Would you buy dragons?

[Krolyn]

OK, so in my story the villian gets banished from this kingdom, and is forced to trek across the entire world to a desolate land to colonize. On the way, he buys a couple of things he would need to survive, and in so doing, he bought two dragons.

I started thinking, can you buy dragons?

[GriffinMaiden]

I would think you could buy anything as long as you had the money for it and a place to keep it.

Now, if this is one of those rhetorical questions where you're asking if I personally would buy a dragon, assuming they existed...eh, depends on what type it'd be. A huge, man-eating fire-breather--probably not (I wouldn't last long!). A small one about the size of a cat--perhaps. I would have to make everything flame-retardant, though, or else hope it couldn't breathe fire.

Of course, I personally have my own preferences for fantastical creatures. One glance at my username should tell you what my number-one favorite is. ;) So if I really had the choice...it wouldn't be a dragon.

[Krolyn]

Lol, I meant it in story aspects. If you could in medieval days buy a dragon, as opposed to only finding the egg...

[caraez]

If the villian has a reason for some kind of animal like that (as a guard or whatever) I dont see what's stopping him. Unless in your story-world dragons are very free and wild and hard-to-tame creatures, I think it makes sense.

[GriffinMaiden]

Haha, that's what I thought, but the title of your thread starts with "would," which makes it sound rhetorical, so I wasn't sure how to read it.

Hey Krolyn, guess what--it's your fantasy universe. :) You can do whatever you want, as long as it's logical enough to the reader to suspend disbelief. So, as caraez says, if the villain has a use for the dragon(s), and a way to get his hands on them, then why not have him buy them? If they can't be bought, figure out another method, such as theft, capture, or enchantment (I'm assuming where there be dragons, there be magic?). Anything works, as long as it makes some level of sense. That's the beauty of fantasy! ^_^

[Tundra]

Probably, yes. You could buy people, once, right? And you can buy cattle and horses, right?

[butterfly]

People will sell whatever someone else will buy, and people can buy anything somebody else is prepared to sell. So, assuming dragons exist, there is no reason why they could not be bought or sold. Probably, your biggest issue is how the dragons are bought. Are dragons easy to come by, available from the local pet store? Are they extremely rare and only available from a small number of sellers? Is their sale illegal, therefore this is a cloak-and-dagger, middle of the night, deep in the forest type transaction? Is their existence denied, and therefore only a few know the "secret"? Is this a planned purchase, or an opportunistic, met a guy in the pub Hagrid-style purchase?

[Krolyn]

There's this universal marketplace where everyone from the entire world comes to trade and sell. And it is here that the villain buys a couple of dragons. Is that logical, or should it be something else?

[caraez]

Logical to me :)

[Dwiesel McAllister]

There's this universal marketplace where everyone from the entire world comes to trade and sell. And it is here that the villain buys a couple of dragons. Is that logical, or should it be something else?

It sounds logical to me. In my series, I have an Open Market, which sounds like a similar system to yours.

Are dragons like firearms? Do you have to have a special permit to own and operate one? If that's the case, your villain may have some trouble there. If not, I think you're good to go. Besides, anyone who would sell dragons probably wouldn't be too fussed about paperwork anyway...

I personally would not buy a dragon. I have enough things already that try to eat my cats. Coyotes, hawks, owls, errant dogs, my own dogs...:?

[Orion283]

I'd say it depends a lot on what your dragons are like, primarily how fast they mature and whether or not they're intelligent. Sorcerous dragons with intellects that outshine humans aren't likely to stay anyone's pet for long, but may willingly become a loyal companion. Savage dragons can be dangerous beasts to tame, and who knows how you'd convince a mature savage dragon to listen to you.

Either way, in theory you could maybe buy a dragon egg and raise it from a whelp, but unless he's got some particular way of controlling it he'll likely have problems down the line.

[Dwiesel McAllister]

I'd say it depends a lot on what your dragons are like, primarily how fast they mature and whether or not they're intelligent. Sorcerous dragons with intellects that outshine humans aren't likely to stay anyone's pet for long, but may willingly become a loyal companion.


You could buy people, once, right?

:shock: Dragon Slavery?? It probably won't fit in with your world at all, but it's an intriguing concept...

[Krolyn]

There's nothing overwhelmingly special about my dragons that place them in a class above the humans/human-like beings. They can talk, but other than that, I haven't specified anything.

Is it more logical to buy a dragon egg over a dragon itself? They aren't really savages...they can be tamed/warm up to their owners.

[brightdream]

The key here is very simple:

The reader is going to believe anything you can make believable for your world. As long as buying dragons seems like something that just happens easily in your world and you set that up then the reader isn't going to have a problem with it.

You could have purple plaid paisley dragons the size of a finger nail that could magically devour full grown people and the reader would buy it as long as it works IN THAT WORLD and you establish that's how things are.

Readers of fantasy novels are usually pretty forgiving. As long as it's explained as this is how it works here and none of the characters think it's out of the ordinary then the reader isn't going to think it is either.


