# Plausible Explanations for Dragons



## Laurence (Feb 18, 2015)

I'm not using dragons in my story, and I know fantasy doesn't always need to be explained; I'm just curious. 

Have any of you guys ever worked out plausible reasons for dragons existing in a world? 

I'm intrigued, particularly in how the whole fire breathing thing would work. Are there any animals in real life which create/can withstand a crazy amount of heat?


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## CupofJoe (Feb 18, 2015)

I liked Terry Pratchett's rational for the small dragons... The fire-breathing is sort of reaction to the gastric distress of being an omnivore of the things other creatures didn't want to eat... and that Big Dragons are Magical...
Personally I go with "They are real... Deal with it!" as my rational...
I don't know about fire.. but there are definitely insects and smaller that can withstand incredible levels of heat, radiation, acid, alkali, pressure vacuum etc.
I love the Tardigrade... not really on the Dragon scale though... [no pun intended]


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## Gryphos (Feb 18, 2015)

My dragons are more eastern style in their design (long, no wings, whiskers, etc.). The explanation I give for them being able to fly is magic, like so many other things.


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## Hainted (Feb 18, 2015)

Considering the size of some modern animals and especially some prehistoric ones, dragons don't need to be explained. Now something that big being able to fly? well if magic is available in your world than it stands to reason dragons, if they are sapient, would have access to it as well.  Wizards can levitate or shape change to fly so it stands to reason dragons would as well. As for fire breathing? Since they lack true hands and/or  need all 4 limbs to move while on the ground they would focus any offensive spells around the one area they can freely move around and aim best with, their head.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 18, 2015)

I'm not one for bragging, but I'm quite happy about the conception of dragons I have in my WIP.

Dragons are purely magical creations, they did not come into being like normal animals. Which means that they were made by humans through magic. The stories about dragons existed like they do in our world, and some made magicians decided to make them real. To pull off a spell of the magnitude of creating a dragon, you need four things: a massive amount of energy, a large amount of conductive materials (like gold and gems), knowledge and a recepticle for the spell. Given the complexity of the spell, that spell recepticle will be a human that has been studying and learning about the spell for quite some time, he could even have his memories wiped to make him more of a clean slate.

Cast the spell, and there's your dragon.


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## stephenspower (Feb 18, 2015)

In my book there are two types of dragons (there are more in the world). One breathes fire, the other acid. 

The fire comes from two glands on either side of the mouth like the saliva glands, which produce "phlogiston." This chemical ignites on contact with air, so the dragon essentially takes a big breath, blows and releases the plogiston into the breath, creating fire. Biologically, it's purpose was to burn underbrush and get game running so the dragon could eat it. In the world, the phlogiston is extracted for use as lamp oil even cleaner and brighter than whale oil.

The acid dragon essentially spits stomach acid, which both kills and starts the digestive process, much the way a fly spews digestive fluids on its food, then sucks it up.

I've just figured out where dragons come from, but that'll have to wait for another story, one I'm dying to write but haven't figure out how to yet.


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## 2WayParadox (Feb 18, 2015)

that's how they explain the fire in that dragon film that I forgot the title of, set in modern earth

edit: reign of fire


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## Laurence (Feb 18, 2015)

stephenspower said:


> In my book there are two types of dragons (there are more in the world). One breathes fire, the other acid.
> 
> The fire comes from two glands on either side of the mouth like the saliva glands, which produce "phlogiston." This chemical ignites on contact with air, so the dragon essentially takes a big breath, blows and releases the plogiston into the breath, creating fire. Biologically, it's purpose was to burn underbrush and get game running so the dragon could eat it. In the world, the phlogiston is extracted for use as lamp oil even cleaner and brighter than whale oil.
> 
> ...



This is the kind of plausibility I'm really interested in. I'd like to create a beast that can damage people using its' breath, so I think I'll resort to either spitting venom or hot coals. Hot coals would be based on Gastroliths but I need a way for the beast to heat up it's stomach and eject the rocks!


