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Dragon Keeper

2009 novel by Robin Hobb

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ4501246
Source-derived summary

Dragon Keeper is a 2009 fantasy novel by American writer Robin Hobb, the first in The Rain Wild Chronicles. It is written in a third-person narrative from the viewpoint of several of the key characters. The narrative follows a party of malformed newly hatched dragons, their spurned and mistrusted human keepers and other supporters who set out on a quest to find safety in the legendary Elderling city of Kelsingra.

Plot summary

The book opens as a group of sea serpents have nearly finished their long journey upriver to encase themselves so they might hatch into dragons. It is late in the year and the serpents are older than is normal to make the journey. The last known dragon, Tintaglia, is overseeing this journey in the hopes that dragons will be reintroduced to the world. The Rain Wilds Council has agreed to help in exchange for her helping the Rain Wilds people in their war against Chalced. Sisarqua, a queen serpent, struggles to finish her casing and is assisted by Tintaglia.

The captain of the Tarman, Leftrin, comes across a piece of wizardwood, an encased dragon that has been washed away by the river. At first he thinks to sell it for an immense profit, but then decides to use it for his ship to protect it against the acidic river.

Editorial summary

“Dragon Keeper” enters the record as 2009 novel by Robin Hobb. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dragon, Keeper and novel can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2009. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Dragon, Keeper and novel.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Dragon Keeper” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dragon, Keeper and novel provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4501246. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dragon Keeper”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dragon Keeper primary sources, Dragon Keeper archive and Dragon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dragon Keeper”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Dragon Keeper” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.