History OurDragonsAreDifferent / Literature

* There are dragons in the ''{{Xanth}}'' series, who come in three kinds: fire, steam, and water. One of them, who guards the Cap Chasm, gets the name Stanley Steamer. He later marries another steamer named Stacey and they have a son named Steven, and after that alternates guarding Gap Chasm and baby-sitting with Stacey.

* In ''Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver'' by MichaelEnde, dragons are an extremely varied species which can look like pretty much anything -- their appearances vary so much, in fact, that the heroes are able to disguise Emma the locomotive as a dragon, and none of the real dragons see through the disguise. They're also implied to be able to mate and breed with any other animal (Nepomuk, one of the major secondary characters, is half dragon and half hippo), though the resulting half-dragons are bullied and discriminated against by the full-blood dragons, who view them as inferior at best and abominations at worst. All dragons are inherently evil, but don't necessarily stay that way; if a hero defeats a dragon but spares its life, the dragon will undergo a transformation in which it turns into a benevolent Golden Dragon of Wisdom. (Since most heroes who defeat dragons also kill them, this isn't exactly a common event.)

* Lynn Flewelling's {{Nightrunner}} series includes dragons who become more sentient as they age. Their bites are also poisonous. The most commonly seen are small finger-sized baby dragons, which are largely harmless. Dog-sized dragons are considered extremely dangerous because they aren't old enough to be able to communicate, but are big enough to kill you with a bite. Dragons that are old enough to be fully sentient and have language abilities are extremely rare and have yet to be seen.

* ''Nothing But Blue Skies'' by Tom Holt is an AffectionateParody of Eastern dragons and the associated mythology, with an emphasis on a) their powers of weather control and b) their ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting take human (and other) forms]]. The reason the British summer is usually canceled due to rain is that the main character is a dragon in human form, and doesn't have full control in that form. So it rains whenever she's annoyed. Which happens a lot. The plot concerns another dragon [[ModeLock trapped in the form of a goldfish]]; [[CoversAlwaysLie the cover, naturally]], shows a Western dragon crammed into a fishbowl.

* Chretien de Troyes was a French poet in the 12th century who wrote Arthurian Romances, which were popular at the time. One of his works, "Yvain, the Knight of the Lion" opens with the eponymous Yvain rescuing a lion from a large, fire-breathing serpent. No wings or legs or intelligence, just good old-fashioned Satanic imagery.

* ''Literature{{Fablehaven}}''[='=]s dragons are incredibly powerful beings that can paralyze most humans just by looking at them. They come in many shapes and forms, often have multiple breath weapons, and are regarded as one of the most dangerous of the mythical creatures. They view humans almost as we view mice: They aren't particularly tasty and don't pose much of a threat, but they kill them just for being there. Killing one is an incredibly rare feat. [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Not all of them are this way, however.]]

* ''{{Fablehaven}}'''s dragons are incredibly powerful beings that can paralyze most humans just by looking at them. They come in many shapes and forms, often have multiple breath weapons, and are regarded as one of the most dangerous of the mythical creatures. They view humans almost as we view mice: They aren't particularly tasty and don't pose much of a threat, but they kill them just for being there. Killing one is an incredibly rare feat. [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Not all of them are this way, however.]]

* [=MaryJanice=] Davidson's''Jennifer Scales'' series although they're actually [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent weredragons]].

** ''The Merlin Conspiracy''had an enormous white dragon, symbolizing England.

** Dragons are mentioned in ''Hexwood''-- apparently they come from another planet.

** Yet another one of her short stories was one for ''The Dragon Book'', an anthology. This is one of the better examples, as according to this story dragons are the spiritual manifestation of certain people, who apparently need energy taken from sheep or moving trains to sustain their dragon selves. Hence the reason medieval dragons ate sheep; they drained them for energy.

