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Is Drogon the most iconic dragon of all time?


Rhae_Valarie

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It's hard for me to remember a time before I was obsessed with ASOIAF, lol, but thinking back I vaguely remember having a construction of dragons that is very different than it is now. In my mind, dragons were usually green, had six limbs, and possessed a more human like temperament, sometimes even speaking. And this was the stereotypical depiction I saw of them in media as well. But I feel that the popularity of the series and the show has changed the way people depict dragons. I can't tell you how often I see artwork that shows a black dragon with reddish, bat like wings, a la Drogon. I have also seen much more four limbed dragons recently as well. 

 

So my question: do you notice the effect that Drogon has had on our construction of dragons and does this make him the single most iconic dragon of all time? What are your other top contenders? (The only one I can really think of is Smaug, who come to think of it, is depicted in the movies as being surprisingly Drogonish (in color and limb count) despite being drawn by Tolkien as scarlet and having six limbs).

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4 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

So my question: do you notice the effect that Drogon has had on our construction of dragons 

It has the same effect as D&D has on two weapon combat. Now everyone thinks two longswords are aweeeesome. To GRRMs credit Wyverns are in his books for a reason, why he called them dragon I don't know, but he can call them however he wants in his books. And now every idiot runs around and thinks a Wyvern is a Dragon. Just normal popularity bullshit. Like with two weapon combat. 

 

4 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

So my question: do you notice the effect that Drogon has had on our construction of dragons and does this make him the single most iconic dragon of all time?

No. He is just a thing with wings. A pet Ancalagon the Black. Or a pet Balerion the Black. Certainly not the first big black dragon.

 

4 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

What are your other top contenders?

Well if you call a Wyvern a Dragon, I call a Hydra a Dragon. So I would go with the hydra Hercules killed or the dragon St. George killed. Not even Smaug is there as an iconic contender. 
 

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We can not compare the other Targaryen dragons with Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon. The birth of Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon was unique, magical and special. They are linked to Dany through breast milk which is the strongest bond of all. Dany created them as their children and they feel the same sensations of their mother. They are extremely intelligent with human personalities.

What we know about Balerion is that he was a scary giant beast.

Not only is Drogon iconic, Rhaegal and Viserion are also.

 

Ps: But Smaug is the most iconic dragon of all. (:

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I still have a soft spot for the dragons of Pern, though it's decades since I last read those books. They were the first ones I ever came across that had human riders, rather than just being big bad monsters who hoard gold, eat maidens and generally devastate the realm.

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12 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

So my question: do you notice the effect that Drogon has had on our construction of dragons and does this make him the single most iconic dragon of all time?

Well, there aren't that many dragons in most movies or shows now are there? When there is a dragon, it's pretty specific to a certain fandom or a fictional universe. So it's hard to say. If there are iconic dragons, it's still probably the legendary Chinese dragons that show up on lunar new year. 

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5 hours ago, Nina DarkSister said:

We can not compare the other Targaryen dragons with Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon. The birth of Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon was unique, magical and special. They are linked to Dany through breast milk which is the strongest bond of all. Dany created them as their children and they feel the same sensations of their mother. They are extremely intelligent with human personalities.

What we know about Balerion is that he was a scary giant beast.

Not only is Drogon iconic, Rhaegal and Viserion are also.

 

Ps: But Smaug is the most iconic dragon of all. (:

To avid fantasy book readers, yes.  Drogon is The Iconic Dragon.  Dany is THE Iconic Female Hero, the one who comes to mind when people think of queens and princesses.  

The mainstream public has a varied perception of dragons.  The Asian style dragons, the Harry Potter dragons, Tolkien's dragon, and naturally, the Dragonheart.  There is not a single dragon that can be called iconic at the moment.  The show's popularity is not enough to make Drogon iconic in the mainstream, non-fantasy reading public.  It will take a major motion picture to do that.  The SW franchise made Lightsabers iconic, to use an example.  Look what it did for droids.   It will take something like that to make Drogon, THE Iconic Dragon.