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## Devor (Feb 18, 2015)

A "realistic" dragon would look a lot different than ones we normally see.  The wings would be much bigger, the body much smaller, and the fire work a little different.  But it can be done without too much handwaving and still look something like a dragon.

You just have to look at a napalm flame thrower to figure it out.  The dragon wouldn't spit fire but a hot blazing liquid.  It wouldn't be able to spit anywhere near as much fire, but that fire would be a lot more devastating than we usually picture it because the napalm wouldn't just vanish when the dragon stopped breathing.  If you're hit by dragon fire, you wouldn't just have a burning shield, but a shield covered with burning napalm.  You'll have a lot more trouble dealing with it.


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## WooHooMan (Feb 18, 2015)

Plausible reason for dragons to exist?  That seems like a weird question. I mean, why does any animal exist, y'know?  

Existentialism aside, how does fire breath work might be a better question.  I like the Elder Scrolls take: dragons say a magic word that shoots fire.  It passes through their mouth as a word and becomes fire once it is heard.  The fire is never inside their throat so they don't get burned.  Neat idea and it makes sense (in a setting where magic words are common).

I guess I'll talk about my take on dragons: they're humanoid, 8 or 9 feet tall, sentient.  I'm iffy on whether or not they should fly but they probably will.  Their fire breath comes from a type of magic based around breath control, basically magic yoga.  There are humans that practice this type of magic but dragons supposedly invented it.  So, very much in line with what the Elder Scrolls did.


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## Shreddies (Feb 18, 2015)

One way to justify the fire breath, similar to what was mentioned above, is that instead of converting oxygen to carbon dioxide they convert it (or nitrogen) into something else entirely (like phlogiston) which is mixed with something secreted by glands in the mouth (or nose) to ignite it. Similar to a pilot-light on a flamethrower.

You could explain that the exotic chemical that is exhaled is not flammable by normal means, so things don't spontaneously explode when the dragon is nearby. Or it could be a heavier-than-air toxic gas that is visible to the naked eye, which could explain some dragon's toxic breath rather than the fiery kind.
(I can picture a dragon's den with a thick layer of this gas creeping along the floor)

Their respiratory system could plausibly be fireproof, just in case there is ignited backwash. But it (backwash) could cause them to cough or have difficulty breathing, too.

For the burning blood that is mentioned in some legends, their blood could be ignited when it comes into contact with oxygen (which could be why their lungs don't process oxygen).


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## Laurence (Feb 18, 2015)

WooHooMan said:


> Plausible reason for dragons to exist?  That seems like a weird question. I mean, why does any animal exist, y'know?
> 
> Existentialism aside, how does fire breath work might be a better question.  I like the Elder Scrolls take: dragons say a magic word that shoots fire.  It passes through their mouth as a word and becomes fire once it is heard.  The fire is never inside their throat so they don't get burned.  Neat idea and it makes sense (in a setting where magic words are common).
> 
> I guess I'll talk about my take on dragons: they're humanoid, 8 or 9 feet tall, sentient.  I'm iffy on whether or not they should fly but they probably will.  Their fire breath comes from a type of magic based around breath control, basically magic yoga.  There are humans that practice this type of magic but dragons supposedly invented it.  So, very much in line with what the Elder Scrolls did.



Humanoid dragons sound interesting. Have you considered that only extremely fit dragons with large wings (or some kind of wing attachment) could fly? Might make for an interesting class split.

EDIT: Or that slaves of some sort would have their wings clipped.


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## Noldona (Feb 18, 2015)

My theory and what I am using for my world is they are large reptiles similar to dinosaurs. They are scaled, not feathered as some dinosaurs were, but the scales work similar as feathers.

The breath weapons are a biological aspect. Since my world is being build mainly for tabletop RPG campaigns, I am going to resort to the D&D list of breath weapon types. 
Fire: Glands that spit a chemical that ignites upon contact with air. Chemical is produced by bodily functions. (Same explanation as used in Reign of Fire and posted here by others)
Electricity: Bioelectrogenesis, similar to what an electric eel does
Acid: Stomach acid being spit similar to other spitting reptiles
Gas: Exhaling chlorine gas produced from digesting foods and other bodily functions
Cold: Spitting liquid nitrogen or similar thing which causes freezing. Liquid nitrogen is produced by bodily functions.

