Dragon Council

The council of dragons at the Pen Y Fan Breeding Grounds consisted of all the largest dragons and the resident Longwing, Gentius. It was supposed to prevent fights between dragons over caves and other resources. It did this by evaluating each dragon's flying skills and fighting abilities, then awarding the disputed resource to the dragon it considered more deserving.

In theory, any dragon involved in a dispute with another had a right for the council to decide the matter. In practice, the standards that the council used to decide disputes tended to favour the larger dragons, i.e., the ones on the council. The middle-sized and smaller dragons, although ruled by the council, did not have any representation on it.

Although this may seem undemocratic by 21st century standards, it was in fact hardly less democratic than the system of government among British humans at that time. In most districts, men could not vote unless they owned some minimal amount of real or personal property, and of course women could not vote at all. (See Reform Act 1932.) The system favoured the upper classes at the expense of the middle and working classes.

Thus William Laurence, the son of a lord, became indignant when Tharkay suggested that "a hundred corrupt members of Parliament" might be worse than one absolute despot. Tharkay, who had quite a different experience of British justice and British society than Laurence, noted that, "It is quixotic of [the French] to have chosen to be unjust to the noble and the rich, in favour of the common; but it does not seem to me to be naturally worse."

Temeraire, who argued before the council at Pen Y Fan that he ought to have the same rights even if he were as small as Minnow, might well agree with at least the principle of Tharkay's statement.