History Literature / Dragonheart

''Dragonheart'' is a {{novelization}} of the [[Film/{{Dragonheart}} film of the same name]]. Written by the film's screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue (with additional help from Patrick Read Johnson), the book is a notable EarlyDraftTieIn, as it's closer to Pogue's vision of the story, and being a more romantic and DarkerAndEdgier take on the franchise's fantasy world.

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* AbortedArc: Like an early screenplay, the book shows the scams that Bowen and Draco pull are part of Draco's secret plan to prick Bowen's conscience and test his morality as Draco realizes Bowen is the person he needs to have. Bowen initially justifies the scheme as them being a nuisance to Einon. However, as the peasants they defraud become poorer with each village they visit, Bowen feels guilty about taking advantage of people already suffering under Einon and his lords. Bowen would reach the end of his rope when arriving at the swamp village; the starved residents can only pay him with cutlery and jewelry, and the place's miserable atmosphere only increases Bowen's misery. The film reduces Bowen's arc to the dialogue scene between him and Draco after scamming Felton, and it never gets any development or resolution. Early on, Gilbert mentions to Bowen that he's on a pilgrimage, and the novelization shows that Gilbert is searching for Avalon to pray to King Arthur and his knights' spirits to return the days of chivalry and the Old Code. When Draco takes him and the others there later, Gilbert is understandably stunned out of reverence. Gilbert never says what he's looking for or why in the film, and his reaction to Avalon isn't shown. The film drops the element of Gilbert writing a poem about Bowen early in the first act, and it never gets brought up again. The novelization and early scripts have Gilbert continuing to document his adventure as the rebels train, and inspiration keeps coming to him.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In one scene, when Bowen suggests to Gilbert that Einon was bewitched, Gilbert says, "You cannot bewitch the devil. Trust a clergyman on that." which alludes to Bowen later learning that Einon was always evil and Draco's heart had nothing to do with it. While overlooking the swamp village, Draco mumbles to Kara, "Einon will not fall in my lifetime...," which is what happens in the end as [[spoiler: Draco dies ''before'' Einon rather than after him like in the film.]] Bowen's nightmare in DreamingOfThingsToCome. While flying above the rebel camp with Bowen on his back, Draco cryptically tells him what victory against Einon would bring:

* SignificantWardrobeShift: The day before they battle Einon, the rebels make Bowen a new suit of armor and shield. Bowen only gets a new shield in the film.

* AcheyScars: Einon and Bowen. After his father is killed during the peasant rebellion, Einon gets the back of his right hand cut by Kara's father and later gets a scar on his chest from the dragonheart ritual. Einon also develops the habit of rubbing the knotted scar on his chest whenever distracted. Bowen later get stabbed in the shoulder by Einon when he confronts the young king the morning after Draco gives Einon half of his heart. Four years later Einon stabs Bowen in the same shoulder during their fight at the waterfall.
* AscendedExtra: Queen Aislinn appears in more scenes than she does in the film and has more dialogue, in the film Felton's minx was a silent background character who now has dialogue and scenes of her own, a young peasant boy bonds with Gilbert and becomes his 'disciple', and the dragonslayers have a larger role in the climax as well as dialogue.
* BadassCreed: While only a portion of the Old Code is told in the film, the book reveals it in full:

* {{BattleTrophy}}/{{CreepySouvenir}}: Bowen keeps a trophy shield adorned with [[spoiler: the middle talons of the dragons he kills, with Draco's broken middle talon at the center.]]
* BrokenBird: Kara, after Einon kills her father and later [[spoiler: rapes her.]] Queen Aislinn also qualifies since Einon's father King Freyne invaded her homeland and slaughtered many of her dragon-loving people but kept her for his queen solely for her beauty. It's also implied that an arranged marriage was involved.

