The Eyes of the DragonAnnonymousAlthough it may seem quite absurd, the role of animalsin The Eyes of the Dragon is a very supreme anddignified part of the novel. Through the developmentof the novel, the animal kingdom roars novel from insects to dogs and theyall play their own, individual roles. The great black and white Anduan Huskynamed Frisky who is, out of all of her dogs, Naomi’s favorite, leads BenStaad and Naomi directly to the whereabouts of Dennis, Peter’s butler. Flagg’s animals are symbols of his plans for the downfall of Delain.
Thedragon that is killed by King Roland may be considered the most the memorableof all. In this archetypal tale, Thomas sees Flagg murder Thomas’s fatherthrough the eyes of the dragon. In the end of the novel, though, all of theanimals’ roles fall into place. Frisky, Naomi’s companion, is a strong-willed, over-confident, Anduan Husky who may have been the “greatesttracking dog that ever lived. ” This dog sums up themeaning of a man’s best friend. Frisky, who can track athree-day-old scent in the middle winter, is the reasonthe story takes place as it does.
Just as arson dogshelp pinpoint the location of substances used to startfires, Frisky uses her keen sense of smell to pinpointexactly where Dennis, son of Brandon, has journeyed tofrom Peyna’s farmhouse. Dennis’s mission is to go backto the castle where Thomas the Tax-Bringer and Flagg,the king’s magician, live and are at high power. Peyna,who has just given up his Judge-General’s bench, has afeeling that there is some reason why Peter has askedfor the Royal Napkins and his mother’s dollhouse. Dennisis to find this reason by sending a letter to Peter,who is imprisoned at the time.
Dennis journeys fromPeyna’s farm in the Inner Baronies back to the fearfulcastle with nothing except for the risks of gettingkilled. Five days later, with not a soul knowing thewhereabouts of Dennis, Naomi and Ben Staad (Peter’sbest friend) come upon the deserted farm. Naomi’s dogshave been pulling the sleds for thirty miles all theway from a snowy hollow in which they were camping. The two now feel helpless.
With no clue on where therefriend had traveled to, they search diligently for anysigns of what they are to do next and find nothing atall. “If only there were a way to track him,” Ben saysand, thereafter, a light bulb lights in Naomi’s headlike the sun on a due-soaked morning (King 296). Thisis the epitome of where Frisky fits into the picture. After brief discussion and argument, Ben and Naomidiscover that there are traces of Dennis in thisabandoned shed but it cannot be detected by humans andFrisky’s sense of smell is like the “eyesight of a manwith the gaze of a hawk” (King 299). Stephen Kingsubstantially points out that Dennis’s scent is abright electric blue and that Frisky has the scentstored away in her “library of scents” (King 299).
Frisky leads her companions far and high, throughmany miles of snow to the deserted farmhouse andeventually to a place in which they are forced to pause. astle moat. One may appear dumbfounded considering whyFrisky is referred to above as being ‘over-confident. ’At the moat, after some minor conflict, the Anduan Husky personallyexpedites the situation and takes a leap of faith into the great sewerpipe which takes the travelers under the castle and directly to Dennis’slocation.
Besides the fact that Frisky’s “noble nose” is a main theme andcould be considered by some a moral, there is more educational andentertainment values here than in any other part of the story. Flagg’s animals aide him in all of his attempts to doom the kingdom ofDelain. For example, the deathwatch spider that Flagg kept encaged fortwenty years is his way to attempt to kill Sasha, the King’s beloved wife. The spider has been feeding on newborn baby mice that are dying from poison. The spider is blood red and as big as a rat (King 31).
Flagg squeezes thespider to death and mixes the deadly insides with a glass of brandy,something that Sasha drinks a glass of each night to help her sleep. Flaggrings for a servant to come and take the glass to her. Sasha never finds outhow close to death she came that night (King 33). Another example is themouse Flagg uses to set up Peter. Flagg is a very powerful magician. Withthis knowledge, no one would question Flagg’s abilities to place Dragon Sand,the most deadly substance of the time, into a box that he stole from Peterlong ago and hide the box, along with a cursed mouse, into a secret placethat, allegedly, only Peter knows about.
Because the evidence of the crime isfound in a place that only Peterknows about, people begin to see a murderer’s facebehind a mask of affection and respect (King 116). Peteris then tried before a jury and taken to the top of theneedle where he is to spend the rest of his life. The reader is introduced to the dragon at the beginningof the novel when King Roland and others are hunting andire-breathing creature. The young dragon is killed whenthe brave King nocks his arrow, draws, and fires. Roland makes a direct hit in the spot under the dragon’sthroat where it takes in air to create fire (King 13).
The dragon dies immediately. Otherwise called the Niner,the dragon’s head is hung up in King Roland’s sittingroom along with the head of every other animal in whichthe King had considered worth keeping (King 92). Thedragon’s head is a major secret of the castle. Flagg,being the magician he is, knows most secrets of thecastle (No one, not even he, know all of them) (King 81).
Flagg, after Thomas has a bad day at a luncheon withhis father, shows the secrets to Thomas, for he has afeeling it may lead to mischief. This turns out to betrue. The secret is this: After one is led through amaze of corridors and through the “dim” door, he mustpress a certain stone in order to access the passagewaythat is revealed after the click is heard (King 89). Atthe end of the passageway, there are two little panels.
After sliding these panels, one find himself behind theNiner and will discover that he can see directlythrough the dragon’s eyes. Though heeding Flagg’s advicenot to go too often, Thomas is watching the night inwhich Flagg poisons King Roland. But after Thomas isdeclared King, and years of dealing with terriblenightmares, Thomas discovers one thing: guilt andsecrets, like murdered bones, never rest easy (King 167). Stated in this collection of ideas is that the role ofthe animals in The Eyes of the Dragon is a supreme anddignified part of the novel. The reader must reread thenovel for any further confirmation.
In conclusion, onecan now acknowledge that animals’ effect on howsomething takes place is important to everyday livingas well as important to the world of literature.Written by Michael Peebles in Hoover,ALcontact at: [emailprotected]
