My 10 Favourite Dragons

I’m not a huge fan of the Hobbit series when it comes to the LOTR universe. When I did see The Desolation of Smaug in theaters. I could tell that Smaug was a dragon meant to be feared. It was the only movie out of the trilogy that I enjoyed, and that whole silence and slightly eerie music when Bilbo enters the treasure chamber had me on the edge of my seat, especially when he moves….(I don’t know, was it a goblet?) and then all the coins slide down to reveal Smaug sleeping within all that treasure. I am pleased that he decided to emerge from out of there. I wasn’t expecting him to talk, we don’t get to see enough talking creatures in Middle-Earth, so that was a bonus. He was clearly very intimidating in many ways and I only wish he lasted longer in the trilogy before being killed by the black arrow. His role was too small, and I hate it when dragons get killed off like that.

The largest and most aggressive out of the three dragons raised by Daenerys Targaryen. Drogon was named after Dany’s late husband. I have been watching him grow along with his brothers Viserion and Rhaegal throughout the books and HBO series. By now he should be fully grown and once a dragon is grown, he’s a badass. Drogon has had his moments in the series that truly make me cheer on the couch, such as then time when Dany “offers” him to Kraznys and instead she tricks him and Drogon burns him alive. But my favourite moment will always be when he arrives in Daznak’s pit, Dany mounts and rides him out of the arena. “Valahd,” I guess it means take flight and we all know what “Dracarys” means! I really hope that he will make an appearance in the next book, as well as the new season. I am itching for some more action with Dany’s dragons, especially Drogon.

You may or may not be familiar with the anime Bakugan, and this is one of the two dragons in that series that I love the most. I wrote ages ago how only the first season appealed to me, and then I stopped watching. Hydranoid is the main Darkus Bakugan used by Masquerade who serves Naga in hopes of merging Vestroia with Earth once Naga has the two cores of his world. Hydranoid was the strongest Bakugan on the leaderboards when children thought that Bakugan was a mere game. Hydranoid has 450Gs which indicates how powerful he is. He started off with just one head, then then evolved to have two, and finally three. His form with three heads is the best because he gets wings, can shoot tentacles, three bolts at once, and of course the massive buzz saw on his chest. Spoiler alert! When Masquerade is revealed to actually be Alice, Hydranoid now battles with her when Masquerade ceases to be her alter ego. What sucks however, is that she doesn’t battle with him very long, and (to my annoyance) abandons him because she saw her grandfather still under Naga’s control after defeating one of his minions. She could have used Hydranoid to fend off Naga until Drago arrived! Then in the next season I think he returns to Alice but she rarely battles with him anymore. Why if Hydranoid was my Bakugan, he would be my go-to one and we would battle all the time!

The main antagonist from season 1 of the anime Bakugan. Naga was a badass right from the start and as soon as he merged himself with the Silent Core and broke free, that’s when he got even more awesome. Naga desired to seize control of Vestroia to make it his own, merge it with the other worlds, and gain ultimate power. All those who would remain dwelling there would serve him. His twin sister Wyvern would try to stand up to him, but he needed the Infinity core from her in order to reach his goal. In my own story, Naga desires the same thing and when Wyvern is drawn into the Infinity core, she summons a pendant, source of the one to become a master of dragons to unite Naga’s people against him. That is where I come in since I am that dragon master. After reaching my true form, Naga merges himself with the Silent core to increase his power, recruits many underlings, and his apprentice Hydranoid temporarily takes command and evolves until Naga breaks free. I would write the entire story here, but I’m saving all of it for another article. Naga is truly a badass, and it’s a shame he didn’t get enough screen time and his death was too abrupt for my liking. I didn’t copy everything from Naga’s original plan for my own story however, his minions are a lot different. I started this fantasy back when I was 14 and it has existed in my brain ever since.