For flying, I would go say the younger of the species would be able to actively fly due to the surface area of their wings vs their lower body weight. As they grow, their body becomes heavier, and they are reduced to gliding. Great wyrms become so big, that they are incapable of flying. This would be similar to different varieties of the pterodactyl, and their abilities to fly.


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## Laurence (Feb 18, 2015)

Noldona said:


> My theory and what I am using for my world is they are large reptiles similar to dinosaurs. They are scaled, not feathered as some dinosaurs were, but the scales work similar as feathers.
> 
> The breath weapons are a biological aspect. Since my world is being build mainly for tabletop RPG campaigns, I am going to resort to the D&D list of breath weapon types.
> Fire: Glands that spit a chemical that ignites upon contact with air. Chemical is produced by bodily functions. (Same explanation as used in Reign of Fire and posted here by others)
> ...



You may be interested in this.

Awesome ideas - I'm really interested in how plausible it'd be to have a land animal, other than bugs, having the ability to shock.


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## arbiter117 (Feb 18, 2015)

There was a discovery channel thing I watched about a "real" dragon found preserved in the Alps. They talked about how its bones were hollow, making them light weight. When the dragons ate, they had a special set of air sacs that would accumulate hydrogen byproducts from their digestive processes. The hydrogen was needed for breathing fire and for flying. So if a dragon breathed too much fire, it would be too heavy to fly.


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## SM-Dreamer (Feb 18, 2015)

I have a lot of draconic creatures in my world, and most of what they do is due to magic. True dragons were once domesticated by elves for thousands of years, so I just go by the theory of magical tampering. They are products of magic, and they are magic, thus, they exist in the way that they do.


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## WooHooMan (Feb 18, 2015)

Laurence said:


> Humanoid dragons sound interesting. Have you considered that only extremely fit dragons with large wings (or some kind of wing attachment) could fly? Might make for an interesting class split.
> 
> EDIT: Or that slaves of some sort would have their wings clipped.



This is a really good idea.  Classism would fit since I'm going with a "survival of the fittest" barbarian vibe for them.  Thanks, Laurence.  Very helpful.


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## Nimue (Feb 18, 2015)

It's a less serious source of inspiration, but I immediately thought of How to Train Your Dragon-- not exactly a heavily realistic world, but there's a species of dragon there that breathes a flammable gas and then ignites it via a sparking mechanism in its throat.  I imagine if the exhalation and the spark were timed correctly, perhaps by the autonomic nervous system, there wouldn't actually be any fire inside the dragon.  You know, ideally.


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## Swordfry (Feb 18, 2015)

Laurence said:


> This is the kind of plausibility I'm really interested in. I'd like to create a beast that can damage people using its' breath, so I think I'll resort to either spitting venom or hot coals. Hot coals would be based on Gastroliths but I need a way for the beast to heat up it's stomach and eject the rocks!



The ejection could simply be some form of induced vomiting. I believe there are even modern animals that do this as a defense mechanism.....could be wrong.

As for the rocks, for your hot coals idea: some herbivore dinosaurs would swallow rocks to help grind up and digest the plant material in their stomachs. So you could do something like that.

So you'd have a vomiting dragon spitting up highly acidic stomach acid and rocks. Sounds gross, but cool to me. Also more plausible than freaking fire breath.


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## Laurence (Feb 19, 2015)

That's been exactly my plan actually - gastroliths all the way! Although I may give the beast the ability to heat up it's stomach enough to spit out glowing hot rocks.


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## wordwalker (Feb 19, 2015)

I've mused on this before, that the Quetzalcoatlus was a 500-pound pterasaur, a flying reptile the size of a lion-- so it pretty much _is_ a minor dragon, especially if you add some cunning or a simple breath weapon like spitting poison.

