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

['thul]

It was most likely a dragon. Why, you would ask?

Well, Elderlings were not winged (Thamyra was/is unique on that front, sintara said so herself...), the landing dragon in the dream-vision was mistakenly called Elderling, which means it had to be identical enough to what he (fitz) had already seen (the tapestry), and the elderlings were generally humanoid, aside from minor details (elongated bodies, too-long lives, scales... just minor stuff...)

The "tongue of flame" is most likely either an artistic error, or a misconception related to the fact that fire breaks down stuff just like the acid does, but not quite as effectively...

After all, what do you call the result of strong acid attacking the skin?
You call it acid burn... The fact that dragon acid is also dispersed as a cloud, it is not very hard to turn "a cloud of acid emanating from the mouth" into "a tongue of flame", especially not when you have limited knowledge of complex science and chemistry, as the people in any medieval society will have...

Take also into the account that one of the main things sailors on old wooden ships fear the most is fire because it can quickly decimate such ships, then compare that to the devastation Tintaglia caused to the Chalcedan ships with her spit, you have a good answer.

[Farseer]

It was most likely a dragon. Why, you would ask?

Well, Elderlings were not winged (Thamyra was/is unique on that front, sintara said so herself...), the landing dragon in the dream-vision was mistakenly called Elderling, which means it had to be identical enough to what he (fitz) had already seen (the tapestry), and the elderlings were generally humanoid, aside from minor details (elongated bodies, too-long lives, scales... just minor stuff...)

Yes, you mirror my thoughts here, 'thul beings, particularly with the winged aspect. Although Sintara's memories do have gaps, I'm of the opinion that she still knows what she's talking about when she's saying that a winged Elderling is rare.

There are a few extra details I have to include re Fitz' tapestry and others where Elderlings are depicted vs dragons, but still trying to find some further passages. One thing though...at times the King Wisdom tapestry mentions only one being in the picture but then there is mention of a group. No doubt it is correctly the latter but with the one main dragon at the foreground, treating with Wisdom. The question still remains...is it a true-born dragon he treats with, or an awakened/quickened simulacra dragon?

Still thinking on the rest but, though it's likely that it is, the being with a "tongue of flame" depicted in Verity's book may not actually be presented in pictorial form. Maybe it is instead a description or some other written reference... Interesting that there is mention of a 'book' when most things of the time are written within scrolls...hmm...

['thul]

ahh... this thread was a rather interesting discussion last year...

City of Dragons Class spoiler

It would seem that the theories 'thul had back then are fairly well-proven by the events given in this latest book. Not only did Sintara learn to fly (eventually), but she did so with clear use of her muscles, not a single mention of magic, nor any such things as inflated parts of her body. Part of the problem earlier was that our dear tangle leader has failed to express quite just how vast the wings of her dragons are. It will be very interesting to see next year in Blood of Dragons to see whether Thymara actually learns to fly. Her wings have certainly grown far bigger, and with access to the stuff Elderlings and dragons need, combined with sufficient food, no doubt her wings will grow much larger. It would not be very surprising if her body also grows leaner, not from lack of nourishment, but from changes as she matures and becomes a full Elderling, with all that entails.
One of the things she has to do to learn flight at all, is to strengthen her muscles, much the way Sintara has done, and the others are doing. Not only does she need to grow large wings, but the muscles to maintain them. Early in flight, 'thul feel that she will crash a lot and need thermals to ascend. It might not hurt for her to practice over semi-shallow and slow-flowing water rather than ground, since she might have better landings into that at slow speeds.

Thoughts?

Now how many are tempted to read this that haven't read CoD yet?

*whistles harmlessly*
(truthfully, thul is actually laughing like a true evil maniac, but you're not supposed to notice that.)