Star Dragon

[DaWrestla]

Sorry if this has been talked about to death here, but what about the Star Dragon?

Why is there never any mention of a 5th dragon anywhere else? (DO NOT give me any DS spoilers, I just started it last night.)

[Angelalex242]

Don't worry. No Star Dragon in DS.

As for the Star Dragon himself, there's really only two concrete pieces of information.

What the Star Dragon himself says, and what Nall and the Blue Dragon says about him in the epilogue.

Which can be summarized as follows.

He's the guardian of the bridge to the Blue Star.
He doesn't draw power from the Goddess(es), but rather, from the tapestry of the universe.
Unlike other Dragons, he can use all elements at once.
Nall is afraid of him. Sort of.
He is definitely a him.

[DevNall]

From EB (SCD):

ONCE IN A VERY LONG TIME,
IT IS SAID THAT A SHAPE-
SHIFTING DRAGON COMES TO BE.

THIS DRAGON CAN CHANGE FORM
AT WILL. AND, IT'S POWER IS
BEYOND BELIEF.

I am assuming that was a reference to him.

[GhaleonOne]

I originally assumed that was Nall to be honest.

[DaWrestla]

So I guess the Star Dragon is sort of an enigma. Not needed for the creation of the Silver Star or to bestow power onto the Dragonmaster (b/c the DM would not be Master over the Star Dragon).

[DevNall]

I originally assumed that was Nall to be honest.

That passed through my mind, but the passage seemed to be talking about a singular dragon, and there was the implication that the abilities Nall demonstrated were not specific to just him. That, and the Star Dragon seemed considerably more powerful.

[drumlord]

So I guess the Star Dragon is sort of an enigma. Not needed for the creation of the Silver Star or to bestow power onto the Dragonmaster (b/c the DM would not be Master over the Star Dragon).

It's gotten less common in recent years, but Japanese storytelling in manga and anime of the 80's especially but also 90's commonly had lots of unexplained things and mysteries in them. It's one of the things American audiences had trouble with; basically people would get too hung up on the why and how, instead of just accepting things as they come. So for the Star Dragon people would get hung up on how he get to be there, where he fits in with this and that, what relation he has to other dragons, instead of just accepting his part of the storyline and enjoying it.

The tough part about all that is that there is a fine line between it being creative storytelling and being trite contrivances. And people commonly disagree on which one of those things fall into.

[localflick]

It's one of the things American audiences had trouble with; basically people would get too hung up on the why and how, instead of just accepting things as they come.

It's very good to hear someone else who understands this. Every detail doesn't have a reason for why it is the way it is, it just IS. And, I love it when Japanese storytellers do this because it makes people who need concrete answers go ballistic because they can't find a definite answer.

But yeah, details like this are very important to some people, and meaningless to others. Drumlord, I agree 110% on this one.

To me he's just a boss in a videogame.

[Alunissage]

I always read that passage as referring to Nall also. I'm trying to remember where it comes up in the game. The Star Dragon is only known as such in the Epilogue (which is "hidden"), whereas Nall's shapeshifting is a key point. Although it doesn't jive well with him trying to teach Ruby how to change shape, it does explain why other dragons weren't mentioned as being human.