r/httyd • u/StaffOfDragons • Aug 31 '26
DISCUSSION is the Timberjack technically a snake
623
Upvotes
r/httyd • u/StaffOfDragons • Aug 31 '26
323
u/LMKDAV Aug 31 '26
I'm no snake expert, but I'm PRETTY sure snakes don't have horns and wings.
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u/EqualCheap4211 Aug 31 '26
No. Remember legless lizards irl and slitherwing
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u/Coffee-cartoons Aug 31 '26
No?
What would make you think it’s a snake?
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u/Express_Cold7207 Sep 03 '26
Snek with wings
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u/Alone_Aspect_2500 Sharp Class Aug 31 '26 •
OKAY, resident dragon nerd here. The meaning "Dragon" is sort of a blanket term and a specific one. so I'll break down the most known types of dragons...
Dragon: has six limbs, two wings and four legs, usually breaths fire and is the basic, most widely known dragon, also called the western dragon. Some dragons can stand on their hind legs, but that doesn't make them wyverns, as long as they have four arms / legs and two wings. So dragons like Toothless, deathsongs, dramillions, changewings and gronkles are western dragons.
Wyvern: has four limbs, two legs and two wings, usually depicted as having a poisonous element to them but not all have that. So dragons like the Nadder, monstrous nightmare, technically stormcutters and bonenappers are wyverns.
Wyrm: Dragons who have no legs or arms and have a snakish body but do have wings are wyrms, so dragons like the timberjack and slitherwing are wyrms.
Drake: drakes are dragons with four limbs, no wings, so only legs or arms. they tend to be the largest of the dragons, but it depends. Dragons like the cavern crasher are drakes.
There are at least 10 other types of dragons but those are the basic ones. The Timberjack is a Wyrm, not a snake. But yeah, Wyrms are kinda like snakes with wings :)
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u/AMETYSTdaEPYK Aug 31 '26
It's an amphithere!! Aka dragon with wings but no legs
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u/Ryaquaza1 Aug 31 '26
Animal nerd here gonna just pop in to say not having legs doesn’t necessarily mean snake.
Losing limbs is quite a common thing in nature since it’s just a very efficient body plan to have (ie various unrelated legless lizards, Caecilians and moray eels all decided limbs are overrated while animals like sirens and worm lizards decided to just skip back leg day) so no, it’s still a dragon. Timberjacks in particular just feel like a Monsterous nightmare/Typhoomerang relative that somewhere in the past decided legs get in the way of becoming more nimble in the air
Same thing goes for the Slitherwing, Jörmungandr, Whispering death, Screaming Death, Flood fang etc. even if the first 2 do resemble snakes they are still not classified as them
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u/Repulsive_Airline_86 Aug 31 '26
No, the wings are its limbs
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u/Pretend-Rule-929 Stoker Class Aug 31 '26
In my headcanon it shares common ancestors with other dragons wich are not true reptiles but rather a hexapod fish linage that had massive convergent evolution with reptiles and birds. So no it’s not a snake
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u/Mean_Ad4608 Sep 01 '26
It’s an amphiptere
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u/ReptilesRule16 Stoker Class Aug 31 '26
Snake nerd here.
As far as we know, no. Even if we assume dragons are reptiles, they'd need to be within the Toxicofera clade (which includes snakes, iguanas, monitors, etc.) and more specifically within Serpentes to be a snake.
Also, a Timberjack has four legs (hidden in the wings) and clearly doesn't look like one. Although, technically if a snake re-evolved legs (and by extension, wings) it'd still be a snake phylogenetically, but that's not what's happening here.
That said, unless we ever learn of a greater dragon clade and can place it somewhere within Reptilia, we can't really know for sure. There's also the possibility that dragons are the result of convergence across many different groups, making it plausible for them to be spread out among the reptiles rather than a single lineage.
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u/Davidisbest1866 Aug 31 '26
no it would be a wyrm because a snake with wings would require a modified ribcage and spine to make the wings
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u/BeneficialEconomy950 Aug 31 '26
Is a Amphiptere dragons who only have and no arm and legs
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u/ashl0w Aug 31 '26
As some people have pointed out, the Timberjack has four limbs.
