#just thinking about dragons

[realdragonriderstudios]

Ok so hear me out-

Since I'm still upset about httyd 3 and feel like things could have ended better... what if the dragons didn't leave at the end and instead Berk worked to build a new safe place for the dragons. As time goes on, the dragons' range gets smaller and smaller until New Berk is the only place left for dragons to go. By then Hiccup is gone and Toothless is still the alpha but now a legendary night fury. Hiccup's grandkids now notice that some dragons are disappearing into the sea and not coming back, many seem to expect Toothless to follow but Hiccup's saddle is still strapped to him and no one has been able to go near him since his rider's passing. The kids search through their granddad's old books and find notes of a hidden world and plans to bring the dragons there when the time came to say goodbye but if the alpha can't fly how can he lead them? In another book are blueprints for a tail fin for Toothless that will allow him to fly on his own. With some adjustments and help from the villagers, a new tail fin is fashioned for Toothless and miraculously Toothless allows Hiccup's grandkids to put the fin on and he flies away. The alpha's roar rings through village as dragons begin to take flight and follow their leader to a new home, many of the villagers saying a tearful goodbye to their beloved friends. The next day, the kids walk out to see the saddle their grandad made for Toothless on the ground, the straps worn and broken, Toothless growls from the rooftop and slinks over allowing the kids onto his back. Toothless takes them into the hidden world and shows them that the dragons are safe and belong deep below the sea where no one can find them. When the kids return to Berk, they tell everyone what happened and excitedly visit their granddad's final resting place to tell him that the dragons are ok and Toothless is still the greatest alpha the hidden world had seen.

I just feel like that would be a more beautiful ending

[egophiliac]

2025 is the year of the DRAGON SLIPPERS

[me-beef]

@strangeravatar made a great point

i was gonna focus on the spike-hotboxing-celestia aspect but i got distracted somewhere along the way and i think i forgot what joke i was trying to make

but dont you think its interesting how many guards of the exact same color/body type she's managed to accrue?? i do

ooohh you want to go look at our stickers so bad

[lelianaslefthand]

im not exaggerating when i say i've thought about this dialogue at least once a day since the veilguard trailer dropped

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Hot take

Night furies are actually perfectly evolved for hunting and killing other dragons and the only reason they aren't a dragon-hunting species like the death song or deathgrippers are is because DreamWorks couldn't have their adorable main character dragon be a "cannibal"

(below I'm gonna try to summarize what we've figured out in a convo with friends on discord)

(also tw animal death via predator)

First of all yes I'm aware that pretty much every decision made about their design was with consideration of the effect it would make on human audiences but hear me out

Night furies are most iconically known as dive-bombers. They are built for speed, high maneuverability, night-time camouflage and for striking targets from above. If we remove human settlements out of the equation (which would not have existed long enough to actually influence night fury evolution, come on), what does that leave us with?

They aren't built for catching fish for sure, they aren't very hydrodynamic and their head is round, wide, and their teeth are dull. Honestly, the monstrous nightmare is much better suited for catching fish, with its long neck, almost pelican-like jaw and rhamphorhynchus teeth

Compare to

Yeah the jaws look kinda like a porpoise of some sort but for that the whole body would have to be a lot more aquatic imo. The light fury looks a lot closer to an aquatic diver, it has a sleeker body, rounded fins instead of spikes, and a long neck.

I don't really see them hunting land animals either, they just don't look like they're adapted for that minus the resemblance with large felines and even then, they're too large to effectively hunt in forests.

The one thing I can kinda imagine them hunting is large mainland megafauna, but we're working with a setting that takes place pretty much exclusively on islands. And overall, dragons are the only abundant species there with the exception of fish and human-bred sheep and chickens.

In general, night furies have duller teeth, smaller claws and are smaller than most dragons. Disregarding the movies making Toothless weirdly OP, a night fury would be disadvantaged against most dragons in a 1v1 fight and besides, it has four huge weak spots that would highly discourage it from a direct physical fight - the primary and secondary tail fins. One unlucky rip in the membrane and the night fury is fucked.

The night fury however noticeably resembles falcons, given their dive-bombing ability and high maneuverability.

Falcons too have smaller beaks and weaker claws compared to most birds of prey, and for that they compensate by simply picking up speed, balling up their talons and Punching. Really. Hard.

And they use that ability to kill other birds, even much larger ones, by knocking them right from the sky.

Here, the night fury's plasma blast works the same way as a falcon's punch. Dragons are fire-resistant, so what the plasma blast does is really just a densely packed bolt of energy that has the effect of either stunning or outright killing prey by damaging its spine. And what the plasma bolt doesn't do, rapid contact with the ground would finish. And if even that doesn't do it, the night fury's wide jaws and dull teeth are just fine for simply clamping around the unlucky dragon's neck and strangling it, like a lion or a pitbull.

