Many creatures inhabit the Wizarding World of Newt Scamander and Harry Potter, a world filled with powerful witches and wizards, fantastic beasts, and mysterious beings. The probably most popular fantasy creatures are dragons. They all in all shapes and forms, all formats. Smaug from The Hobbit, Viserion from Game of Thrones, Paarthurnax from Skyrim, or Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon - we grew up with them, meet them in games, and follow their journeys in movies or books.
And we would not be able to call ourselves Potterheads if we did not have content about dragons, right? Our very own Ainoa Caballero, Leader of the Library, which is our knowledge base for all kinds of topics revolving around our beloved universe has compiled very useful information for you users to access and use in your assignments and classes, or simply for you to read if you are interested. So credit for this blog post goes to her!
Dragons are characterised by large wings, a scaled body and the ability to breathe fire. They traditionally had four legs but it could vary between different species of dragons. They were typically regarded as the hardest magical creatures to conceal from muggles due to their unpredictable nature.
The British Ministry of Magic classified them as XXXXX, known wizard killers that are impossible to train or domesticate, and dragons are a type of Beast. Despite the danger associated with dragons, individuals can be trained to work with dragons and they are called Dragonologists. They work for dragon reserves such as the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, the Chinese Dragon Sanctuary, and the Sweden Dragon Preservation.
There are currently 10 known breeds of dragons in Harry Potter, although it is possible that illegal breeds of dragons could exist in the wizarding world.
The Antipodean Opaleye is native to New Zealand and it's commonly regarded as the most beautiful of all of the dragon breeds. It is commonly known to be the least aggressive of other dragon breeds and the most loyal of all of them. It has pearl-like scales and multi-coloured eyes with no pupils that seemed to glitter.
The Chinese Fireball is native to China and is commonly known as the "Lion Dragon". It has scarlet red scales with some gold spikes around its face. It breathes out a large ball-shaped flame which is the reason for its name.
Originally from Wales in Great Britain, the Common Welsh Green dragon was green in colour with a tail that had a single pointed tip at the end along with two spiked horns on the top of its head. It had a distinctive roar that sounded like a melody and shot fire in narrow jets.
From the Hebrides islands of Scotland, the Hebridean Black had deep black scales that were quite rough to the touch and could grow to be upwards of thirty feet long. Due to its aggressive nature, each one required a territory of 100 square miles.
From Hungary, the Horntail has a fire breath that can go as far as fifty feet and reaches extremely hot temperatures. It is considered to be the most dangerous and aggressive of all of the dragon breeds. It was lizard-like in appearance and had black scales, yellow eyes, and bronze horns.
Native to Norway, it closely resembled the Hungarian Horntail without black ridges on its back and it had a browner texture to its scales. The females were much more aggressive than the males and they were known for their ability to breathe fire developing earlier in their life.
Native to Peru, the Peruvian Vipertooth was copper in colour and had smooth scales. It was venomous and was the smallest and fastest known breed of dragon.
From Romania, the Romanian Longhorn had two massive golden horns that were its namesake. The horns stuck straight out and they were quite bulky with large muscles. Its horns could be powdered and used in potions.
The Swedish Short-Snout had bright blue flames that were hot enough to reduce timber and bone to ashes within seconds. It is native to Sweden and prefers to live in uninhabited areas.
The Ukrainian Ironbelly was the only bipedal breed of dragons and it was the largest breed of dragon. Reaching upwards of six tonnes, it was more rotund and slower at flying than the other breeds of dragons despite its large wingspan.
Different parts of dragons were used for different uses which varied greatly. Dragon blood was said to have twelve uses, although it was mainly used in potions in the wizarding world. A dragon claw was said to possibly give you a brain boost making you smarter for a few hours although this was never proven.
Dragon dung was a rich fertiliser used by Herbology students in the Harry Potter series and was sold by the barrel in Knockturn Alley. Dragon heartstring is one of the most common kinds of core used in wands across the wizarding world. Tailors would use dragon hide to create strong clothing in place of the muggle leather. The hide used the most was the skin of the Swedish Short-Snout dragon.
The powdered dragon horn was used in potions of all sorts and was classified as a Class B-Tradable Material by the British Ministry of Magic. Dragon liver was another common potion ingredient as well as powdered dragon spikes.
The largest dragon reserve in the magical world of J.K. Rowling was the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary which was established by Harvey Ridgebit sometime before 1973. The reserve was located in Romania and was known to Chinese Fireballs, Common Welsh Greens, Hungarian Horntails, Swedish Short-Snouts, Norwegian Ridgebacks, Romanian Longhorns, and Ukrainian Ironbellys as permanent residents of the reserve.
The Chinese Dragon Sanctuary was a preservation area in China which studied only Chinese Fireballs. The Swedish dragon reservation was presumed to keep mainly Swedish Short-Snouts along with Hungarian Horntails. The annual broom race flew through this reserve, making the challenge for the racers a bit more high stakes.
There are other reserves including a Norwegian Dragon Sanctuary and a Hebrides sanctuary cared for by the MacFusty clan.
Not only do we have a nice assortment of dragon eggs for you to collect (see above), but we also have a class dedicated entirely to the discovery of dragons - even unknown in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series -, and their preservation, and care. Dragonology is currently still in the making, but if you ever desired for your character to be working with these majestic creatures, make sure to get some good grades in Care of Magical Creatures!
Which is your favourite dragon?