* In SergeyLukyanenko and NickPerumov's ''WrongTimeForDragons'', the actual dragons show up very little, despite the name of the book. They are the masters of the [[MagicalLand Trueborn world]] and every so often attempt to conquer the Middle world (where most of the book takes place). There's also the Outworld, a world of humans, where magic doesn't exist (i.e. our Earth), where the protagonist is from. The dragons in the book are [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]], able to assume human form and, as revealed later, capable of [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreeding with other races]]. Each time the dragons invade the Middle world, a Dragon Slayer is summoned to stop them. The protagonist is believed to be the next Slayer, who must master the 4 ElementalPowers in order to be strong enough. At the end of the book, it is revealed that [[spoiler:he is himself 1/4 dragon by way of his maternal grandmother, who was raped by the last Dragon Slayer before being banished to the Outworld; he is then able to turn into a dragon to fight the invaders]].

* In SergeyLukyanenko and NickPerumov's ''WrongTimeForDragons'', the actual dragons show up very little, despite the name of the book. They are the masters of the [[MagicalLand Trueborn world]] and every so often attempt to conquer the Middle world (where most of the book takes place). There's also the Outworld, a world of humans, where magic doesn't exist (i.e. our Earth), where the protagonist is from. The dragons in the book are [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]], able to assume human form and, as revealed later, capable of [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreeding with other races]]. Each time the dragons invade the Middle world, a Dragon Slayer is summoned to stop them. The protagonist is believed to be the next Slayer. At the end of the book, it is revealed that [[spoiler:he is himself 1/4 dragon by way of his maternal grandmother, who was raped by the last Dragon Slayer before being banished to the Outworld; he is then able to turn into a dragon to fight the invaders]].

* RobinHobb's ''Assassin'' trilogy features human-built dragons made out of stone, imbued with human memories, that are used as allies in a war; her ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy, set in the same universe, has a backstory of near-extinct serpentine dragons. The climax of the ''Tawny Man'' trilogy has a battle between two real dragons and an animated stone one.

* Michael Ende's ''TheNeverendingStory'' has Falkor the Luck Dragon, a white fur-covered Eastern dragon in an otherwise Western story. In TheFilmOfTheBook, he looks quite a bit like a flying dog.

* Full-blooded dragons in Ursula Vernon's BlackDogs are extinct, but an anthropomorphic hybrid/subspecies exists that have a close relationship with the local human population.

* The lloigor of H.P. Lovecraft's ''Cthulhu Mythos'' fiction are invisible alien horrors, but can create reptilian bodies for themselves which are rumored to have inspired the dragons of myth (notably in Wales, where dragon iconography is 'rampant' in the local heraldry).

** Martin's short story "The Ice Dragon" contains a very early depiction of an ice dragon that breathes frost, possibly the first to appear [[TropeOverdosed outside of]] ''Dungeons&Dragons''.

** Martin's short story "The Ice Dragon" contains a very early depiction of an ice dragon that breathes frost, possibly the first to appear [[TropeOverdosed outside of]] {{Dungeons&Dragons}}.

** Martin's short story "The Ice Dragon" contains a very early (if not the first) depiction of an ice dragon that breathes frost.
*** [[TropeOverdosed That is, of course, outside of]] [[Dungeons&Dragons]].

* There are dragons in the ''[[Xanth]]'' series, who come in three kinds: fire, steam, and water. One of them, who guards the Cap Chasm, gets the name Stanley Steamer. He later marries another steamer named Stacey and they have a son named Steven, and after that alternates guarding Gap Chasm and baby-sitting with Stacey.

* Terek Domar of [[http://thelonelywinds.com/library.php The Lonely Winds]] is a monster we are told once ravaged ancient lands that now, for some reason, spends time sitting around an abandoned warehouse in the city. This dragon fits many of the modern characteristics, being massive, highly intelligent, a user of potent magic and being a physical powerhouse, in addition to having a * very* short temper. Though in early installments the dragon seemed to be in some sort of bondage, more recent issues have had him do some pretty scary things. Another dragon, nicknamed "Cinder," was a considerably more pleasant creature that was participating in a plan to essentially assassinate Terek Domar. [[spoiler: It didn't work out, as Terek Domar nearly tore Cinder to shreds in the process of killing him.]]

* There are dragons in the ''[[Xanth}}'' series, who come in three kinds: fire, steam, and water. One of them, who guards the Cap Chasm, gets the name Stanley Steamer. He later marries another steamer named Stacey and they have a son named Steven, and after that alternates guarding Gap Chasm and baby-sitting with Stacey.