The night-time camouflage allows the night fury to soar for extended periods of time perfectly unnoticed in the night sky, and by the time it strikes, the dragon wouldn't even know what's coming.

Unless

Say the hunting night fury is aware of other dragons sleeping under the trees, as most dragons probably would at night (village raids aside, most dragons seem to be diurnal), so how does the night fury get them in position where it can use its signature attack? Well, there's That Iconic Screech Of Death. Since in the movies it tends to appear not just during dive-bombings but also when charging up a blast, I imagine it's something the night fury is able to control to some degree. So by simply fake-diving in close proximity to sleeping dragons, it can effectively terrify them into leaving their hideout and fly out into the open where it can easily take them out.

I dunno, the possibility of night furies as predators to other dragons just makes so much sense to me, I really don't know what other reasons there would be for them to evolve these particular adaptations.

And one more little headcanon to add to this whole rant - since night furies are significantly smaller and less equipped for dragon vs dragon fights and are primarily speed-based predators, I imagine there is this very likely scenario:

There is one dragon who resembles a hyena, a lil bit

Ok, rant over

[sand-jam]

Ghosts don't age

[tempo-takoyaki]

"Are you satisfied yet?"

[inquisimail]

i like pretending that the reason lucanis makes being a crow sound like a breeze is not because they retconned the crows to be the good guys but rather because he is a nepo baby that got special treatment

[thimblings]

get with the Crow-gram, Davrin

[dailycupofcreativitea]

The what?? 🤨

(On this episode of Dragon Ball Z: Krillin and Gohan give advice to Trunks on how to deal with Vegeta's bad attitude)

[verflares]

(click for higher quality!) draconified link concept ive been chipping away at this past week ..... here's my funny little compendium concept for him:

"A heroic spirit has taken the form of this bestial dragon. Unlike it's kin, this creature exhibits an extremely aggressive disposition. It appears highly territorial, and will relentlessly chase down those who disturb its skywide patrols - of which it seems to be endlessly searching for either a long-time vassal or foe. Unfortunately, it seems the spirit within has long since forgotten exactly who it was looking for…"

[mother-giselles-hat]

Meanwhile, at the Cobbled Swan.

Inquisitor: things are terrible. We are Not doing well. We are persisting alongside the horrors, but make no mistake. The cost is high.

Rook: *furiously taking notes* mm hmm got it. Just one more thing before you go?

Inquisitor: ?

Rook: You can come out, Lucanis

Lucanis, sprinting in from the shadows: I heard you fought a wyvern.

Inquisitor: ??

Lucanis: *please* tell me about the wyvern

Inquisitor: Well...are you asking about the Hissing Wastes or Crestwood?

Lucanis: 🫨

[wardensantoineandevka]

[pupkinpumpkin]

Rook being a very physically touchy person and Lucanis avoiding touch at all costs from built up trauma from childhood, his work as a Crow, and the Ossuary. Them always asking for Lucanis' permission to touch him, and before Tearstone Island, they hug him and he still flinches but he holds them tight

As Rook is taken into the Regret prison and they see a vision of Lucanis' body on the ground, they scream his name out of concern and fear but all Lucanis hears is them screaming for him to help, and then they're gone. They're gone. He thinks they were screaming his name, begging him to save them and now they're gone.

Weeks into Rook being taken into the Regret prison and now a man who couldn't be touched without reflexively drawing a blade is craving the warmth of his partner who he thinks he'll never see again

Lucanis pulling Rook out of the prison, knowing it's them right away because of their hands. He missed their hands, he missed their touch, he missed their warmth, he missed them.

When Rook gets back, Lucanis' touch is slow and soft, almost unbelieving. Weeks of stress and torture and pain and guilt and regret, and now they're here. Once they're finally together, he feels as though the world is in their arms and if killing a god is the only way to stay there, he will do what a Crow does best and fulfill this contract

[abyssal-ilk]

thinking about sten again. thinking about him calling the warden kadan and never explaining what it means. thinking about him offering to take the warden back with him to par vollen, but it's never actually an option the warden takes, even if you agree. thinking about how sten responds the best to a warden who stands their ground even if he doesn't agree with them. thinking about how he loves sweets and art, and how he plays with kittens. "it's training," he says. but come on. he's playing. thinking about what else he's had to justify to himself for liking.

and he calls alistair kadan! shale as well! do you think it was ever extended to the other party members? just,, agh

[housederiva]

Ohhhh man of course Lucanis finds Rook’s voice comforting!! Of course he does!! Rook’s voice was the first kind one that he had heard in a year!!! It was Rook’s voice that guided him out of the Ossuary both physically and later mentally!!!! It has been Rook’s voice that wakes him when Spite takes over!!! Of course it’s a comfort!!!!