Dragon Breed Physical Characteristics
It should be noted that not all of the dragon breeds appearing in the Temeraire series have been given detail as to their appearance. As a result, many artists have had to guess what some of these breeds may look like.
Because this runs the risk of potentially conflicting with any new information that may be published in a later book, this page lists the known appearances of the dragon breeds that have been described, and conjectural notes as to what the other breeds may look like.
Naomi Novik has stated that some dragon breeds were inspired by real-world birds or butterflies, which may provide some clues about their coloration and patterning.
Breeds Described Canonically
In Incan mythology, Copacati is the name of an lake goddess known for her destructive powers. She was one Lake Titicaca's two guardians, who once had statues standing near the lake. At least one of the statues was described as carved of greenish turquoise stone.
The Emerald Glass breed is only briefly described in Throne Of Jade as being "brilliant green with red markings".
"A very different breed of dragon came out of the large pavilion to the south: larger and crimson-red, with-gold tinted horns and a bright yellow crest running from its many-horned head and along its spine. It drank from the pool and yawned enormously, displaying a double row of small but wicked teeth, and a set of four larger curving fangs among them." - In His Majesty's Service (Throne Of Jade), Page 459.
"The dragon was a shade of greyish blue not very different from the present colour of the sky [early morning], and curiously the tips of its four claws were painted a bright red; as Laurence watched it finished its morning ablutions and took to the air. Most of the dragons in the yard seemed of a similar breed, though there was a great deal of variety among them in size, in the precise shade of their colour, and in the number and placement of their horns; some were smooth-backed and others had spiked ridges." - In His Majesty's Service (Throne Of Jade), Page 458.
Unnamed Chinese Breed
"A smaller dragon met them in mid-air as they drew near: black with canary-yellow stripes and wearing a collar of dark green silk, he had a rider on his back, but he spoke to the other dragons directly." - In His Majesty's Service (Throne Of Jade), Page 467.
This subsection lists suggestions as to what the breeds may look like, based on anything from descriptive elements of their names, or depictions of mythological dragons that share their name, and in some cases, real creatures that share their name.
The name means "Celestial horse" or "Pure Teke" depending on translation. The name is pronounced ahalˈtеkje in the Turkmen language. It is also the name of a horse breed originating in Turkmenistan. It recieved the name "Akhal-Teke" when Russia conquered Turkmenistan in 1881 and named the horse breed after the Teke tribe that lived near the Akhal oasis. The horse-breed Akhal-Teke is known for its speed, endurance and adaptation to its desert climate, as well as having a golden metallic sheen to its coat. It could be that some of these traits are shared by the Akhal-Teke dragon breed.
All that is known about this Turkish breed is that their eggs are pale lemon-yellow.
"Berghexe" ("mountain witch") is the German name for Chazara briseis, a butterfly with brown and cream wings.
One of the parent strands of the Regal Copper breed, all that is known of the Bright Copper breed is that they share a similar colouring with the Cauchador Real breed, with which they were bred to achieve the similarly-coloured Regal Copper. It is believed that they are Middleweight dragons. "Bright Copper" is also the common name of the Australian butterfly Paralucia aurifer, first described in 1848. Each wing has an upper pattern of a bright orange triangular center surrounded by wide dark brown margins; the undersides are duller brown with irregular black speckles.
One of the parent strands of the Regal Copper breed, they are Heavyweight dragons known to share a similar colouring with the Bright Copper breed, with which they were bred with to achieve the similarly-coloured Regal Copper.
The Chasseur-Vocifere ("loud hunter") is a small courier-weight breed.
