Literature / Age of Fire

Age of Fire is a fantasy series by E. E. Knight that follows the lives of three dragon siblings. The three dragons separate shortly after their parents and fourth sibling are killed by dwarves. The first book follows Auron as he travels the world having adventures, making friends, and learning about dragons and why they are disappearing from the world. The second book follows Wistala, the only surviving female of the clutch, who is determined to avenge her parents' and sister's murder. The Copper is the main character of the third book who, after betraying his family, is betrayed in turn by the dwarves. He finds his way eventually to an underground society of dragons. The fourth, fifth, and sixth books rotate through the three siblings' perspectives after they reunite, and deal with the characters working to determine the role dragons will play in the world.

The books in this series are:

• Dragon Champion
• Dragon Avenger
• Dragon Outcast
• Dragon Strike
• Dragon Rule
• Dragon Fate

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Tropes include:

• Abusive Parents: AuRel and Irelia abandon the Copper after young Auron forces him from their egg shelf. It should be noted that this is a normal instinct for dragons; the only ones who think to stop it are those who want to improve the overall population of dragons.

• The Alliance: The Grand Alliance formed to oppose the Red Queen — the dragons of the Lavadome (and by extension their vassals) and of the Isle of Ice, Hypatia, and Naf's rebel group. This serves as the basis for RuGaard's plans to expand the Dragon Empire via making their human allies reliant on them.
  • In order to defeat Infamnia and Rayg's plans for the Dragon Empire, the siblings build up a new alliance — the humans and dragons of Juutford, the northern barbarians, and the people of Hypatia whom Wistala counts as friends. This also technically includes the Sadda-Vale and the eastern princedoms, but those two groups are more concerned with protecting themselves than fighting.
  • After the Grand Alliance collapses, the protagonists rebuild it as the Chartered Trust, a more legally binding and racially equal organization.
• All Trolls Are Different: They walk with their hands, and eat and excrete from the same orifice. Troll, my ass-mouth. And that's not including the hybrid creatures from the last book created by Rayg and Infamnia breeding and raising generations of them on dragon blood and flesh, giving them dragon attributes like wings and horns.
• Alternate Animal Affection: Dragons "kiss" by crossing necks with each other.
• Amazon Brigade: The Firemaids. Combative, sworn-to-celibacy dragonelles that serve as protectors of the Lavadome. Also their younger counterpart the Firemaidens, a similar group that comprises drakka.
• Ambiguous Ending: In Dragon Fate. Did RuGaard and/or Nilrasha live? If so, did they have hatchlings together? There are only rumors... In the sequel series Novice Dragoneer, Ru Gaard (Dubbed The Duke) and Nilrasha (Dubbed The Duchess) are confirmed to be alive and a active members of the Vale Republic. However it’s unknown if they have had a clutch together.
• Ambition Is Evil: The Copper might not be quite evil, but he's by far the most morally ambiguous main character. Also basically every villain wants to rule the world.
• Ancient Astronauts: Implied to be Anklemere, the ancient wizard, as well as trolls. And apparently, the Lavadome is also a spaceship.

