Vermithrax Pejorative
Vermithrax Pejorative is the ancient, fire-breathing dragon of the 1981 film Dragonslayer, which terrorizes the kingdom of Urland until a young sorcerer's apprentice sets out to kill it.
| Also known as | Vermithrax |
|---|---|
| Type | dragon |
| Tradition | Dragonslayer (film) |
| Category | Film and tv |
| Earliest source | Dragonslayer, directed by Matthew Robbins (Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions), 1981 |
| Wings | Yes |
| Breathes fire | Yes |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Hostile |
The Story
Dragonslayer is set in a gloomy, believable early medieval kingdom called Urland. For years the king has kept an aging dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, from burning the countryside by feeding it young women chosen by lottery. The king's own daughter's name is kept out of the draw.
A group of villagers seeks help from Ulrich, the last of the old sorcerers, but he is killed, and his inexperienced apprentice Galen (Peter MacNicol) takes on the job with his master's magic amulet. Galen first tries to seal the dragon in its cave, fights it in its lair beneath a lake of fire, and finds its young. The film builds to a final confrontation in which the fading age of magic and the dragon end together, while a new religion claims the credit. Its darker touches, including a princess who is not spared, surprised audiences who expected a lighter Disney film.
Appearance and Powers
Vermithrax is old, scarred, and enormous, with dark, leathery wings, a long tail, and two legs. It walks on its hind legs and the folded "elbows" of its wings, like a bat or pterosaur, which gives it a wyvern-like build. It breathes fire and flies, and the film never lets it speak; it is presented as a dangerous animal, not a character. The name is usually read as a play on Latin for "worm of Thrace," with "pejorative" added for menace.
Origins and Sources
The film was written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins and co-produced by Paramount and Walt Disney Productions. Industrial Light & Magic created the flying shots with "go-motion," a computer-controlled refinement of stop-motion that blurs the puppet's movement for realism under the dragon designs refined by Phil Tippett. Full-size mechanical pieces were built for close-ups. The film received Academy Award nominations for visual effects and for Alex North's score.
Legacy
Many filmmakers and fantasy fans consider Vermithrax one of the best dragons ever put on screen, and Guillermo del Toro has spoken warmly of it. Its bat-winged, two-legged design is often seen as an ancestor of later screen dragons built the same way. For the difference between dragons and wyverns, see wyverns and dragon anatomy.
Related
- Draco: Draco is the talking dragon of the 1996 film Dragonheart, voiced by Sean Connery, the last of his kind, who shares half his heart with a prince who grows up to be a tyrant.
- Drogon: Drogon is the largest and fiercest of Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (from 1996) and HBO's Game of Thrones, a black-and-red dragon named for her husband Khal Drogo.
- Dragon of Silene: The Dragon of Silene is the lake-dwelling, plague-breathing dragon killed by Saint George in medieval legend after he rescued a princess offered to it, the best-known version appearing in the Golden Legend around 1260.
- Wyverns
- Dragon Anatomy and Physiology
Sources and Further Reading
- Dragonslayer, directed by Matthew Robbins, written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins (Paramount Pictures / Walt Disney Productions, 1981)
- Wayland Drew, Dragonslayer, novelization (Ballantine/Del Rey, 1981)
Cite this entry: “Vermithrax Pejorative,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/vermithrax.