And the answer to that is physics.
And the riposte to that is “logic.”
Cool. You burned me, congratulations.
Aha, it is in the show. The third season finale. When Dany is trying to get her dragons back from the warlocks in Qarth, she’s told that they want to keep them because their magic is stronger with the dragons around.
I think that’s just because you’re not very familiar with watching birds fly. Even large birds like eagles and ospreys can hover. Once you accept that dragons can fly at all, seeing them hover doesn’t look very implausible to me in comparison. They only hover for maybe 20 seconds.
Can you explain the physics involved in a multi-ton animal flying?:dubious:
Must I, really? Wikipedia has this to say:
I know you are putting emphasis on multi-ton, but again, I’m talking about degrees of plausibility. The fact that true hovering is more difficult than flying at speed is objectively true.
My point it that it’s not significantly more implausible than a multi-ton animal flying in the first place. You’re quibbling over maybe a 10% greater extension of capabilities, when the animal is already more than 20 times larger than the largest known flying creature. It’s really comparatively trivial in terms of capability. It’s like complaining that the giants shouldn’t be able to run if you accept the fact that they can walk.
My point it that it’s not significantly more implausible than a multi-ton animal flying in the first place. You’re quibbling over maybe a 10% greater extension of capabilities, when the animal is already more than 20 times larger than the largest known flying creature. It’s really comparatively trivial in terms of capability. It’s like complaining that the giants shouldn’t be able to run if you accept the fact that they can walk.
Bolding mine. The dragons are shown only hovering for short periods of time. I’ve already posted videos of large birds hovering.
There’s no way that that figure is 10%, if you measure it in terms of exertion compared to level flight at speed.
It’s actually an apt comparison. Walking is controlled falling. Running is much, much more taxing.
Whatever. My main point holds. Flight by such large animals is so utterly impossible in the real world that hovering doesn’t add significantly to the implausibility.
So why aren’t you complaining about the giants running?
Disagree.
I’ll get to it. Arya takes priority on my complaint list.
…::yawn::
I was watching-- I think Young Turks do a GOT after show (youtube was on autoplay) and their conversation was largely banal, fanboying, but there was an interesting juxtaposition I hadn’t noticed–Jaime and Littlefinger were in similar positions in the “coronations”-set apart, unnoticed and not looking too happy.
Did I misunderstand or did that little girl kill, butcher, and bake into pie two grown men inside an enemy castle?
And where did she get that girl’s face? She’s into defacing random people now?
Could we finagle the math? Something like Planetos has .7 the gravity of Earth (which might make more plausible some of the incredible feats of strength and athleticism by some of our heroes); the dragons have very light, hollow bones with even higher strength-to-weight ratios than birds; Planetos has a thicker atmosphere at sea level than Earth (maybe double the nitrogen, or something, which I think wouldn’t affect biology much)…? Could all this add up to a very large animal the size of Drogon, and larger, being able to fly?
Just for fun?
Nobody looked too happy at Cersei’s coronation.
That would make the atmosphere approximately 156% nitrogen. And nitrogen is lighter than oxygen, anyway.
Double the oxygen, and maybe you’ve got something. The fire would burn hotter, it would be easier for animals to perform strenuous physical feats like hovering, and the atmosphere would be heavier.
We’ve already established in previous series’ discussion that Dany is DEFINITELY half dragon and that the Targaryens DEFINITELY have unusual marriage customs, so the lack of female full dragons may not be an issue… (or was that another website I accidentally clicked on? 
)
Not quite sure yet how potatoes and face-changing switcheroos fit into this theory, but if I can squeeze them in somehow, this one’s DEFINITELY a winner.
OB
Weird non sequitur. The bit you selectively quoted is no “theory”. Just illustrating a different point.
I suppose you are arguing that flight is magic because dragon sex something something so everything comes crumbling down for me. In that case fine. I have nothing to argue with you. Your position is silly but logically consistent.
Whoosh!