Nemorth was the Senior Queen at Benden Weyr late in the Eighth Interval. Her rider was Weyrwoman Jora.
Biography[]
Nemorth hatched from a clutch laid by Feyrith, who was the only queen dragon on Pern at the time, and whose rider was Carola. The reasoning behind Nemorth Impressing Jora was often speculated, as Jora was notably afraid of heights. Since Jora often allowed Nemorth to gorge herself, she wasn't considered to be notably healthy or robust for a dragon queen.
Nemorth became the only living queen after Feyrith went between forever following the death of her rider Carola.
Nemorth's first mating flight took place much later than expected and her clutches were small by dragon standards, with the average being a scarce dozen. This was attributed to Jora's poor management and personal phobias inhibiting her queen. Many years later, F'lar noted that Nemorth should have been rising to mate more often due to the impending Pass. However, Nemorth's lack of production resulted in Benden Weyr being critically under-strength by the time of the Ninth Pass.
Nemorth's time as senior queen was cut short by Jora's death. However, since Nemorth was tied to her recently laid clutch, from a mating flight with R'gul's Hath, Nemorth did not go between forever when Jora died. Fortunately for dragonkind, this clutch contained the only queen egg she ever produced, from which Ramoth eventually hatched. At the time Lessa was brought to the clutch for Impression, Nemorth was already dead or dying, as Lessa saw the motionless ocher hulk of the old queen lying beyond the golden egg.
Personality and traits[]
Since Nemorth was noted to mirror her rider Jora's incompetence, she was difficult to control and had a tendency to gorge, especially before mating flights. Despite the fact that queens often lay more and larger clutches closer to a pass, Nemorth rarely rose to mate and usually laid only a dozen eggs on average.
Note[]
It is not known what happened to Nemorth after her cluth hatched - whether she managed to go between or not. Anne McCaffrey later revealed in an interview that she had «forgotten about Nemorth». If Nemorth had died on the Hatching Grounds, it can be assumed that her body was interred between by the dragons, similar to how eggs that failed to hatch were taken between. According to this source, Anne McCaffrey later confirmed this theory.
Appearances[]
- The Masterharper of Pern
- Dragonflight
- Dragonquest (mention)
- The White Dragon (People of Pern)