Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #64: "The Dragon's Ploy"

Dragons are perpetually fascinating. Stories about them exist in many cultures. I knew them from European culture, but they also existed in Chinese myth and in the culture lore of other societies. Like vampires, they have developed character complexity over the centuries. In the Bible the Devil is represented as a dragon. Early dragons are brutal and destructive, like the dragon in Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen. But modern writers, as usual, began to question the usual characterization. Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit, is ruthless and cruel, but he is also wise and astute in a cynical, pragmatic way. Today readers will encounter wise and benevolent dragons. There are good dragons, loyal dragons, pet dragons, baby dragons, dragon friends and companions. The only thing that has not change is the fascination. We encounter dragons in Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Game of Thrones, among other stories. My first memories of dragons were not good.

As a kid, I was scared of "monsters," and this included dragons. I remember running out of the living room in fear when a commercial for Walt Disney's film Sleeping Beauty showed the Prince fighting the dragon the evil witch transforms to in the last scene. In school, though, a few years later, we read a story by a writer named Heywood Broun, "The Fifty-First Dragon." Dragons were much less scary in this story and it amused me because it talked about the dragons like they were matter-of-fact things that one might encounter in day-to-day life. 

Daenerys and dragons in Game of Thrones

I wrote the story "The Dragon's Ploy," in response to a call for submissions. I had never written a dragon story before and thought it would be fascinating to give my particular "take" to the genre. In this story a young man named Terrowin is caught kissing a young woman named Matilda who is in the King's employ. The king, named Rimauld, cruel and facing a rebellion, decides to make examples of them. As punishment, Terrowin is taken to a mountain where a dragon has just died. He is drugged and thrown into the dragon's cave, where he goes to sleep on a pile of cursed dragon's gold. Matilda is sentenced to be imprisoned in a tower for the rest of her life. 

He wakes up bewildered and then remembers what happened. A scene in C. S. Lewis' The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' where the character Eustace is transformed into a dragon greatly influenced me in this. When he fully comprehends what is happening, Terrowin is faced with a dilemma. His human side and his newly acquired "dragon" side begin to fight for dominance. He struggles to keep the dragon side subservient to his human spirit and manages to succeed. The only time he is overwhelmed by his dragon side is when he is flying and encounters a virgin. He devours her, not able to control himself. 

Matilda

Then he begins to wage war against King Rimauld. Terrowin flies over the kingdom and burns the estates of the King's main supporters. He incinerates Feste the Fool, who told the King about his attachment to Matilda. He attacks the castle and flings a cup from the dragon's lair into the tower where she is imprisoned. It is part of a ploy, and the ploy works. Thinking the dragon who was formerly Terrowin still has an attachment to Matilda, and knowing dragons have a distinct liking for virgins, he brings the wretched girl to the dragon's lair. But the king miscalculates. Terrowin is not driven mad with a desire to devour the young woman because of dragons' liking for virgins. He and Matilda, it seems, did more than kiss.

Having his senses about him, he frightens off the soldiers and kills the king. The King's sorcerer, Gaspar, is there, and says he knows how to change Terrowin back to his human form. He does not trust Gaspar, but Matilda vouches for him. He drinks a potion and wakes up in bed, changed back to his human form. The insurgency has taken over the kingdom. He is a hero. And, of course, he and Matilda marry and live happily ever after.

"The Dragon's Ploy" appeared in Hogglepot.  You can read it here.

For additional titles, novellas, and novels, check out my Writer's Page.

I would love to hear your comments. Do you have a favorite dragon story? Share it!

Check out my latest novel, Sinfonia: First Notes on the Lute. The vampire Nelleke Reitsma plays the lute well. Of course, she's had 300 years to practice. She performs for Queen Elizabeth and is very cozy with a playwright named William Shakespeare. But she has many other lovers and, like all vampires, a love of human blood.