But another answer is in The Flight of Dragons, a book (the movie's very different) that ties together everything from from flying to hoards to Medusa. Peter Dickinson's theory is that dragons could have been living balloons that burned off excess gas in their breath. It explains everything, though it leaves dragons an almost literal "paper tiger" with such weak hides and no real attack except faces evolved to terrify. But a fantasy writer could always add more power, tougher scales, and so on.

It's all about scale.  A smaller dragon without thick armor wouldn't need a hero with a runesword (or a Black Arrow) to kill it, just a common bowman with a lot of nerve.


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## Saigonnus (Feb 19, 2015)

I went a slightly different way with dragons in my world. That way is to make them naturally evolving creatures, just like any other on Aern. They differ somewhat from the traditional depictions of dragons, though they are still large lizards. The first difference is that they don't fly. Instead; like the flying squirrel, they have membrane that allows them to glide fairly long distances depending on the thermals and updrafts obviously. Their claws can pierce nearly any material easily, so they like to cling to rocky outcroppings or large trees and drop onto unsuspecting prey far below. 

The second difference is that they don't have a breath weapon. I chose to employ methods found in the real world. Their saliva is very acidic; for breaking down flesh quickly, and they can spit this a short distance; like the spitting adder. They tend to go for the eyes to blind the target, make the kill easier. 

Another difference is that they are smaller that stereotypical dragons. The largest only get to be about 20 feet long from nose to tail. They are used as mounts by a couple of the cultures of my world, and trained to work side by side with humans in most others, since they are intelligent. 

Given that they live in pods in the wild, they can be very dangerous to those that pass into their territory; which given that they are cold-blooded are usualky the warmer climates. There is some variety though, as there are also arctic dwelling types with a special heating system in their body allowing them to subsist nearly anywhere on the planet. This heating system requires more energy, thus more food, so in the lean times, they will keep the burners on low and hibernate.


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## Shreddies (Feb 19, 2015)

Laurence said:


> I'm really interested in how plausible it'd be to have a land animal, other than bugs, having the ability to shock.



I've got your lightning dragon right here: Electrolaser 

Mechanical, but still food for thought.


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## ArenRax (Feb 25, 2015)

My dragons were created before the Universe of the realms of creation existed, they lived in a seperate universe, Raphael is an Immortal all powerful creator and he created the Dragons as magical, Immortal, and all powerful. They were Makers. they created worlds 1 at a time while The creators created Universes. The Dragons were forced to flee from there universe as did the Creators so Raphael bridged his universe with another and they traveled but Raphael was left behind as he held back the Dark Void. but over the years the Dragons were enslaved by Elemental Overlords adn the dragons lost there Immortality and there maker powers and the stayed slaves to each element until The Last of the maker dragons appeared and each one freed the enslaved dragons and each one created gods and became Kings. There are the elemental Dragon kings of Aqua(ice and water), Fire(Volcanic and Fire), Dark,Death,Light,Life,Earth,Sky, and then there are the Emperor dragons who are masters of all elements. the Emperor is the lord over all dragons. and then there is the last King. The Lost King of the dragon makers.

My MC is the Dragon Crown Prince of Fire. he has a second soul that is the dragon god of fire who was incidently related to the Dragon Creator Raphael.


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## Bruce McKnight (Feb 27, 2015)

2WayParadox said:


> Cast the spell, and there's your dragon.



A wizard did it!


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## ArenRax (Mar 3, 2015)

meh. i like my explanation


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## S.T. Ockenner (Jan 8, 2021)

As dragons are usually magic creatures, you could also come up with magical explanations:
 1. They are mages, and can cast spells with their incantations that resemble breath magic 
 2. They are descended from elemental spirits, and can manipulate their element through their breath
 3. Dragons have a special kind of magic that allows them a single magical breath projectile, such as fire or poisonous thorns- they expel it through a sort of magical combustion in their mouth 
 4. Dragons are gods
 5. Dragons have elemental portals in their mouths 
 6. Dragons have tiny pyromancers living in their stomachs that shoot fire (this one is my favorite)


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## JunkMonger122 (Jan 14, 2021)

My dragons vary quite a bit, but a cool thing I did was change their breath attack to a Soul Lazer rather than your traditional flamethrower.


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