Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Ten top dragons in fiction

Julie Kagawa is the bestselling author of the Iron Fey series, the Blood of Eden series and the TALON series. One of her top ten dragons in fiction, as shared at the Guardian:
Smaug from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

I debated with who to put for my favourite dragon, and it was a close match up between Toothless and my number one. But ultimately, there is no dragon who is more dragon-y than the king of dragons himself, Smaug. Smaug represents everything an ancient, legendary dragon should be: massive, intelligent, fickle, dangerous, with an insatiable love for gold and the destructive force of a lesser god. He brought an entire dwarven kingdom to ruin, terrorised a town just by sleeping next to it, and in the end, only a magic arrow could finally bring him down. He is the reason Bilbo’s words ring true for anyone dealing with these fantastic, complex, mysterious creatures. Never laugh at live dragons. Remember well his warning.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Hobbit appears on Rebecca Jane Stokes's list of seven favorite fictional shopaholics, Derek Landy's top ten list of villains in children's books, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best beards in literature and ten of the best riddles in literature.

Also see Becky Ferreira's six best dragons in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue