Art by Hannah Rogers
"You are heartless now, aren't you? No better than a dragon yourself" --Heartless
Dragons are originally people whose hearts were broken by tragedy or given in false love. As such, they become "heartless" and the Father of Dragons, Death-in-Life, will come and mark them as his with a kiss upon the brow.
At the sealing of the kiss, fire replaces their heart, and their true form--a winged, scaled beast--emerges. In the beginning, they often switch between their original and new form, but as they burn, their human form becomes twisted and ruined to take on a dragon appearance.
The first child of the Dragon was a faerie queen, and she was known as the Dragonwitch or Hri Sora. No other dragon since has compared to her, except perhaps the Bane of Corrilond.
In the time of Heartless, the dragons live in the Village, which can be found in the Red Desert in the mortal world or else reached by paths in the Netherworld. They have a strange loyalty to their Father and bring him treasures to his Hoard. They cannot stand reminders of their past or interaction between non-dragon kind, unless they out to burn. Occasionally, the person who once had their heart back in their former life can hold a certain sway or power over them.
Dragons cannot be killed except by the sword, Halisa, or a unicorn's horn. If there are other ways, they have not been revealed.
A Dragon cannot be restored back to what they first were, unless they are willing to die.