| Nettlebrand | |
| |
| Nettlebrand illustrated by Goldammer | |
| Gender | Male |
| Race/Species | Homunculus (Draconic form) |
| Fate | Deceased |
| Appearances | Dragon Rider |
Nettlebrand, also known as the Golden One, is the main antagonist in the standalone children's novel Dragon Rider. Nettlebrand was a toad but actually transformed into a dragon and Is a gold and yellow dragon
History[]
Creation and enslavery of Twigleg[]
Created by an alchemist in the medieval times, he was meant to hunt down dragons for their horns. The alchemist wanted dragon horns to make gold. He made Nettlebrand have the power to communicate and to travel through water. Nettlebrand's armor is invincible to dragon fire. Nettlebrand ate his alchemist and Twigleg's homunculus brothers. However, Twigleg was spared as he needed someone to polish his armor. His scales can be melted by dragon fire and brownie spit combined.
Dragon Rider[]
- Main article: Dragon Rider
Physical appearance[]
Nettlebrand is a large golden dragon-like homunculus. He is unable to fly because his lack of wings and the immense mass of his armor. He has two horns and ears on his head, red glowing eyes, and massive black claws. In the novels, he's shown to be so large that he could barely fit into the passageways inside the Rim of Heaven; his head alone was bigger than Firedrake's body.
Persona, Biography and Abilities[]
Nettlebrand is often shown to be a cruel but cunning villain in the first novel; learning from his last failed hunt - 150 years prior to the novel's events - he would wait patiently until one silver dragon would lead him to the rest of their herd. During those long 150 years, Nettlebrand had often ventured to villages and towns to terrorize the residents and devour anyone or thing that opposed him; in the stories Twigleg is forced to recount, they were described as "acts of heroism", despite the fact they are anything but. It wasn't until Gravelbeard (a mountain dwarf) informed Nettlebrand about the recent sighting of Firedrake, who had just landed near his castle. Firedrake was resting during the day, but it was no thanks to Sorrel's shoddy navigation that landed them and Ben (a recent addition at the time) within the castle's line-of-sight.
Never the less, Nettlebrand anointed Twigleg to spy on Firedrake and his passengers, with Gravelbeard being "rewarded" with the position of being his new armor cleaner; he was apathetic towards Twigleg for being three days late to reporting in on the whereabouts of Firedrake, until learning of the archaeologist Barnabas Greenbloom who had acquired two of his three missing scales, upon which he became agitated that his scales were in the possession of a human. As for Gravelbeard, he was berated for having even less details about his tales of so-called "heroism" than Twigleg.
Three of Nettlebrand's known abilities is being able to use any body of liquid as a means of communication to his Enchanted Ravens, or even to translocate from one location to another, in addition to his scales being passively scentless and ice-cold, as revealed by Firedrake and The Serpent in that order. In two cases, he had used water from within a deep well to confront Barnabas in the Asian deserts, and retreat just as easily despite the size difference; in another case, Nettlebrand and Gravelbeard had to gather their spit into a carved-out cactus to communicate to his Ravens. Ironically, the cactus in question was bit by Nettlebrand beforehand in a fit of rage; the needles stuck to his tongue and gums as a reminder that he is not as insulated from harm on the inside.
Trivia[]
- Two of Nettlebrand's scales were found by Barnabas Greenbloom during a archaeologist trip; they were found in a field that was being plowed by disturbed farmers that have been dealing with the loss of their cattle, unaware it was Nettlebrand's doing.
- While not fully explained, it's likely possible that Nettlebrand may have lost his scales when an attempt to catch some cattle when wrong; he may have been shot by a battle tank's heavy cannon during World War II.
- In the ill-fated 2020 movie adaptation, Nettlebrand was only 50% bigger than Firedrake, relied on gadgetry for communication, a submarine for transport, and had taken up a hobby of golfing instead of terrorizing villages and towns.
- Nettlebrand's armor in the movie adaptation also appeared to resemble brass or bronze, rather than being golden; in theory, this would have meant his armor was sabotaged long before the events of the movie adaptation in question, thus leaving him vulnerable to the adaptation's version of Firedrake to quickly and effectively defeat him.