48 pages • 1 hour read
Dragonflight
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Dragons
Like the people of Pern, Dragonflight’s dragons have social hierarchies. The most important dragon type is the queen dragon; in Dragonflight there are two queens, Lessa’s Ramoth and Kylara’s Pridith. Golden in color, queens are the rarest dragon, and the only type that can produce eggs. As a result, the rearing and protection of queens is of utmost importance to Weyr society.
Second in line are the bronzes. Bronze dragons like F’lar’s Mnementh and R’gul’s Hath are bigger than other dragons and more powerful in battle, but fewer in number. Bronzes alone can mate with queen dragons, and their riders are held in special esteem for this reason; Gemma, for example, remarks that she “do[es] not want [F’lar] killed,” because Perth “[has] so few bronze riders” (42). We learn little of the third type, the blue dragons, in Dragonflight, but the promiscuity often ascribed to the novel’s human women is also projected onto the fourth dragon type, the green dragons, who are known for their highly sexual, feminized nature.
While Dragonflight implies that watch-whers are related to dragons—a concept other Dragonriders of Pern novels develop further—both humans and dragons believe watch-whers to be lesser than dragons somehow. Lessa is therefore shocked when the dragons afford her nameless, self-sacrificing watch-weyr friend a dragon’s tribute in death, and F’lar jibes Mnementh about this decision later. Thus, dragon society mirrors human society in Pern: It is pseudo-feudal in nature, with a select few monarchs (the queens), a few “lords” (bronzes), a knight or nobility class (blues and greens), and finally the watch-whers, which are the equivalent of common folk or peasants.
Dragons are certainly the most powerful creatures on Pern. As F’lar observes in battle, “He, F’lar, the bronze rider, suddenly felt superfluous. It was the dragons who were fighting this engagement. You encouraged your beast […] but you depended on his instinct and speed” (200). However, a dragon’s strength is its weakness too: dragons are extremely focused on the here-and-now and lack the ability to think big picture. If not kept in line by a competent rider, they tend towards laziness and gluttony. Human vision and force of will is crucial to their success. Thus, the dragons serve as metaphors for mankind’s animalistic nature. They lack the self-control and self-awareness necessary to keep themselves healthy and fit—it is the higher consciousness and stronger will of man that allow them to reach their true potential.
The Red Star
The Red Star is the name given by the Pernese to a wandering planet in the Rukbat system that draws close to Pern every 250 or so years. The Star is the home of the Threads: an invasive, non-sentient species of spore. During the periods when the Star and Pern are closest—a “Pass”—the Threads travel through space from the Red Star to Pern.
While the Threads become the primary antagonists in the third portion of the book, it is the Red Star that haunts most of the narrative. It is visible in the very first scene, when Lessa senses an ominous portent from its direction. Despite its erratic orbit and mysterious nature, the Red Star’s approach can be calculated through observational science. The ancient people of Pern devised an astronomical means to predict its return: a circle of stones, which evokes similar systems used by real people in Earth’s Stone Age. In short, the Pernese have every reason to believe the star is coming—they can see it in the sky, and an objective warning system of rocks exists—but they disagree on how to react to it. While history suggests the Star is deadly, the Pernese have no pressing reason to deal with the problem. Some characters, like R’gul, even deny the Star presents any danger at all.
This makes the Star a useful metaphor for political stalemate and inaction in McCaffrey’s time (and our own). The Red Star represents the many problems humanity faces that are easier to ignore or put off. But to wait too long and not read the signs science and history give us, Dragonflight suggests, could prove disastrous.
In creating the Red Star, McCaffrey might have had in mind the star Sirius (the “Dog Star”). In Greek and Roman mythology, the rising of the Dog Star was believed to inflict severe heat, drought, and even madness. The Red Star has a similar effect on Pern: It makes the weather unpredictable, and people behave irrationally when it is close.
Grass
Early on in Dragonflight, when many of the dragonriders’ ways are still a mystery, F’lar and F’nor make clear their hatred of greenery. When they first land at Fax’s Hold, F’nor even grinds out a tuft of grass with his heel. The reader might wonder if F’lar and F’nor are villains, since literature often associates a hatred of natural beauty with cruelty, arrogance, selfishness, etc. However, Lessa too notes with regret that greenery has overrun Ruatha Hold, and slowly the novel reveals why this is a problem: The Threads thrive on organic materials, and grass spreads quickly and voraciously. Too much grass is a huge weak spot for Pern, especially the Weyrs, which must survive at all costs to provide fighters against the Threads.
Though everyone in Pern seems fully aware of the need to remove grass, especially from defensive positions, people are lax on following up. Killing grass is unpleasant for two reasons. First, grass and greenery are visually pleasing. The substantial efforts to maintain gardens and green spaces throughout human history attest to our species’ love of this brand of natural beauty. Second, weeding is hard work. Unwanted plants have a way of subtly creeping into spaces they do not belong, and only constant vigilance can prevent them from taking root. This vigilant removal of grass is necessary for Pern’s very survival; the dragonriders take substantial casualties, for example, trying to protect a rainforest near Nerat Hold and doubt whether their efforts even managed to kill all the Threads. Even one spore getting through the blockade would spell ruin for the entire forest.
In Dragonflight, the need to vigilantly remove grass symbolizes the need to sometimes forego simple pleasures and relaxation in the name of the greater good. While certain areas of Pern, particularly those that produce livestock or other agricultural products, might be permitted their green spaces, the defensive positions (the Holds) must be kept green-free. This asceticism fits into the Dragonflight’s broader glorification of stoicism, self-denial, and hard work.
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By Anne McCaffrey