The leader of the Greybeards, old and wise, Paarthurnax is the true mentor of the Dovahkiin. When I first met him in the game, I was pleased that there was finally a dragon that was friendly. You’ll spend almost twenty minutes talking to him for the first time, but it’s worth it because it finally helps you understand what it means to be Dragonborn. I remember I wrote about how conversations in video games can also be exciting, and it depends on who you talk to. Paarthurnax is a good example of this. I love him so much that I named my baby dragon plush doll after him. I can’t believe the Blades eventually want you to kill him, but luckily doing that is not mandatory to complete the main quest. I have never completed the main quest, if my laptop could run Skyrim then you bet I would actually finish it this time. I could never bring myself to kill Paarthurnax, he is my mentor and the wisest out of all the dragons that I love. I would spend all day at the Throat of the World just to keep him company. He must be pretty lonely up there, I would live in Ivarstead so I could visit him more easily. Wait, what if I don’t want to climb those stairs all the time? Maybe I could just pitch a tent close to the peak beyond High Hrothgar and live there. Finding food might be a challenge though, but oh well, at least he’ll have my company.

More commonly known as the World Eater, Alduin is the antagonist in TES V: Skyrim. I remember the first time I saw him when I started my first play through, well actually, everyone should. You’re about to have your head chopped off at the block, then he arrives and attacks Helgan. He’s a badass, and it’s, in my opinion, epic when you catch him flying around a burial site resurrecting a dragon, and these ones have names. His voice is dark and sinister, and I wish he spoke the common tongue more often. Paarthurnax does, and he will often slip words in his own language between sentences. Alduin is just known to do either one or the other. One of my most epic battles, was the time I was on my way to Skyhaven Temple. I fast traveled to Rorikstead, and as soon as I arrived in the village, I could see something shooting up into the sky. Yep, that was Alduin’s doing. I sprinted up the hill just to catch him flying around the burial site and the dragon climbed out revived. I have only battled Alduin himself once on the Throat of the World with Paarthurnax, and that’s the farthest I’ve ever gone in the main quest before succumbing to other distractions, unfortunately. Nevertheless, Alduin is a dragon to not be underestimated.

A lot of people call him “Blue Eyes” for short, and his name is based off his appearance, (duh). Anyway, when I was a child, my brother and I used to have Yugioh cards and we would duel all the time. He had Blue Eyes in his deck and I could never defeat him…or maybe I could, I just didn’t know how to play. My strongest monster was the Dark Magician, but before I got my own starter deck, we would split my brother’s deck and somehow he always ended up with Blue Eyes in his half. I think he did that on purpose. That being said, a dragon with a simple name, I thought that Blue Eyes was a badass, especially after watching a few episodes of the anime. I thought at that point that monsters like him and Exodia were the strongest out there, and yes they are both powerful, but they’re not the strongest of all. Blue Eyes has 3,000 attack points, which is pretty tough to beat I’ll say. I kind of wish that I was the one that had him in my card collection before I unfortunately gave them away. I thought it was cool how he breathes white lightning that disintegrates his opponents just like that. You know what they say, close to invincibility very few have faced this creature and lived to tell the tale. I can only guess that Kaiba (is that his name?) was searching for cards of Blue Eyes so he could eventually use that Fusion card to combine them into one, that three-headed Blue Eyes Ultimate. C’mon, even if you didn’t pursue the franchise much, everyone should remember Yugi’s first duel with Kaiba from the first episode of the anime! 

Yep, I have to add a classic to this list! Mushu resembles those classic dragons that you’ll see in any Chinese parade in the new year, and in Chinese mythology. (this is what I love about their country, they have many myths and folklore about dragons. I should really get in to reading some of that stuff) I grew up with Mulan….like so many of you have, and it is still one of my favourite Disney movies to date. I’ve watched it probably a million times by now. Aside from liking Mulan herself, and Shan Yu, Mushu is definitely my favourite character in the Disney universe that provides the comic relief. He is voiced by Eddie Murphy and he’s known for doing the comical roles in movies it seems. Mushu wants to be Mulan’s guardian and after his plan to awaken the stone dragon goes badly wrong, he plots to make Mulan a war hero so he can earn the trust of the ancestors again. But most of you know that already! He has so many hilarious lines in the movie, but my favourite would definitely have to be “Did you see those Huns? They popped out of the snow…..like daisies!” (hence why I reference that sometimes whenever I talk about things popping out), my second favourite line is when Mulan makes her plan to lure Shan Yu to the roof of the palace, Mushu and Cricket fly over to the fireworks tower and he spreads those wings. “Your worst nightmare!”, yep he’s a classic dragon with lots of memorable moments, and I almost forgot about him while making this list. I was running out of ideas until I remembered that he would count as well.