The name Chequered Nettle is fairly descriptive. "Nettle" alludes to a Stinging Nettle, and probably refers to the barbed tail of the breed, while "Chequered" presumably means that the breed has patterning similar to that of a checkerboard. It is likely closely related to the Defendeur-Brave, a French breed that shares the trait of having a tail that can be used as a weapon, however, while the Chequered Nettle's tail is spiked, the Defendeur-Brave's tail is merely hooked. Both dragon breeds are Heavyweights. In real life, two animals are known to have "Chequered" as part of their name; the Chequered Skipper, a butterfly, and the Chequered Keelback, a snake. Both creatures are yellow-coloured with brown-black spots in the pattern of a checkerboard. Additional proof to this lies with Kulingile, a Chequered Nettle-Parnassian cross whose colouring was Gold and Brown, despite the Parnassian breed having neither of these colours. The gold colouring would also suggest a closer relation to the aformentioned Defendeur-Brave breed, which is coloured Gold and Green.
The Flecha-del-Fuego ("arrow of the fire") is a Spanish fire-breathing breed, described as "little" by Captain James. Laetificat forced one of them away from the Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, suggesting that these dragons are sufficiently smaller than Regal Coppers that fiery breath still does not equalize the combat standing.
While the name of the breed gives us some insight into its colouring, little is known of any other features, save that the breed appears to be related to the Pecheur breeds, and as such, may resemble them to some extent.
This Russian breed was one of the three parent strands that made up the Longwing breed. For this reason, it could resemble the Longwing breed to some extent. No other information is known about it, but it is presumably a Light-Middleweight dragon, with the name suggesting greyish wings, although this could refer instead to the wing layout of the breed; so far, the only breed names ending in "-wing" have had unusual wing features.
In Japanese mythology, the Ka-Riu was a small dragon; seven feet long, that was scarlet-coloured, and in some versions made of fire.
Lindorm is a word that originates from Scandanavia, and can also be translated as Lindworm. A Lindworm is a mythological dragon that is generally depicted with two front legs and wings, but no back legs, only a serpent-like tail. This could mean that the Lindorm breed has a sinuous body, but it could also just be the eqivalent of the mythological creature in the Temeraire canon.
Because the Malachite Reaper breed was the result of breeding between Lindorms and Yellow Reapers, it is highly likely that the predominant colouring of Lindorms is either blue or green.
"Mauerfuchs" (literally "wall fox") is the German name for Lasiommata megera, a butterfly with predominantly brownish-grey wings patterned with russet/black eyespots and white scalloped borders.
The name "Pecheur-Raye" translates as "Crowned Fisherman", which presumably means that the head of this breed has some form of ornamentation, such as horns. This breed is also said to be vaguely related to the Grey Widowmaker, so they may share a vague similiarity. The breed may possibly be inspired by the Crested Kingfisher, which has black and white bars on its wings and tail, a white underbelly, pinkish-brown underwings, and a black and white speckled chest; males also have some reddish coloration mixed in with their chest speckles.
The name "Pecheur-Raye" translates as "Striped Fisherman", which presumably means that the breed is striped. This breed is also said to be vaguely related to the Grey Widowmaker, so they may share a vague similiarity. The breed may possibly be inspired by the Striped Kingfisher, which has a greyish brown back and wings accented with metallic blue, with a white/off-white underside and dark brown streaks on its head.
This breed was one of the three parent strands that made up the Longwing breed. For this reason, it could resemble the Longwing breed to some extent. No other information is known about it, save for the fact that it was considered "too small and low-flying" to be of any use to the Aerial Corps, which technically places its in the "Courier" class of Lightweight dragons.
In Japanese mythology, the Sui Riu was a Dragon King that commanded rain, meaning it was sometimes known as the "rain dragon". When in pain, it caused the rain to be coloured red. This may be one of the largest of the Japanese Dragons, as large size would befit a dragon that was "King" of all others.
Traditional Asian cosmology associates the element of water with the colors purple and black.
There are several Australian butterflies with "Xenica" in their common names from the parent genera Geitoneura, Oreixenica, and Nesoxenica. The first named variety was the Ringed Xenica in 1805, with marbled orange/black wings marked with white-centered black eyespots.