How would a dragon use weapons? I’ve been thinking about this question for a long time. Here’s my take on it:
Swords and spear-like weapons are mostly, if not entirely, out of the question. Not because dragons don’t have opposable thumbs — most breeds actually do — but for other reasons.
Swords because to use them, they need to be held constantly during combat, which makes them impossible to use for quadrupeds — any dragon species but Wildclaws would be unable to hold a sword in their talons while still having a full range of motion. It also isn’t very practical to have a dragon hold a sword in their mouths, with their tails wrapped around the hilts, or with their wing talons; all three just end up being unnecessarily awkward. The first leaves dragons too susceptible to mouth injury if their grip on the hilt slips or if they clench too tightly on the blade with their teeth, and getting injured in a place necessary for consuming food and preventing starvation isn’t a great concept. Not to mention how close the blade would be to their eyes, which just... makes me anxious. The second — not all breeds of dragon have powerful tails that could hold a (probably) heavy sword aloft for an extended amount of time, and the third just gives you such a limited range of attacks and motion that it’s downright impractical. I, somehow, doubt swords would just be produced for Wildclaws.
Spears, and all weapons with a similar layout (polearms), are unrealistic as well. If a dragon were to use one in close range, it wouldn’t work for the same reasons as a sword. In the context of a projectile weapon, I still can’t see the front legs/whatever the dragon would use to hold the weapon arrange themselves in a way to resemble the arms of humans when throwing a spear enough to give the spear any real distance. I know their legs/paws are probably anatomically similar to our arms/hands in some sense of the word, but dragons being quadruped makes this feel... awkward in a way that would impact the functionality of the spear. I guess you could make a case for this, but I just can’t see it happening; and same logic applies to Wildclaws — they probably could use them, but I’m assuming an entirely different range of weapons/weapon layouts would be invented and produced for just one species.
I could somewhat see bows and arrows, but not exactly in the conventional sense. What I’m envisioning is a dragon laying down, the bow laid horizontally across the ground, being aimed by tilting it up and down, the string being pulled back with the claw that wouldn’t be steadying the bow. I know absolutely nothing about archery so I have no idea if this is how bows/arrows could work, but I feel like both would be modified to make that possible.
So what do I propose for weapons, since I’ve basically ruled out everything on the site? I do have one concept, but it’s a melee weapon:
Put this on a dragon’s wing, make sure the delicate parts of it are protected from blunt force injury, and boom, you have yourself a club. Just whacking another dragon with the part of the wing it covers would be enough; they don’t have to perform fancy motions with their wing to make it work, they just have to swing their wings towards their opponent. If you can get the spiky bits to dig under the flesh and rip, even better.
I feel like this is the best design for a weapon used by dragons; it can be used by all dragons, even Bogsneaks and Snappers — you don’t have to fly to use it — it follows their anatomy in a believable way, and it could cause immense harm, even denting armor that would stop a blade. Only downside it that it could weigh down the wings and inhibit flight, but we have no idea how light the material is — it could just be hard or rely on the spikes to cause maximum damage.
What are your guys’ thoughts on this? I’m by no means a weapons expert, I’m just trying to rationalize this with what I hope is common sense. If there’s anything that doesn’t make sense here I’m willing to discuss it.
Swords and spear-like weapons are mostly, if not entirely, out of the question. Not because dragons don’t have opposable thumbs — most breeds actually do — but for other reasons.
Swords because to use them, they need to be held constantly during combat, which makes them impossible to use for quadrupeds — any dragon species but Wildclaws would be unable to hold a sword in their talons while still having a full range of motion. It also isn’t very practical to have a dragon hold a sword in their mouths, with their tails wrapped around the hilts, or with their wing talons; all three just end up being unnecessarily awkward. The first leaves dragons too susceptible to mouth injury if their grip on the hilt slips or if they clench too tightly on the blade with their teeth, and getting injured in a place necessary for consuming food and preventing starvation isn’t a great concept. Not to mention how close the blade would be to their eyes, which just... makes me anxious. The second — not all breeds of dragon have powerful tails that could hold a (probably) heavy sword aloft for an extended amount of time, and the third just gives you such a limited range of attacks and motion that it’s downright impractical. I, somehow, doubt swords would just be produced for Wildclaws.
Spears, and all weapons with a similar layout (polearms), are unrealistic as well. If a dragon were to use one in close range, it wouldn’t work for the same reasons as a sword. In the context of a projectile weapon, I still can’t see the front legs/whatever the dragon would use to hold the weapon arrange themselves in a way to resemble the arms of humans when throwing a spear enough to give the spear any real distance. I know their legs/paws are probably anatomically similar to our arms/hands in some sense of the word, but dragons being quadruped makes this feel... awkward in a way that would impact the functionality of the spear. I guess you could make a case for this, but I just can’t see it happening; and same logic applies to Wildclaws — they probably could use them, but I’m assuming an entirely different range of weapons/weapon layouts would be invented and produced for just one species.
I could somewhat see bows and arrows, but not exactly in the conventional sense. What I’m envisioning is a dragon laying down, the bow laid horizontally across the ground, being aimed by tilting it up and down, the string being pulled back with the claw that wouldn’t be steadying the bow. I know absolutely nothing about archery so I have no idea if this is how bows/arrows could work, but I feel like both would be modified to make that possible.
So what do I propose for weapons, since I’ve basically ruled out everything on the site? I do have one concept, but it’s a melee weapon:
Put this on a dragon’s wing, make sure the delicate parts of it are protected from blunt force injury, and boom, you have yourself a club. Just whacking another dragon with the part of the wing it covers would be enough; they don’t have to perform fancy motions with their wing to make it work, they just have to swing their wings towards their opponent. If you can get the spiky bits to dig under the flesh and rip, even better.
I feel like this is the best design for a weapon used by dragons; it can be used by all dragons, even Bogsneaks and Snappers — you don’t have to fly to use it — it follows their anatomy in a believable way, and it could cause immense harm, even denting armor that would stop a blade. Only downside it that it could weigh down the wings and inhibit flight, but we have no idea how light the material is — it could just be hard or rely on the spikes to cause maximum damage.
What are your guys’ thoughts on this? I’m by no means a weapons expert, I’m just trying to rationalize this with what I hope is common sense. If there’s anything that doesn’t make sense here I’m willing to discuss it.
