We have an oldie but a goodie to share with you all today! During Dragonsteel Nexus 2025, Christopher participated in a panel called “Stories That Stay with You.” Panelists detailed the themes and elements that make stories most memorable and—rather unsurprisingly—the topic of dragons was brought up. Christopher and author Ryan Cahill theorize that any story can be made better with . . . a sprinkle of dragon!
For those of you who fancy a read, a transcript follows below.
Christopher Paolini:
I’ve often said that, that when a dragon shows up, you know things just got real.
Ryan Cahill:
Yeah!
Christopher:
I mean like Maid in Manhattan—I don’t know why I just thought of that movie.
Ryan:
Dragons in Manhattan!
Christopher:
Imagine half way through the movie a dragon shows up—this movie would be so much more interesting and you could apply that to almost any film.
Evan Leikam:
Braveheart could use a dragon.
Ryan:
Pick a piece of fiction and if you say, “Dragon,” at one point . . . Right? That used to be the thing, like if you, like, pick your favorite story, and I don’t think— So . . . we’re going on a mild tangent here. I need you to understand, so I’m not going to say it out loud. Em, in debating competitions, Ireland and Scotland are the only two countries—it might have changed now—but the only two countries that don’t get points deductions for cursing because it’s considered part of our culture, right? So, em, I curse in general; I feel like maybe, maybe this isn’t the place where I do it, but . . . so I think you call them “f-bombs” here, if I’m correct?
(affirmative noises)
Ryan continued:
Takes away the punch but that’s fine, em. Like—
Christopher:
You can say “frak.”
Ryan:
Frak! Em, ah! We know what it means. But, you know, pick your favorite piece of fiction and just put one f-bomb in anywhere. Like, you know, I know we don’t—we don’t—we’re not—we don’t talk about Harry Potter as much any anymore but it’s like, “You’re a frakking wizard, Harry!”
(laughter)
Ryan contined:
It’s like perfect. It’s perfect . . . I’ve never said “frak” before . . .
(laughter)
Christopher:
Well—
Ryan:
It feels icky—
Christopher:
I think I have my new special edition of Eragon.
(laughter)
Ryan:
It’s a frakking dragon!
(laughter)
(clip ends)
We’ll share more choice clips in the future. In the meantime, feel free to keep up with the latest on Christopher’s social media accounts (X, Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube, Threads, and Blue Sky). And we hope to have some news on upcoming events in the near future, so keep an eye out on the Events page!
sprinkle of dragon
