Dragon Drawing

There are numerous examples of dragons in modern literature, especially the fantasy genre. In the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the major antagonist is a dragon named Smaug. Smaug hoards a great treasure but is ultimately shot down with an arrow by an archer who was told about a soft patch in Smaug's underbelly armor. Other dragons appearing in Tolkien's works include Glaurung, the "father of dragons" created by Morgoth, along with Ancalagon the Black and Scatha. Also, in Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham, a dragon named Chrysophylax Dives is encountered.
Dragons also appear frequently in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, and are described in the Harry Potter related book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by the same author.
Dragonriders of Pern is an extensive science fiction series of novels and short stories created and primarily written by Anne McCaffrey. Since 2004, McCaffrey's son Todd McCaffrey has also published Pern novels, both in collaboration with Anne and on his own. The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing creatures called "dragons" who have a telepathic bond with their riders, formed by mental impressions which the dragons receive when they hatch from their eggs.
Some modern pseudo-biological accounts of dragons give them the generic name Draco, although the generic name Draco is used in real-world biology for a genus of small gliding agamid lizard. An infectious disease called Dracunculiasis, caused by infection with the Guinea worm which grows up to 3 feet long before emerging from its host, also derives its name from dragons (literally "infestation with little dragons"), based on the burning pain experienced by sufferers.