Rand's Dragon Tattoos

[madmonk27]

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone can tell me where I can find a good description of the dragon tattoos he has on his forearms? I know I could look in the book, but it is packed with the rest of my books. Any help would be awesome.

 

 

Thank you,

madmonk27

[mb]

Crown of Swords front cover shows them.

Gathering Storm front cover will show them.

 

I recall some passages telling that they look like the symbol on the Dragon Banner; but do not remember which ones.

 

[madmonk27]

I know the cover shows them, but I cant see them on the cover that well. That is why I was trying to find a good description of them.

[Phariah]

i think they are described as chinese lion dragons :-\

[Hybrid]

Crown of Swords front cover shows them.

Gathering Storm front cover will show them.

Of course, those are Darrell K. Sweet's rather ... dubious ... interpretations.

[JenLenaMom]

This is RJ's inspiration for the dragons. It's the gate at his home in South Carolina

 

 

These pictures are from Jason's report on RJ's funeral btw.

[mb]

Found one of the passages.  Shadow Rising Chapter 34

The entire paragraph::

Around his forearm wound a shape like that on the Dragon banner, a sinuous golden-maned form scaled in scarlet and gold. He expected it, of course, but it was still a shock. The creature itself had settled into him. His arm felt no different, yet the scales sparkled in the sunlight like polished metal; it seemed if he touched that golden mane atop his wrist, he would surely feel each hair.

A later paragraph in same chapter::

"Fool man," Bair muttered. "All of the signs." Tossing the waterbag to Mat, she seized Rand's right arm and stripped back his sleeve, exposing a mirror twin of the creature on his left forearm. Her breath caught, then came out in a long sigh. She seemed balanced on a razor edge between relief and apprehension. There was no mistaking it; she had hoped for the second marking, yet it made her afraid. Amys and the other two Wise Women echoed her sign almost exactly. It was odd to see Aiel fearful.

 

Rand's bonding ceremony (Winter's Heart Chapter 12) also mentions them, but it is not as in-depth.

 

[Rinkai]

Crown of Swords front cover shows them.

Gathering Storm front cover will show them.

Of course, those are Darrell K. Sweet's rather ... dubious ... interpretations.

 

Does anyone else think that much of the cover art is really bad. I think it has something to do with being published with TOR, because most of their covers seem to be done by the same guy.

[Tyrell]

The US covers are terrible; cast of the shackles of Sweet's horribly cliché, generic and just horrible covers. UK covers all the way.

 

[Hybrid]

The US covers are terrible; cast of the shackles of Sweet's horribly cliché, generic and just horrible covers. UK covers all the way.

 

Yeah, I really need to get the UK copies of the books.  Much more dignified.

[EramofAmandous]

Sweet does really good with the horses though.  ;D

[Mr Ares]

Sweet does really good with the horses though.  ;D

Artists have all sorts of strange habits.

[Muad Cheade]

In response to the original post and title, RJ sometimes stresses that they are not tattoos. They are actually a part of his skin.

 

That does lead to speculation of if Couladin's were actual tattoos or like the valid ones.

[Spirit1025]

Sweet does really good with the horses though.  ;D

 

Actually, I find them rather generic, like he just looked at a picture of a horse and copied it hundreds of times. I also find it interesting that the main characters are on horses of interesting colors, and everyone in the background is riding plain brown horses that look like they were cloned. And the equipment they wear is very incorrect. Those saddles would not be comfortable or safe, and the bridles on the horse's heads are so heavy that the poor animals would not even be able to hold their heads up. The cover of A Path of Daggers is the worst, I think; the bits are so big that even a little pull on the reins would flip the horse over backwards, and that's if it could even walk carrying that much metal in its mouth. And on the cover of The Eye of the World, Lan's horse appears to be rearing up on only one hind foot while carrying a heavy, fully armored man. Now, I don't know any horse that can balance in an awkward pose like that without a rider, much less with one that big. And I've seen horses do some crazy stuff.

 

Anyway, that's off topic. But I would agree that the dragons are chinese style, like the one on Jordan's gate, or on some of the chapter headings in the books.

[mb]

In response to the original post and title, RJ sometimes stresses that they are not tattoos. They are actually a part of his skin.

Where does Robert Jordan tell this?

 

[Kadere]

In response to the original post and title, RJ sometimes stresses that they are not tattoos. They are actually a part of his skin.

 

Where does Robert Jordan tell this?

 

 

It's actually mentioned in a number of places throughout the series. One of the easiest to find would be when we first see them.

 

Around his forearm wound a shape like that on the Dragon banner, a sinuous golden-maned form scaled in scarlet and gold. He expected it, of course, but it was still a shock. The thing looked like a part of his skin, as though that nonexistent creature itself had settled into him. his arm felt no different, yet the scales sparkled in the sunlight like polished metal; it seemed if he touched that golden mane atop his wrist, he would surely feel each hair.

 

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 34: He Who Comes With the Dawn

 

[mb]

In response to the original post and title, RJ sometimes stresses that they are not tattoos. They are actually a part of his skin.

Where does Robert Jordan tell this?

It's actually mentioned in a number of places throughout the series. One of the easiest to find would be when we first see them.

 

Around his forearm wound a shape like that on the Dragon banner, a sinuous golden-maned form scaled in scarlet and gold. He expected it, of course, but it was still a shock. The thing looked like a part of his skin, as though that nonexistent creature itself had settled into him. his arm felt no different, yet the scales sparkled in the sunlight like polished metal; it seemed if he touched that golden mane atop his wrist, he would surely feel each hair.

That is not Robert Jordan stressing, that is just a character POV.

And it says 'looked like', not 'is' nor 'was'.

 

[Kadere]

Ok mb, you believe whatever you want to believe. The books are inherently wrong for being in characters PoV. We all know that secretly kittens came in and licked them on to Rand's arms. Whatever you want.

[a pale tanned lover]

In KOD when Rand had his hand blasted off, and Nynaeve healed him didn't the dragons grow back too?

I've always thought they were part of his skin and missed the bit where he went in the Tattoo shop in Rhuidean :D

[dholm]

They are most certainly not tattoos. They were not made with ink, but through the One Power.

[Phariah]

ya if u remember the aiel Mangin he killed the wetlander because of his tattoes of dragons , he said they weren't like the chief's but a thing of ink an needles if i recall correctly.

also when Rand's harem bonds him u have Min talk about how they feel, definately seems like they were in a way grafted into his skin w/ the power

[NicholasFallon]

just looked through this thread and have the following comments:

 

1, yes - the UK book covers are awesome - used "kife of dreams" chrome-looking symbol for the basis of my tattoo on my calf, except changed the hue from silver to blue and reversed the image so the serpent's head comes in from left to right.

 

2. Within the next few weeks, on the opposite side of my calf I am getting the dragon as on RJ's gate in the appropriate color scheme... might have to just do the outline first and shade in later though, because I only have a 1hr gift certificate and it's probably a 3hr tatto.

 

probably not relevant to the discussion... I wasn't going to comment until I saw the posts about the UK covers. :)

[madmonk27]

Yea, I was thinking of getting them as tatts on my forearm. That is why I was wondering about the exact description of them.