Here Be Dragons

April 1, 2015 • 5:24 pm

by Grania

April Fool’s Day is drawing to a close, and it was a surprise to see the noble publication of Nature get in on the act with a paper on dragons by Andrew J. Hamilton, Robert M. May & Edward K. Waters claiming that

“that anthropogenic effects on the world’s climate may inadvertently be paving the way for the resurgence of these beasts.”

Global warming. Is there anything it doesn’t do?

See, it has a graph and everything:

Nature is not the first to try this. Back in 2004, a mockumentary called The Last Dragon made by Darlow Smithson Productions for the UK’s Channel 4 & Animal Planet expended rather more time and money on a one and a half hour mock up of the discovery and investigation of the remains of a dragon. Considering what it is, the piece is reasonably well done; but the whole mockumentary thing has fallen into disfavor after Discovery Channel’s misjudged flirtation with the genre during Shark Week back in 2013.

Of course, if you really want dragons, there are loads of them in Skyrim, and their resurgence was caused by Alduin waking them up. Really.

Fus ro dah!*

* this translates roughly** as “Let us know if you saw any good jokes in honor of the day”.

** No, it doesn’t.

 

36 thoughts on “Here Be Dragons”

    1. “Most of them” had better not include Odahviing,Durnehviir or Paarthurnax.
      Just sayin’.

      1. Who would kill Paarthurnax? I know it was an option, but who wouldn’t want their own, personal dragon friend to go visit any time they wanted?

        And being able to call in Odahviing with your shout was the best. Once I got that one, it was pretty much all I used.

        Skyrim is such an amazing game. I must have put 200 hours into it.

        1. I probably shouldn’t admit this in public, but I am kinda close to 1000 hours.

  3. Of course, the second author is Bob May (more recently known as Lord May of Oxford). Very well-known for his mathematical work on ecology, and also former head of the Royal Society. His say-so makes it official.

  4. Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years

    Apparently global warming is a progenitor to the end of the world. So it’s not that the Christian rights actually disbelieves in global warming they just say they don’t so we won’t attempt to stop it.

  5. Well it wasn’t exactly intended as an April Fool’s joke, but apparently Memories Pizza (of “They chose to be gay, so I choose not to serve them,” fame) never registered a domain name.

    So someone else did: http://memoriespizza.com.

    At the Not Always Right chain of sites, all the stories have been as if the Zombie Apocalypse is ongoing.

  6. Thanks Grania! I was wondering about the affect of Climate Change on dragons …

    Excellent! 🙂

  7. if you really want dragons, there are loads of them in Skyrim, and their resurgence was caused by Alduin waking them up

    I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.

    1. I think that would be my choice, too.

      Never did understand what the attraction is of orange preserves that’ve gone through the digestive tract of an isopteran. Is it something like that cat shit coffee?

      b&

      1. No, honey; Marmite is made from yeast extract and vegetable extract. It was first prepared in an earthenware cooking pot (as depicted on the label) called a marmite, hence the name.

        /@

  11. Skyrim is still the best RPG ever, but the dragons (including Alduin) are remarkably easy to kill. On the other hand, the dragons in DA Inquisition are INSANEly difficult. After you kill one of those babies, you’re lucky to have some of your parts intact. Just try Vinsomer–I double dog dare you!

    1. Not if you’re a Knight Enchanter – my Inquisitor solo’d most of the dragons because I found trying to revive my team mates a waste of time, as I was nearly invincible so long as I kept hacking away.

    2. P.S. If you want better dragon fights out of Skyrim, the Deadly Dragons and Dragon Combat Overhaul mods I’ve found quite excellent.

    3. Just lock onto a back leg and keep chopping at it until it falls over. Have your warriors specced to build lots of guard while your mage keeps Barriers up. My Inquisitor dresses only in dragon parts.

    4. My best guess is that it was a calculated decision considering all the algorithms allowing them to fly around the province at will and get into random battles.

      If they had been anything say like the Deathclaws in Fallout 3, the population of Skyrim would plummet and by the time you make it up the 7000 steps to the Greybeards it would be kinda reduced to the Dovahkiin, 3 Falmer and a skeever.

  12. I hope Nazeem will be caught by a dragon one day. Makes him see the cloud district from up close. His sole purpose in life is to harass the good people of Whiterun and to annoy random strangers who are unlucky enough to run into this pile of misery. Nothing gives this man greater joy than acting like a pretentious asshole.

    Needless to say, Nazeem was one of my first victims in Skyrim. And don’t get me started on that awful bard Lurbuk.

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