Savage Beasts or Gentle Creatures: How Dragons are Viewed in the Temeraire Series

This essay explores the different views the European nations have about the mythical dragon, as opposed to the Chinese and how these contrasting perspectives are represented in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series (2006-2016). The introduction explores various European myths and mythologies containing dragons, in particular those of Germanic, Greek and Slavic origin. The introduction examines Chinese dragon mythology as well, highlighting the contrast between European and Chinese dragon tales. The essay provides description of these myths and addresses how the European tales focus on the malice of dragons while the Chinese ones display dragons as benevolent beings used as a symbol for the Chinese Imperial family. The main topic of this essay is to compare and contrast the aforementioned traditions and cultural representations as found in the fantasy series Temeraire. With this theme in mind when examining the series, one can see great contrast between the nations of Europe and China when it comes to the treatment of Dragons. The Europeans, particularly the English, treat their dragons with fear while the Chinese view their own dragons as a necessary constituent in their lives. Novik further uses her knowledge of Chinese myth for the dragon Temeraire himself and uses many aspects of Chinese dragon traditions to make him uniquely Chinese among the European dragons. Each country has their own view of dragons, and the series display how they are treated according to each culture. Lastly, this essay also explores how the dragons view themselves, especially Temeraire, his experiences with the different cultures of the world and how he wants nothing more than for dragons to be viewed equal to their human companions. The contrasting manners in which he is treated greatly affect him and his ultimate goal throughout the series is seeing dragons being treated fairly all over Europe