• Animal Companion: The Copper has his bats, who save his life when he first arrives in the Lower World, after which he protects and raises several generations of them, nourishing them with his own blood, in exchange for their aid.
• Anti-Hero: The Copper wants to take over the world and doesn't bat an eye over the enslavement of sentient people, as long as they're not dragons. He also doesn't have many (if any) friends and hardly seems to care when dragons he's close to die. And of course, there's the whole egg cave debacle.
• Anyone Can Die: Since the books take place over decades, many of the non-dragon characters end up dead, either to conflict or old age. Even then, plenty of dragons have their numbers come up.
• Arc Words: AuRon, Wistala, and the Copper have adapt, improvise, and overcome respectively in the first three books. These three are reused in Dragon Strike as the names of the three parts of that book.
• Arranged Marriage: RuGaard and Halaflora. He was mostly miserable at first, but he came to love Halaflora's gentle nature.
• Babies Ever After: In the first novel, with AuRon and Natasatch. And in the last novel, Wistala and DharSii, and possibly also RuGaard and Nilrasha, depending on whether you think the story of their survival is true or not.
• Badass Boast: One that the Copper overhears in the 3rd book and gets repeated often:
  The Copper: Dragons eat challenge and vent victory!
• Best Served Cold: Wistala spends years planning revenge on both the Wheel of Fire and Thane Hammar, and is finally able to achieve it by playing them against each other.
• Big Bad:
  • Dragon Champion: Wrimere the Wrymmaster.
  • Dragon Avenger: Thane Hammar and King Fangbreaker.
  • Dragon Outcast: While the Imperial Line is full backstabbing schemers, SiMevolant turns out to be the only outright antagonist.
  • Dragon Strike: The Red Queen.
  • Dragon Rule: NiVom and Infamnia (who's possessed by the Red Queen at the time).
  • Dragon Fate: Infamnia/Red Queen and Rayg.
• Big Bad Wannabe: NiVom is set up to look like the Big Bad of the last two books, but is ultimately revealed to have been a pawn of Infamnia and Rayg all along.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Dragons have two extra hearts in their neck, their wings grow in at puberty, and they must eat metal to keep their scales healthy.
• Bling of War: Lampshaded by Wistala when visiting the Hypatian capital, remarking that the chancellor's guards were straining under the weight of their immaculate armor and shields. Since she's trying to recruit them as war allies, she's a bit justified in her concern if this is their nobles' idea of combat outfitting.
• Body Surf: After capturing the sun-shard, the Red Queen is able to use this to further her political schemes by possessing people who are wearing crystalline fragments of the sun-shard. After AuRon destroys her body and her (magically-grown) replacements, the Red Queen uses this to possess Imfamnia.
• Book Ends: The first book began with Auron as an egg in his clutch, in his home cave, with his family. The same book ends with AuRon in his new home cave, with his mate Natasatch, both looking over their clutch of eggs. The last scene in the final book takes a whopping 5 novels to cycle again, as Wistala and DharSii overlook their latest clutch of eggs in a new home cave, similar to AuRon and Natasatch.
• Breath Weapon: Dragons breathe fire — or, more specifically, spit it. Their bodies produce a kind of flammable, liquid fat from their meals, which is stored in a specialized bladder; when the dragon wishes to use it, it's mixed with bile from a separate organ, ignited, and sent out from the mouth in a stream of liquid, clinging fire. As a result, however, dragons cannot produce this substance indefinitely — the bladder only stores enough fuel for a few charges, and needs time to refill afterwards.

• Bus Crash: In Dragon Fate, Ayafeeia sends Yefkoa to seek Wistala's help. When Wistala arrives, she's simply informed Ayafeeia died during an ambush at a party.
  • In the same book, AuRon's old human friend Naf is briefly mentioned as having died of old age.
  • And in Dragon Champion, Auron says goodbye to Blackhard and the rest of the Dawn Roarers after Thing saves him from the Dragonblade. The next time the reader sees the pack, it's not even the same pack anymore, and Blackhard's grandson is leading it. But this is decades later anyway, and it's rare for a wolf to live past 14 years of age.
• The Caligula: SiDrakkon who is somewhat this even before he takes the Tyrancy.
• Casanova Wannabe: FuPozat, the replacement Protector of Old Uldam, does little more than enjoy the spoils of his station and make passes at Isatch, who's both AuRon's daughter and the dragonelle FuPozat took the position from. He's not even interested in making her his mate, merely "mating," which repulses the traditional-minded Isatch even more than his boorish personality does.
• Chameleon Camouflage: A Grey dragon skin changes color to match whatever they're resting against. At one point AuRon notes that this ability is even detailed enough to match the strata of the cliff face he's clinging to.
• Chased by Angry Natives: Auron at the fishing village, after devouring half of a child out of desperation.
• Chekhov's Gun: The dwarsaw that Auron gets halfway through Dragon Champion from Djer is used at the climax to free Natasatch and the other imprisoned dragonelles, starting the rebellion that brings down the Wrymmaster.
  • The sun-shard at first just appears to be an oddity of NooMoahk's horde, but it ends up being plot-crucial in the back half of the series.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The third dragon in the slave ship with Auron and Natasatch grows up to be Starlight, the Wrymmaster's (literal) Dragon with an Agenda.
  • Rayg is introduced as a very minor character in Wistala's story, but grows up to become one of the Copper's chief thralls and one of the final villains of the series.
  • The Red Queen of Ghioz is mentioned in passing in Dragon Champion, and ends up becoming the main villain of the second half of the series.
• Chekhov's Skill: When Wistala first meets DharSii, he's spitting water on rocks, followed by flame, in order to crack them from the temperature change. She later copies this to escape from the tower the Wheel of Fire are keeping her confined in.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Infamnia, again and again. The people she has betrayed or back-stabbed include all of the main cast, her current mate, and separate Empires, including her own. And betrays her mate again, after he thought to himself that she was too stupid to betray him. Then, it turns out that only the first betrayal was of her doing; although even then, Tighlia was the one who put her up to it. Everything else was the Red Queen's doing.
  • The Copper does this to his mother and sister in the egg cave and later on to his brother and sister when they work for him, though he regrets the first one.
  • Rayg in his later years, helping overthrow both RuGaard and many citizens of the new Dragon Empire to gain the Dragon resources needed for his plans.
  • Infamnia and Rayg's tendency toward this is Exploited by AuRon, as they both prepare to execute them. He points out that after betraying so many, it's only logical that the both are now on the other's hit list. One pregnant pause later, they weakly affirm that they wouldn't betray one another, but all AuRon has to do is say "Watch out!" for them to attack each other.
• Circling Vultures: Played with. When Wistala finds her father, badly wounded by still alive, he's being watched a condor, waiting for him to die. However, it turns out that said condor, whose name is Bartleghaff, is an old, close friend of his, with AuRel having made a deal that only Bartleghaff and his family would be allowed to eat him. The condor considers this a great honor, and an obligation he had to his friend, and he and the others were there to give AuRel a proper send off.

