Temeraire/Overview

* First Flight
* Shelter
* Necklace

### Appearance

glossy black hide with opalescent blue and pale grey markings on the edges of his wings

## Military

### Status

* Alive
* Exiled from Britain
* Active

## Book Appearances

### Books

* *His Majesty's Dragon*
* *Throne of Jade*
* *Black Powder War*
* *Empire of Ivory*
* *Victory of Eagles*
* *Tongues of Serpents*
* *Crucible of Gold*
* *Blood of Tyrants*
* *League of Dragons*

## Biography

Temeraire, a Celestial dragon known as Lung Tien Xiang in China, is one of the main characters of *Temeraire (series)*. He was originally meant to be Napoleon Bonaparte's dragon, but the ship that brought him out of China, the *Amitie*, ran into a string of bad luck. Subsequently, the *HMS Reliant*, captained by William Laurence at the time, captured the *Amitie* three weeks from Madeira with a full wind.

Temeraire's egg was from Lung Tien Qian and the Imperial Lung Qin Gao and was the older twin of Lung Tien Chuan. The dragon hatched from an egg delivered by Qian was destined to be the companion of the Crown Prince of China, so when twin eggs were delivered it became awkward because only an Emperor and his heir can be a Celestial Dragon's companion.

The Chinese sent the 2nd egg as a gift to an Emperor on the other side of the world from them, to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte as a way to prevent the dragon being used to contend the Chinese throne. Qian, believing that the egg that had to cross the world would need good fortune, decided to send the older (Xiang's) lying to everyone by telling that it was the other egg (Chuan's) the one she had delivered first.

His egg "shown with the full luster of marble". When hatched

## Books Temeraire Reads

* A book on mineralogy, which speaks about gemstones and their mining (Book 1, Chapter 3).
* The Naval Trident by Duncan (Book 1 Chapter 4) - Possibly *The British Trident, or, Register of Naval Actions* by Archibald Duncan, first published in 1804?
* An English translation of the *Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica*i> by Isaac Newton, 1687. The translation may have been the one done by Andrew Motte in 1729. Laurence was prepared to bring his Latin up to snuff to read the book to Temeraire in the original, but he was probably just as happy to find a translation. This becomes Temeraire's favourite book, almost sort of a bedtime story for him.
* A book by (Pierre-Simon) Laplace, possibly one of the first four volumes of the *Mécanique céleste*> published 1799-1805. Laurence finds this book to be somewhat heavy going.
* A book of Oriental tales about dragons, translated and annotated by Sir Edward Howe.
* A book by Gibbon, the second volume (Book 2 Chapter 3) - Probably *The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*, Edward Gibbon's best known work. It was published in six volumes 1776-1789.
* A French translation of the Arabian Nights (Book 2 Chapter 10) - Possibly the translation by Antoine Galland published in 1704, which was the first European version of the tales. Temeraire's reference to Ali Baba's cave (in a discussion of Requiescat's attempt to take over Temeraire's own cave) comes from the Arabian Nights.
* Classical Chinese works, including the *Analects* of Confucius, which Temeraire refers to in a discussion with Majestatis.
* *Die Leiden des jungen Werther* (Book 3 Chapter 11) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774 and published in a revised edition in 1787.
* Possibly *On the Predestination of the Saints (De praedestinatione sanctorum)* by St. Augustine of Hippo - Temeraire refers to Augustine's explanation of predestination in his brief discussion with Rev. Daniel Salcombe.

## Family Tree

**Note:** The information in this family tree is taken mostly from *Golden Age and Other Stories:Succession* by Naomi Novik and some from *Throne of Jade*.

## References

1. ↑ Novik, Naomi. Empire of Ivory: A Novel of Temeraire . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
2. ↑  His Majesty's Dragon, page 10
3. ↑ Novik, Naomi. His Majesty's Dragon: A Novel of Temeraire (p. 17). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.