thanks to the voice acting of Eddie Murphy.

2. Evil and Menacing and Also Quite Chatty

There are dragons who are evil, breathe fire, are very protective of their treasure hoards and can also carry on conversations in the common tongue. A perfect example of this is the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit. The dragon in the movie Dragonheart is a little bit of #1 and #2 – seeing as he can speak (voiced by Sean Connery) and is feared by many, yet befriends one human in particular.

3. Scary and Doesn’t Talk

Then there are the dragons that are closer to dangerous wild animals – they can roar and breathe flames, so basically they can still get the message across without using actual words. Examples of this type of dragon include the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter, Daenerys’ dragons in Game of Thrones, and Trogdor the Burniator from Homsetar Runner – just to name a few.

4. Friendly, But Can Only “Speak” to a Select Few

Some dragons peacefully co-exist with humans, and often even let humans ride on their backs. Often this type of dragon can physically talk, but other times they can only communicate on another level with their specific dragon-rider or companion. This type of dragon can be found in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books – where the dragons have a telepathic connection to their riders. Daine in the The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce can also communicate with her dragon charge, but only because she already has the magic ability of being able to communicate with all animals.

5. Friendly, But Can’t Talk

Dragons that are friendly, yet can’t speak are also quite common. The dragon Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon movies starts off as a scary dragon, but then forms a partnership with the Viking known as Hiccup. In the Shrek movies the dragon is first seen guarding Princess Fiona, but ends up being a friendly dragon to the main characters and even marries and has children with Donkey.
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Meet Elizabeth J.M. Walker!

Elizabeth JM WalkerElizabeth J. M. Walker lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She has always loved books and writing. As a teen she discovered zines, which inspired her to publish her own litzine of odd fairy tales for over a decade. She Dreamed of Dragons is her first novel.

Contact Info: Website | Facebook | GoodReads

Want to purchase Elizabeth’s novels?
The Search for the Golden Feather
She Dreamed of Dragons

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

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