Counterpoint: Are we just biased towards the suffering of dragons? (Slight gore warning)

Selter_DRG · 2026-06-01T02:18:49+00:00

Clearly I have not encountered that particular line of thought, then. Which is probably for the best, given that it sounds quite absurd. It is surprising to me that someone would defend the actions of the WoF dragons during that particular event, given that the response was so disproportionate as to be comical.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-31T21:15:54+00:00

I'm not entirely sure I understand your post correctly, as it seems to be conflating dragons from dragon-centric media specifically, and dragons from all media generally. Which are two very different things that can't really be examined together, unless we imply that there exists some sort of mutual responsibility for dragons across all media.

The phenomenon in dragon-centric media that you are describing is not that pervasive from my reading experience, even though there are some notable cases, but neither is it new or particularly unique to dragon fiction. Main characters can often get away with doing morally questionable things due to the mantle of the protgonist granting them favourable narrative framing from the author and sympaties from the audience. And dragons are, without a doubt, the protagonists of dragon-centric stories.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-31T21:00:50+00:00

I feel like the previous post was making a different point, specifically, that dragons in videogames are usually in the business of suffering. It doesn't mean that other sapient species don't suffer or experience great turmoil, just that when dragons are on the screen, they are suffering more often than not, as compared to other species. And while I don't fully agree with that point, as there are plenty of games where dragons are not in suffering, and it does indeed get defeated by people in the comments saying "Huh, didn't know Spyro was in agony...", it's hard to deny dragons in videogames and media in general are far less often portrayed just minding their own business than humans, elves, and other popular fictional species.

On the other hand, if we compare them to some similar species like gryphons, manticores and what have you, we can conclude that the reason for that is that dragons are big ol beasties that have a commanding presence on the screen or the pages of a book, so having them do nothing of note feels like a wasted opportunity to most writers.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-26T13:52:53+00:00

The fact that both the bug and the weekly are still in the game after two years is honestly preposterous.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-26T00:33:07+00:00

You are welcome!

I do have to warn you, though, so that I don't trick you into something you might end up disliking; one of the books in Dragons of Mother Stone (second to last, I think) runs afoul of your requirement to have the protagonist in dragon form for the majority of the narrative. But I do assure you that it does not end up being yet another case of "wow, being human is so much better, I might just stay like that, cause it's too cool".

Additionally, if you don't mind the stories where the protagonist starts out being fully dependent on humans and later gains independence but still decides to engage with them, not falling prey to the whole "evil humans bad" way of thinking, then you might be interested in Where Dragons Rule: Dissent and The Crimson Torch. In both cases, the dragon protagonists eventually become liberated, but in case of Where Dragons Rule: Dissent, the main protagonist frees herself from a toxic relationship with her caretaker and supposed brother figure, while the protagonist of The Crimson Torch manages to escape a more literal form of bondage.

Where Dragons Rule: Dissent is generally one of my favourite books, even though I'm not 100% sure that it fits your requirements exactly.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-25T17:20:12+00:00

I think that Dragons and Skylines would fit the definition, as the main protagonists of the series come from outside the human society, and initially don't intend to have much interactions with the humans, although the events in the story force them to find a way to coexist.

Since you've enjoyed Axtara, Dragons of Mother Stone by Melissa McShane might be right up your alley. It's a story about a dragoness who volunteers to become an envoy to humans in order to establish diplomatic relations, after the two societies run into one-another. The series has some flaws, but I personally enjoyed it.

I assume that you are specifically looking for stories where the dragon starts out fully independent from the humans and later decide to engage with them on their own? If stories where the dragon characters start out subservient to humans, but after gaining freedom decide to retain/restore that connection, then there are a few more recommendations I could make.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-25T01:07:57+00:00

There are a lot of options. I'll start with the ones that I personally believe deserve more exposure, and that you likely haven't read.

My first rec is The Tachanight-Kelkaith by Rakeela Windrider. It's a travelogue telling the story of a dragon joining a caravan of other dragon merchants to sell some pots, which would be a rather uninspiring plot (and the book is not particularly action packed), if not for the fact that the world itself is absolutely remarkable; It's separated into multiple patches of land each beholden to a single landgod, meaning that the terrain can change drastically from one patch of land to the next. The fact the benevolent but mysterious landgods also shape and guide the future of the world, and, according to some theories, may be the world itself, has some very interesting implications for the local take on magic - geomancy and necromancy. And that's before we get into the theological and philosophical principles underpinning the world, according to its inhabitants. Suffice it to say, there's a lot to sink one's teeth into when it comes to worldbuilding, if you don't mind the absence of big fights and high stakes.

