# How to kill or defeat a Dragon?



## Ruby (Jan 8, 2014)

I'm writing a couple of stories for Challenges here which feature dragons. I wonder if any of you have any knowledge or ideas about how to kill or defeat a dragon?

The most famous dragon is probably Smaug who has a weak spot. 

Can dragons be killed with spears, arrows, swords, axes etc? If they breathe fire how does the knight get close enough to kill?


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## MFreako (Jan 8, 2014)

A gigantic poisoned steak. 

More seriously, (and I know I'm not being very helpful) I'm thinking anything that works within your story. Can't really say what that is without knowing more about your world and your take on dragons.


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## Super Fun Pop (Jan 8, 2014)

Well dragon's real life comparison today would probably be that of an Alligator or Crocodile; their 'soft' underbelly is quite different and less armored than their upper body plating which is pretty dense. In Beowulf, a weak spot like this is mentioned. 

"iglaf finds the dragon's weak spot on its neck and hits it with his sword."

Another obvious weak spot would be the dragon's eyes, as they probably wouldn't have much protection, just like those of a Alligator or Croc. Depending on the type of dragon, like those in Skyrim 'frost dragons' and such, you'd use their natural elemental opposite like fire? For fire breathing run of the mil dragons, they're probably cold blooded like Crocs or Gators so cold or ice would render them weak or dead.

You then have the less obvious things like sickness, poisons, starvation, bloodloss, and just about any medical problem any human could suffer. Pancreatic cancer? liver disease? these things would undoubtedly affect a dragon as well. (this is more a indirect weakness).

You then have magic and the arcane, which I can leave up to your imagination. Spells, curses, and summoned spirits or monsters could also quickly dispatch a dragon...

Or you could just get eaten and kill the dragon from the inside like Tommy Lee Jones in MIB.


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## Ruby (Jan 8, 2014)

Hi MFreako. If a dragon was attacking your castle and blasting fire through the windows, could it be killed by arrows? Alternatively, if a knight approached it in its cave with a sword, how would he get close enough to kill it?


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## Noma Galway (Jan 8, 2014)

> If a dragon was attacking your castle and blasting fire through the windows, could it be killed by arrows?


I feel like normal arrows would be incinerated by the fire, depending on where you're shooting from. Also, dragon hide is notoriously thick. You'd have to get a _very_ lucky shot to kill it, or even wound it.


> Alternatively, if a knight approached it in its cave with a sword, how would he get close enough to kill it?


Is it awake or asleep? If asleep, don't make noise and sneak up around it, nowhere near its nose, find your way to its underside, and stab it there. A consistent idea in Tolkien's works (and I only mention this because you mentioned Smaug) is that dragons' undersides were far more vulnerable than the rest of them-see Glaurung in the Quenta Silmarillion.

Hope this helps!


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## Queshire (Jan 8, 2014)

Personally I don't really get the whole underbelly weakness thing. Seeing how they fly, wouldn't their bellies be the first thing exposed to an enemy? Let's see..... A large part of the answers to your question depends on what the dragons in your setting are like. In my setting, Dragons are a type of inter-dimensional eldritch abomination. If one was attacking your castle regular arrows wouldn't be able to affect it, but by charging it up with magic the arrows can become as powerful as an armor piercing sniper bullet. They range in power, some you can defeat one on one, but most would require a coordinated assault from a team of mages, fighters, rogues, and clerics.

For a knight to get close enough to one, there's sneaking while its asleep, distracting it with conversation, proving yourself to be entertaining to the dragon while fighting its minions, or just using magic to buff your physical abilities to superman levels and just charging in.


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## Malik (Jan 8, 2014)

You kill a snake or a gator by shooting it through the head and wrecking its brain. The heart is very small, comparatively, and really hard to hit. The brain isn't an easy shot, either; a ten-foot gator has a brain the size of a baseball and the rest of the skull is muscle and bone. You can also kill an alligator by shooting into its open mouth. You really have to get to the brain on a reptile, or you just have a very angry reptile. This is assuming, of course, that your dragon is a reptile. 

Dragons are magical -- they can't exist in the real world; the physics doesn't support it -- so their physiology is suspect. An example of this is the pegasi in my books, who were created by sorcerers and are bred with the help of magic. There is no way, physically, they could ever fly. Their hearts and lungs are too small, their bones are too thick. I just kind of hand-wave over this, though, because they're cool. 

So if dragons need magic to keep them alive, maybe someplace out there is a device or a sorcerer who can negate other magic. You could give a character an amulet that radiates an anti-magic field. The flip side of this is, he/she can't be healed by magic, hidden by magic, communicated with or teleported by magic, etc. That could get really complicated really fast and put the character into situations that would be fun to write. But get that character close enough to the dragon -- maybe trick the dragon into eating the amulet? I'm just spitballing, here -- and it drops dead. 

I have a character in my second book who killed a dragon by throwing a spear through its eye as it was roasting the rest of his team. It's only talked about in retrospect but he went in there with a small contingent and came out alone, and hung up his spurs after that; no more adventuring, no more fighting. He's a PTSD basket case and a terrible drunk.

Of course, dragons are completely fantastic creatures, so give it whatever weakness you want. The whole one-in-a-million shot, torpedo-through-the-exhaust-port, one-scale-missing-in-that-one-spot-right-there shtick (anyone else realize that Luke taking out the Death Star is basically Bard and Smaug all over again?) has been done to death. Go crazy and give us something new. It's your dragon.


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## HÃ«radÃ¯n (Jan 8, 2014)

A dragon's hide is not so thick the mighty powers of physics cannot take it down! Say you had a 60 kg iron arrow and we know that F=MA or force = mass * acceleration say it takes 1000N (N=newton which is a kg m/s^2) of force to pierce your dragon's hide at its thickest. 1000N = 60 kg * A do some algebra and you get that the arrow must be fired with an acceleration of 16.67 m/s^2 to put that in perspective gravity pulls you toward the center of the earth at 9.8 m/s^2 so to shoot that arrow is within the realm of possible.
kg=kilogram
m=meter
s= second


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## James G Pearson (Jan 8, 2014)

My personal opinion is, a dragon could be killed via bleed out. If we're talking structure and anatomy then surely the wings would be a massive weak spot. As they fly, a serious amount of blood flow would have to go through them to keep them flapping. A rip or tear in the skin would be detrimental to such a beast. And it makes sense, considering dragons either fight by biting, using their feet or by using fire.

Then you could have them fight to the end, like an enraged beast.


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## Malik (Jan 8, 2014)

James G Pearson said:


> Then you could have them fight to the end, like an enraged beast.



My MC would tell you to get bent. Your mileage may vary.


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## James G Pearson (Jan 8, 2014)

True, depending on whether your dragon was a conscious being, like Smaug. But it might well be just like any other animal, lashing out and bleeding out quicker. Depends on how you write it. But telling me to get bent? Well that's just rude.


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## Super Fun Pop (Jan 8, 2014)

Queshire said:


> Personally I don't really get the whole underbelly weakness thing. Seeing how they fly, wouldn't their bellies be the first thing exposed to an enemy?



Assuming that, within this universe, Dragon's evolved in the naturally accepted form of evolution we have today, and assuming that, like with Alligators/Crocodiles evolution period compared to Man's, Alligators/Crocodiles and their ancestry have been around for ~180 Million Years or so, while humans have only been around for ~8 million. (Again, assuming that evolution rings true here).

Humans created tools about ~2.5 million years ago, while the bow and arrow is only an estimated ~ 64000 years old.

This means that pre-bow/pre-tool humans, had no means of reaching the underbelly of a flying Dragon, nor did anything else. Dragons would have had hundreds of millions of years worth of evolutionary time, with no threat from bellow while flying, that the ~ 64000 years the bow and arrow existed for, wouldn't be enough time to make a difference, especially as only a small handful of dragons would probably be taken down using this method. Darwinian Evolution takes millions of precursors and the eventual survival of a more equipped variant over an extended period of time to impact the overall population in an evolutionary way... not to mention Human created tool's limited range compared to the flight speed/path/altitude a dragon is capable of.

More than likely, they'd have this exposed and less armored underside that most reptiles have today and most dinosaurs had then.


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## Malik (Jan 8, 2014)

My MC is rude. I'm not. 

But I don't think it would be possible to get either of us drunk enough to agree to fight a dragon hand to hand to the point where it bleeds out. My MC would never agree to that, and I don't think any but the most foolhardy heroes would.


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## James G Pearson (Jan 8, 2014)

Oh, I certainly wasn't calling you rude. But I can see why your MC would be with that suggestion. Hand to had combat with a dragon? That's insanity. I was proposing something that might tear the wings or pierce them, like a harpoon or giant crossbow.


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## Sam Evren (Jan 8, 2014)

Just throwing this out here because your initial question is open ended...