In George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series there are only three dragons left in the world. Most of the world doesn't know they exist. The woman who has them got them as eggs, so they are still babies. But I do think she does sell two of them at one point (then gets them back later *I think* been a while, think they eat the people she sold them to or something). But I didn't find it at all distracting that she was selling them because it made sense in the context of the novel and the world.

[alcar]

Anything that is a commodity can be sold. If dragons are wild animals, they must be captured, tamed etc. A lot would depend on how difficult this is, how dangerous they are, and how actually useful a dragon is. Do they obey orders? Can someone bespell them and steal them? Do they reek? Is their crap corrosive? Do they eat too much? Are they illegal WMD (Weapons of Magical Destruction)?

From a purely practical pov, a flying lizard would be all kinds of useful travel wise. The Boeing of its day, allowing characters to get from A to B quite handily.

[Dwiesel McAllister]

Is their crap corrosive?

That is gold, alcar. Solid gold!! :lol:

Is it more logical to buy a dragon egg over a dragon itself? They aren't really savages...they can be tamed/warm up to their owners.

That depends on if it's more logical for your villain to buy the dragon as an egg. Even though the dragon may warm up to him, it may not be ok with its owner's villainous activities and nom on him to earn his freedom. If you prefer to have a villain buy an egg, he could indoctrinate the youngster from the time of hatching.

Then again, how long does it take for a dragon to mature, and would your villain be willing to hold off on his villainous plots for that long? A year or two might be an acceptable delay, but unless your villain is immortal, a delay of 100 years might be far too long.

The reader is going to believe anything you can make believable for your world. As long as buying dragons seems like something that just happens easily in your world and you set that up then the reader isn't going to have a problem with it.

You could have purple plaid paisley dragons the size of a finger nail that could magically devour full grown people and the reader would buy it as long as it works IN THAT WORLD and you establish that's how things are.

Readers of fantasy novels are usually pretty forgiving. As long as it's explained as this is how it works here and none of the characters think it's out of the ordinary then the reader isn't going to think it is either.

This is excellent advice, in my opinion (not like that counts for anything, but hey!) If buying full-grown dragons is an acceptable practice in your world, write it!

[Krolyn]

I haven't shown in other places people buying it, but I guess it could be implied since it is a popular, global marketplace where everyone sells and buys there.

My villain does not have the time to wait for an egg to hatch, unless I make it earlier in the story, which isn't really a problem. He is on the run, abandoning his home kingdom, taking with him a group of followers, and he stops to get a dragon to ease travel, etc.

[brightdream]

I would think if there are vendors set up with stores selling dragons or something in this marketplace and it seems common and ordinary within the story then people aren't going to worry about it.

You will have to figure out why he wants a dragon and make it seem logical to get one. You say to ease travel, but if he's running with a group I'd think flying on a dragon would be a bit difficult for a group. Unless it's a dragon the size of an airplane, in which case it might be a bit more difficult to show them being sold but not impossible.

Also, not all dragons are big winged fire breathing dragons that are ferocious. There are MANY types of dragons and dragon like creatures and they're being reinvented all the time. The Pern books the dragons there were bred specifically for a purpose and trained to serve with man. Dragon can refer to any dragon-like creature. You say yours can talk. That means they're at least semi-intelligent. Are they enslaved? In which case your villain might be in trouble if he gets one that doesn't want to be a slave. But then again they could be domesticated and raised to believe that is the way the world works for them so they don't think of anything but serving people. Or they could be benevolent creatures that want to help man, but in that case I can't really see them allowing themselves to be sold and traded.

It still all boils down to how you make it work in the story. Is this a major plot point? Is the dragon absolutely essential to the rest of the story? Don't waste time worrying about the tiny things. If you set it up that dragons CAN be purchased there and the villain gets one with no problems then again I don't think readers are going to have a problem.

I would think people selling dragons would have domesticated them from birth so I don't think they'd need raised from an egg (by your villain, I assume the seller already did that). Unless they are caught wild and forced into slavery, in which case I'd reconsider the wisdom of buying a large creature that could be very difficult to control. Sounds like your villain has enough to worry about.

Also there are current books about an intelligent dragon that is raised from an egg to serve in the army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temeraire_(series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temeraire_%28series))

If you're really worried about the dragon angle read some books where intelligent dragons are used in ways like this and see how it was done and consider options for your world.

But I think personally you're worrying too much about something that most readers won't even notice.

[Predak123]

I think the bigger question is; where did the vendors get the eggs? Are dragons lazy parents that abandon their eggs like turtles do, or are they protective like chickens? If they're just buried around, I think pet dragons would be cheap and plentiful. If you had to sneak them away from the parents, on the other hand, the danger would greatly raise the price.

How many eggs in a clutch? How often do dragons mate? What's the gestation period?

Are baby dragons very dependent on their parents, or are they self-sufficient? Why don't they leave their owner when they hit puberty?

[Bloodcider]

This thread is half a year old and Krolyn hasn't logged in since August. You might not get any answers.