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Welcome to Dragon Training


thatnewjunior

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I believe in learning on the job.

If you are a fan of How to Train your Dragon, then you read that line in a Scottish accent. Ah, Gobber. Gotta love Gobber.

As flawless as How to Train your Dragon is (even the second one… they made a perfect sequel to a perfect movie), the actual physics behind dragons is, well, not there. Having flying creatures the size of dragons is impossible. The reason birds can fly is because they have very lightweight skeletons and they have feathers that help them to glide and fly. Prehistoric fossils of birds follow this pattern. Dragons are commonly depicted as large, powerful, scaled beasts. Gobber even describes one species of dragon - The Gronckle - as having jaws powerful enough to crush boulders. The Green Death at the end of the movie fought my stomping with its huge legs and smashing with its massive tail and crushing with its deadly jaws. Although there is debate over whether this beast falls more into the "dinosaur" category than the "dragon" category, seeing as it has wings and is in a movie with Dragon in the title, we shall treat it as a dragon. We don't want it to feel left out. The skeleton of a beast that could smash and crush as many dragons are seen doing would have to be thick and strong and sturdy. The weight of such a skeleton would bring them down if they tried to fly. Also, most dragons are depicted as being scaled, not feathered. The wingèd creatures in How to Train your Dragon, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Skyrim - the list goes on - all have scales instead of feathers. Yes, leathery or scaly wings could allow for long-distance gliding. However, any attempt at flapping said wings would lead to undesirable results. Namely plummeting toward the scenic but rapidly enlarging landscape below.

Don't get me wrong. I am a huge supporter of the impossible. Because without the impossible, all we are left with is... physics. Which is pretty cool, but made a lot cooler when you get to write about how it applies to dragons versus a block on an inclined plane, as so many physics people have apparently fallen into the habit of doing.

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