Dealing with Dragons

The Caves of Fire and Night hold many important cultural locations to the dragons, and they also symbolize the dragons’ collective cultural knowledge and magic. As the narrative reveals the many ways in which these caves are exploited by outside invaders such as princes and wizards, it becomes clear that the Caves collectively represent the plundered wealth of exploited cultures and societies. Much of the antagonism between dragons and other species results from humans’ attempts to appropriate magic and important items from the Caves, and Kazul explains that wizards survive only because they “steal magic […] from whatever happens to be nearby” (58), such as the Caves of Fire and Night and the Enchanted Forest. Likewise, Kazul and Cimorene discover that the wizards are trying to infiltrate the King’s Cave in order to gain ingredients to cast a spell that will allow them to assume control of Colin’s Stone—the relic that the dragons use to choose their kings. The wizards cast magic on a stolen rock from the Cave in order to influence Colin’s Stone and corrupt the dragons’ king-making process. Their exploitation of these items shows their willingness to appropriate the sacred items belonging to other cultures.

Similarly, humans also try to take from inside the Caves of Fire and Night without the dragons’ consent, as when various “princes came to steal some of the Water of Healing from the well at the end of the cave” (96). Cimorene notices that 40 princes were turned to stone in this attempt, but unlike the wizards, who steal from the caves for magic and corruption, humans mostly steal for glory and to fulfill fairytale tropes. Kazul tells Cimorene that the fate of these invaders is “no less than they deserve” (96).