how do dragons fly? (Spoilers all books to end DH)

[Farseer]

- I thought the "bees shouldn't be able to fly" was proven to be an urban myth/based on wrong calculations

Yes, Dr Drake is obviously not an expert on bees, as the "bees shouldn't be able to fly" myth is one of the two bee myths I know of (though it could well be a myth that it's a myth as I am no bee, let alone flight, expert either !).

Obviously the person who first ever said this had applied only what they knew of aerodynamic law (or whatever you would like to call it) at the time but an increase in undertsanding of calculation methods and the flight mechanics of bees has changed the perspective? What they should have said was, "Using current methods and knowledge, I cannot explain how bees fly."

The same could be said of our current discussion. That conventional aerodynamic analysyis methods do or do not apply to bees, pterosaurs or possibly even dragons, even when it is suggested that they can't or shouldn't be able to fly, does not mean that they can't. This is particularly true in the case of bees, where we have irrefutable physical evidence that shows us that they obviously can. It is much harder in the case of pterosaurs and dragons because we have no way of studying them in flight and then applying numbers and calculations to fit them into an old slot, or even create a new slot, within aerodynamic law.

Not understanding something fully eg bees and their flight mechanics doesn't mean it has to be attributed to magic or even a miracle (as some most likely believed of bees in the past sometime, when their flight could not be explained using conventional methods). Of course, when we are talking about a creature within a magical realm, such as we are talking here of dragons within the RotE, there is always the possibility that magic is used to assist flight. With magic, all things are possible!

Still, while magic may have been used by the RotE dragons, I do believe that Hobb intended for the dragon flight to be a "natural" thing or as close to natural as possible (as 'thul has previously mentioned), and not a magical thing. While it's true that dragons are magical themselves, I think she wanted their flight to sound natural, in the same way that while the Wit is magical, it is a natural instinct/sense that could be believed by the reader as an extension of what we already know/experience. It isn't so far-fetched that it can't be believed outside of a magical arena. An example of this would be her suggestion that it is the Wit at work when a mother senses that her child is crying. As a mother, I have "sensed" this sense and so find that, as I read along, I can easily believe that Fitz could have this sense in a more concentrated form.

All in all, I haven't read anything at all in the RotE books that has suggested 'magical flight' to me BUT that doesn't mean it isn't there. As for bees, we may all come to a greater understanding of this particular element if Hobb chooses to reveal something on it in future books. With magic or without magic? That is the question!