* ButtMonkey: Lord Felton. He's always picked on by Einon's men (and occasionally Einon himself), partly because he is poor at hunting (to the point that once he left a dead deer out the day before, claiming to have shot it that day, but didn't realize before telling everyone to look at his "kill" that the carcass had been half eaten by a scavenger overnight). He's caught with his pants down when Draco attacks his village, his house is damaged in the attack, and Bowen steals his money by asking for it in advance and then pretending to have been eaten by Draco. As the peasants train for battle, Brok and Felton come across a group in the woods and [[spoiler: he gets his ''hand'' cut off by Hewe.]] Later on, during the battle, his former minx attacks him and Gilbert shoots him in the rear with an arrow, giving a BondOneLiner to add insult to injury. Immediately after, the young woman knocks Felton out, and then steals his money and his jeweled cuff (which he had been wearing over his stump). In the end, he [[spoiler: is stabbed from behind and killed by Hewe.]]
* ChessMotif: Queen Aislinn is often playing chess. During Einon's childhood she played it with Bowen, who was the only one who saw any value in it; after Einon becomes King she plays against herself.
* CometOfDoom: The night before the battle Draco flies near Einon's castle with Bowen on his back. At Draco's command, Bowen throws away his trophy shield and Draco sets it ablaze. Einon sees it and mistakes it for a comet, an omen of disaster and the death of kings. Aislinn dissuades him by claiming that, based on stories her clan's elders told when she was a child, the "sky fire" is the spirit of his father Freyne that has come to say he's proud of his son, to destroy his enemies, and accomplish what he couldn't by killing the dragon.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Compared to his death in the film, Brok's death in the book is especially graphic. As he fights Kara with an EpicFlail, she uses an ax taken from [[spoiler: the corpse of the dragonslayer Ivor impaled to a wall on a giant lance]] to fend off the brute. After Brok breaks the ax shaft in half, Kara uses it to snap the spiked ball back at Brok [[spoiler: and bash it in his face.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: As the novelization is based on an early screenplay, it shows the film was originally envisioned to have a serious and transcendent adult tone but ExecutiveMeddling and CreativeDifferences reduced it to a family-friendly affair.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: On the eve of battle against Einon, Bowen has a nightmare of the dragons he had killed attacking him only for Bowen to kill them again. Then the dream turns into himself fighting Einon and stabbing him in the heart, only for Einon [[spoiler: to turn into Draco]] and fall off Bowen's sword. After which Bowen is sucked into a dark void [[spoiler: in Draco's wound]] where he calls out for Draco but can't hear himself, only dragons trilling in despair.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence
* HomeBase: The waterfall where Bowen and Draco begin their fight serves as their campsite during their partnership. It's also where the scenes in which Draco says he longs for death but fears it and Bowen later gives Draco his new name occur.
* KickTheDog: Einon [[spoiler: rapes Kara after her failed attempt to kill him.]]
* KnightInShiningArmor: Bowen, before he parts ways with Einon and after the events at Avalon. As he trains the rebels for battle, they give Bowen a new suit of armor and shield they made.

* LustObject: Kara to Einon. He compares her to his mother as they both have a fearsome, powerful look in their eyes and the kind of beauty that can [[{{ItMustBeMine}} only belong to a king]]. Einon fixates on Kara so much that he can't stand the thought of her and Bowen being together and plotting against him. As his father did with Aislinn, Einon aims to fully possess Kara and purge his fear of her by showing her that he's the stronger one; by killing Bowen and therefore stripping Kara of her power.
* MadeASlave: It's heavily implied that Felton's minx is an example of this trope with shades of AmIJustAToyToYou. [[HandsomeLech Felton]] would take a peasant woman from his fields into his home and give her a taste of finer living as a 'respite'. However contrary to many of the women being 'reluctant playmates', the minx is surprisingly compliant but this doesn't stop her from [[spoiler: joining Bowen's rebel army later on.]]
* ManHug: In the novelization, original screenplay, and storyboards, after Bowen's RedemptionInTheRain he sees Draco perched atop King Arthur's monolith. Bowen reaches out to him and Draco wraps his wings around Bowen.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the film the dragonslayers are unnamed but the book reveals their names as Uhlrich, brothers Tavis and Trahern, Cavan, and Ivor. This trope can also be applied to Kara's father and Felton's minx. The former is simply known as Redbeard in the film but the novelization reveals his name being Riagon. It is said that Felton is unable to remember her name but recalls it as beginning with "Ro." A few guesses at her name are Rowena, Rosamund, and Ronalda. A young peasant tinker named Trev is made to be Gilbert's 'disciple' as they train for battle alongside each other.

** Draco attempts this at the marsh village, leading to {{Corpsing}} when Kara's sabotaging the con by jumping on his stomach.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Kara. Unlike the film, where an attraction between her and Bowen is only hinted at, they actually declare their love for each other when Kara reveals to Bowen that [[spoiler: she was raped by Einon]] and he kisses her hand with the promise of killing Einon. As the they sneak into the castle to rescue Draco, Kara gives Bowen her father's headband as her [[{{TheLadysFavor}} favor]] and the two kiss.

* SleepCute: A while after feeling the pain from Kara stabbing Einon in the shoulder, Draco awakens to find Bowen dozing in the curve of his curled-up body and leaned against him.

