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Eighth Pass Dragonriders/ Oldtimers
T'ron / T'ton
Rider of bronze Fidranth and Weyrleader of Fort Weyr.- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Dragonflight, he is a friendly, helpful and heroic leader who is instrumental in persuading his fellow dragonriders to make the leap forward with Lessa. His character has changed dramatically by Dragonquest, to the point where he hardly seems like the same person: overbearing, suspicious, and antagonistic, he's effectively the villain for a large partion of the book. Given that the former book calls him T'ton and the latter calls him T'ron, it's tempting to believe he is two different people — were it not that his dragon's name remains the same.
Mardra
Senior Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr, and later of Southern Weyr. Like Lessa, she is a member of the Ruathan bloodline.D'ram
Rider of bronze Tiroth and Weyrleader of Ista Weyr. After retiring, also spends some time as interim Weyrleader of Southern Weyr.- 10-Minute Retirement: After his Weyrwoman Fanna dies, he retires as Ista Weyrleader and makes plans to quietly disappear. However, when T'kul is killed, D'ram volunteers to take over the leadership of Southern Weyr, pointing out that the dragonriders there would only tolerate a fellow Oldtimer in that position.
- Cool Old Guy: As of the last few books.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: By far the most pragmatic and reasonable of the Oldtimer leaders. Cautious by nature, he avoids taking sides in F'lar and T'ron's dispute for as long as possible, but ultimately his choice to support F'lar is critical in the shaping of Pern's political landscape.
G'dened
Rider of bronze Barnath note and Weyrleader of Ista Weyr after D'ram retires. He is also D'ram's son, although this doesn't really play a factor in the succession. Noted to have been one of the youngest Oldtimer dragonriders to jump forward to the Ninth Pass.G'narish
Weyrleader of Igen Weyr, rider of bronze Gyarmath.R'mart
Weyrleader of Telgar Weyr.- Informed Attribute: F'lar identifies R'mart, along with G'narish, as one of the younger and more open-minded Oldtimer Weyrleaders. We never really get to see how true this is, since he barely appears at all.
- Out of Focus: Probably gets the least amount of characterization among all the original Oldtimer Weyrleaders. This is largely due to his spending almost the entirety of Dragonquest out of action off-screen. When he appears in later books, he's little more than a background character.
T'kul
Rider of bronze Salth, Weyrleader of High Reaches Weyr and later Southern Weyr.- Jerkass: By far the most unpleasant of the Oldtimer leaders. For comparison: while T'ron is bullying and obstructionist, he's for the most part a responsible weyrleader; T'kul, on the other hand, not only neglects his duties but is strongly implied to use his dragonriders to actively terrorize the holders under his care.
- Taking You with Me: In The White Dragon, he and his dragon Salth join an open mating flight even though no-one thinks the elderly bronze is capable of it. In fact, he fully expects Salth to die in the attempt, and deliberately equips himself with a dueling knife, hoping the trauma of his dragon's death will induce a berserk rage and allow him to kill F'lar before he dies himself. It very nearly works.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: It's clear even the other Oldtimers can't stand him, and for good reason.
- The Ghost: In Dragonquest — his negative influence looms large over much of story, but he never actually appears in the book. His single in-person appearance is in The White Dragon, in the chapter where he's killed.
