History Literature / PitDragonChronicles

* CallingYourAttacks: This is Sssargon's favorite method of speaking. Doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

* DesertPunk
* DragonRider: Outright mocked. Dragon scales are far too sharp for that sort of thing.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Likkarn later on.

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Or rather, uncle. See TheReveal below.]]

* TricksterTriplets: Admittedly, the Tri are influenced by their other two siblings, but the 'prank' at the end of ''A Sending of Dragons'' is something they take special delight in.
* {{Tsundere}}: Akki towards Jakkin -- a lot.

* YourTomcatIsPregnant: [[spoiler:Heart's Blood is a girl.]]

* EatTheDog: Dragons go for three uses: "Pit, pet, or stew." It gets more and more disturbing as the dragons become more obviously intelligent.

* In the fourth book, it's mentioned that multiple characters have changed their names to omit the double K. Henkky, for example, offhandedly mentions that she's spelling it "Henky" nowadays, although the original spelling is maintained in the narrative proper.

* TheyDo: [[spoiler:Offhandedly noted in the epilogue of ''Dragon's Heart'': The name of the creator of the treatment that allows people to survive Dark-After is given as "Akkhina Stewart." Akki's surname is given as "James" in ''Dragon's Blood''; ''Jakkin's'' is "Stewart."]]

** Heart's Blood's hatchling, a boy, names himself Ssargon, after the legendary king of Mesopotamia.

* SonOfAWhore: Well, daughter; [[spoiler:Kkarina]] and [[spoiler:Akki]] were both born to "[[UnusualEuphemism bag girls]]." [[spoiler:Kkarina]] earned her way out by following in her mother's footsteps; [[spoiler:Akki]] chose to work at a dragon farm instead [[spoiler:, despite having been spirited out by her father at an early age and having no actual bond to pay off]].

* IWasQuiteALooker: Kkarina, the farm cook, is past her prime and has gotten fat on her own cooking by the time she's introduced. [[Spoiler:She's a former sex worker who was apparently ''stunning'' in her youth.]]

** In ''Dragon's Heart'', [[spoiler:Errikkin]], previously characterized as a goldbricking suck-up, [[spoiler:launches [[LeeroyJenkins a reckless single-handed attack on a trog who's trying to kill Jakkin]]]]. He manages to do some damage before [[spoiler:the trog throws him off and [[NeckSnap crushes his spine]]
]].

** In ''Dragon's Heart'', [[spoiler:Errikkin]], previously characterized as a goldbricking suck-up, [[spoiler:launches [[LeeroyJenkins a reckless single-handed attack on a trog who's trying to kill Jakkin]]. He manages to do some damage before [[spoiler:the trog throws him off and [[NeckSnap crushes his spine]]

* HeroicSacrifice: **[[spoiler:Heart's Blood]] dies saving [[spoiler:Jakkin and Akki]]. After her death, she saves them again [[spoiler:from the brutal cold of the night.]]
** In ''Dragon's Heart'', [[spoiler:Errikkin]], previously characterized as a goldbricking suck-up, [[spoiler:launches [[LeeroyJenkins a reckless single-handed attack on a trog who's trying to kill Jakkin]]. He manages to do some damage before [[spoiler:the trog throws him off and [[NeckSnap crushes his spine]]]].

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Heart's Blood dies saving Jakkin and Akki. After her death, she saves them again from the brutal cold of the night.]]

* LateToThePunchline: The "baggeries" are implied to be houses of prostitution. Most young readers won't get this implication until they're older.

* StarfishLanguage: The patterns of colors that dragons send. Until ''Dragon's Heart'', where this aspect is suddenly nonexistent, dragons communicate with trainers/tenders this way, and said humans must learn what the colors mean and recognize different dragons in part by their sendings. At the end of ''Heart's Blood'' something happens to Jakkin and Akki which lets them interpret these as words and create sendings themselves, though color is still a big part of the whole thing.
* ThemeNaming: All of Sarkkhan's named dragons come from a "Heart" or a "Blood" lineage. Females are "Heart"s, males are "Blood"s. Heart's Blood is the product of a mating between the two lines. And the aforementioned LetterMotif in human names also counts as ThemeNaming.