* TitleDrop: Done twice in the story. First when Bowen faces Einon before returning to Draco's cave, then by Kara sometime after Draco is captured by Einon:

* ViolenceIsDisturbing
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Gilbert's mule Merlin and [[spoiler: the remains of Sir Eglamore.]] In the film, Merlin and what's left of Sir Eglamore are never seen or mentioned again after the scene where Draco and Bowen fight to a stalemate. In the novelization, after the fight, Gilbert wakes up the next morning and finds the arm. He mistakes it for belonging to Bowen and when Gilbert reappears at the swamp village, he tells Bowen about burying the arm in the glade beneath a cross with Bowens name on it. Merlin is with Gilbert at the swamp village, taken to Avalon with him, Bowen, and Kara, and then Kara's village afterwards.

* {{DreamingOfThingsToCome}}/{{Foreshadowing}}: On the eve of battle against Einon, Bowen has a nightmare of the dragons he had killed attacking him only for Bowen to kill them again. Then the dream turns into himself fighting Einon and stabbing him in the heart, only for Einon [[spoiler: to turn into Draco]] and fall off Bowen's sword. After which Bowen is sucked into a dark void [[spoiler: in Draco's wound]] where he calls out for Draco but can't hear himself, only dragons trilling in despair.

* DeletedScene: A lot of scenes explaining the film's plot holes, lack of character development, and the characters' motivations:
** After Bowen saves Riagon from [[spoiler: being blinded by Einon,]] Bowen gives Riagon a horse to escape on. Kara runs to him from her hiding place and Bowen and Einon recognize her. She and her father escape into the forest, after which Bowen confronts Einon.
** After Bowen's departure, Einon, Brok and several knights ride back to Freyne's wooden fortress, riding into the courtyard below Aislinn's chamber window. Despite having ordered for Bowen to be caught, Einon says to Brok that Bowen can go since he has served his purpose. Einon sees Aislinn watching from her window when he feels pain in his right hand, though he writes it off as a cramp and looks at the scar on it that Riagon the Red gave him. As he shakes the pain out of his hand, a tortured thrilling sound can be heard, with both Brok and Aislinn knowing that it's coming from Draco.
*** In his cave, Draco repeatedly pounds his claw against a wall in his cave until his half-severed middle right talon breaks off. At that moment Bowen returns after leaving Einon, finds the broken talon, and demands the camouflaged Draco to show himself claiming that he betrayed his trust by bewitching Einon. Blending into the cave walls, Draco tells Bowen he was betrayed by someone else and soars over Bowen, out of the cave and into the evening sky, with Bowen vowing to hunt him down. Then three years later Bowen is camped out by a lagoon as the tenth dragon he's killed is cremated with a fire arrow with lumps of flesh falling into the pond. Bowen attaches its middle right talon to his shield.
** A campfire scene with Bowen and Brother Gilbert where they discuss their respective goals of seeking to kill all dragons and being on a pilgrimage to find Avalon and pray to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table buried there.
** As Bowen and Gilbert ride down a forest path the next day, Gilbert falls into a hole that Bowen realizes is a large dragon track, leading to the scene where they find Draco hiding at the waterfall.
** After scamming Felton, Draco and Bowen's next scam takes place at a village run by an overweight lord having a market day, located near a lake with a nearby sheep herd. Draco falls into the lake after Bowen "shoots" him down with a bow and arrow. He swims along the bottom of the lake and soon finds a single sheep left behind by its herd.
** An extended conversation between Kara and Queen Aislinn when the latter appears to help the former escape Einon's castle. Aislinn describes herself as nothing but a "creature of submission" to her late husband who robbed her of her voice and the ability to show affection towards Einon. Learning of Kara's escape Einon kills two guards and orders Brok to organize a search party, all the while suspicious of Aislinn.
** After Kara's offered to him as a maiden sacrifice, Draco helps her regain consciousness. Reaching the waterfall, he cuts her bonds and tells her she is free to go but she is wary of his kindness and falls into the stream. Draco helps her out and compliments her beauty, earning her trust.
** In the midst of Bowen and Draco's con in the swamp village, when Draco falls into the muck, Kara takes a knife from Gilbert, climbs on to Draco's belly as he feigns death, and begins jumping on him and tickling him with the knife to expose the con.
** Looking for answers after the waterfall fight, Einon returns to Draco's cave for the first time in four years since that fateful night. As he thinks of how he cheated death with a lie, Einon sees that he, Bowen, Kara, and Draco are all connected. He finds Aislinn in the back of the cave, and gets the feeling that she's hiding something from him.
** In Avalon, Kara, Gilbert, and his mule Merlin take shelter from the rain under a rock overhang while Draco waits on top before he flies off toward the tor. Bowen is faced by the spirits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Each knight recites lines from the Old Code and they all close in on Bowen as he repeats after them. After King Arthur's spirit vanishes, Bowen sees a smiling Draco sitting atop Arthur's monolith. Bowen reaches out to him and Draco enfolds Bowen in his wings.
** Brok releases a falcon that is promptly shot down inadvertently by Gilbert in the midst of his archery training in a forest clearing with Trev and Hewe the Bear. Accompanied by Felton, Brok and his hunting party enter the forest toward where the falcon fell, finding Gilbert and the peasants. When Felton demands a closer look at Hewe's sword, the peasant [[spoiler: cuts off Felton's hand,]] making Brok and his men give chase, leading to his discovery of the rebel camp.
** Kara wakes Bowen from his nightmare with a makeshift battle trumpet and attempts to shave his beard with a battle-ax. Bowen pulls away and says he taught her to cut throats not shave them. Kara says that Bowen should look like a victorious general. He tells her that he isn't one yet and to not get overconfident and she says that he is her source of confidence. Then Gilbert and the rebels give Bowen a new suit of armor and shield, with the surcoat and shield adorned with the combined symbol of the Old Code (a silver sword, hilt up, within a golden circle) and the Draco constellation.
** The evening on the eve of battle, Bowen approaches Draco standing watch on a cliff outside Kara's village and offers Draco his trophy shield. Draco has Bowen climb onto his back and as night falls they fly over the rebel camp. Meanwhile Queen Aislinn presents the dragonslayers to Einon in a partially built tower room. Thanks to Draco's iridescent scales changing color to blend in with the night sky, he and Bowen are able to fly close to Einon's castle, and together they destroy Bowen's shield. It is seen by Einon and mistaken for a comet until Aislinn convinces him that it's a sign from his father.

