The Dragon Stone

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It is not hard to imagine that smaller dragons can fly in the same way as modern flying animals. Some might flap their wings for powered flight. Others may glide.

The debatable issue comes with larger dragons. How can something that size fly? It is not an impossibility for a large animal to fly. The extinct pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus, had a wingspan of 40 feet and could fly. It also had a light body. Flying would be perfectly plausible with this sort of anatomy. The fact that we do not know of any modern fliers the size of Quetzalcoatlus means that this possibility is often overlooked.

There are debates about whether Quetzalcoatlus had powered flight or was an adept glider. This debate could be applied to a large dragon too. There is not enough source materiel in myths to answer that fully, but the end result would be the same; a large winged creature flying in the air.

There are many larger dragons that do not look like they could fly. The body is a bit too big and the wings too small. This could be artistic license. Old storytellers may not have understood the importance of the wing size and changed the picture to look more dramatic.

Supposing it is not artistic license, could these dragons fly? Under normal circumstances the answer would be no. There would be too much weight and not enough lift. A theory popularised by Peter Dickinson was that dragons produced flammable gas inside. This would allow them to lighten themselves and rise. It would also explain why they look fairly plump as they would need chambers for the gas and why they breath fire. It is difficult to see why this would have evolved. Producing hydrogen gas and storing it would not have a clear advantage until it was refined enough for flight. Evolution does not work in this way. If something is not an advantage at every stage, it will not evolve. It cannot be completely discounted, but on balance, it seems more plausible that a large flier would simply evolve a bigger wingspan and lighter body.

Another issue for gas floating is why during fights large dragons are rarely reported as flying. It would be a major advantage to be in the air to fight something on the ground. Using the gas floating idea, getting into the air should be easy. Dragons would be able to rise directly upwards. The dragons that would not be able to fly when caught on the ground are those flying more traditionally. A creature relying on flapping its wings to gain height may have trouble flying directly upwards. It will have to fight an attacker on the ground if it is caught by surprise. This can be demonstrated with birds. A large bird, like a swan, will need a run up to fly.

There is another alternative if it was assumed that large winged dragons flew in a more traditional way, much like large pterosaurs. In some environments, this adaption would be a bad idea. Large wings would get in the way and could make the dragon clumsy on the ground. If there were no major advantages to keeping flight, the dragons might start to evolve to lose it. Their bodies would evolve to be larger and the wings would get smaller. The wings may still have uses. They could be spread to make the dragon seem larger or as part of displays. This would be an interesting explanation of why some winged dragons seem very earthbound, hiding in caves and not flying even when threatened.

Magic is not going to be discussed in great detail. Using magic, anything can be explained in an instant. It would not matter how the dragon is put together. Magic does face a similar issue to the gas theory - why would a dragon that can rise directly upwards not do this during a fight?

The type of dragon that magic flight was traditionally associated with were the Oriental dragons. They had a pearl under their chin which was said to allow them to fly without wings.