Origins of the Dragon Age
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!
Much is made these days of the dragons on Game of Thrones. And this is proper. The special effects are amazing. And the special effects may be even better when Smaug appears on screen in The Hobbit. But long before George R.R. Martin conceived of Westeros,* or Peter Jackson undertook to adapt Tolkien, another dragon was brought to life on the silver screen.
I’m talking, of course, about Vermithrax, the great wyrm of Dragonslayer.
Now, I must confess at the outset here that I may be a touch biased. I saw this movie at the tender age of eleven when it was first in theaters. I didn’t see the hints of puppetry in the scenes. I saw a dragon, a great lizard soaring through the skies and breathing fire. Unstoppable, until a great wizard surrendered his life to destroy it.
I watched Dragonslayer again last night on DVD, and two things struck me in particular:
1) Although modern special effects have left it in the dust, I think the dragon holds up. It still blends menace with majesty the way a dragon ought to.
2) The story has antagonists, but no human villains. Every character has compelling reasons to behave the way they do. The king creates a damnable lottery, but only after all of the greatest warriors of the kingdom, including his brother, failed to slay the dragon. He sees it at as the lesser evil, and he has a point. He does keep his daughter out of the lottery, which is unfair, but how many fathers could resist that little deception to protect their own child?
The captain of the guard would see all wizards dead, but he has never seen real magic, only chicanery. He thinks they are all deceivers, so as far as he’s concerned he’s killing confidence men and protecting the people of the kingdom. And that is a major concern for him. After the princess rigs the lottery to select her (another strong choice by a minor character), the king tries to have her saved and the hero tries to save her, but the captain fights to keep her as a sacrifice because he sincerely believes this is what is best for the kingdom. He’s not a nice man, but he’s not evil or even selfish.
Another story would have done more to show evil in the king or at least the captain of the guard. But this story did not need that. The dragon was so great a threat, a true villain, that it could oppose all factions.
The 1980s gave us many fantasy films, most of which were terrible movies (however much fun I might find them – call it a weakness). But Dragonslayer still has its good points, not the least of which is its dragon.
What do you think? What’s your favorite movie dragon from before the year 2000? (Not counting animated films)
*Though perhaps not before the G.U.R.P.S. campaign was underway.