• Cloning Gambit: Through use of magic, the Red Queen is able to grow herself new bodies for her spirit to inhabit whenever her body was destroyed. AuRon destroys her method of doing this in Dragon Strike, which forces her to resort to possessing Imfamnia instead.
• Continuity Nod: Events from different books, which are each from a different dragon's perspective, are mentioned in the other books

• Cursed with Awesome: AuRon is a gray dragon, meaning that he lacks the scales that give dragons resistance against most weapons. However, his skin can also change colors, slowing him to blend in to his environment. Also, he can fly farther and swim better without scales weighing him down, and doesn't have to eat metal, allowing him to live far away from hominids.
• Cycle of Revenge: A theme throughout the series, but especially highlighted in Dragon Avenger — Wistala eventually tries to end this as regards the Dragonblade line by making peace with the current one and his family, rather than take revenge on him for killing her father.
• Cynicism Catalyst: RuGaard's attitude towards hominids sours after the dwarves he leads to his home cave betray the terms of their deal by killing his mother and sister, despite telling him that they would only be temporarily restrained while AuRon and Wistala were taken away.
• Dare to Be Badass: Scabia gives NaStirath a speech along these lines after the Sadda-Vale is attacked by Infamnia and Rayg's minions. It works.
• A Day in the Limelight: Several in Dragon Fate: NiVom, Scabia, NaStirath, AuSurath, and Varatheela.

• Death from Above: Wistala drops a longpoon on Fangbreaker's escape boat, either crushing him or causing him to drown subsequently.
• A Death in the Limelight: Just one in Dragon Fate: NiVom.
• Demihuman: Humans, elves and dwarves, collectively known as the hominids to other creatures and as the naran, or speaking peoples, to themselves. Dragons believe them to have been created by the spirits of the elements in order to create beings who can kill dragons, while they consider themselves to descend from the blighters, a species of subterranean morlock-like beings that are also considered hominids by other beings.
• Destructo-Nookie: Shadowcatch stays behind to delay Oustrelia when the siblings escape to the Sadda-Vale, waging a guerrilla war against her and her allies. One instance, she gets the jump on him, tackling him off a mountainside, and they mate. They part better terms afterward, and though they don't become mates, Oustrelia raises Shadowcatch's clutch.
• Disney Villain Death: Given that most characters in this series can fly, it shouldn't be too surprising that there's plenty of examples of this. However, most are background events during battle, with only a few examples from across the series worth detailed mentioning:
  • After NooMoahk chases after him in a senility-induced rage, AuRon is forced to send him crashing to the ground in self-defense, mortally wounding him.
  • AuRon later ends his duel with Starlight by tearing off his wing mid-flight, sending him crashing to his death.
  • When Infamnia and Rayg attempt to flee Imperial Rock after they're defeated, Infamnia's injured wing gives out, sending both her and Rayg (who she was carrying) falling to their doom.
• Divide and Conquer: Starlight was planning on using the Wyrmmaster's crusade to divide and weaken the humanoid races, so that he could then lead the dragons in destroying them all.
• Doomed Hometown: The three (originally four) siblings grew up in a cozy cave, although the Copper got the worst part of the deal. Of course, that home gets invaded and destroyed.
• Do with Him as You Will: Wistala drops Hammar amongst the dwarves he's besieging, leaving him to his fate.
• Dragon Hoard:
  • An atypical variant: dragons hoard because they need to eat metal to make scales, and as such favor metallic objects over gems. As a scaleless grey dragon, AuRon has no appetite or need for such a hoard.
  • The ancient dragon NooMoahk hoards knowledge, in the form of a tremendous collection of scrolls, books and tablets, as well as a great deal of information stored in his long memory. When Auron comments on this, NooMoahk comments that unlike gold and gems, which simply sit inert where they are put, knowledge is the only kind of wealth that multiplies itself, as distinct facts will combine with each other in a learner's mind to create all-new insights and conclusions.
• Dragon Rider: A few somewhat nonstandard uses. The first encounter of them is the Wyrmasters' dragon riders, which are created by stealing eggs from their mothers and causing the hatchlings to imprint on humans, raising them to serve as dull-minded, obedient mounts. Later, the Lavadome dragons start a more traditional pairing of dragons and riders, but the dragons are very much the boss of the partnership.
• The Dragons Come Back: RuGaard wants this to happen, and for dragons to return to the glory days of ruling over the hominid races. Slightly subverted in that dragons were never gone, but have been in a decline in numbers in recent millennia.
• The Empire: Ghioz, which under the Red Queen's rule nearly takes over the entire known world.
• Epic Fail: While secretly visiting his daughter Istach in Old Udaam, a trespassing AuRon is intercepted by the amazingly incompetent Protector, FuPozat (or Fusspot, as Isatch calls him). AuRon wasn't even interested in fighting the younger dragon, and merely outspeeds him until FuPozat unleashes a gout of flame after him which predictably flies straight into his own eyes, blinding and sending him crashing down to the ground. AuRon stops to help him purely out of pity, then enlists Isatch to take care of his foolish hide, to her great annoyance.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Red Queen is willing to employ any race or species as her minions.
• Evil Matriarch: Tighlia, being responsible for the deaths of Tyr FeHazathant's childen AgGriffopse and Enesea, and the banishment of DharSii and NiVom all so that her brother SiDrakkon would be able to become the next Tyr.
• The Exile: At the end of Dragon Rule, RuGaard is ousted as Tyr and banished from his own empire, along with his siblings when they decide to stand with him.
• Expy: DharSii, for a certain Darcy.
  • Several of the dragons of the Lavadome Imperial Line share characteristics with the cast of I, Claudius — both Tyr FeHazathant and Emperor Augustus are unaware that their wives — Tighlia and Livia, respectively — are plotting to ensure their own relatives ascend to the throne (Tighlia's brother SiDrakkon, and Livia's son Tiberius), end up being killed by their wives, who in turn end up being neglected by their relatives once they end up in power. A few years later, SiDrakkon and Tiberius — both depraved, and prone to wasting time pleasuring themselves — end up being murdered by their chosen successors — SiMevolant and Caligula, who are considered worse, to the point where they conduct an incestuous relationship with one of their sisters (Imfamnia and Drusilla). Ultimately, they are slain in a plot and succeeded by a crippled relative — RuGaard and Claudius — thought of a joke by the other members of the Imperial Family.
• Eye Scream:
  • Wistala slashes the Copper in the eye when first confronting him over the egg cave slaughter. While he doesn't lose the eye altogether, it's left nearly useless.
  • Wistala slashes the Dragonblade's son Eliam in the face, destroying one of his eyes. By the time AuRon encounters him serving the Wrymmaster, he's installed a jewel in its place.
• Face–Heel Turn: Rayg, of all people, in the final novel. It's safe to say this was a result of decades worth of tinkering with the crystal spheres, however.

• Fainting Seer: Wistala plays the part of this for a time. Later played straight with Iatella.
• False Flag Operation: A bunch of Moor expies suddenly raid a party at the start of the sixth book, killing any dragon they can find. AuRon isn't fooled, since he could identify the attackers as blighter mercenaries. The fact that both the dead mercenaries and dragon bodies are confiscated less than an hour afterwards only raises his suspicions further. He's right, it was the Big Bad harvesting dragon bodies to grow her army.
• Fantastic Racism: Most humans and elves hate Dragons, while dwarves are divided among those who hate them and those who see them as potentially useful. Dragons tend to see most other sentient races simply as food. There's also, in the first book, an increase of racism towards dwarves and elves by humans.
• Fantasy World Map: Each book has a map of the region the series takes place in, but each map varies depending on the book — for example, Wistala's solo focus book only shows the lands between the Inland Ocean and the Red Mountains, AuRon's includes those lands but also spreads further east, and the Copper's shows the underground network of tunnels that form the Lower World, because those are the areas where those books are focused. Also, each map has a series of footnotes marking where key events from that specific book takes place.
• Faking the Dead: Possibly done by RuGaard at the end of Dragon Fate. AuRon seemingly witnesses him having his neck broken by a troll, but as Nilrasha leaves with his body, he is sure he sees him wink at him. In addition to this, they Never Found the Body, and stories later surface that both RuGaard and Nilrasha supposedly got away and started a family.
• Fantastic Naming Convention:
  • Dragon names consist of two syllables, the first being inherited from the father. They use simply capitalization at birth, but males switch to CamelCase at maturity. For instance, the main character starts life as Auron, son of AuRel, and becomes AuRon late in the first book.
  • Wolf names consist of two two-word constructs describing their appearance, and use shortened versions of these among packmates formed by putting the first word of the second part before the first word of the first. For instance, the wolf Hard-Legs Back-Bristle is Blackhard to his companions. While staying with the wolves, Auron is named Long-Tail Fire-Heart, Firelong for short.
• Finger-Licking Poison: Although it's not made clear exactly how SiDrakkon died, RuGaard later finds SiMevolant in possession of a poisoned weapon that resembles one of SiDrakkon's bath oil containers, suggesting he tricked him into using it.
• First Time in the Sun: A variant in Dragon Champion. Poor Natasatch was imprisoned in a cave since before she was even a drakka, and barely remembered what the sun looked like. When she's finally freed, she nuzzles up to AuRon and remarks she forgot how warm it feels.
• Freudian Excuse: The Copper has one. His desire to enslave all hominids and have dragons become the dominant race probably comes from the torture and betrayal he suffered at the hands of some dwarves. He was tricked into thinking that Wistala and Auron would be taken away, and his mother and Jizara would live, but the dwarves had other ideas. The Copper inadvertently caused his parents' (and sister's) horrible deaths at the hands of the Wheel of Fire dwarves, the Dragonblade, and some elves who wanted to sell the hatchlings to the Wyrmmaster.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The Copper was ostracized from his family at early age and was considered a cripple and misfit by the Lavadome Dragons. By the end of his book, he's their leader, and has his sights set on conquering the world.
• Generation Xerox: AuRon's daughter Istach is said to look like an older version of AuRon's dead sister Jizara, which even results in RuGaard momentarily mistaking her for Jizara when he first meets her.
• God Guise: Of a sort. In Dragon Champion, Auron frightens away a group of elven bandits by covering himself in the viscera of their victims and pretending to be a demon named Revengerog sent to avenge those that they killed.
• Groin Attack: RuGaard wins a scuffle with his fellow members of the Drakwatch by inadvertently doing this.
• Guile Hero:
  • RuGaard has always been this, but his Crowning Moment comes when he smooth-talks his way out of his dwarven kidnappers (who mistrust all dragons, since it was Wistala herself who decimated their clan), hires them later, and relies on them in the final battle.
  • AuRon and Wistala have plenty of moments of this as well. Comments from their father during their hatchling years suggest all the siblings get it from their mother.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Consumption of dragon blood will give the drinkers dragon's power, and eventually dragon-like characteristics such as obvious scales, bony ridges, and higher intelligence in the case of animals like bats and mice. The Dragons exploit this heavily, as selling bottled blood is a major source of income for their Empire. Taken further in the last book, since the Red Queen (in Infamnia's body) has been secretly killing and harvesting dragons for decades to create an army of hybridized de-men and trolls to conquer the Dragon's Empire.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management:
  • AuRon goes through periods of this, where he wants to isolate himself and his family from the rest of the world.
  • The Hypatian Directory refuses to believe reports of the Red Queen's forces invading their realm, even as they're being overrun.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Dragon Fate, AuSurath's dragon rider, Gundar, sacrifices himself to save AuSurath from several of Rayg's trolls.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen:
  • Djer describes the Chartered Company as being more powerful than some nations, but after the war with the Wrymmaster's forces, it's reduced to a shadow of its former self.
  • Which is nothing compared to the Wheel of Fire. After Wistala engineers their downfall, they're ultimately left as small groups huddling in filthy squalor and starvation, hiding in caves from their many enemies.
  • By the end of Dragon Rule, this is the case with the Copper — ousted as Tyr and exiled from his own empire, with his mate held hostage, he sinks into a depression that lasts twelve years, until learning of a group of dragons independent of the empire inspires him to find a way to take back what's his.
• Humans Are Special: Humans aren't the focus of the series, but they've created many game-changing inventions and new, powerful empires in a matter of years, while the other species seem to be stuck in Medieval Stasis. One dwarf had this to say:
  Dwarf: [Dragonkind], elven, and dwarven kind are alike. Since the dawn of time, we've stood on pillars, looking down into the humans laboring in the dirt. But the humans, they've just been laying the foundations of a pyramid, and each generation adds a little more until one day, they will look down at us.
