It was published in 1949 with illustrations by Pauline Baynes, which Tolkien famously said had “reduced [his] text to a commentary on her drawings”. This collaboration led to a lifelong friendship between writer and illustrator.
This book contains examples of:
- Anachronism Stew: The story claims to take place "before Arthur or the Seven Kingdoms of the English
" (which suggests, before c. 500 AD), but Giles wields a blunderbuss (a musket-like gun that wouldn't be invented until several centuries later), and the whole thing feels more like a generic mythic "past" than a specific time period. This is very much intentional. - Asshole Victim: In the ending Chrysophylax pays a visit to the giant who had given him the erroneous information that had begun his misadventure with Giles. The giant isn't so big after he's finished with him.
- Bilingual Bonus: The blacksmith opines that Hilarius and Felix are "ominous names"—in truth, they mean "cheerful" and "happy" and are anything but ominous.
- The Blacksmith: "Sunny Sam", a morose man who always predicts everything will fail and is only happy when his doomsayings come true. He's forced to devise a mail coat for Giles from leftover bits and pieces. His real name is "Fabricius Cunctator", which can be translated as "the Slow Smith".
- Canis Latinicus: The story features none of this directly, but the term is used jokingly when discussing actual dogs, particularly the farmer's dog Garm."[T]he Book-latin was reserved for their betters. Garm could not talk even dog-latin; but he could use the vulgar tongue..."
- Character Title: Though it's the Vulgar version — Giles' real name is the Latin "Ægidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo".
- Dirty Coward: Chrysophylax is all flash and bluster. Once Giles establishes who's boss, the dragon instantly becomes an obsequious toady.
- Dragon Hoard: The cave of Chrysophylax Dives ("Gold-watcher the Rich") contains fantastical riches of all sorts. How he got all that stuff is never explained, nor does anyone ever ask.
- Dragons Versus Knights: The story parodies the convention of dragon-slaying knights through Farmer Giles, who gets in possession of a legendary dragon-slaying sword and needs to pose as a knight to slay the dragon that menaces the region.
- Empathic Weapon: Caudimordax leaps out of its scabbard and cannot be sheathed again if a dragon is within five miles, and seems to do most of Giles' fighting for him. Also counts as Situational Sword.
- Faeries Don't Believe in Humans, Either: A lot of younger dragons believe that knights are a myth. The older ones know better, although they admit that they are few and far, and not a danger anymore, which is true since the King and his Knights are pretty useless. The only person who can effectively deal with Chrysophylax the dragon is a fat, red-headed farmer who doesn't like trespassers — even if they are scaly and breathe fire.
- Fairy Tale: This story is an Affectionate Parody of the genre.
- Gratuitous Latin: Or in the vulgar, A Lotta Latin appears in the mira fascinora.
- Howl of Sorrow: When Giles rides off to slay Chrysophylax, his dog Garm howls all night because he thinks his master will be killed.
- Ironic Echo: “Excuse me, were you looking for me?” First said by Chrysophylax when he catches Giles off-guard, then by Giles in the reverse situation.
- Ironic Nickname: The blacksmith is nicknamed "Sunny Sam", because he's extremely morose and always predicts doom.
- Lemony Narrator: The commentary of the narrator on various issues is also most of the fun in the story for adults.
- The Low Middle Ages
- Meaningful Name: Giles himself is named Ahenobarbus ("Bronzebeard"), Chrysophylax ("Gold-keeper") Dives ("rich") the dragon, Giles' dog Garm (the monstrous dog of the dead in Norse Mythology), Caudimordax ("tail-biter") Giles' sword.
- The Middle Ages: The Low Middle Ages, to be precise, but with little historical precision and a fair sprinkling of dragons, giants, a blunderbuss, and magic.
- Named Weapons: Caudimordax (‘Tailbiter’), Giles’ sword. The tails it likes to bite are specifically dragon tails.
- Not Always Evil: Eventually both rich dragon and farmer-turned-knight had to agree to a truce. In his bad heart Chrysophylax felt kindness towards Giles, as much as a dragon could feel.
- Resigned to the Call: When the King orders him to accompany his knights to find the dragon Giles realizes there aren't any more excuses he can make.
- Talking Animal: Garm, though the narrator assures us that at the time all dogs could talk, and Chrysophylax
- The Tourney: One excuse the knights give for not immediately going after the dragon is that they'll lose the tourney if all their best knights are off hunting it.
- Upper-Class Twit: Chrysophylax comes across as a pompous aristocrat—rich, vain, and arrogant, but he's not beyond reason or compromise.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: The story includes lots of jokes, inside references, and Stealth Puns about the field of historical linguistics and philology that was of course J. R. R. Tolkien's academic specialty. In a particularly funny example, a question about the definition of "blunderbuss" is put to "the Four Wise Clerks of Oxenford," whose response is a verbatim quote from the Oxford English Dictionary.
- Weapon for Intimidation: Whether Giles' blunderbuss could actually be fired or only intimidate was an issue of much speculation in the village, until he fired it at the giant.