Break his or her heart. It seems very traditional to fight a dragon, but there are many ways to die. Find a way to kill it that stands out from the crowd.

Say your dragon guards a sacred forest. Burn it down.

Say your dragon has a traditional hoard covering the bones of his mate. Steal it and desecrate them.

Say your dragon has developed an affinity for a human. Have the human betray the dragon.

Breaking a heart, taking away the will to live... that's a short road to a fast death.

Alternately, you could destroy his/her food source. Find a way to suffocate it. Infect it with a fatal disease.

I still think breaking its heart would be the most fascinating. Maybe that's just me.


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## Alexandra (Jan 8, 2014)

I don't believe that men/elves/dwarves have to be at the top of the food chain in a fantasy novel. In the Wilds, the only part of my world where someone _might_ find a dragon (as far as most people know) tis said that battling a dragon is akin to striking the head of a live bomb with a hammer (if there were live bombs in the Wilds). There is no one about to contradict this belief.


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## Pythagoras (Jan 8, 2014)

Going with the weaker underbelly possibility, you could also look to Sigurd for inspiration. He dug a pit into the path that Fafnir the dragon took to water every day, and waited in the pit. When Fafnir crossed over the pit, Sigurd stuck his sword upward into his gut. The weak underbelly seems to be a very popular method of dragon-control for writers through the centuries.


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## Agran Velion (Jan 8, 2014)

I read on a similar thread that you could have a dragon collide with a hard object IE: Mountain, Castle Walls, etc. I'm sure a dragon would have quite a thick skull, having it strike something equally tough (especially at a high speed) could potentially be fatal. 

This actually made me wonder if you could focus arrows, javelins, etc, at the wings of a dragon and screw up his flight enough that he careens into the ground (or mountainside). Either way, you've grounded the beast and it might be easier to face him that way. The thought actually gave rise to a story idea featuring soldiers that specialize in neutralizing larger beasts hunting wyverns this way. 

As an author, they're your dragons, and how they die is completely up to you.


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## wordwalker (Jan 8, 2014)

Dragonslaying. Done.


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## Ruby (Jan 9, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies. I'm a fan of JRR Tolkien, and I knew that he was influenced by Beowulf, which he translated. Did you know that Beowulf is the first example of English literature to present a dragon slayer? I think that the dragons in the Hobbit and Beowulf are both killed in a similar way. Also, both dragons are killed by a human and not an elf, dwarf or hobbit; some critics say this is a flaw in the plot of The Hobbit as those on the quest do not slay the dragon. 

At the moment I have two dragons to slay in two WIP's. One is in the ABC Fantasy challenge on here, the other will be posted in the Reaver challenge. It's going to be hard to make them different and original. Even Tolkien's literature is derivative.


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## WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade (Jan 9, 2014)

Any one else here thinking an Rpg??????  

In my views I don't like the ideas of weak spots, or dragons (or other things) being completely invulnerable to things, or at least not without VERY good reason why.)

If it is some giant dragon, thick scales, your traditional winged menace, my idea would be to leave it alone!!!! or shoot it with a big crossbow- seriously, some of the later medieval things had draw weights in the high hundreds. That would get through a dragon's scales.  

Also I reckon there would be thinner scales on the head, neck and inner legs- these are areas that need to move a lot, and thick scales here would be a hindrance.


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## wordwalker (Jan 9, 2014)

I know. The problem is more that the dragon bounces all but the heavier hits, then shrugs off much of the rest because they're pinpricks on something that big-- the "weak spot" (whether it's a secret spot or just "it's called an eye, genius") would be more if there was a lightly-scaled spot that was also a really vital vein, nerve, heart, etc. And meanwhile the thing's flying around you, flaming and lashing tail and doing everything else to stop you from even trying many hits.

If you wanted to trade accuracy for power, there's always the ballista; dragons that can shrug those off are definitely Smaug-level or better, if you can crank that siege weapon around fast enough to hit the beast. So dragons that aren't on that scale (grin) can't stand _too_ still for too long if they're attacking a proper fortress.

And what amuses me is how many fantasy movies (like the first Narnia) use anti-"aircraft" *catapults*. I guess the kids have heard of catapults more than ballistas and such, but those things barely aim at all, they're designed to lob boulders in an arc, at castle-sized targets. But if you can hit even a grounded dragon with one of those, you deserve to win-- and if a dragon walks away from a catapult hit, it's not Smaug, it's a god.