• The Infiltration: AuRon, on the Isle of Ice. Also Wistala with the Wheel of Fire.
• Inferred Survival: RuGaard and Nilrasha at the end of Dragon Fate.
• Likes Older Women: At the end of the fifth book, Wistala falls for DharSii, who is at least 150 years her senior.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: Twice. AuRon rips off most of his tail after Starlight bites the end of it, to prevent the lethal venom from killing him. Later, in Dragon Strike, Nilrasha chews off her own wings, pinned under rubble, to prevent being executed while helpless. Ouch.
• Literal-Minded: Auron doesn't have a good grasp of hominid wordplay, and jokes and metaphors tend to go over his head. One incident in Dragon Champion has the human Naf lament that dragons seem to lack a sense of humor; Auron mistakes this for a comment on his physical senses and testily replies that all of a dragon's senses are sharp.
  "No, no insult intended. I don't know dragons, but it's sad to learn they have no sense of humor."
  "All of a dragon's senses are sharp. Sight, hearing—"
• Long-Lived: Elves live a good deal longer than humans, and dwarves longer still. Dragons are the longest-lived sapients by far, with the eldest of their kind lasting for historic ages.
• Mad Doctor: Rayg, briefly, after his Face–Heel Turn. His practice consists of permanently crippling and lobotomizing several dragons.
• Meaningful Rename: DharSii did this for himself after leaving the Lavadome. His original name is never revealed.
• Mercy Kill:
  • In the first book, after many long years of travel, AuRon finally returns to the dwarven Delvings, as he promised his good friend Djer he would. Sadly, the Delvings have been ravaged by dragon attacks, and Djer got a faceful of dragon-flame while saving another dwarf. AuRon finds him lying in a cave with all the other soldiers injured in battle, only that Djer's burns literally cover his entire face, even burning his lungs. He asks AuRon to end his life, to spare him the agonized death of wound infection. AuRon is hesitant at first, but goes through with it, crushing Djer's skull, and then demanding a proper burial for his lost friend.
  • Dragon Outcast has a minor throwaway example with Thernadad, the first of the Copper's bat companions. Having grown too old and enfeebled to care for himself, the Copper lets him feed himself into a stupor, then has his neck snapped while he's sleeping.
• Metal Muncher: Dragons, with the exception of the scaleless grey dragons, eat metals in order to build up and strengthen their scales. This is the primary reason behind their hoarding instinct.
• The Mistress: RuGaard's Love Interest Nilrasha wanted to be his "jade" after his Arranged Marriage to Halaflora. Apparently he was the only one who took his Mating Flight seriously; everyone else (including Halaflora) assumed they were secretly together.
• Mooks: Blighters mostly fill this role, though after the demen are subjugated by the Dragon Empire, they take over the position especially once NiVom and Infamnia take over.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: The rumor that Nilrasha did this to Halaflora never quite went away.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Wyrmmaster and his followers. The Wyrmmaster himself is a particularly good Expy of Hitler himself, seeing that his Fantastic Racism is driven by a paranoid delusion that the other humanoid races are all part of some grand conspiracy to keep mankind weak.
• Never Found the Body: Nilrasha and RuGaard go missing at the end of Dragon Fate and are thought to have died, but a group of blighters later claim to have helped a dragon pair resembling them escape to a safe location.
• New Era Speech: The Copper gives one after becoming the Tyr, telling the Lavadome dragons of his plans to bring about draconic rule of the entire world.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: An example where the consequences take some time to come back — Wistala engineers the near-total destruction of the Wheel of Fire with the unwitting aid of the barbarians of northern Hypatia, but years later this means that the remaining dwarves are unable and unwilling to stop the Red Queen's Ironrider allies from marching through their mountain pass to attack northern Hypatia.
• No Name Given: Because he lost the egg shelf fight, the Copper receives no name from his parents, as an outcast. Though he's later given the name RuGaard by another dragon, he's referred to as 'the Copper' in the narration until the final book.
• Not Hyperbole: The Red Queen once said she was far too busy to die. She wasn't lying, even decades after her apparent death.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: SiMevolent appears to have been doing this most of his life given the radical personality shift after he murders his way into the Tyrancy.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as male dragons usually share the first few letters of their name with their father.
• Our Dragons Are Different: In many ways they are the standard Western variety: they're big, they don't like hominids, they like treasure, etc., but are given additional worldbuilding due to being the series' focus characters. They have no wings until they're about fifteen to twenty years old, and have metallic scales that they build up by eating refined metal, which is the reason why they hoard treasure. They also have two hearts in their necks and can only breathe a limited amount of fire at a time, which their bodies fuel by rendering part of their meals into a liquid fat; when this runs out, they cannot breathe fire until the organ has had time to refill. They're very dangerous and powerful beings, but are ultimately living creatures with their own weaknesses and limitations.
• Our Demons Are Different: Called "demans", they're not supernatural in origin or particularly evil, just another humanoid race, with horns and spines down their backs, who live underground.
• Our Dwarves Are Different: Short, stout hominids, known for their talent with metalcraft. Some groups are merchants and artisans, while others are warmongers. They have a custom of keeping their faces hidden behind masks or helmets when aboveground, and cultivate luminescent lichens in their beards to provide light underground.
• Our Elves Are Different: Aside from maybe the demans, the elves are possibly the least explored of the races, but the ones seen seem to primarily fall into the "wood elf" category. The biggest difference between them and other races is that they have plant life that gathers in their hair, which often contains flowers, leaves, thorns or other such things, and their children tend to be stillborn.
• Our Orcs Are Different: Called blighters, according to dragon legend they were the first sapient race. In fact, dragons were supposedly created to keep them from overrunning the world. Once they had complex civilizations that controlled most of the world, but in the present they're just squabbling tribes of raiders and savages.

