When Did We Get So Horny For Dragons?

No matter who you are, I can promise your sex life is nowhere near as exciting as Xaden's and Violet's in The Empyrean series. Xaden magically manipulates shadows to tease Violet and engage in light bondage. As for Violet, whenever she orgasms, lightning strikes nearby. The first time the couple has sex, their powers destroy an armoire and set curtains on fire.

There's something else that makes Xaden's and Violet's sex life so intense: the mental bond they share with their dragons. Xaden and Violet are both dragon riders, and their dragons are mated. This means that when their dragons fuck, Xaden and Violet get horny, too. Yes, there are dragons involved in this fictional pair's sex life.

Rebecca Yarros' best-selling series — consisting of "Fourth Wing", "Iron Flame," and "Onyx Storm") is helping people discover a new kink: dragon sex. And for those who are into it, there's a whole lot of romance and erotica out there just waiting for them. The Empyrean series is actually on the tamer side of this trope, because while Xaden and Violet can psychically feel their dragons' libidos, they don't actually have sex with their dragons (just with each other). Horny dragon books can also feature humans who have sex with "dragon shifters" that can transform between dragon and human shape; humans who have sex with actual dragons; and even dragons who have sex with each other.

Experts Featured in This Article

Sara Groth is a licensed clinical professional counselor and AASECT-certified sex therapist.

First, let's make it clear that although the Empyrean series might be responsible for recent interest in dragon erotica, this genre is nothing new. Humans have been fantasizing about having sex with dragons for literally centuries, if not millennia, and there's plenty of ancient mythology and folklore featuring human-on-dragon action. For example, the French folktale figure Melusine is a woman who can transform into a dragon, the Chinese mythological ruler Shennong was said to have a dragon father and a human mother, and the Scandinavian folktale character the Lindworm Prince is a dragon who takes human form after marriage.

Dragon sex stories reached new heights during the fantasy boom of the 1960s and '70s. In the years after J.R.R. Tolkien published the Lord of the Rings series in the mid-1950s, the genre's popularity skyrocketed. And naturally, some of those writers took the genre in a hornier direction. (Let me clarify that Tolkien himself did not write about dragon sex — or any sex, for that matter. You'll need to go to fanfic platform AO3 for your Middle Earth erotica needs.)

First published in 1967, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series features a similar human-dragon mindmeld to the Empyrean series: human dragon riders are psychically connected to their dragons, and when the dragons have sex, the riders do too. The tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons, which rose to popularity in the '70s, allowed players to imagine all kinds of fantasy characters having sex with each other.

From there, horny dragon books never entirely disappeared. They saw another spike in popularity in the 2000s, perhaps again influenced by the popularity of Lord of the Rings — this time the movies. (Tolkien may be rolling in his grave.) For example, in 2006, the Dragon Temple Saga series by Janine Cross caused controversy for its graphic depictions of human-on-dragon sex. In a 2009 Gizmodo article titled "Why Are People Always Having Sex With Dragons in Science Fiction?," writer Annalee Newitz concludes, "A perfect alloy of beauty and violence, the dragon is an enduring figure for the power of sexual desire — and for the way power often finds its most brutal expression in sexual acts."

Which brings us back to the current year. Over on BookTok, there are plenty of videos recommending erotica for Fourth Wing fans who want to explore their newfound dragon kink. You might have heard of the "monsterfucker" genre, i.e., books about human-on-monster sex, including but not limited to dragons. One popular book in this genre is "The Dragon's Bride" by Katee Robert, published in 2022. This dragon is over seven feet tall, green, and covered in scales, with an animal-like jaw and a forked tongue. Also, he has two penises — not unusual in dragon erotica.

"Double-dicked dragons" also show up in "Hoarded by the Dragon" by Lillian Lark (2023), "Sanctuary With Kings" by Kathryn Moon (2023), and multiple books by Mallory Dunlin. And for fans who get really into the kink, a detailed dragon dildo exists from sex toy company Bad Dragon, which was founded in 2008 and makes products based on werewolves, aliens, unicorns, and other fantasy creatures.

So what does this all mean? Sex therapist Sara Groth explains that dragon erotica and other monsterfucker books can be a way to mentally explore the erotics of power dynamics. "For a lot of people, there's the appeal of this really strong, powerful force and you get to be the damsel in distress," Groth tells PS. "You get to be not in control in that moment." This might explain why many monsterfucker books, like "The Dragon's Bride," also feature forced marriages or captivity.
Groth adds that the majority of monsterfucker readers are women, and the majority of the books that are popular right now feature a human woman and male monster scenario (though rest assured, there are queer monsterfucker novels out there too, including some by Katee Robert).

"Sometimes being in a setting that's more fantastical and super separate from reality can be a safer place for women especially to explore ideas about submission and dominance," Groth says. Reading about a human woman having BDSM sex with a dragon, for example, might "feel safer than thinking about a man, which can be uncomfortable or trigger past traumas." You know that viral man vs. bear debate, asking women which they'd rather be stuck with? Yeah, this is also why they choose the dragon.

Erika W. Smith (she/her) is a freelance writer and editor who covers astrology, sex, relationships, lifestyle, and more. Her book series Astrosex was published in 2021.