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## Guy (Jan 9, 2014)

Malik said:


> You kill a snake or a gator by shooting it through the head and wrecking its brain. The heart is very small, comparatively, and really hard to hit. The brain isn't an easy shot, either; a ten-foot gator has a brain the size of a baseball and the rest of the skull is muscle and bone. You can also kill an alligator by shooting into its open mouth. You really have to get to the brain on a reptile, or you just have a very angry reptile. This is assuming, of course, that your dragon is a reptile.


Yep. And even after that they can sometimes remain pretty damn dangerous. Reptiles can be remarkably tough. I guy I knew killed a copperhead by bashing its head. He wanted someone to hold it while he took a picture. I said I'd hold it if we cut the head off because their nerves can fire off and end up sinking their fangs into you. So I personally sliced its head off and held it while he snapped the pic. Then he skinned it. I looked at the skinned, headless carcass about fifteen minutes later and the heart was still beating nice and steady.


> I have a character in my second book who killed a dragon by throwing a spear through its eye as it was roasting the rest of his team.


Yep, exactly the approach I took. My character was in a fissure in a cliff wall. When the pursuing dragon, utterly confident of its victory, put its eyes up to the fissure to glare at her, she stabbed it through the eye with her sword and pierced its brain. I plan on her killing a second dragon at some point in her career, but she'll have a magic spear for that, which simplifies things a bit.


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## Guy (Jan 9, 2014)

WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Any one else here thinking an Rpg??????


Heat seeking missile.


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## Alexandra (Jan 9, 2014)

Guy said:


> Heat seeking missile.



In the episode _Innocence_, Buffy (Vampire Slayer) killed the ancient demon The Judge, which could not be harmed by any forged weapon, with a rocket launcher. The last thing The Judge said before Buffy fired was "What's that do?" The demon was blown to bits. The first time I watched the episode I applauded.


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## Noma Galway (Jan 9, 2014)

Alexandra said:


> In the episode _Innocence_, Buffy (Vampire Slayer) killed the ancient demon The Judge, which could not be harmed by any forged weapon, with a rocket launcher. The last thing The Judge said before Buffy fired was "What's that do?" The demon was blown to bits. The first time I watched the episode I applauded.


That was my favorite demon death of all. Well, so far. Not all that far into the series yet.

On the topic of dragon slaying, I don't have dragons in my WIP. If I did, I'd go with the eye as a weakness, like several people have said.


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## Ankari (Jan 9, 2014)

I'm having a hard time conceptualizing the various methods introduced because of the scale (size) of my dragons in my universe. And with that, I don't think my dragon's vary so much from what others have imagined in their world. On scale (size), dragons would be at least 10 times the length of a human (not including tail). That would make an arrow about 3.6 inches in comparison. I haven't even factored in the typically realized deeper torso of a dragon, or it's hardened scales. Even if you allow the "softer' underbelly, wouldn't it still be thicker than human skin?

Malik had a great post about throwing knives, and their ineffectiveness in battle. I would imagine that an arrow to a dragon is like a thrown dagger to a human. It would be very ineffective. That is only considering size ratios. What about downward winds from the wings? What about its speed?

I can see a lance through an eye, or even a longish spear (somewhere around 6 feet). Through the flesh? It would have to be a projectile fired from device similar to a ballista. I would hope the tip shatters and the metal fragments shred the innards.

That is man versus beast. When you make your dragons intelligent, you've opened up a whole new can of worms. Mine are extremely intelligent, and can cripple the mortal with psionic blasts. I haven't even gone into their arsenal of magic abilities. Melee combat is almost futile (thanks to a story I created for Iron Pen, it went from "no chance in hell" to "almost futile.")

I've set my dragons to be forces of nature, albeit very intelligent.

The most interesting post I've read on this subject is going for its sentimental heart. Still, my dragons have suffered from that for quite some time. The citizens of my fantasy quake at the coming of dragon swarms.


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## Sam Evren (Jan 9, 2014)

You could try to use the dragon against itself. It seems that eating your own kind (at least in humans and bovines) leads to fatal neurological disorders. The person bent on murdering dragons could collect eggs - assuming dragons were prolific - and entice the target dragon into eating them. Of course then you have a mad dragon wandering about for a while, but it would certainly be entertaining.

A more proactive use of the dragon against itself could be deception. Intend to have your dragon chase the main character. String a series of sheets - say sails - between a corridor of trees. The dragon may slowly, cautiously break through the first few, but as the human moves further away, and the dragon become more complacent about the strange cloth in the trees, they'll begin to pick up pace, tearing through the sails like a runner through tissue paper. At the end of your sail gauntlet, place a very sturdy, very well forged steel spike at breast level with the dragon, let it spear itself.

Both possibilities require a happy set of circumstances, but that's the beauty of being an author - setting the odds in your favor, even when it doesn't look like - especially when it doesn't look like it.


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## Nagash (Jan 10, 2014)

I seem to recall a fantasy serie of novels where dragons - being colossal dirtbags as often - were a serious liability, and considerable threat. They had thick scales and were rather massive, and therefore, swords and arrows just didn't rose to the challenge. In the early years of their sudden apparition, the kingdoms were helpless against the scourge unleashed upon them, until someone came up with the idea of building some sort of "dragon traps".

The idea was pretty cool, but I'm guessing it would only work for some primitive dragons without the wits of a millennium-aged evil genius, nor the level of sophistication Tolkien's Smaug had. The traps would be built around the premise that if the dragon found a noteworthy chunk of meat in its path, it would stop by to devour it. Thus, they lured the dragons to the traps, displaying some fat cows or sheep around the mechanism, and once the creature came too close, it would be pinned down. They also dug trenches and deep holes, where some meat would be stacked. When the dragon came around, he would curiously stuff his head in the hole, only to realize he was stuck. Meanwhile, the hunters came to the trap and chopped the dragon's head off with some pretty sharp axes.

As for my WIP, i introduced dragons as being once the rulers of the lands and seas in ancient ages; yet they were enslaved by mortals, and their intelligence faded only to be replaced by pure bestiality - being fed carcasses and blood, they went mad with time. Few dragons kept their thinking process intact, and these ones try to avoid any form of contact with the mortal race they see as insanely brutal despite their little size, natural fragility and short life-span. Its worth noting however, that an entire kingdom created an entire cult around dragons, and each heir the throne would bond with a hatchling on a emotional level; dragons would be treated as demi-gods, emissaries between the earth and elemental planes. Most of the other kingdoms however used them as tools, for they were fearsome juggernauts in times of war. Since dragons had become a common occurrence on battlefields, all belligerents had to be equipped to fight off a bunch of dragons. Option nÂ°1 would be (of course) to have dragons fight each other; option nÂ°2 is the use of ballistas, that would either be moved around on the field, or just installed on a tower. Ballistas would be much more effective than archery to fight off the monstrous creatures, since their munitions were to scale, and potentially capable of breaking down a thin stone-wall. They are however extremely slow to recharge, and the munitions isn't extremely fast either, making it tough to pin down a quick and slender dragon; most attempts ended in a miss. A hit however could be extremely dangerous for the dragon's sake. NÂ°3 would be the use of crossbows, which has been implanted in most armies of the sovereign nations; two of the empires equipped every single one of their footman with a crossbow and a dozen munitions. You have to take into account that a normal human male couldn't carry much more around the place than his armor and his actual weapon - which explains why humans weren't able to do the same for their armies. Only the strong and physically superior Sehras were capable of carrying around such an arsenal. Crossbows are tactically a great mid-range weapon, easy to use although slow to recharge. Their munitions are way thicker than arrows, and thus would have a moderate impact on a dragon scales. Otherwise, the wings were a good target, since their leather part is very sensible. It would take over two dozens bolts to gravely injure and endanger the dragon's life. Option NÂ°4 is magic, but since it is very uncommon and rarely displayed on the battlefield, i still haven't used it yet.

In close combat, fighting off a dragon would practically always be a lose scenario, since they displayed an enormous strength, were ridiculously bigger than most common footmen, not to mention able to breath out fire. Some especially tough infantrymen - definitely not humans - would however face dragons in combat and triumph, combining a set of natural strength, agility and knowledge of the creature's anatomy, knowing where to strike.


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## shangrila (Jan 11, 2014)

"There's nothing magical about 'em. They're made up of a collection of organs. They have a mind, a heart, and a liver, you take out one of these, you bring down the beast!"
-Denton Van Zan, _Reign of Fire_

Couldn't resist.

Dragons in my world can't be killed so I don't know if I'm much help. But, really, it would take either a weak spot or overwhelming force to kill a traditional dragon. Whether that's an explosive crossbow bolt in the throat or a rocket to the face doesn't really matter.