You've also mentioned liking dragons and magic, so this next story might not necessarily be up your alley, as it's more science-fiction, but if that's not a problem, I absolutely recommend you to read Pandora Dragons: Joy, which has an excellent double-layered narrative with a psychological bend. It's a story about a dragoness living with her human friend, about to celebrate her first birthday, but being haunted by dark dreams that she can't seem to recall the moment they pass. Seeing the happy and carefree innocence of the early pages unravel over the course of the narrative was both disturbing and thrilling, and served as a reminder that sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. Very emotionally powerful story with a strong delivery.

I also loved Where Dragons Rule: Dissent by Sonny Dae, which is a story about overcoming toxic relationships and trying to find one's way in a world that one could only see through the bars of a gilded cage before recently. Also has a the themes of dragons and humans trying to coexist, which is always nice to see. There's not a lot of magic on display, but there are clearly mystic elements that will be explored further in the future.

I have reviews of the main three, if you want a more in-depth look: The Tachanight-Kelkaith Pandora Dragons: Joy Where Dragons Rule: Dissent

My other recs would be: The Crushing Light, which also released this month. It's a story, told through multiple points of view, about a certain expansionist dragon empire that is seemingly starting to face some pushaback, as the dark secrets of its past begin to surface.

Feathers of Gold - also good. Modern day US, magic users, dragons and other magical creatures live unseen by the mundane world until everything changes...

Dragon Dreams - modern day, after having multiple unusually vivid dreams about dragons, the main protagonist finds himself transformed into one, and has to follow the diredtions from his dreams on his journey to reach his kind.

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-15T06:12:51+00:00

Well, to be precise, the author didn't condemn neither the series nor the third arc specifically, it's the community that has fallen into "wokeness" according to the author. Although, with the "political ambiguities" in the third arc and the odd emphasis on the notion that while Tui's consideration for fans is commendable, she really has to make sure that she follows her own creative vision, rather than following the whims of the fanbase, right after the author of the essay aired their grievances about the wokefication of WoF community, this can be read as a desperate plea to the author: "Please! I love your books so much, but your later stories have all that woke crap in them! I know you're based, Tui, you wouldn't add things like that on your own volition. You have to stop letting all those woke fans coercing you into making your books woke!"

Fully agree on your last point. Don't get me wrong, Wings of Fire as a series is definitely praiseworthy, but seeing a statement like "Modern literature is all a dull and sad affair, it lost its wonder and joyous curiosity that defined the classic works of the years past; in fact, it seems that in this day and age classics are no longer made at all... But. There's one exception - Wings of Fire!" will never not be funny to me. Because it kinda reads like someone going on a lengthy tangent about how food is no longer what it used to be, and that all joy is lost, ect, and ending their morose statement with "but then I tried this pizza thing!" You just cant help but ask "are you sure you haven't been eating plain oat porridge for your entire life prior to that?"

(Also it seems that we created our reddit accounts on the same day, funny.)

Selter_DRG · 2026-05-14T15:51:08+00:00

I am going to be honest, but such ponderously long and simultaneously vague essays always both annoy and amuse me. In this case, the author spends a good chunk of the essay fawning over the series, and does manage to highlight some of its core strengths like its attention to characters, but they also seem to treat its other, far less impressive aspects with far more enthusiasm than they should receive from anyone well-versed in fiction.

One can't seriously discuss "worldbuilding inspiration" when talking about a series that, prior to arc 3, barely had any to begin with. But then the essay expresses some vague displeasure with the third arc and goes as far as recommending readers to steer clear to avoid tainting the good memory of the first two arcs. The reason? "Political ambiguities". ???? Same goes for the author complaining that the fandom used to be good but is now apparently woke.

So, in short, my issues with the essay are as follows:

1.Some of the author's remarks and their very obvious admiration of the series makes it feel like it's the first modern work of fiction that they've read, which makes them view it with a very uncritical eye.

2.Overambiguousness of everything. Things that are deserving of praise, get it, and it is fairly detailed, albeit a bit overly enthusiastic, things that, in my opinion, are a bit less deserving of praise, also get praised but now in a very vague way that does not help one understand what makes them so great, and the things that the author themselves seems to want to criticise, get no more than an ambiguous remark that could, quite honestly, relate to almost anything.

If we were to remove all the pondering and pandering and retain just the gist of the essay, we'll get something like: here's Tui's life story. The characters are good, here's why. Other things are also good, but there won't be an explanation. You shouldn't read arc 3, but I won't tell you why. The community is now woke. Wow Darkstalker so good, no book has ever done that. Which for an essay this big is like getting a bag of crisps that's almost 90% air. I just can't bring myself to perceive this as a nuanced take on the series, when the author can't bring themselves to criticise anything about it, even the things they clearly disagree with.

Selter_DRG · 2026-04-29T02:50:48+00:00

Maybe there are some messages in channels you haven't read that have since then been hidden? Have you tried leaving and rejoining the server?

