History Literature / DragonridersofPern

* AliensMadeThemDoIt:
** Dragon mating has a profound psychic effect on nearby humans, particularly their bondmates, making a sexual union between their riders near-compulsory. And in the early pages of ''Dragonquest'' it's clear that if those two riders are both men, it's still going to happen. Weyr culture has adapted to this situation, so permanent relationships among dragonriders are rare, and even non-Dragonrider Weyrfolk are pretty free sexually. However, a rider's preference can influence their dragon's choice of partner -- witness the fact that Mnementh and Ramoth always mate despite the competition from dozens of other bronzes.
** It's noted in ''Dragonseye'' that the riders don't necessarily pair off as the dragons do, but all that needs to happen is that the rider stays near their preferred partner during a mating flight. One character in the book notes that "there are plenty of people interested" in participating when a mating flight is in progress.
** Fire lizards have a similar effect on their humans, although not as compelling. Still, if you own a gold and someone near you owns the only bronzes in the vicinity, and she decides to have a mating flight...you'd better like each other pretty well. In several cases, such as Menolly and Sebell, this leads to a RelationshipUpgrade.

** F'lar and Lessa in ''Dragonflight''. It takes [[AliensMadeThemDoIt mating dragons/fire lizards]] to get them to admit their feelings.

* FreeLoveFuture: The Weyr culture is highly liberated due to the nature of dragon/rider relationships; dragons mate with whom they choose and their partners are [[AliensMadeThemDoIt compelled to do the same]]. Children are fostered and raised by the Weyr as a whole to avoid attachments to any particular parent, given their high mortality rates.

* HotForTeacher: It takes a while, but Menolly and Robinton finally acknowledge their {{UST}} in ''The White Dragon'', although nothing comes of it. Her commitment to Sebell aside, Robinton had recently [[MayDecemberRomance suffered a heart attack]]...

-->'''T'ton''': "It is a trifle unsettling, to find that the Weyr you left in good order the day before has become a dusty hulk. The women of the Lower Caverns were a bit upset."
-->'''F'nor''': "We cleaned up those kitchens."

* NobodyPoops: Mostly maintained, although a convalescing Menolly is helped to use "the necessary" at one point.

Pern, an isolated world with no useful resources, seemed like the ideal place for [[SpaceAmish people tired of technology]] to establish [[{{Arcadia}} a pastoral utopia]], until Thread, an alien fungus that could devour a cow in seconds, began to fall from the skies. Rather than permanently resort to technological measures, the colonists used genetic engineering to create dragons, a solution compatible with their principles since, like the spaceships that had brought them to Pern, it was technology they could use once, then discard. Using planes to fight Thread would mean living in an industrial society capable of supporting them; dragons could be supported by the idealised medieval society the settlers had wanted. There's also the matter that they'd been warned the planet's resources were "negligible". There's insufficient metal and fuel for such an industrial society, whether or not they want one.

** The various Holds and Crafts have traditional colors and shoulder knot patterns that denote rank and affiliation. This is more an example for the characters than the readers, as the Hold/Craft colors almost never get described in the text. Harpers are associated with a light shade of blue known as "Harper Blue"; healers usually wear green.

* StableTimeLoop: All time travel in the series either results in one of these, or is the result of one of these. There's even a case or two where someone travels in time becuase they see something that makes them realize [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast they already had]].

Written by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey, the first Pern novella, "Weyr Search", was published in ''Analog'', an adult science fiction magazine edited by Creator/JohnWCampbell, in October 1967. She kept writing them for another forty years, though later in collaboration with her son, Todd, who eventually took over the series. She was the first woman writer in history to win the Hugo and Nebula Awards, for "Weyr Search" and the original "Dragonflight" (''Analog'', December 1967/January 1968).

* NeverMyFault: Petiron completely ignored his son when Robinton was growing up, and expected him to be skilled with music despite never paying any attention or trying to help Robinton develop his skills. When he finally realised that Robinton was a musical genius whose compositions were being widely played, he was furious that everyone had 'kept' this knowledge from him, only for several people- including his wife- to point out that literally everyone else had seen it from the start, he was the only one who never bothered paying his son enough attention to realise it.

Most of the books take place over two thousand years after Pern was first settled, beginning when Thread has been absent for 400 years, ever since most of the dragon riders mysteriously disappeared. Only a handful of people still believe Thread was ever real, and there aren't enough dragons left to fight it if it should return, which it is due to do any day now. Fortunately, it turns out that dragons aren't just fire-breathing [[PsychicPowers telepathic teleporters]]; they can also TimeTravel. The heroine travels 400 years into the past, and brings forward the missing dragon riders, creating a StableTimeLoop.

