#dragon tooth

Alocasia Lowii

"Les Plantes à Feuillage Coloré" by Edward Joseph Lowe, 1865

The Dragon Tooth

// So I wanted it to be known that in my canon, Kaaras doesn’t get the necklace of the Kadan off a dragon he has slain. I know that that’s how the game forces you to acquire the item, but Bull never says you have to actually kill a dragon to get it.

“You FIND a dragon’s tooth, break it in half, and you each wear a piece.”

Find could mean pick up off the ground for all we know. The reason why Kaaras doesn’t go out and slay a dragon just for this tooth is because it’s not necessary. Sure, while it might be heroic in a sense and “badass”, as Bull might say, Kaaras isn’t like that. For one, he doesn’t go out killing animals for pleasure. The only reason he needs to slay a dragon is if it’s become too dangerous in the location and the Inquisition is unable to relocate it. It is a sad truth, that he has had to put one down unfortunately. However, it was a brutal task and it didn’t make him feel good either. Kaaras grew up on a farm though, so he understands that sometimes for the safety of others (the flock), then a predator must be killed (a fox that gets in the chicken pen). He was also struck by the dragon, which is why he has three long claw mark scars over his side.

Kaaras thinks dragons are beautiful creatures, and going around slaying something that was thought to be extinct goes wholly against his character. He is about preserving life, not taking it. So going out and killing a big dragon just for one tiny tooth, when he can get it elsewhere? He’s not going to do that. Also, he wouldn’t have been able to do it without Bull knowing somehow, especially since Bull is often in his party (and he wanted Bull there with that dragon fight considering his strength and experience). Bull is also caught by surprise by this notion, whether that’s because he didn’t EXPECT the Inquisitor to do it or he didn’t think they were in a serious relationship, whatever the case is, he’s a spy... he’d KNOW if Kaaras got a dragon tooth via having killed one. He’d never be able to keep this a secret. Kaaras is too easy to read, especially for someone so well trained like Bull.

Instead, Kaaras uses his contacts as Inquisitor to find a dragon tooth to purchase, off an already dead dragon. It was a difficult task, and it cost him a lot of money (I don’t feel like dragon teeth would be cheap or even common amongst merchants like wyvern teeth for instance).

Once he has the tooth, Kaaras works with the smith at Skyhold to split, shape and make into a necklace for the both of them. It’s hardly the size of what’s in the cutscene where the Inquisitor holds it in their hand. It’s been reshaped and carved down into a small pendant so the both of them can wear it without it being overly bulky and weird like in game. He also has their names carves into the small capsule that the tooth sits in (so he would wear the one that says Bull on it and Bull wears the one that says Kaaras). It’s just a little notion that the tooth is them in spirit when they aren’t together. And for Kaaras, it’s mere symbolism and romanticism of the whole idea.

Whilst Kaaras is sure that Bull would have thought it kick arse for him to have gotten it off a dead dragon that he personally killed, there’s something Kaaras finds far more romantic about the fact that he had this item shipped from across the sea and crafted into something special vs plucking it off a dead animal that wasn’t necessary to kill.

A note on the significance of a Dragon Tooth:

If Kaaras wasn’t with The Iron Bull, he wouldn’t use a dragon tooth to show his feelings for someone. For Bull, it’s a sign of being serious in a relationship, but for Kaaras, it’s a sign to show Bull that he is serious, because that’s how Bull KNOWS he’ll be serious. He could just tell him, yes, but Kaaras is more romantic than that, and he knew that this was a way Bull would completely understand how he felt for him. Love is foreign to Bull, and Kaaras knows that, so what better way to show him than something he’ll understand?

The necklace of the Kadan is utterly foreign to Kaaras. He’s not from the Qun. He’s a Vashoth who didn’t even know it was a tradition under the Qun.

Even though Kaaras as a qunari, he is not Qunari.

Her eyebrows raised when he revealed what was in his hands, and she moved a little closer to get a better look. “Is that... a dragon tooth?” she asked, curious. She’d never seen a dragon tooth in a necklace before, and honestly... She’d never had the desire to get close enough to a full-grown dragon’s mouth to get a look at its fangs. As majestic as the creatures were... she’d rather stick to range and not be eaten alive!

“For me?” She didn’t know the meaning behind the necklace, but she did blush: it was a gift after all. “Did I miss some important occasion or something?” she joked, not sure why she was getting such a gift at the moment.

A little video of another larp prop I made for last event! I was asked to make a “Megalodon Tooth” - little did I know it would be sold in the in game auction (at quite the profit!) as a Dragon tooth!

I carved it from two chunks of basswood that I wood glued together and clamped overnight (well... I say clamped. Really I used my axes to put pressure on it.). Then a rough cut through the bandsaw, some shaping on the bandsander, and final touches with my tiny chisels. 

I painted it with a light wash of white acrylic and water, and did the weathering and finer details with water colors. I made sure to leave some pink on the root to make it look fresh outta the jaw.