• Parental Substitute: AuRon, Wistala, and RuGaard had NooMoahk, Rainfall, and FeHazathant, respectively. AuRon in turn was one to Heiba.
• Pet the Dog: After RuGaard is seemingly killed, Rayg lets Nilrasha take the body and leave in peace, citing RuGaard's years of kindness to him.
• Playing Both Sides: Wistala does this to the Wheel of Fire and Thane Hammar, enabling her to destroy them and gain vengeance on both.
• Posthumous Character: AgGriffopse, the son of FeHazathant, and EmLar, the grandfather of the three main characters and NiVom, due to him having once lived in the Lavadome.
• The Power of Blood: Dragon blood has valuable alchemical properties, able to invigorate drinkers while also fetching a pretty coin. Sustained drinking cause biological shifts resulting in more draconic features.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Justified in that AuRon is a dragon and to him a human child is just a protein source. A lot of Dragons hold this view, sometimes gobbling up thralls who've displeased them and attacking nations who refuse to pay ungodly amounts of tribute. Other characters call them out for this, but only Wistala, being raised with hominids on her heart, seems to care.
• Protectorate: This is what Tyr RuGaard's dragon empire is called, with a family of dragons overseeing a "state". In reality, it's more often a dragon setting up shop in the local government building, demanding tribute, and boasting of their possesions to attract a mate.
• Psycho Supporter: Starlight. Though he has his own plans separate from the Wrymmaster's.
• Questionable Consent: In payment for sheltering the Exiles from the Dragon Empire, Scabia demands that Wistala be impregnated by her son-in-law NaStirath and give the eggs to his mate Aethleethia to raise as her own. She reluctantly agrees, and only avoids it when NaStirath sends Wistala's Love Interest DharSii instead. They still had to hand over the eggs, though.
• The Quisling: SiMevolant plays this role to the Wrymmaster's forces after taking over the Lavadome, opening the doors to them in the belief that it's the only way for dragons to stave off extinction.
• Raised by Wolves: Wolves occasionally take in hominid infants, usually elves and occasionally humans, and raise them as their own. This is eased by the setting's wolves being intelligent enough to have their own language and culture, and these children often return to their parent species after reaching adulthood.
• "Rashomon"-Style: The opening chapters of the first three books all relate the lives of the main characters from hatching onward, which means that the time the three spent in the egg cave is covered separately by all three characters. Young Auron is seen in a less and less sympathetic light each time, and Jizara's character is expanded more. AuRel and Irelia also almost seem like different dragons depending on the narrator. The Dragonblade's personality also seem different in each of the siblings' stories. When Auron encounters him, he's your basic one-dimensional dragon slayer character; in Wistala's story he's somewhat of a Noble Demon; and in the Copper's story is strictly a Knight Templar.
• Really Gets Around: Imfamnia. First she's betrothed to NiVom - although this arrangement ends when she and Tighlia frame NiVom for assault — then she becomes the mate of SiDrakkon - her great-uncle by marriage - and after his death she becomes the mate of SiMevolant — her brother. After SiMevolant's fall from power forces her to flee the Lavadome, the other dragons begin calling her "the Jade Queen" - "Jade" being the draconic slang term for "mistress". Then she ends up mated to NiVom again, though by that time she's probably the Red Queen.
• Rebel Leader: Naf leads a group of rebels against the Red Queen in Dragon Strike.

