Dax Shepard (144:18)
Today's Archives topic is bonds. Especially with all these theories about bond severing and Darna returning the weird bonds between Venon, we gotta go through them. We'll start with the bond we're most familiar with, Dragon bonds. This is a bit of a refresher, but I'm explaining anyway. The strength of a dragon's bond, both to mate and rider, is dependent on the strength of the dragon. These bonds are also weaker when they are new and they grow over time. Dragons are able to form bonds with a single rider of their choice. Because dragons are picky about who they bond with, their writer must first make it to threshing before being deemed worthy of bonding a dragon. We know that dragons are able to bond at any age, and they have to go through the rite of Benefaction first, but it's technically not allowed for them to bond until they mature. For one, younger dragons aren't able to carry their rider yet, but the primary reason is that they can accidentally gift their rider with their feather tail gift since it's harder for them to control the bond. Remember 4th Wing's storyline? Once a dragon and rider bond, the writer's life is tied to the dragon's. If the dragon dies, the rider cannot survive and will die as well within minutes, unless the rider has another source of power to supplement with, like pulling from the source or in Violet's case, another dragon. Alternatively, this does not necessarily go the other way. If a rider dies it's not guaranteed that the dragon will also die, but each time a dragon bonds with a new rider, the bond is stronger than the previous one, which increases the chances of a dragon dragon dying if their chosen bonded rider dies. However, there are only three dragons on record who have died from their rider dying, so this is very rare for the bond to be that strong and powerful. Also, after bonding, a dragon gives a rider a relic which allows the dragon to channel magic down the bond into their rider, leading to the rider manifesting a signet. Dragons are also able to speak telepathically to their chosen rider outside of normal dragon bonds. The Irids, AKA the seventh Dragon Den, have their own unique bonds with humans. Since Irids are magic, they can bend, shape and even break bonds as they see fit. Only an Irid is able to become the second bonded dragon to a rider, as humans should only be capable of bonding to a single dragon. And if that rider has an active second bond, like Violet. Once the Irid breaks the bond, the rider can continue living because the other dragon will sustain their life. But this is still an extremely painful process, both physically and emotionally. It's in the process of severing the bond. There is a shrieking whistle sound, followed by sudden silence when reaching for the bond. It feels like it's being blocked by a wall before ultimately turning into nothing. If you want more information on all things Irid, please listen to our episode 8 archives. There is only one other bond more sacred than that of a dragon and its mated dragons. There is no stronger bond than that between two mated dragons. It goes beyond the depth of human love or adoration to a primal, undeniable requirement for proximity. The mating bond connects the dragons together in a lifelong bond, leaving them interdependent on one another. This includes their lives being interconnected. If one mate dies, the other follows soon after, as one cannot survive without the other. Mated pairs also can't be separated for long or their health diminishes. So they are supposed to always be stationed together. But the longer mates are together, the farther they are able to communicate across distance. For example, Taran and Sigail have been mated for an unknown amount of time, at minimum six years. We at least know that. But they can't communicate across long distances. Meanwhile, the other mated dragon pair that we know of, Grime and Maize, they've been mated for many decades and therefore they can communicate long distances, like from Samarra to Biscayeth, which is an eight hour flight. There are no secrets between mates, and they're open to sharing memories between each other. However, doing so with another dragon who is not their mate, it's uncomfortable and pretty taboo. As for the riders of the mated pairs, because of the bond with their dragons, the writers also become bonded in a way. While it's not guaranteed, some riders of mated pairs are able to form a mental connection like Zaden and Violet. And this connection can be a great advantage in battle. Moving on to griffin bonds. Like dragons, Griffins are able to bond with a human and channel powers into them. But only after their flyer to be jumps off a cliff and successfully grabs onto a griffin fly flying by. The amount of magic is a lesser amount and less powerful than dragon magic. The flyer will get a gift. It's their version of a signet, and they excel in lesser magics. Also, when a griffin bonds, it does so for life. That is the big difference between griffin bonds and dragon bonds. This leaves the flyer and griffin forever intertwined. It doesn't matter which one dies first, the other will die shortly afterward. Okay, now let's talk about Venon bonds. We don't know a whole lot about how Venon are are interconnected, but we do know that Venin have a bond of some kind with other Venin, Allowing them to sense each other, Especially the newly turned Venin. This is what allows the elder Venin, I'll call them to find the freshly pulled initiates and Asyms and add them to their Vinin family. Initiates and Asam can sense each other, but they cannot sense sages or mavens. Then there is a Venom mentor who is a sage or maven, and their student, who they may refer to as their child. As we saw from Berwyn and Pan checks exchange, calling Jack his son. There is a mysterious and unexplainable bond between mentor and mentee, where the mentee literally cannot kill their mentor and their mentor can summon their lower level Venon. As Berwin demonstrated with Zaden against his will, he physically could not resist the call of his sage. I have a feeling we're going to learn a lot more about these bonds next book. Venin and Wyvern bonds are not like that of dragons and griffins with their humans Because Venin are the power source for Wyvern to be animated. Since venom put a rune onyx stone inside the Wyvern, we can assume the bond is one sided and the Venin are just able to get intel through the Wyvern somehow. But since we don't know how this works, it's kind of impossible to know for sure. The extent of any bond between these two, the venin and the wyvern, and how that I'll call it hive mind works. And there you have it, buns.