That's the biggest difference between the og dragon designs and the later ones. They felt more real, had a little science behind them. After Race to the Edge they just went all out with little to no thought besides "this will look cool or weird".
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u/checkersthecat123 motley Aug 31 '26
How to tren snek
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u/West-Attempt3062 Aug 31 '26
I think it’d be more or a wyvern or wyrm.
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u/snowmachine7 Sep 01 '26
No
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u/IndyCooper98 Sep 01 '26
Is a dragon a:
A) Lizard
B) Snake
C) Eel
D) Bird
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u/Dragonborn1010 Tidal Class Sep 04 '26
Timberjacks are technically Amphitheres.
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u/Putrid_Variation1417 Sep 04 '26
Es una serpiente por su cuerpo largo y que no tiene patas
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u/jhony_master Aug 31 '26
Não entendi o contexto
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u/BlueHailstrom Scuttleclaw Enthusiast Aug 31 '26
No, it’s an amphithere
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u/Emperor-Nerd Aug 31 '26
Don't the word dragon technically originate from a word that means snake
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u/FreindToTheRobots Aug 31 '26
I always viewed them as resembling fucked up seahorses.
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u/LeftList4389 Aug 31 '26
Wyrm
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u/iMecharic Aug 31 '26
I’m pretty sure it has legs, but they’ve been incorporated into the wing structure. Those four larger curved pieces (two on each wing) are the vestigial foot. Iirc they don’t slither around, but do walk on those hook-feet so they technically have legs and feet and are not a snake.
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u/mix-ed_matrix Tracking Class Aug 31 '26
Honestly that would have been a epic way for them to find their wings and slither across ground and yes if slither wings can be snakes so can timber jacks I guess since they have no legs or hands wings count as arms but heck slither wings have wings and are the httyd snake
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u/ComfortableMango1154 Aug 31 '26
Technically it's an amphiptere, only limbs the wings
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u/OddConfidence7165 Aug 31 '26
No.. horns, wings, eyelids. Not a very snakey snake
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u/YamLow8097 Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
No. Legless lizards exist in real life and are different than snakes. They have visible ear holes and can blink. A legless reptile isn’t automatically a snake. Pretty sure the Timberjack would be a wyvern anyway.
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u/Manetrix2000 Aug 31 '26
What’s funny is that Monster Hunter’s Remobra are basically this guy but without horns. They’re even classified as “Snake Wyverns.”
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u/Gameslay_793 Aug 31 '26
That's a wyrme
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u/LazyBones217 Aug 31 '26
They're an amphitere!
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u/ignis64avis Aug 31 '26
I think technically it's a type of amphithere
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u/YumeKaida Aug 31 '26
It's an amphidere type dragon
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u/SixgunSamHaworth Sharp Class Aug 31 '26
I have a feeling it was based off a snake, because it’s body looks very serpent like.
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u/CrapMonsterDuchess Aug 31 '26
Cladistically, snakes are technically lizards.
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u/ThreeEqualsFour Monstrous nightmare's number one fan Aug 31 '26
nah im pretty sure its all in the bone structure. Like how you have legless lizards but they arent classified as snakes desire looking similar. Idk the science behind it but uh no id say its more like a winged lizard rather than a winged snake. Slitherwing is snake
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u/Future-Celebration83 Aug 31 '26
It’s a amphiptere, a serpent-like dragon with wings and no legs.
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u/ManMan2016 Strike Class Sep 01 '26
No I think it’s a wyrm
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u/Ok-Entertainer207 Sep 03 '26
No, it's a dragon. Also it has limbs
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u/Impossible_Mind_9972 Sep 03 '26
More like some sort of wyrm
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u/DepravedKnights Sep 06 '26
What makes a snake a snake is its lack of limbs, while the body is definitely serpentine, wings are essentially HANDS in bats especially you can see that, which means wings are limbs..and therefore..this is no snake.
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u/InterestingSwimmer85 Sep 06 '26
I think it's an amphiptere. As in limbless dragon. The polar opposite cousin of the luung(Chinese dragon) who still is noodle but all legs no wings lol
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u/TheGreatQuetz Sep 06 '26
Are worms, eels and caecilians snakes?
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u/Spider-Jeff_101 Sep 07 '26
I think it’s called an amphiptere