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Dragons are the lifeblood of the fantasy genre, and one dark fantasy that ended six years ago still possesses the most unique take on the creatures. Over the years, many fantasy TV shows have heavily featured dragons. There’s nothing quite like a creature with scales, sharp talons, and usually giant wings to keep us fascinated.

We already have shows like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, which heavily feature the fire-breathing creatures. Other epic dragon shows, like Fourth Wing and Wings of Fire, are on the way to take over the dragon fantasy subgenre.

Despite this, many representations of dragons become identical, sharing the same powers and behaviors. Interestingly, the most unique dragon stories and lore come from The Magicians, an amazing dark fantasy show that never fails to go wild with its stories.

Dragons Are Well-Developed In The Magicians Despite Only Half A Dozen Appearances

Dragons are in no way a focus of The Magicians TV show, and they only appear on the screen less than half a dozen times. However, that doesn’t stop them from being some of the coolest and best-developed creatures in the series. In the series, the winged sentient beings are called the Ancient Ones, alluding to Lev Grossman’s books, where they are the furthest-back origin of magic.

In the TV show, they are portals to the underworld, and they can detach mortals’ souls from their bodies at will. While we don’t know their specific lifespan, the East River Dragon confirms that she’s only 12,422 years old, which makes her too young to have children. They lay eggs externally, which remain unfertilized until dragon sperm fertilizes them. Cross-breeding with other creatures, including humans, is possible. The dragon eggs take three years to gestate.

Their sizes range drastically, and we only get to see a few of them onscreen. The larger dragons, like the Abyss Dragon, have heads the size of a ship, and the smaller dragons, like the Bookwyrm, are smaller than humans.

Most of what we know about dragons, past that, we learn from Poppy, the draconologist who writes dragon pregnancy erotica. The show alludes to their mating patterns, their socialization behaviors, and their eating habits. All of this has little to no impact on the actual story, but it shows just how much development went into creating these creatures that would feel real.

Some Of The Dragon Treasures Are Macabre In The Magicians

Some dragons in The Magicians collect more conventional items, like the dragons in the Eastern Ocean of Fillory, who possessed one of the golden keys. However, dragons don’t just collect traditional treasures.

In order to summon the dragon in The Magicians season 2, they have to give the Hudson River Dragon, aka Queen of the Great Worms, a baby tooth because she collects them. This fits with the show, which leans into horror elements. Then, she requires them to give up the button to Fillory, which would do her absolutely no good.

Later in the series, The Magicians reveals that the East River Dragon is in possession of an immortal child’s stone organ. She will only give it up in exchange for the dragon sperm elixir that Poppy stole from her. The dragons also steal each other’s eggs, as shown by the East River Dragon taking the Sand Dragon’s fertilized egg.

The Dragons’ Lore In The Magicians Is Wild

The most absolutely outlandish dragon lore is finally revealed in The Magicians season 4, episode 8, “Home Improvement.” Dragon eggs have some very strange effects on the humans around them. The eggs need heat and constant affection. Consequently, the eggs release a pheromone that tempts humans to touch or lick the eggs.

Anyone who touches or licks the egg starts acting absolutely absurdly, almost like they are drunk. Hilariously, anyone affected by the egg’s pheromone gets a magical hangover that’s impossible to cure with hangover potions. Ultimately, the dragon and dragon-egg scenes in The Magicians are hilarious, weird, and extremely memorable.

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Release Date

2015 – 2020-00-00

Showrunner

Sera Gamble

Directors

Chris Fisher, James L. Conway, Joshua Butler, John Scott, Carol Banker, Scott Smith, Guy Norman Bee, Rebecca Johnson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Meera Menon, Amanda Tapping, Bill Eagles, Jan Eliasberg, Kate Woods, Shannon Kohli

Writers

John McNamara, Henry Alonso Myers, David Reed, Noga Landau, Christina Strain, Leah Fong, Alex Raiman, Elle Lipson, David Reed

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  Jason Ralph

  Quentin Coldwater

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  Olivia Taylor Dudley

  Alice Quinn