Dragon

Dragons, collectively referred to as the dragonkin, are a species of powerful and legendary giant reptiles which frequently play a significant role in the Fire Emblem series. There are numerous subspecies of dragon, each with command over a unique elemental power or other trait. In the eras in which each Fire Emblem game is set, they usually appear in the form of Manaketes, shapeshifted into a human-like form in order to preserve their strength and avoid consequences to their health.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Across their numerous subspecies dragons take a wide variety of forms and present great diversity in their appearances.

Dragon subspecies

Fire dragons: The most frequently seen type of dragon. Fire dragons are red in hue, typically bulky and grounded, and have the ability to wield powerful flame breath. They have a heated history of war with humanity and a general distaste for them.
Ice dragons: Typically found dwelling in frigid regions, the ice dragons are thinner, distinctly serpentine in shape, and can exhale blasts of ice to attack.
Mage dragons: This breed of dragon is oriented around magical powers, and are completely immune to opposing magical attacks from humans. They have a close relationship with the Earth tribe. In Elibe they are instead called demon dragons, a soulless one-of-a-kind breed born by transforming a divine dragon and intended solely to produce war dragons.
Wyverns: An entirely airborne dragon species whose agility is unrivalled among the dragonkin and are all degenerated. They are ridden by Wyvern Riders.
Maligs: A race of "evil dragons" sharing characteristics to the wyvern, with darker scales and glowing red eyes that are ridden by Malig knights.
Divine Dragon: Hailed as the greatest of all the dragonkin, the divine dragons typically act as wise leaders among dragons. In Archanea, the divine dragon Naga is worshipped as a god by humanity, and has long fought to protect humans from the dangers of dragons.
Earth dragons: A prideful breed of dragons whose might rivals that of the divine dragons. Imposing and armored, earth dragons have the ability to exhume a sinister shadow power on their foes. Historically the earth dragons have hated humans and sought to dominate them, exemplified by Medeus and Loptous.
Shadow dragons: A twisted evolved form of earth dragons, born of dark powers. The only known shadow dragon is Medeus.
Astral Dragons: A dragon species native to the astral plane with the ability to travel between worlds and Deeprealms. The only known Astral dragon is Lilith.
First Dragons: A group of godlike dragons that held unimaginable power in Nohr, Hoshido, and Valla, before most of them degenerated and died.
Silent Dragons: The species of Anankos, one of the First Dragons, which has control over water and ruled Valla before his degeneration.
Feral Dragons: The dragon form taken by two of Anankos's descendants, Corrin and Kana that have control over water.

Laguz dragons

Main article: Laguz
The laguz dragon tribes do not share the elemental classifications of the other dragons, and instead are divided into three castes which, while all physically similar, differ in strength, power and body color. Their relation to the dragons of other lands is unknown.
Red dragons: A caste of dragon laguz who tend toward being bulky and physically strong.
White dragons: An arcane dragon laguz caste which wields power more in line with the magic of humans.
Black dragons: The rarest of the laguz dragons and their ruling caste. Black dragons are extremely powerful and possess longevity greater than any other laguz clan, and by extension vastly beyond that of beorc.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Wyverns are often riden by humans as mounts for battle.

