Dragon AU

Dragon AU is a term that can apply to any number of disparate types of fantasy AU common in fanfic. 
At its most basic, a "dragon AU" is any AU fic where dragons exist, either secretly or as a common part of the environment, and are important to the plot. 
The details of these fics can vary from a wholesale fusion or crossover with a pre-existing universe that has dragons, such as Pern, to the characters secretly being dragons themselves or merely having dragons as pets.
==Trope Conventions==
Dragon AUs can broadly be sorted into two categories: stories where dragons are simply a prominent part of the worldbuilding and stories where characters are (usually secretly) a dragon. There is no real distinction between these two types of fic on AO3, although sometimes fic where a character is a dragon will be tagged with "Dragon [Character Name]," and the distinction becomes even less clear on sites like Wattpad where the tagging system is less robust or even FanFiction.Net where only limited information can be tagged.
Fic where dragons are simply a prominent part of the worldbuilding are most often a fusion or crossover with a preexisting world where dragons feature prominently. In addition to Pern, common fandoms for this type of AU include Temeraire and How to Train Your Dragon. A Harry Potter AU can also often prominently feature a dragon, and canon Harry Potter fic often features canon divergence involving the dragons from the First Task in the Triwizard Tournament.
The second type of dragon AU, where a character is a dragon, encompasses several sub-tropes. This type of fic usually invokes shapeshifters, Were-Animal or Animal Transformation, sometimes by way of magic, but it can also involve a character simply being a dragon, like for example some Sherlock BBC fics where Sherlock Holmes is a dragon compared to the dubbing of Smaug being made by actor Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hobbit movies.
==Popularity and Spread==
On AO3 this trope is seen most often in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Boku no Hero Academia, and BTS stories."Alternate Universe - Dragons" tag. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the top three fandoms appearing in the tag were MCU, Boku no Hero Academia, and BTS. The popularity of this trope in Marvel Cinematic Universe fic can likely be attributed to the importance of dragons in Marvel Comics. From actual dragon characters, such as X-Men's Lockheed and reoccurring characters such as Fin Fang Foom, to characters like Danny Rand and Moondragon that feature dragons prominently in their backstories, Marvel fandom has a number of ways to incorporate dragons into a story. Owing to the popularity of the fantasy setting in the third ED, where Kirishima appeared as a dragon, the Boku no Hero Academia fandom has "Dragon Kirishima Eijirou" Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 783."Dragon Kirishima Eijirou" tag on AO3. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 783. The popularity has spread to other characters too, leading to the less popular tags "Dragon Bakugou Katsuki""Dragon Bakugou Katsuki" tag on AO3. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 91. and "Dragon Midoriya Izuku.""Dragon Midoriya Izuku" tag on AO3. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 81. 
Unlike the former two fandoms, there is no particular reason for the BTS fandom to use this AU. Even so, the most popular member to be made into a dragon is Suga. The "Dragon Min Yoongi" tag on AO3 has racked up a total of 63 uses as of 29 Nov 2020. "Dragon Min Yoongi" tag on AO3. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 63.
There are also several cases of "Dragon [Character Name]" being canonized on AO3. 
Possibly as a result of Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch also appearing in The Hobbit films, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the dragon Smaug, "Dragon Sherlock Holmes" is a canonized tag on AO3 with almost 300 works."Dragon Sherlock Holmes" tag on AO3. Accessed 29 Nov 2020, when the number of works in the tag was 277.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
===Fanart===
* Avenger!Dragons Series by Imbecamiel (2012–2013), The Avengers drawn as dragons. archive link to first piece
* -- Dragon Kirishima and Barbarian Bakugou by Ricedoesart
* Dragon!Zuko, but he’s a beanie baby. by CarnistCervine. Inspired MuffinLance to make a Dragon!Zuko plush, for which she shared the pattern online.
* illustration by amalgamzaku
* (Feb 2013) by Myza-Lioness, featuring Nala from The Lion King as a dragon holding Simba.
* by kazehana23, 2022
=== Example Art Gallery ===
====Characters as Dragons====
File:Dragons loki and tony stark.jpg|Dragons Loki/Tony Stark by starsunderwater for "Hoarding Those We Treasure" by STARSdidathing (2019)
File:E6OC5awVIAEOZwb.jpg|Moshang as dragons by selwujun (2021)
====AU Worlds with Dragons====
File:Queensguard knights gambit by lismar-small.jpg|Art by lismar for the Queensguard Series a J2 story (2010)
==Resources and Links==
*"Alternate Universe - Dragons" tag on AO3
*"Dragons" tag on AO3
==References==
Category:Glossary