[HPforGrownups] Dragons: Rowling v. McCaffrey

[Herald Talia]

No: HPFGUIDX 24487

Danette wrote.
> Robyn, If you are Weyr bred then you must know that if
> you ask any Weyr pair they will tell you that their
> partner is the most cuddly and comfortable thing they
> have ever seen.  I'll grant you that the main appeal
> is in the interpersonal relationships but Prefect
> Marcus is right, compared to Rowlings dragons
> McCaffrey's dragons are downright cuddly.
> PS Besides I always thought Ruth was the most adorable
> thing I'd ever seen. :)


	McCaffrey's dragons do breathe fire, go into killing rages, and have
been created to be weapons. Basically, JKR's dragons are beasts, there
doesn't seem to be too much intelligence and they REALLY seem ruled by
instincts. McCaffrey's dragons are intelligent - they are human in a lot
of ways, just in beast guise. They are the perfect "other" - a variation
on a witch with a familiar. (Mercedes's Lackey's Companions, and a lot of
other examples in fantasy/sci fi literature.) They're hardly Tribbles,
though.
	Ruth was cuddly - but Ruth was a sport, meant to be left to die, and not
bred to fight at all. The fire lizards are cuddly, though.
	Ok, I'll say it about another author - McCaffrey's *done* dragons, and
done that particular kind of dragon so well that anyone else is a
pathetic imitator. Rowling takes them in a different direction, and
someone already said, this is refreshing. 
	My next question is about Buckbeak, and hypogriffs in general. How
intelligent is he?
He doesn't seem to get it when Harry and Hermione are trying to save him,
he keeps trying to go to Hagrid. But he seems more intelligent in GoF
with Sirius. What gives? 

	Robyn, who really has to stop going OT to defend dragons. (Does the fact
that I think they need defending mean they really are cuddly? Perish the
thought!)  ; - )