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26 minutes ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

To avid fantasy book readers, yes.  Drogon is The Iconic Dragon.  Dany is THE Iconic Female Hero, the one who comes to mind when people think of queens and princesses.  

I couldn't disagree more.  I think to the avid book reader, Balerion is the iconic dragon (as others have pointed out).  I also think you are only an ASOIAF fan, because anyone who has read a lot of fantasy... well, no one is thinking that all their examples of "iconic" characters come from that book.  Especially not when the books themselves crib off of other, more iconic works, which Martin outright expresses, often.

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Definitely not. George's dragons are stupid animals with as much character and individuality as the direwolves and other, you know, animals.

They are not playing in the same league as really cool dragons who, you know, can talk.

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20 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

It's hard for me to remember a time before I was obsessed with ASOIAF, lol, but thinking back I vaguely remember having a construction of dragons that is very different than it is now. In my mind, dragons were usually green, had six limbs, and possessed a more human like temperament, sometimes even speaking. And this was the stereotypical depiction I saw of them in media as well. But I feel that the popularity of the series and the show has changed the way people depict dragons. I can't tell you how often I see artwork that shows a black dragon with reddish, bat like wings, a la Drogon. I have also seen much more four limbed dragons recently as well. 

 

So my question: do you notice the effect that Drogon has had on our construction of dragons and does this make him the single most iconic dragon of all time? What are your other top contenders? (The only one I can really think of is Smaug, who come to think of it, is depicted in the movies as being surprisingly Drogonish (in color and limb count) despite being drawn by Tolkien as scarlet and having six limbs).

I don't watch the show because the writing is stupid, but I think you might be thinking of the tv show dragons. They are too new to be iconic yet but Danaerys is more iconic already. And the dragons on the tv show do not look like the ones in the books. 

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10 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

seriously, people coming here  and talking about some dragon born in the mid 90's as the most iconic dragon of all time. child please. grownups are talking 

Damn fucking straight! :commie::lmao:

 

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21 hours ago, Rhae_Valarie said:

In my mind, dragons were usually green, had six limbs, and possessed a more human like temperament, sometimes even speaking. And this was the stereotypical depiction I saw of them in media as well. But I feel that the popularity of the series and the show has changed the way people depict dragons. I can't tell you how often I see artwork that shows a black dragon with reddish, bat like wings, a la Drogon.

Green dragons with four paws and two wings are European dragons, while the sort of dragons that GRRM used in his books - wyverns - two back paws and front paws merged with wings - are mythical creatures that originated in UK, and from UK's fiction passed to USA and Canada. American fiction about dragons/wyverns is mostly gothic fiction, thus red and black coloring is typical for them, like for Dracula. Or if those dragons are based on dinosaurs, then they are green, brown, yellow, or red.

Also I think that there are other dragons from fiction, that are more famous than ASOIAF's dragons. For example Shenron dragon from Dragon Ball manga. There are more people in the world, that have read Dragon Ball manga, than those that have read ASOIAF's books, or watched GOT TV-series. There was published 240 million copies of DB-manga worldwide. By August of 2016, there was sold over 70 million copies of ASOIAF books. And the GOT-show was watched by 30 million people, by August of 2017. So ASOIAF and GOT even combined together are still less popular than Dragon Ball. Ask anyone who have read manga, and nearly everyone have read or at least heard about Dragon Ball. But not all people, that read modern books or watch TV, know about ASOIAF/GOT. For example Friends TV-series was watched by over 50 million viewers, and sales of Harry Potter's 7 books were over 500 million copies, even Fifty Shades sold over 150 million copies, and Twilight over 120 million copies. 

So it's way too early, probably at least a decade too early, to call Drogon iconic.

Most famous dragons would be:

1. Dragon from Chinese zodiac.

2. Hydra killed by Hercules.

3. The dragon with whom fought archangel Michael.

4. Ouroboros - Egyptian mythology.

5. Jörmungandr - North mythology.

6. Shenron from Dragon Ball.

7. Smaug from LOTR.

8. Falkor from The Never Ending Story.

9. Maleficent.

10. GRRM's dragons (if he will ever end ASOIAF).

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