• The Right of a Superior Species: This seems to be the overarching perspective dragons have on the other races, seeing themselves superior in every way, and are thus allowed to do whatever they please with them. It also gets deconstructed somewhat, as the story generally portrays the dragons as actually superior to the other races (not only are they physically stronger, but are just as, if not more intelligent), something none of the protagonists contest. However, it's indicated that even if they are, it does not give the dragons the right to do whatever they want to the "lesser" races. Wistala is the only one of the leads who doesn't share this view, with AuRon mostly dismissive of the others with occasional exceptions, and RuGaard fully subscribing to this belief.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When the dragonelles escape in Dragon Champion.

• Scars Are Forever: The Copper has been crippled for life due to the plethora of injuries he's sustained, barely able to walk, half blind, mostly fireless, and unable to fly without assistance. Used to a lesser extent with AuRon, who lost a tail and has a stiff replacement. Meanwhile, Nilrasha and NeSirrath have lost their wings, meaning they can't fly either.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: After Infamia and Rayg both boast their victory to an immobilized AuRon, he points out that each of them would likely betray the other in short order. They actually stop their laughter, and all it takes is a shout as Rayg goes in to finish him for them to erupt into conflict.
• Self-Made Orphan: The Copper, if indirectly. Whatever his intentions, he did knowingly lead assassins to his home cave.
• Separated at Birth: The siblings, told at the start of all three books.
• Sequel Non-Entity: AuMoahk, who abruptly vanishes from the story following the end of Dragon Rule. The ending of Dragon Fate hints that he may have died, although it doesn't specify how or when.
• Series Continuity Error: A few in the later books; a particularly glaring example of which is SiDrakkon getting mixed up with his successor SiMevolant. Not only do several dragons attribute SiDrakkon's lusts to SiMevolant, but Imfamnia herself seems to forget that she was mated to SiDrakkon before SiMevolant. Of course, since Imfamnia was being possessed by the Red Queen at this point, this could be a case of the Red Queen not doing the research...
• Single-Minded Twins: SiHazathant and Regalia, who even hatched from the same egg.
• The Starscream:
  • Starlight but he got killed before he could put his plot into action.
  • Infamnia and Rayg, enough that they end up betraying each other after both betraying NiVom.
• Switching P.O.V.: The latter three books rotate between Wistala's, AuRon's and the Copper's points of view.