* AscendedExtra: Queen Aislinn appears in more scenes than she does in the film and has more dialogue, in the film Felton's minx was a silent background character who now has dialogue and scenes of her own, a young peasant boy bonds with Gilbert and becomes his "disciple", and the dragonslayers have a larger role in the climax as well as dialogue.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Compared to his death in the film, Brok's death in the book is especially graphic. As he fights Kara with a spiked ball and chain mace, she uses an ax taken from [[spoiler: the corpse of the dragonslayer Ivor impaled to a wall on a giant lance]] to fend off the brute. After Brok breaks the ax shaft in half, Kara uses it to snap the spiked ball back at Brok [[spoiler: and bash it in his face.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: As the novelization is based on an early screenplay, it shows the film was originally envisioned to have a serious and transcendent tone but ExecutiveMeddling reduced it to a family-friendly affair.

* {{DreamingOfThingsToCome}}/{{Foreshadowing}}: On the eve of battle against Einon, Bowen has a nightmare of the dragons he had killed, which turns into himself fighting Einon and stabbing him in the heart, only for Einon [[spoiler: to turn into Draco]] and fall off Bowen's sword. After which Bowen is sucked into a dark void [[spoiler: in Draco's wound]] where he calls out for Draco but can't hear himself, only dragons trilling in despair.

* LustObject: Kara to Einon. He compares her to his mother as they both have a fearsome, powerful look in their eyes and the kind of beauty that can only belong to a king. Einon fixates on Kara so much that he can't stand the thought of her and Bowen being together and plotting against him. As his father did with Aislinn, Einon aims to fully possess Kara and purge his fear of her by showing her that he's the stronger one; by killing Bowen and therefore stripping Kara of her power.
* ManHug: In the novelization, original screenplay and storyboards, after Bowen's RedemptionInTheRain he sees Draco perched atop King Arthur's monolith. Bowen reaches out to him and Draco wraps his wings around Bowen.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the film the dragonslayers are unnamed but the book reveals their names as Uhlrich, brothers Tavis and Trahern, Cavan, and Ivor. This trope can also be applied to Kara's father and Felton's minx. The former is simply known as Redbeard in the film but the novelization reveals his name being Riagon. It is said that Felton is unable to remember her name but recalls it as beginning with "Ro." A few guesses at her name are Rowena, Rosamund, and Ronalda. A young peasant tinker named Trev is made to be Gilbert's "disciple" as they train alongside each other.

* TitleDrop: Done twice in the story. First when Bowen faces Einon before returning to Draco's cave, then by Kara after Draco is captured by Einon:

* VillainousCrush: Einon to Kara.