Pern, an isolated world with no useful resources, seemed like the ideal place for [[SpaceAmish people tired of technology]] to establish [[{{Arcadia}} a pastoral utopia]], until Thread started falling from the skies. An alien fungus that could devour a cow in seconds had not been part of the plan. Rather than permanently resort to technological measures, the colonists used genetic engineering to create dragons, a solution compatible with their principles since, like the spaceships that had brought them to Pern, it was technology they could use once, then discard. Using planes to fight Thread would mean living in an industrial society capable of supporting them; dragons could be supported by the idealised medieval society the settlers had wanted. There's also the matter that they'd been warned the planet's resources were "negligible". There's insufficient metal and fuel for such an industrial society, whether or not they want one.

* HeroicAlbino: Ruth

* QuestionableConsent: Weyrwoman Brekke, who was raised in a craft guild with strict morals, loves brown rider F'nor, but he finds she is a virgin and saving herself for him -- unheard of for Weyr people. Instead of taking their relationship slowly, he has sex with her then and there, even after she starts fighting him and asking him to stop. "He wasn't gentle but he was thorough" and it goes into NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization territory.

* ''Red Star Rising'' (Anne [=McCaffrey=])

** In ''Dragonsong'', Menolly's father beats her for composing music, and her mother [[UnreliableNarrator may have deliberately attempted to cripple her hand]] so she can't play an instrument. She rises above every other hardship in her life, but she ''never'' forgives her parents.
*** The canon text is explicitly contradictory on whether Menolly's mother did her best and was sad that she couldn't help more, or deliberately let her be crippled.

** F'lar and Lessa in ''Dragonflight''.
** Sebell and Menolly in ''Dragonsinger''.
*** In both cases, it took [[AliensMadeThemDoIt mating dragons/fire lizards]] to get them to admit their feelings.

** When a queen dragon is ready to mate, she turns into ''very'' touchy {{Tsundere}}, growling and taking swipes at any of the males that get too close.
*** It's also implied that the mating flight results in some pretty rough sex.
** This applies even to queen fire lizards. In "Dragondrums" Sebell's Kimi refuses to share any fish she caught.

* JerkAss: Okay, let's count 'em. Kylara, Lord Meron, Thella, T'kul, T'ron, Mardra, Merika, Masterglasssmith Norist (leader of the anti-AIVAS group), Lord Fax, Lord Chalkin, Yanus (Menolly's father), and more. It seems that every major antagonist character in the series is not merely opposed to the heroes but a complete dick as well.
** Not just antagonists. F'lar in the first book is something of JerkassStu. Subsequent books rebalanced his personality considerably.
*** Mirrim's also a JerkAss, but while she's on the good guy side, everyone acknowledges that she's hard to get along with.
* KillEmAll: Todd [=McCaffrey's=] solo books.

** Some characters undergo spontaneous name changes between ''Dragonflight'' and ''Dragonquest'': T'ton to T'ron, for example.
*** He was M'ron in the initial appearance of the story, in two parts in ''Analog'' December 1967 & January 1968.
** Lessa's PsychicPowers are explicit and quite strong in ''Dragonflight'', with F'lar considering them unusual in their strength -- she's actually a true telepath, capable of reaching into your mind and changing your thoughts -- or ''erasing them'' -- but hardly surprising. She's from the ruling Ruathan family, and they're supposed to have such gifts. Several great Weyrleaders down through history, male and female, have been Ruathan. Later books downplay this to the point where it's almost ignored, leaving only the ability to talk to more than one's own dragon as a defined power.
*** At least, up until ''Dragonheart'', when the PsychicPowers are said to be a skill possessed by strong-willed Weyrwomen as a side-effect of their bond with their dragon.

*** In a few instances, a dead character has ended up appearing in a book that takes place after their death. Lord Oterel offers his support to young Readis in ''The Dolphins of Pern'', despite a major part of the previous book dealing with people choosing his successor after his death.

* ABoyAndHisX: Dragonriders and their dragons; at various points, people in general and their fire lizards.

* PullingTheThread: The bullies' grease-the-steps plot against Piemur unravels because while they removed the evidence from the stairs, they failed to clean the soles of Piemur's boots.

* WildCard: Toric of Southern, in particular, seems to go back and forth between grudging ally and scheming antagonist. For the most part he's an over-ambitious control freak who, for various reasons, dislikes most of the series' protagonists and enjoys inconveniencing them, but [[NeutralSelfish doesn't really cross the line into actual villainy]]; he can even be occasionally helpful. In the later books, however, he becomes more and more obsessive and secretive, and his agenda more overtly sinister.