• Talking Animal: Sort of. It's indicated that just about all the animals in this world are in someway sapient, and have their own spoken languages and cultures. It's also indicated only dragons can understand the languages of both the animals and hominids.
• Time Abyss: NooMoahk is one of the oldest living creatures still in existence by the time the series starts, and can remember times when humans had not yet mastered metal, the now-savage blighters ruled much of the world, and once-extensive glaciers crept north to be replaced by forests and then dry wastes in turn.
• Title Drop: During his New Era Speech, the Copper uses "the Age of Fire" to describe his vision of dragons coming to rule the world.
• Trademark Favorite Food: AuRon will never turn down a good sausage.

• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Jizara is revealed to be this somewhat in Dragon Outcast. She is the only one of the siblings (or their parents) to sympathize with the Copper or even remotely treat him well; part of the reason she died is that she was waiting for the Copper to escape with her, Auron, and Wistala.
• Ultimate Job Security: While thrall lives aren't valued by dragons, Rayg carves out a niche in the Lavadome, using his near-universal scientific skills to make himself irreplaceable to the dragons.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Shadowcatch believes strongly in keeping to one's oaths (those who willingly break them are a bit of a Berserk Button to him), so when he pledges himself as RuGaard's bodyguard, he stays loyal, no matter what. Even after the Copper is ousted as Tyr, Shadowcatch follows him, saying he'll always be Tyr to him.
  • The Copper's bats might be swayed by meals of blood from other dragons, but they are always ultimately loyal to their original benefactor. This is best shown at the end of Dragon Fate, where they swarm Rayg and Infamnia in mass, with shouts of "Revenge for our Tyr!" AuRon remarks on, and seems impressed by, the devotion the Copper inspires in them.
• Unexpected Successor: The Copper, to the Tyrancy.
• The Un-Favourite: Male, living losers of the egg shelf fight, or 'outcasts'. Most notably the Copper.
• The Unfought: King Gan looks like he's shaping up to be the big bad of the hatchling part of Dragon Outcast, but the Copper only has a brief fight with him one day and later simply leaves the cave.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Wyrmmaster and Tyr RuGaard again. (Of course, RuGaard's utopia is only for dragons, and he doesn't consider it a sacrifice to subjugate and kill humanoids, so it's debatable.)
• We Used to Be Friends: RuGaard and NiVom, as a result of RuGaard being made Tyr at the end of Dragon Outcast.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out if Nilrasha really did or didn't kill Halaflora, but Nilrasha herself said that she let her choke to death, even when she knew a technique to save dragons in that exact situation.
  • We have an offhand mention that Rhea passed away in the penultimate book, which is further reinforced by the fact that even Rayg is an old man by then, but all we know about Rayg's wife and children is that they were sent "somewhere safe."
  • AuMoahk, AuRon's gold son, doesn't appear in Dragon Fate, while his brother gets an expanded role compared to the previous books. However, since the final chapter of the book makes reference to AuRon and his "surviving family", it could suggest that he was killed at some point; perhaps as a result of the Red Queen and Rayg's final move against dragonkind.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue on the last book is primarily focused on Wistala and DharSii, but the narration also mentions what's happened to everyone else.
• Where I Was Born and Razed: Somewhat, as the Copper is quick to lead angry dwarves back to his home keep. Somewhat forgivable, as his family had all but ostracized him at that point simply for existing.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: RuGaard, whose betrayal of his family is caused by his crippling by his brother shortly after their birth and who is then betrayed himself by the dwarves he was helping.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Infamnia says this verbatim after poisoning NiVom in Dragon Fate.
• You Just Told Me: Averted. The Wyrnmaster calls AuRon by his real name while he is is under a false identity, but he catches himself.

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