* AcheyScars: Einon and Bowen. After his father is killed during the peasant rebellion, Einon gets the back of his right hand cut by Kara's father and later gets a scar on his chest from the dragonheart ritual. Einon also develops the habit of rubbing his chest whenever distracted. Bowen later get stabbed in the shoulder by Einon when he confronts the young king the morning after Draco gives Einon half of his heart. Four years later Einon stabs Bowen in the same shoulder during their fight at the waterfall.
* AscendedExtra: Queen Aislinn appears in more scenes than she does in the film, Felton's minx now has dialogue, a young peasant boy is made Gilbert's "disciple", and the dragonslayers have a larger role in the climax.

* BattleTrophy/CreepySouvenir: Bowen keeps a trophy shield adorned with [[spoiler: the middle talons of the dragons he kills, with Draco's broken middle talon at the center.]]
* BrokenBird: Kara, after Einon kills her father and later [[spoiler: rapes her as his prisoner.]] Queen Aislinn also qualifies since Einon's father King Freyne invaded her homeland and slaughtered many of her dragon-loving people but kept her for his queen solely for her beauty. It's also implied that an arranged marriage was involved.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Compared to his death in the film, Brok's death in the book is especially graphic. As he fights Kara,

** After scamming Felton, Draco and Bowen's next scam takes place at a village run by an overweight lord having a market day, located near a lake with a nearby sheep herd. Draco falls into the lake after Bowen 'shoots' him down with a bow and arrow and afterward finds a single sheep left behind by its herd.
** An extended conversation between Kara and Queen Aislinn when the latter helps the former escape Einon's castle. Aislinn describes herself as nothing but a "creature of submission" to her late husband who robbed her of her voice and the ability to show affection towards Einon.
** In Avalon, Kara, Gilbert, and his mule Merlin take shelter from the rain under a rock overhang while Draco waits on top before he flies off toward the tor. Bowen is faced by the spirits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Each knight recites lines from the Old Code and Bowen repeats after them. After King Arthur's spirit vanishes, Bowen sees a smiling Draco sitting atop Arthur's monolith. Bowen reaches out to him and Draco wraps his wings around Bowen.

* LustObject: Kara to Einon. He fixates on her beauty and strength so much that can't stand the thought of Kara and Bowen being together and plotting against him. Einon aims to kill Bowen in order to strip Kara of her power, break her spirit, and fully possess her by showing her that he's the stronger one, as his father did with Aislinn.
* ManHug: In the novelization, original screenplay and storyboards, after Bowen's RedemptionInTheRain he sees Draco perched atop King Arthur's monolith. Bowen reaches out to him and Draco wraps his wings around Bowen
* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the film the dragonslayers are unnamed but the book reveals their names as Uhlrich, Tavis, Trahern, Cavan and Ivor. This trope can also be applied to Kara's father and Felton's minx. The former is simply known as Redbeard in the film but the novelization reveals his name being Riagon. It is said that Felton is unable to remember her name but recalls it as beginning with "Ro." A few guesses at her name are Rowena, Rosamund, and Ronalda. A young peasant boy named Trev is made to be Gilbert's "disciple" as they train alongside each other.

* SleepCute: A while after feeling the pain from Kara stabbing Einon in the shoulder, Draco awakens to find Bowen dozing in the curve of his curled-up body.

* TitleDrop: Done times throughout the story. First when Bowen faces Einon before returning to Draco's cave, then by Kara:

* AscendedExtra: Queen Aislinn, Felton's minx, and the dragonslayers.

* ButtMonkey: Lord Felton.

* DeletedScene: A lot of scenes explaining the film's plot holes, lack of character development, and the characters' motivations. One example is an extended conversation between Kara and Queen Aislinn when the latter helps the former escape Einon's castle. Aislinn describes herself as nothing but a "creature of submission" to her late husband who robbed her of her voice and the ability to show affection towards Einon. Another example being a campfire scene with Bowen and Brother Gilbert where they discuss their respective goals of seeking to kill all dragons and being on a pilgrimage to find Avalon and pray to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table buried there.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: On the eve of battle against Einon, Bowen has a nightmare of the dragons he had killed, himself fighting Einon and stabbing him in the heart, only for Einon [[spoiler: to turn into Draco]] and fall off Bowen's sword. After which Bowen is sucked into a dark void where he calls out for Draco and can't hear himself.
* LustObject: Kara to Einon.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: The dragonslayers. In the film they are unnamed but the book reveals their names as Uhlrich, Tavis, Trahern, Cavan and Ivor. This trope may also be applied to Felton's minx. It is said that Felton is unable to remember her name but recalls it as beginning with "Ro." A few guesses at her name are Rowena, Rosamund, and Ronalda.

* PromotedToLoveInterest: Kara.