YMMV / Dragon Calling

• Abandon Shipping: Any hopes some readers held out that Laeka'Draeon and Ubi's friendship would become something more is quashed with the arrival of Aej and the revelation that he is Ubi's finance.
• Adorkable:
  • Laeka’Draeon has a few moments of adorkableness, due to his naivety and curiosity. Some of his interactions with his friends, particularly Ubi (early into their friendship) and Shifra (the overall progression of their friendship) has him stumbling over his words or grinning/ behaving dorkily. His adorkablness is amplified in his hemlan form.
  • Taijorn has this in spades. He’s a wescat with mismatched coloured eyes; is curious and friendly with dorky and not-quite-sharp disposition. He’s also obsessed with bugs and is a skilled herbologist (a lover of plants and bugs … very adorkable).
  • Ghinzel oozes adorkableness, and is even a bit of a Moe at times. He’s young, chipper, goofy, and artless in all the best ways a child can be.
  • Tappala is an expert in her field (archaeology and ancient history); she’s also an expert of prattling on and on and on—a veritable leaking tap of words, which is more adorkable than annoying, due to her sheer excitement when discussing topics she is passionate about. She is quite a literal thinker and so is clueless when it comes to sarcasm and irony (Norf’s snide remarks fly right over her head).

• Creepy Awesome: The manorphis, in general, are depicted as unsettling, both in physical appearance, and demeanour. Prince Veilkiir is no exception. At the same time, his clever and curious mind, as well as his show of fearlessness (and badass lightning control skills) during the Second Gathering give him placement in this trope.
  • When in her full Gaalainven attire, Aena looks like an assassin from some fiendish cult—the look intended to unsettle opponents. She’s a highly-skilled fighter, graceful and deadly; her experience given some limelight when cacodemons attack the group as they travel the Kiiyoten moors.

• Esoteric Happy Ending: Despite being able to save Shifra, Laeka'Draeon gives up his dragonic manna—meaning he will never again be a dragon. Also, while Belzor was successful revived, the cost was his memories—one of the most important things he had—since his love for his friends and time spent with them were what brought happiness to his (demanding and high-pressured) life. Then there's the matter of what happened to the dragons, and the fact that Laeka'Draeon never really got the chance to reunite with his family.
• Moe: Prince Korin is innocent, naïve and somewhat shy, and is adored by his subjects and those within his circles, and has a lot of people protective of him and concerned for his welfare.

• Tear Jerker: Most of the Heroic Sacrifice moments in the series.

• Ugly Cute: Goblins are not known for appealing physiques or comely features, and Tiel is no different, being scrawny and speckle-skinned with a bald head and beak-like mouth. And yet her sweet disposition and Woobie status make her endearing.

• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The series is marketed toward the Upper Middle-Grade audience (kids 10+ years), but the series does contain fantasy violence and bloody violence (not to an extreme extent, but still ...). There is also a torture scene, demon-summoning scene, frightening monsters, an arc involving slave trade, the death of a child character, plus (later in the series) the plot advances toward a violent clash of armies.
• The Woobie: Laeka’Draeon, for a short time, after he learns what happened to his family and the other dragons .
  • Poor little Ika is just a kitten (compared to the other pixie-cats) and is extremely terrified when she is captured and imprisoned (believing she and Maita will never be rescued—as per pixie-cat custom). Then, during the escape efforts, she gets a leg broken by a piece of debris from the wall smashed by Mothuurdresh.
  • The awful treatment Tiel receives from the others of her kind (due to her being a half-breed) is a particularly unfair and cruel situation for her. Made all the more awful since she is just a child, and a soft, sweet-natured one at that. One cannot help but feel sorry for the poor little thing.
  • Out of all the drakes, Dontriavien is the most melancholy and grief-stricken—and undergoes a particularly cruel bout of mental torment after his stone cocoon becomes possessed by evil beings. His sorrow is so permeating, that by just looking at him (after he is awakened and requests to see the sky and sea one last time) Laeka'Draeon is brought to tears.
• Woobie Species: The dragons, after it is discovered what happened to them after being cursed with the Sod'Minokul .
  • The serpentine drakes sacrificed their entire species (excluding the four guardians) in order to power the Beacon Thrones and avert the Manna Eruption that threatened to destroy Valadae at the end of the Elder Age. The four who remained were sealed in a kind of deep hibernation, although their consciousness' were very much active—enabling them to witness the unfolding of events across the kingdoms their respective Thrones protected. So, not only were they in a position to witness the horrors of the War of Shores (and could do nothing about it) and, much later, the desecration of their Thrones, they lived on through all the Ages with the memory of their kind's extinction.

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