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## WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade (Jan 11, 2014)

Also, I reckon longbows would work. Maybe they wouldn't penetrate the scales, but a couple of hundred archers, all firing at once. It would be like Agincourt. There, and even at potiers, the French's armour was usually more than enough to stop an arrow, but the power was enough to batter people off their feet- from one arrow. and I know that a dragon is bigger than a human, but a couple of hundred arrows aimed at the one dragon, with at least half hitting? that would hurt the dragon, knock off scales, exposing the flesh, it would through the dragon off course, and some arrows would probably get into the eyes or the mouth or somewhere where it would hurt the dragon. 

ANd if you have a ballista, you could have a repeating ballista, quick firing javelins at the bugger, meaning you would hopefully be able to trace the dragon. ANd if you mount them on chariots (don't know if any of you have ever played rome total war barbarian invasion?????) the dragon would scurry off, crying. 

I also think that if the dragon gets down, sort of melee fighting, it would be vulnerable, getting swarmed. It would be like a human getting attacked by cats. Yes, we're bigger, but they come in all directions, and though small, they can hurt. Especially if someone manages to get a headshot with a poleaxe or something.


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## James G Pearson (Jan 11, 2014)

Also, it probably depends on the type of story you're writing. What if your character has gauntlets of strength and simply pummeled the dragon in the face until it caved in? There is an element of freedom in fantasy writing.

Alright, fine... I may have gone overboard on that suggestion. Maybe I watched a few too many Anime's.


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## Yellow (Jan 12, 2014)

What about manipulating one dragon or group of dragons into doing the job for you? You know, the whole "pen is mightier than sword" deal. Sure, you'd need to be Machiavelo on metaphorical steroids to pull it off, but that would make for a very interesting plot. A king from a small kingdom uses his wits to convince a dragon that working for the kingdom would be in his best interest, and procedes to spin a web of lies to keep the dragon under control. Dragons, at least in small numbers, would become much less threatening for said kingdom. Not to mention other nations.

Edit: This is of course, assuming your dragons are of the intelligent variety.

Edit#2: Also, I remember reading some chinese myth somewhere about a guy who slew a dragon in a rather... colorful way. The dragon was atacking his town, so he got the people to kill a cow, open up it's stomach, and stuff our heroic dragonslayer in there with a bunch of poisoned swords. Later he (in the dead cow's entrails...yeah) was set up as bait, and when the dragon ate the cow whole, the hero poisoned the dragon from within with his swords. I also recall a similar story where the hero was put in a barrel, and he simply pushed the swords through the wood to cause massive damage to the dragon's throat as the beast swallowed the barrel. Now if only I could remember where the hell i read that.


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## skip.knox (Jan 12, 2014)

The subject line just clicked with me. There's been plenty of talk about how to kill a dragon, but the subject line says "kill or defeat".

Now, maybe the OP didn't intend to distinguish, but I will. How could one defeat a dragon?

If the dragon is intelligent, I guess the full range of possibilities would exist, same as with human intelligence. He could be frightened off, bribed, win his sympathy, and so on.

If the dragon is a beast, he could be distracted by something sweeter, overawed, or stumped.

Both these present interesting possibilities. Also, we could think about why the dragon is attacking in the first place. Is it hungry? After our gold? Fleeing a forest fire? The reasons might affect the solutions.


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## Gurkhal (Jan 13, 2014)

It kind of depends on what you dragons are like. For example some dragons could be weakned by water, which should be its elemental opposite, so a rainstorm might weaken it or falling into a lake or sea might kill it. (pretty much what GRRM did if I'm not mistaken)


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## Ruby (Jan 13, 2014)

skip.knox said:


> The subject line just clicked with me. There's been plenty of talk about how to kill a dragon, but the subject line says "kill or defeat".
> 
> Now, maybe the OP didn't intend to distinguish, but I will. How could one defeat a dragon?
> 
> ...


Hi skip.knox, well spotted. My original question was how to "kill or defeat a dragon". In my comedic story that's trundling along on the ABC Fantasy Challenge thread, I need to find out what's happened to Sir Lanceypot. He's a romantic hero type of knight who's been sent on a quest to steal a golden cup from a dragon. 

He obviously hasn't been successful as the dragon is now attacking and setting fire to the castle. Either an army or the princess will have to try to kill or defeat the monster. But from all the suggestions here it sounds as if you're all tired of the same old "shoot him in the eyes" or " find his weak spot" kind of resolution.
I wonder if I can ask one more question, which is would the knight have his squire and his page with him on the quest to kill or defeat the dragon?


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 13, 2014)

Zomg u guys! Here's how you do it!


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