Famous Black Dragons

[tennyson]

The BBEG in my current campaign is on a path to create an artifact which will give him control over a black dragon. While this won't happen for quite some time, I was wondering if there were any notable black dragons (books, movies, etc) that I could draw some inspiration from.

Any ideas?

 

[Squizzle]

While the effort at a non-traditional observance is appreciated, this is unfortunately not truly in the spirit of Black History Month educational goals.

 

[Nifft]

While the effort at a non-traditional observance is appreciated, this is unfortunately not truly in the spirit of Black History Month educational goals.

Darn, I came in here specifically to make this joke.

- - -

Anyway, I think you'll find that color-coded differently-breathing dragons are a D&D-ism, and not a general draconic feature. So if you want something about an acid-spitting black dragon, you're limited to things inspired by D&D's acid-spitting black dragon.

If you merely wish for large, flying lizards who happen to be black -- even if they spit fire or whatever -- the field may be more open.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Badwe]

If you're willing to consider world of warcraft, the majority of their villainous dragons are, in fact, black dragons: Onyxia, Nefarion, Sartharion, and of course Deathwing will be making a return in the new expansion.

 

[Pbartender]

Draconomicon Excerpts: Famous Dragons

Of particular interest to you...

Khisanth
A massive, sinuous black dragon, Khisanth guarded a fabulous treasure called the Disks of Mishakal in the ruined city of Xak Tasroth. In her underground lair in the sunken, ruined city, Khisanth gathered many other treasures to her besides the Disks, including a spellbook of Fistandantilus. Khisanth appears in DL1: Dragons of Despair.

Aulicus
In forgotten barrows in a lonely swamp lurks a vampiric lizardfolk whose grasp on power is aided and abetted by the black dragon Aulicus. This black dragon appears in the adventure I2: Tomb of the Lizard King.

Nightscale
This young black dragon lairs beneath the fallen dwarfhold of Khundrukar in a sunken cavern called the Black Lake. The dwarves are long gone, but various goblin and orc bands now inhabit the tunnels, but view visit Nightscale, because the black dragon is always hungry. Nightscale appears in the adventure Forge of Fury.

Daurgothoth, “The Creeping Doom”
This male black dragon has embraced undeath, and hunts the world as a dracolich. This great dragon lairs not too far from Waterdeep, and through bribes and threat of death, “employs” several agents to purchase or steal interesting items in the City of Splendors to continue building his hoard.

Voaraghamanthar, “The Black Death”
This elder black dragon has learned something of sorcery. It lairs in the Mere of Dead Men, a salt water swamp. Rumored to have the ability to be in two places at one time, in truth Voaraghamanthar and its clutch sibling, Waervaerendor, fool the incredulous by posing as each other as need demands. No one suspects the flitting black ghost of claws and jaws that strikes out of nowhere, that lives in black swamp waters that hide the bodies of victims soon to be dined upon, is really a team of two.

 

[Quartz]

How can anyone forget Ancalagon the Black from The Silmarillion?

 

[Nebten]

List of Greyhawk Dragon

Here is a list of famous dragons from Greyhawk. I came upon it when I was looking for the Shadow Dragon from the Dim Forest: Hasforenes.

Canonfire! - Dragons of Oerth

 

[Chris Knapp]

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20081103bKhisanth
A massive, sinuous black dragon, Khisanth guarded a fabulous treasure called the Disks of Mishakal in the ruined city of Xak Tasroth. In her underground lair in the sunken, ruined city, Khisanth gathered many other treasures to her besides the Disks, including a spellbook of Fistandantilus. Khisanth appears in DL1: Dragons of Despair.

In addition, she has her own novel (The Black Wing) that details her pre-DL1 days. Its pretty entertaining even if you aren't a Dragonlance fan. Easy to find on Ebay.

 

[Dausuul]

Anyway, I think you'll find that color-coded differently-breathing dragons are a D&D-ism, and not a general draconic feature. So if you want something about an acid-spitting black dragon, you're limited to things inspired by D&D's acid-spitting black dragon.

Yeah, I was about to say this. Dragons that spit acid--or, really, anything other than fire--are fairly rare outside D&D and its derivatives. I have a vague recollection of a fictional (non-D&D) dragon that spat hot, caustic liquid, but can't remember where it was from. (Edit: Looks like it's the Melnibonéan dragons in Michael Moorcock's Elric saga.)

I think the real question here is, what do you regard as the essence of a black dragon? Is it that it spits acid? That it lives in a swamp? Or just that it has black scales?

The first is very rare in non-D&D fiction, the second marginally less so. The third is quite common. Clothing your dragon in black has much the same effect as doing it to your hero; it signals that this particular dragon is a Supreme Bad-Ass and not to be trifled with. Any time you want to make a dragon extra scary, just slap a sobriquet on it along the lines of "the Black" or "the Black <something>," and the audience knows that this is a dragon to fear... well, to fear more.

Examples of bad-ass black dragons in fiction:

• Maur, the Black Dragon, from "The Hero and the Crown." A dragon so utterly malevolent that even after it dies, its severed head can crush the spirit of an entire kingdom.
• Ancalagon the Black, from "The Silmarillion." The most feared and powerful dragon ever to walk Middle-Earth. His recorded career was quite short--a single battle--but that battle was Ancalagon leading his fellow dragons against the gods themselves.
• Balerion, the Black Dread, in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire." (See what I mean about the sobriquets?) Died three centuries before the events of the novels, but its skull is preserved in the bowels of the Red Keep and is described as "large enough to swallow an aurochs whole." Of Dany's three fledgeling dragons, the largest and fiercest is Drogon, the black one.
• Kalessin the Eldest, from Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy. The oldest (though not the mightiest) of all dragons, described as "the color of iron." Presumably this indicates Kalessin is black. Other dragons are described as grey or grey-black. In a later book, it's suggested that Kalessin is in fact a manifestation of Segoy, the creator deity.
• Black dragons in the strategy game "Heroes of Might and Magic." The black dragon is the most powerful unit in the game; incredibly tough, with a devastating area attack, highly mobile, and totally immune to magic. (The last item is not an entirely unalloyed good, since buff spells don't work on them either... but they don't generally need buffing.)
• Deathwing the Destroyer, leader of the evil Black Dragonflight in the Warcraft universe. I'll leave it to someone who knows more Warcraft lore than I do to flesh out the details.
• Nicol Bolas from the CCG "Magic: The Gathering." The Legends set introduced the five Elder Dragon Legends, one for each color. They cost far too much mana for their mediocre abilities, and four of them faded into obscurity. The exception was the black-themed (though not actually black-scaled) Nicol Bolas. Though still not tournament-grade material, Bolas was a much stronger card than the other four, and became a major villain in M:tG lore. He was reprinted no less than three times, and finally got promoted to planeswalker status, with a new card to match.
• The Hungarian Horntail, in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." When each champion is tasked with getting past a dragon, Harry gets the Horntail, which is stated to be the nastiest of the lot. Guess what color it is.

 

[Dragonhelm]

For more information on Dragonlance's black dragons, you can check out the Dragonlance Nexus Lexicon's black dragon page.

Of particular interest might be Onysablet (Sable), the black dragon overlord. She was kind of a mad scientist.