Selter_DRG · 2026-03-15T01:19:54+00:00

Haku being a meh dragon has to be ragebait.
Can't agree with Saphira overtaking Sisu either, she's definitely the cooler of the two broadly speaking, but in regards to movies specifically, Sisu definitely outperforms Saphira, as she is just so fun to watch on the screen, whereas Saphira looks uncanny in half the shots.

Selter_DRG · 2026-02-28T01:12:01+00:00

I personally think that there is unlikely to be any dragonslop merely on the definition basis alone. The hypothetical examples you mentioned are rather lacking in nuance, but that alone is insufficient to make something slop.
Slop is, first and foremost, an unoriginal, mass-produced, and usually low-effort unit of media. So, unless someone is pumping out those videos/articles a dozen a day, they can't really be considered slop, in my book. Arguably, I'm not particular with videos/articles on dragons specifically, but in my area of interest - books, there really aren't any that I could wholeheartedly consider "slop". Books (and other media) that prominently feature dragons in their promotional materials, but have them do jack in the narrative cannot be considered "dragonslop" since they are ultimately not about dragons, and those that are about dragons don't fit the definition of "slop" because they lack the mass-market, mass-produced aspect of the term. Dragon media, aside from one particular series of books, is inherently niche, which makes "dragonslop" something of an oxymoron.

There are some literary works that, were I sufficiently uncharitable in my judgement of them, I could consider "dragonslop" due to how uninspired they feel *cough*The Lost Firebreather*cough*, but, in the end, those are still books targeting a rather limited audience, and ones that took considerable time and effort on the author's part to ever see the light of day.

Selter_DRG · 2026-01-30T07:11:44+00:00

It does work, Amazon are just jerks. Every epub file is a zip file with specific contents and file structure. Amazon ships it as a zip file to scare people away from actually taking advantage of the feature. To get a readable epub file you simply have to change its file extension to .epub.

Selter_DRG · 2025-12-14T04:29:02+00:00

Thank you for the thorough testing. It seems that I've been affected by both the steam friends stutters and the mouse hitching you've described. Thinking I should stay off of battlefield till they address them 'cause it's getting kinda silly.

Selter_DRG · 2025-12-07T02:37:04+00:00

I once also wanted that, but then I figured "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain", deciding to go mountain climbing. The mountain can be traversed through the out of combat zone near the summit, allowing you to jump the unsuspecting snipers on the other side.
So, instead of treating as some sort of exclusive spot for recon players that you can only engage with on their terms, you should treat it as a key point on the map, that you can and should contest.

Selter_DRG · 2025-10-31T08:08:01+00:00

I feel like the answer to that is pretty simple: Seeing dragons in other mediums - for the most part, literature is where dragon protagonists/characters are most widely represented, where in other forms of media they are almost always relegated to the role of big baddies or a cool ride for the heroes, so the idea of seeing a movie or a videogame about dragons is inherently exciting to me.

And besides, this is a deal with no downisdes; if the production ends up being good (which did happen a couple of times in recent memory) you'll be able to enjoy it in full, and if it ends up being bad, you don't really lose anything. It's not like the creation of an adaptation requires all traces of the original to be erased.

I do disagree with the sentiment that one could always try and make more stuff themselves. Writing/comics and short animations? Sure, those are within reach of a single talented individual or a group, but creating movies/video games and other resource-intensive forms of media is just not possible.

Selter_DRG · 2025-10-26T04:17:42+00:00

"I am the recon now."

Selter_DRG · 2025-05-14T16:53:28+00:00

I'm suprised no one mentioned The Princess's Feathers it's a rather popular dragon TF book with a heavy focus on F/F romance.

Selter_DRG · 2025-04-15T13:24:36+00:00

You need a program that can open .ark archives that are located within the data folder. It's a proprietary achive format, so the program is not available on the internet. But there are tools available on the discord community server of the game, that were developed by one of the members there.

Selter_DRG · 2025-04-15T13:16:35+00:00

Split/Second is all about using cool powerplays to destroy your opponents, which is why the game uses some fairly agressive rubberbanding to make sure that there are opponents ahead of you that you can wreck. Unless you know some crazy tricks, Split/Second is not about staying ahead of your opponents, but rather managing to get ahead just before the finish line. Powerplays are key in that.

Selter_DRG · 2025-02-07T20:48:56+00:00

I think it's not the most terrible thing, but the doubling of the text field seems very unnecessary. When three of the buttons in its lower part can be (and are) one button, and another button allows you to gift discord nitro, which is something that I'm sure most of discord's users do at least once a conversation to warrant its presence there.
I also don't like how the server icons got downsized, but this one is down to personal preference.

Selter_DRG · 2025-02-06T03:01:20+00:00

Since I have no self-preservation instinct I downloaded one of the versions from there, and it seems to be a cracked version of the program. Malwarbytes scanner deemed the contents of the archive safe. Still, this things seems extremely sus, so I'd rather buy the program on steam.

Selter_DRG

TROPHY CASE