I grew up watching my brother playing the classic PS1 Spyro games before I started playing them myself. I wish I could go back to them now. Spyro may be small, but he’s not to underestimated either. Never judge a dragon by his size! You will likely pay for it later. Even though Spyro still does not (from what I know so far) possess traits that make him seem powerful; I mean, he can glide with his wings but they aren’t large enough for flying yet, and he can’t breathe fire very far. He still is able to do stuff that other dragons can’t. I’m not talking just fitting into small holes and stuff, I’m talking about his courage that he has to save all his friends from Gnasty Gnorc when they are encased in stone. Gives up his vacation time to collect orbs and talismans throughout Avalar in order to defeat Ripto thus bringing peace to the land once again. Then of course there is journeying to the forgotten worlds to bring back all the stolen dragon eggs. While all the other dragons stayed home, Spyro was the one who got stuff done. He doesn’t let a challenge stop him from helping others who need him. He makes new friends and enemies along the way, and I’m just feeding my nostalgia by writing this, so remind me to hook up my PS1 again and get those classic games going again.

Last but not least, I’d like to put Toothless on this list. I had seen clips and trailers of How to Train Your Dragon, and didn’t watch it and the sequel until I found them both on Netflix. That series is probably one of my favourite series in DreamWorks now aside from Shrek. Toothless is one of the most adorable dragons in movies today, and he gets his name from his ability to make his teeth disappear inside his mouth. He is one of the only Night Fury dragons to be seen and when he attacks Berk, he keeps it very secret, so no one will discover him. Hiccup hopes to prove himself to his family and the rest of the village, so he unknowingly shoots Toothless out of the sky and he loses one of his tail fins that allows him to fly properly. Hiccup soon finds him, and manages to tame and train Toothless, allowing him to fly with his assistance. This makes Hiccup realize that dragons are very misunderstood creatures. Who doesn’t love Toothless now? He’s adorable, and I wish I could ride him, in fact I would rather ride any dragon rather than kill one!

While I was still struggling to come up with ten dragons on my list, my mom suggested I add Puff, and I didn’t know who Puff was until she played the song for me by Peter Paul & Mary. It’s s story about a dragon named Puff who lives by the sea on a land called Honah Lee. Just listen to the song and you’ll know what his story is all about. The song has been stuck in my head for days now, and I had tears in my eyes once I learned that the boy Jackie Paper, whom Puff befriended eventually passed away. Poor Puff was heartbroken. Dragons live for thousands of years, but sadly little boys do not.

Since Drogon made my list of ten favourites, I don’t think it would be fair to at least give mentions to his brothers Viserion and Rhaegal. Named after Dany’s deceased brothers. Viserion is golden and Rhaegal is green. Not as hostile as Drogon, but still rebelling by the time season 4 hits. Dany shackles and puts them in the crypts of Mereen, so it’s no wonder they get pissed when she comes to see them in the season 5 premiere, but once Tyrion goes to visit them in season 6, my views changed. Remember when Dany makes the slave masters in Mereen be eaten by them? That was having too much control and I think Dany was taking that a little to far no matter how cool it was. Here’s to hoping that Viserion and Rhaegal can find some way out of the crypt, but there’s no telling how they will treat their mother from then on.

My favourite Pokemon species, I love just about all of them, not just the legendary ones, most of them are in this crowd here. Some of them are cool, some of them are unusual and seeing Dragonite reminds me of how easy as hell the champion at the league in SoulSilver was, half of his Pokemon were Dragonites! Not one of my favourites, most dragon type Pokemon I like and catch/evolve to get them. Now that the fairy type has been added to the species, I find myself enraged that they are stronger than dragons. I don’t know, fairies are just too girlish for me, who needs magic when you can fly, breathe fire and all that stuff? Precisely, the dragons in Pokemon together make an unstoppable army combined with steel and fire. Those three my readers, are my favourite types together.

So there you have it, ten favourite dragons of mine, plus honorable mentions to those I couldn’t include in the list yet. My love for these mythical creatures is like my love for chocolate molten lava cake, as soon as I see it, I crave it.

This was a pretty lengthy post, so who the hell knows who will read through all of it, but I’m sure you dragon-lovers will!

-Emily