'''Tropes present in this series include:'''

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Heart's Blood's dies saving Jakkin and Akki. After her death, she saves them again from the brutal cold of the night.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: ''Dragon's Heart'' reveals how Likkarn and Jakkin are connected - Likkarn is Jakkin's uncle, and has been treating him roughly in an attempt to make him not like his father was, who was Likkarn's half-brother.]]

* BeastlyBloodsports

* DeathByIrony: For once, it's not karmic. [[spoiler:Defeated dragons are given two slashes to the throat by the victor. Heart's Blood dies from two darts shot into her neck.]]

* DragonRider: Outright mocked.

* GroinAttack: Part of the Dragon Rider mocking. Dragons have scales with extremely sharp edges along their backs. Guess what happened to the people who tried to ride one?

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Heart's Blood's death.]] Also a TearJerker for some readers.

* TricksterTriplets: Admittedly, Tri are influenced by their other two siblings, but the 'prank' at the end of ''A Sending of Dragons'' is something they take special delight in.
* {{Tsundere}}: Akki towards Jakkin - a lot.
* UnderdogsNeverLose: Again, outright mocked, and Jakkin is praised for choosing the biggest and toughest-looking dragon to raise, instead of taking a weak or sickly one out of misguided sympathy... and selling it for food later.

* CallingYourAttacks: This is Sssargon's favorite method of speaking. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* TrilogyCreep

* SequelGap: ''Dragon's Heart''.

* SeriesContinuityError: With thirty two years passing between the writing of the third and fourth book, these abound. Suddenly, there is no difference between picking up on sendings that are color patterns and sendings that are words. Very few humans can pick up on the sendings of dragons, to the point where it's commonly assumed that this is impossible. [[spoiler: The cave people are now all called 'trogs' without so much as being named that.]] Insects are able to send, if weakly. Being able to psychically tell a dragon what to do is an unheard-of and disturbing thing. The triplets all came from one egg. All water blocks sendings. Jakkin has totally forgiven Erikkin for selling him out. Dragons are no longer mentally {{Starfish Alien}}s, but are clearly less intelligent and capable than humans and do not have senses of humor beyond slapstick.

* RavenHairIvorySkin: Akki

* SlapSlapKiss: Jakkin and Akki's burgeoning relationship in the first two books could be interpreted as this.

* TheHeart: In ''A Sending of Dragons'', while helping Jakkin with a plan Sssargon proudly declares that he is Jakkin's eyes. The Tri say that they are his ears. Sssasha, always more deliberate and patient but often somewhat wiser, tells him "I am thy heart."

* SameSexTriplets: The three hatchlings Tri-sss, Tri-sssha, and Tri-ssskkette are, unlike their siblings who hatched at the same time, basically identical and all girls.
* ShoutOut: The Federation seems ostensibly derived from Franchise/StarTrek.
** Heart's Blood's hatchling, a boy, names himself Ssargon, after the legendary king of Mesopotamia.

The Pit Dragon Chronicles are a [[strike:trilogy]] [[TrilogyCreep series]] of books by JaneYolen, consisting of ''Dragon's Blood'' (1982), ''Heart's Blood'' (1984), ''A Sending Of Dragons'' (1987), and ''[[TrilogyCreep Dragon's Heart]]'' (2009).

The story takes place ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway, on the harsh desert planet of Austar IV. Once used to dispose of criminals, Austar IV has now flourished, under a system of masters and 'bonders', a lower class that has to pay a bond price to rise up in the world. The books mainly revolves around Jakkin Stewart, a worker at a dragon farm run by the mysterious Master Sarkkhan. He steals a dragon egg and manages to raise the hatchling, named Heart's Blood, into one of the greatest Pit fighters the world has ever seen.