Ramoth (dragon)

In Anne McCaffrey's fictional Dragonriders of Pern books, Ramoth is a dragon who was Impressed by Benden Weyrwoman Lessa. Ramoth is the largest dragon ever clutched on Pern, measuring about 45 feet in length, with a wingspan of around 61 feet (the use of meters by Jody Lynn Nye in "The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern" was an error).

Ramoth was from the last clutch hatched by Jora's gold Nemorth and former Weyrleader R'gul's bronze Hath. Normally before a Pass, the queen dragons laid extremely large clutches in order to build up the number of dragons and dragonriders available to fight Thread. Unfortunately Jora was worthless as a Weyrwoman, shirking her duties and promoting sloth at the Weyr. Because dragon mirrors rider, Nemorth, too, became lazy, rarely leaving her weyr and laying small clutches at a time when many eggs were needed. Ramoth was one of only twelve dragons in the last clutch, and the only fertile female. Nemorth died soon after the eggs of her last clutch had hardened.

Ramoth was Impressed by Lessa, the only surviving member of the Ruatha Hold Bloodline. The pair's adventures started when Lessa began to chafe against the regulations placed on her by the current Weyrleader R'gul. Ramoth, as a queen was expected only to fly to hunt food and mate, as Nemorth had done. Under F'lar's instruction, Ramoth was taught to fly and go between like fighting dragons. During one of these lessons, Ramoth and Lessa discover the dragons' ability to teleport back in time, although this had already been discovered (and forgotten) in previous Passes. On her first flight, Ramoth was caught by F'lar's (F'lon's son) bronze Mnementh, and they hatched a large clutch of forty including gold queen, Prideth, who was Impressed by Kylara. Some of the other dragons she has hatched are: Lioth, Weyrleader N'ton's bronze; Path, Mirrim's green; Ruth, Jaxom's white; Golanth, F'lessan's bronze; and Wirenth, Brekke's gold. Ramoth and Mnementh hatch particularly large, intelligent dragons, and the Benden line is held in high regard. In fact the Oldtimers, a group of dragonriders who came forward in time to the Ninth Pass, but later broke from the modern Weyrs, stole one of Ramoth's queen eggs after their own queen dragons became too old to mate. The egg was recovered and hatched a healthy queen, but the incident made Ramoth less than fond of Fire lizards, some of whom were involved in the theft. Lessa banned firelizards from Benden Weyr for a time to appease her queen.

Ramoth has always been flown by Mnementh. In the AIVAS Adjusted Year of 2553, Lessa had been paired with Ramoth for thirty-five years, indicating that Mnementh and Ramoth have been a mated pair for about thirty-three or thirty-four years. It has been suggested that Lessa would not allow any other dragon to mate with Ramoth.

The Ninth Pass came after an unusually long Interval that lulled some of the inhabitants of Pern into believing that Thread would never threaten the planet again. At this time Benden Weyr was the only surviving Weyr, the other five being mysteriously empty for four hundred years. Benden Weyr's leaders worried about having enough fighting dragons when Thread did begin to fall, as Ramoth was the only mature, fertile queen. But Lessa figured out that the Weyrs came forward to help present-day dragonriders meet Thread. Using the unique ability of dragons to teleport through time, Ramoth took Lessa back to fetch the ancient dragonriders at great risk to herself and her rider. The plan was successful and five full Weyrs of dragonriders and support staff followed Lessa and Ramoth back to the Ninth Pass.

Ramoth shares the same stubborn and imperious temperament as her rider. She shows a bit of a selfish streak at times. She sulked at not being able to fight Thread with the other dragons when she was Pern's only queen. Ramoth also commented once that Lessa's unfortunate past happened so that Lessa could Impress Ramoth. She is also aware of her high position in Benden Weyr. Ramoth will only allow three junior queens at a time to reside at Benden Weyr, plus can be quite disdainful of the "lesser" dragons (browns, blues, and greens). There is not a dragon on Pern who will not obey an order from her. Nevertheless, she remains one of the most revered dragons on Pern, just as her rider is one of the most respected Weyrwomen.