MagicCon 3 | Vortrag | Drachen und ihre Reiter
From Pern to Westeros – Dragons and their riders in the Fantasy
This may be new to some younger readers, but dragon riders are already a popular topic in fantasy literature before “Eragon” and “Game of Thrones”. The lecture Dragons and their riders by Betty Finke first introduces the (some today no longer known) “Ur-Drachenreiter” from Anne McCaffrey Pern series, which actually belongs to the Science-Ficton, but shows a good example for the sometimes flowing borders between SF and fantasy and in any case had a big influence on fantasy.
Subsequent authors have taken up the topic, whether as a direct copy like Christopher Paolini in “Eragon” or as an individual copy like Naomi Novik in the “Temeraire” series. The current final point is the Targaryen dragons in “Game of Thrones”, which despite some differences cannot deny their descent from Anne McCaffrey’s Pern dragons.