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1979: Was It George?
George R.R. Martin, writer of the Song of Fire and Ice fantasy anthology that impressed the Game of Thrones tv sequence, wrote a brief story titled “The Ice Dragon” again in 1979. In the introduction to that story, Martin makes a stunning declare:
“Ice dragons have develop into commonplace options of plenty of fantasy books and video games within the twenty-odd years since I wrote ‘The Ice Dragon,’ however I consider mine was the primary. And a lot of the different ‘ice dragons’ seem like not more than white dragons residing in chilly climes. Adara’s pal, a dragon product of ice that breathes chilly as a substitute of flames, stays distinctive as far as I’m conscious, my solely actually authentic contribution to the fantasy bestiary.”
Breaking that daring assertion down, Martin is arguing that his ice dragon is exclusive as a result of it combines two traits: it “breathes chilly” and is “product of ice.” We know Martin himself was well-acquainted with role-playing video games, as a result of he wrote one:
Back within the ‘80s GRRM (as he is known to his fans) was gamesmaster for a super-hero RPG called Superworld. The Albuquerque group he played with – which included science-fiction writers Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milan, John J. Miller and Walter Jon Williams – created a campaign setting in which an extraterrestrial virus brought to earth in 1946 caused ‘wild card’ mutations among the many populace. Those few contaminated by the virus who didn’t die outright or endure grotesque mutations have been modified on the DNA degree and have become ‘aces’ – or superheroes, in different phrases. This marketing campaign would type the idea for the lengthy operating Wild Cards sequence of books that are nonetheless edited by GRRM and Snodgrass.
So it appears doubtless Martin’s reference to white dragons is to Dungeons & Dragons. But who’s to say white dragons aren’t product of ice?
1974: Was it D&D?
White dragons have been launched within the authentic boxed set with one line, “White Dragons shall be discovered solely in chilly areas.” Their statistics inform the remainder of the story: they breath a cone of chilly, have the bottom hit cube (5-7) and have the bottom probability of speaking and the best probability of being discovered sleeping. The guidelines do not clarify the importance of a speaking dragon however entries for the opposite dragon colours indicate that speaking is a prerequisite for casting spells.
This skeletal framework ensured change the legacy of white dragons in later editions. They have been thought-about the least of the chromatic hierarchy, dumber and fewer highly effective than their extra ferocious cousins. There’s no indication of what white dragons are product of, however there’s one different clue: there are assaults they’re susceptible or proof against, with successful and injury modifier towards them of -1 for water and earth, and a +1 for hearth and lightning. Given that water injury does much less hurt to white dragons, it is solely attainable they could possibly be product of ice. That booklet predates Martin’s guide by 5 years, revealed in 1974.
But co-creator Gary Gygax by no means claimed he invented the white dragon, and for good cause.
1933: Was it Ruth Plumly Thompson?
The second official Historian of the Oz sequence of books after Frank L. Baum was Ruth Plumly Thompson, who included all types of fantasy creatures within the Oz sequence. She was significantly keen on dragons, together with an ice dragon:
Ruth Plumly Thompson created such a creature in Ojo in Oz (1933). Colored blue and puffing out frost, it runs endlessly round Crystal City, holding the inhabitants frozen strong.
The dragon is described as being blue, not product of ice, however later when Realbad the bandit kills it (off display, as this was a youngsters’s guide), he explains how:
“There was one other sort of physique thought,” Realbad reminded him with slightly snicker. “A blue dragon’s physique. There is your dragon, Ojo. I carried wooden from the kitchen, constructed a hearth within the street and he melted away like a snowflake.”
So it appears the blue dragon was certainly product of ice. But Thompson wasn’t the primary individual to create an ice dragon.
1899: Was it E. Nesbit?
Nesbit wrote about an ice dragon:
And, certain sufficient, it was a dragon – an important, shining, winged, scaly, clawy, big-mouthed dragon – product of pure ice. It should have gone to sleep curled spherical the outlet the place the nice and cozy steam used to come back up from the center of the earth, after which when the earth acquired colder, and the column of steam froze and was was the North Pole, the dragon should have acquired frozen in his sleep – frozen too arduous to maneuver – and there he stayed. And although he was very horrible he was very stunning, too.
This dragon is product of ice via and thru, because it melts later (a typical theme with regards to dragons product of ice) however doesn’t breathe ice. It does flip every part that touches it to ice nonetheless, and it is implied that the dragon’s presence freezes issues.
So it is clear that ice dragons aren’t distinctive. And neither are white dragons, who’ve an extended historical past in mythology.
828: Was it Nennius?
The Historia Brttonum, a purported historical past of the indigenous British individuals, comprises a narrative of King Vortigern and Ambrosius, who reveals a disturbance brought on by two dragons:
The related story takes place at Dinas Emrys when Vortigern tries to construct a fort there. Every night time, unseen forces demolish the fort partitions and foundations. Vortigern consults his advisers, who inform him to discover a boy with no pure father, and to sacrifice him. Vortigern finds such a boy, however on listening to that he’s to be put to dying to unravel the demolishing of the partitions, the boy dismisses the information of the advisors. The boy tells the king of the 2 dragons. Vortigern excavates the hill, liberating the dragons. They proceed their combat and the purple dragon lastly defeats the white dragon. The boy tells Vortigern that the white dragon symbolises the Saxons and that the purple dragon symbolises the individuals of Vortigern.
There isn’t any indication that the white dragon is product of ice or breathes chilly, however it might present a clue as to the origins of Gygaxian chromatic dragons. If that is the case, white dragons acquired the dropping finish of the deal, because the white dragon on this story is the purple dragon’s equal.
So Who Created Ice Dragons?
Martin was cautious to clarify that he thought-about the mixed traits of a dragon product of ice that breathes chilly to be distinctive. It’s a good interpretation. Dungeons & Dragons by no means explicitly mentioned white dragons have been product of ice, and later iterations have been undoubtedly flesh-and-blood creatures. Conversely, solely a detailed studying of Thompson’s work makes it clear that the blue dragon is product of ice and breathes chilly, due partially to its dying defined after the actual fact. And after all, white dragons have been round in fable so long as dragons have been in legend.
It’s clear that Martin’s ice dragon owes a debt to all of the dragons which have gone earlier than, together with its measly ancestor, the underappreciated white dragon.
Your Turn: Are your white dragons product of ice?
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