George R.R. Martin Compares ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ Dragons and Confirms News About Them

Dragons are mythological creatures that usually appear in fantasy products, although their portrayal tends to be quite different from one work to another. George R.R. Martin, author of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ and one of the creators of ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘House of the Dragon’, has reflected on this issue on his blog and explained how he imagines these creatures. He has compared them to those of other novels such as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Eragon’, while recalling one of the mistakes made when adapting his saga to television.

‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ dragons look like this

“Every culture has its own version of dragons; Chinese dragons are wingless and do not breathe fire. They bring good luck. Traditional western dragons bring mostly fire and death… but modern fantasists have played with that a lot too. The dragons of ERAGON and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON are very different from mine own. (Toothless is even cute)”, has written. “Tolkien’s dragons were always evil, servants of Morgoth and Sauron. They were akin to his orcs and trolls. JRRT did not do friendly dragons.   His dragons were intelligent, though.   Smaug talks.” Martin’s, on the other hand, have some intelligence but do not speak.

“Before Peter Jackson’s Smaug, the best dragon ever seen on film was Vermithrax Pejorative in DRAGONSLAYER. Two legs and two wings, dangerous, fire-breathing, a flyer, does not talk” and doesn’t wallow in gold. “An inspiration for all dragonlovers.”

Martin has emphasized that his dragons “do not talk,” that “they are relatively intelligent,” but that “they are still beasts.” They bond with “some humans,” something he will explain in “The Winds of Winter,” the anticipated new novel in the saga, which has no release date. “Like wolves and bears and lions, dragons can be trained, but never entirely tamed.   They will always be dangerous. Some are wilder and more wilful than others.  They are individuals, they have personalities… and they often reflect the personalities of their riders, thanks to bond they share are.” They have their own personalities, sometimes reflected in their own riders because of the bond they maintain. “They do not care a whit about gold or gems, no more than a tiger would.”

The second season of “House of the Dragon” has already passed the halfway point and is heading towards the end of the adventure, although it will return for a third season.