Hungarian Horntail

Habitat	Hungary, Dragon reservations
Diet	Humans, if necessary Sheep or Goats

The Hungarian Horntail is the most dangerous breed of dragon in the universe of Harry Potter.

This dragon resembles a giant, black lizard with yellow eyes and bronze horns. It attacks with its flames which reach up to 50 feet in length, and its giant flexible tail, which is barbed with long, hard spikes. Those bronze spikes are used by hatchlings to crack the cement shell of the eggs.

The Hungarian Horntail prefers humans as prey, but would also feed on other mammals if humans are to hard to get.

Appearances in the Harry Potter Books

While competing in the Trimagic Tournament, Harry Potter managed to dodge the flames of a Hungarian Horntail that was chosen as his enemy, but the dragon succeded in hitting the wizard with its tail and injure his shoulder. Yet, Harry managed to steal the golden egg that the dragon was guarding.

Design

While the dragon on the book-cover was a Western Dragon, they redesigned it into a Wyvern for the movie. J.K. Rowlings Homepage Pottermore still depicts it as a Western Dragon.

Concept art from the artbook Harry Potter - The Creature Vault show early designs as Western Dragon, but later they decided on a wyvern-design that's close to birds of prey in the film.

The tail was planned to be used in a manner similar to a scorpion's tail and also look like one.

Trivia

• The science-focused YouTube channel MinuteEarth rated the Hungarian Horntail as the most scientifically realistic dragon among a selection of popular dragons in modern fantasy.

Gallery

The Horntail on the British cover of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Horntail on the German cover of Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch

Figure of the Horntail

Harry fights the Horntail, Artwork from Pottermore

The four dragons for the Trimagic Tournament. Right foreground, there is a Horntail. Artwork from Pottermore.

Early concept for the movie, by Paul Catling

Another concept by Paul Catling

Concept by Tony Wright

Concept by Wayne Barlowe

Concepts by Paul Catling showing eyes and head of the dragon

Left: Sketches by Wayne Barlowe, to show the scorpion-like movement of the tail
Right: Sculptor Kate Hill working on the dragon at the Creature Shop

The Horntail and Harry in the air, concept by Paul Catling

Sources

• Joanne K. Rowling (1998): Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 0-7475-4624-X
• Joanne K. Rowling (2001), Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 0-7475-5466-8
• Jody Revenson (2015): Harry Potter - The Creature Vault, Harper Design, 978-0062374233
• Everything you need to know about dragons Pottermore
• MinuteEarth (4 Nov 2019) The Best Dragon (According to Science) YouTube