Dragons' World

Fantasy has always been an important fictional drama. Becoming more popular than ever over the last three decades, dragons have given these stories a new level of excitement for readers. Here, we will take a look at the top ten dragons used in today’s fiction.

1. First on the list is the dragon, Smaug, who appears in J.R.R. Tokien’s masterpiece The Hobbit. Smaug is a magical, quite powerful dragon who hoards treasure and has the ability and enjoys burning villages to the ground. Tolkien’s dragons were extremely intelligent and were often seen casting enchantments on mortals.

2. Cyan Bloodbane, from the famous Dragonlance series. When the elven land of Silvanesti was destroyed by the dragonarmies, Cyan Bloodbane remained behind after their departure to control the then weakened king Lorac.

3. Stanley Steamer, The Gap Dragon. This dragon was created by Piers Anthony for his ‘Xanth’ book series. The Gap Dragon lives at the bottom of the Gap Chasm and is regarded as the most feared creature in all of Xanth.

4. Stella Steamer bears mentioning also, if only because she was Stanley Steamer’s female counterpart in Xanth. Stella takes over rule of the Gap Chasm after Stanley overdoses on youth elixir, causing the reverse effect which makes him age considerably.

5. Strabo the dragon was created by Terry Brooks for his ‘Magic Kingdom of Landover’ books. A not-quite-evil dragon, Strabo is known to be honorable and sticks to his word. He is also the last of his kind and can fly through mists, crossing into other worlds.

6. Ingeloakastimizilian, created for the Forgotten Realms books, also goes by the name ‘Icingdeath’. This White Frost Dragon ends up fighting both Wulfgar and Drizzt Do’Urden in a decidedly epic battle.

7. Scarlet, an extremely powerful red dragon from the Sword of Truth series, is Darken Rahl’s mount, forced into service when he stole her only egg and hid it to gain control over the powerful dragon.

8. Various dragons from the Harry Potter series. These dragons are often depicted as extremely magical, but not very intelligent. Harry and gang uses one such dragon in ‘Deathly Hallows’ to aid them in their escape from Voldemort’s lackies.

9. Robert Jordan’s ‘The Wheel of Time’ series also makes use of a Chinese-style dragon, depicted only as the symbol for Lews Therin Telamon and his recent incarnation, Rand al’Thor.

10. Finally, number ten is Khyber, from Kieth Baker’s ‘The World of Ebberon’. This dragon is the ruler of the underworld and spawns children who become monsters and demons in the real world.