Right, based on the recent exposition on dragon biology in “Molt Dow” and some of the comments under
this picture:
(And major spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t seen the episode yet, naturally.)
We know that around puberty, dragons go through an evidently magical process called the molt where they break out in a plethora of uncomfortable symptoms and which leads to them developing wings. We also know that as soon as a dragon goes into the molt, their parents kick them out of the house/cavern to fend for themselves. This is a very dangerous time for dragons, as the world’s numerous and gigantic predators will all be trying to make a meal out of them.
So, a few conclusions based on these things:
All other dragons on the show have wings. This means that all of them – Garble, Ember, Smolder, all the teenage dragons – have molted already. If they have molted, they must all have gotten the boot from their parents at some point before their debut on the show and been living on their own since. This brings up an issue: Ember still maintains a close relationship with her dad, and there is no real indication that Torch’s relationship with his daughter is unusual in any particular way expect for his overprotectiveness. Evidently, their relationship, and specifically the way Ember’s molt went down, must be unusual by dragon standards. My personal view is that Torch’s parenting instincts are generally stronger than usual for dragons, and were able to partially override his molt effect – while Ember may have had to camp out on her own during the actual molting process, she was able to come back once it was done and her wings were grown in. A general cultural attitude that molted dragons should be self-sufficent is still present, however, meaning Torch still expects his daughter to look after herself to a greater degree than he did before – hence Ember’s line in “Gauntlet of Fire” where she says she doesn’t really have anyone looking out for her. This is certainly rare, but probably not unique – the onset of the molt is likely going to result in conflict between the parents’ urge to kick their offspring out of the lair (probably to ease future competition between multiple treasure-haording, highly territorial giant creatures all living in immediate proximity) and their parental instincts telling them to look after their young. If the molt effect proves stronger, which it usually does, the young dragon goes. If the parental instincts do, the young dragon either stays or is allowed to come back.
Based on another comment on the linked picture, an interesting thought is that once a molt and the molting effect subside, the young dragons are likely to band together for mutual protection, resulting in groups like Garble’s gang – bands of young, wandering adolescents sticking together for mutual protection until they grow old and large enough to defend their own individual territories.
One last thing that puzzled me a bit was why that roc was so obsessed with eating Spike. It’s like an eagle putting in all that energy and effort to catch a mouse – the amount of food and energy it’ll get from eating the little thing is not going to be anywhere near enough to make up for what it spent. But thinking about it, it does make sense. Considering that all the species Smolder listed off – tatzlwurms, hydras and rocs – are giant predators the same general size as dragons, food may not be as big a concern as avoiding future competition. A young dragon will, if it survives to do so, grow into an adult dragon. From the point of view of, say, a roc, an adult dragon is likely to be dangerous competition for territory and resources. If the dragon is big enough, it may even be a potential predator. Since the molt’s the most vulnerable time in a dragon’s life – away from the protection of their parents but still too small to protect themselves against such huge foes – the various specimens of carnivorous megafauna must have learned that the smell of a molting dragon means it’s the perfect time to bump off future competition before it becomes a threat, and have a snack while doing so. I’m sure a roc would have no objections to picking off a baby hydra or a tatzlwurm to gobbling down a couple of unguarded roc eggs for much the same reasons.
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