Average Intelligence

Sapient; Feral when degenerated

Civilization and Culture

History

In Archanea/Ylisse

In antiquity, Archanea was the epicenter of an advanced and enlightened dragon civilization prior to the rise of humanity, one overseen by the wisdom of the divine dragons. The dragon civilization reigned supreme and uncontested for at least three thousand years, until the species entered a period of decline: a mysterious wave of deteriorating health struck them, rendering them infertile and slowly driving them mad. In response, the dragonkin learned that the only way to survive the condition was to take the forms of humans, and so sought to convince all dragons to do so. While many (including almost all earth dragons) refused to accept this and eventually devolved into mindless beasts, others accepted the word of the dragon elders and took human forms, thus becoming Manaketes. By sealing their powers into dragonstones, Manaketes retained the ability to temporarily become dragons, but never for long owing to the risks posed to their health. Meanwhile, those dragons who shunned the Manakete form ultimately turned into wild, volatile beasts with no remaining semblance of self, and eventually came to populate the wilds of Anri's Way in the continent's untamed north. The earth dragon clans, meanwhile, engaged humanity in an aggressive war, only to be repelled and defeated by Naga and the divine dragons; at this war's conclusion the defeated earth dragons were sealed away by Naga in the Dragon's Table and remained there for millennia under the watch of one of their own kind, the Manakete Medeus.
In the following millennia as humans became the dominant power over the Archanean continent, Manaketes became the target of racism from humans in an exercise of their new-found power over the land. In their weak humanoid forms, the Manaketes were easily abused and mistreated, and were condemned to living in poverty. This ultimately led to the rise of Medeus and his Dolhr Empire, which sought to exact vengeance upon humanity for their crimes against the Manaketes and to retake Archanea as the land of the dragonkin. Although he succeeded in ruling the world for two periods of time adding up to several decades, Medeus was thrice thwarted and killed: first by Anri, then twice more by his descendant, the Hero-King Marth. During his third reign of terror, wild dragons served Medeus and his minions, Gharnef and Hardin, in fighting Marth's forces; this included a number of earth dragons, as the seal in the Dragon's Table had been progressively weakening for centuries.
It is uncertain what became of dragons in the post-Marth world. In the era of Chrom of Ylisse, Manaketes continued to exist, but little is known of what social presence they may or may not have held, other than that they are regarded as rare and mythical entities. The Anri's Way region was ultimately settled by humans to form the kingdom of Ferox, implying the wild dragon populations of the region were wiped out or relocated.
In Elibe
The Scouring was a genocidal war against the dragons of Elibe. In ancient times, Elibe hosted a dragon population which coexisted peacefully with humanity. This changed with the start of the Scouring, a war waged by humans to take Elibe as wholly their own and to purge dragons from it entirely. Despite their immense power, the dragons were hindered by their lower population and far slower birth rate compared to humans, prompting the creation of a demon dragon intended to artificially bolster the number of dragons fighting in the war. In retaliation, humans forged the eight legendary weapons, extremely powerful weapons forged solely to fight dragons. As with their Archanean counterparts, the dragons of Elibe were also forced to become Manaketes as a result of the Ending Winter, a distortion of the laws of nature caused by the power of the divine weapons which resulted in dragons no longer being able to exist in their present forms.[6] In the Scouring's aftermath, the vast majority of surviving dragons fled Elibe through the Dragon's Gate on Valor; most of those who remained took up residence in Arcadia, while one more—Jahn—hid in the Dragon Temple for the following centuries to heal wounds sustained in the Scouring. Occasionally, dragons crossed back into Elibe through the Dragon's Gate: three fire dragons were summoned through it by Nergal in the year 980.
In Magvel
Only two dragons are seen to still be living in Magvel during the course of The Sacred Stones, both of whom take the form of Manaketes. These two Manaketes, Morva and his adopted daughter Myrrh, are said by the people of the village of Caer Pelyn to act as watchful guardians over humans. In the original conflict with the Demon King Fomortiis in Magvel's antiquity, Morva's power was a crucial factor in ensuring the Five Heroes were able to use the Sacred Stones to defeat Fomortiis and seal him away.
For the following eight centuries, Morva remained in Darkling Woods, the last resting place of Fomortiis, to protect the world from his ongoing influence. Although Morva's role in combating Fomortiis is not acknowledged in retellings of the tale by the majority of Magvel's population, the village of Caer Pelyn holds Morva, and Myrrh by extension, in reverence for their contributions.
While Myrrh and Morva are the only living dragons seen in Magvel, the presence of reanimated dragon corpses suggests more lived there at one time. Myrrh also mentions being orphaned during the original war with the Demon King; this, the reference to Morva leading an entire tribe, along with the presence of the reanimated corpses suggests that dragons and Manaketes were significantly wiped out at some point, or simply rarely interact with humans. Myrrh initially expresses some doubts to protecting humanity like her father, possibly suggesting other dragons avoid interaction with humans.
In Tellius The dragons of Tellius are but one of the tribes of laguz, shapeshifters who can take both human and animalistic forms, and so have a very different origin compared to the dragons of other lands. Like all laguz and beorc, the dragon laguz evolved from the Zunanma, an ancient race of the first non-divine sentients to dwell in Tellius. In the centuries following the Great Flood and the ensuing sealing of the dark god, the dragon tribe resided in their own nation, Goldoa, which maintained a strict policy of total isolation and neutrality. The dragon king Dheginsea believed that the dragons were too powerful to co-exist with the other races and that, to preserve the balance of peace, they must not interfere with the outside world, but nonetheless on several occasions dragons left Goldoa anyway to explore the rest of the world. Several dragons are known to have been subjected to the experiments of Izuka and transformed into Feral Ones.

Genetic Descendants

• Manakete
• Wyvern

Lifespan

Thousands of years

Related Organizations

• Order of Heroes