The story is set in a fictional medieval kingdom where a young wizard encounters challenges as he hunts a dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative.

Because the audience expected the film be solely children's entertainment, the violence, adult themes and brief nudity were somewhat controversial, though Disney did not hold the North American distribution rights.

Ulrich's young apprentice Galen Bradwarden is selected by the wizard's magical amulet as its next owner; encouraged, he journeys to Urland.

Before dying, Hodge hands Galen Ulrich's ashes and reveals that the wizard wanted them spread over a lake of burning water.

Casiodorus disputes that Galen is a real wizard and complains that his attack may have angered Vermithrax instead of killing it, as his brother and predecessor once did.

His daughter, Princess Elspeth, visits Galen, who mentions rumors that the lottery is rigged; it excludes her name and those others whose families are rich enough to bribe Casiodorus into disqualifying their children.

Galen uses the amulet to enchant a spear (forged by Valerian's father and dubbed Sicarius Dracorum, or "Dragonslayer") with the ability to pierce Vermithrax's armored hide.

Instead, they set out to create a very strange world with a lot of weird values and customs, steeped in superstition, where the clothes and manners of the people were rough, their homes and villages primitive, and their countryside almost primeval, so that the idea of magic would be a natural part of their existence."

Graphic artist David Bunnett was assigned to design the look, and was fed ideas on the movement mechanics, and then rendered the concepts on paper.

Phil Tippett of ILM finalized the design, and sculpted a reference model, which Danny Lee of Disney Studios closely followed in constructing the larger dragon props for close-up shots.

Two months later, Lee's team finished a 16-foot head and neck assembly, a 30-foot tail, thighs, legs, claws capable of grabbing a man, and a 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) wing section.

Dennis Muren, the effects cameraman, stated, "We knew the dragon had a lot more importance to this film than some of the incidental things that appeared in only a few shots in Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back.

"[3] After the completion of principal shooting, a special-effects team of 80 people at ILM studios in northern California worked eight months in producing 160 composite shots of the dragon.

The animals used for the dragon's vocalizations included lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, alligators, pigs, camels, and elephants.

Having studied stage combat at the University of Minnesota (two years of classes in tumbling, foil, saber, rapier, and dagger), he was eager to do as much of the fighting as they would allow.

The score's linear conception was developed through transparently layered and polyphonic orchestral texture, dominated by a medieval-style modal harmony.

The site's critic consensus reads, "An atypically dark Disney adventure, Dragonslayer puts a realistic spin — and some impressive special effects — on a familiar tale.

[15][16] Siskel praised the "dazzling special effects" and the "convincing portrait by Ralph Richardson of the aged magician Ulrich",[15] and Ebert called the scenes involving the dragon "first-rate".

[16] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called Vermithrax "the greatest dragon yet", and praised the film for its effective evocation of the Dark Ages.

[14] David Denby of New York praised Dragonslayer's special effects and lauded the film as being much better than Excalibur and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[14] David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor praised the sets and pacing of the film, but criticized it for lack of originality, stressing that MacNicol and Richardson's characters bore too many similarities to the heroes of Star Wars.

A similar critique was given by John Coleman of the New Statesman, who called the film a "turgid sword-and-sorcery fable, with Ralph Richardson in a backdated kind of Star Wars of Alec Guinness role".

[14] Upon the film's first television broadcast, Gannett News Service columnist Mike Hughes called the story "slight" and "slow-paced", but admired a "lyrical beauty to the setting and mood".

"[17] Alex Keneas of Newsday criticized the focus on superstition, and for being "bereft of any sense of medieval time, place and society".

"[18] Christopher John reviewed Dragonslayer in Ares magazine and commented, "Though the dialogue is occasionally stiff, there is a believable reality.

[23] Vermithrax is mentioned as an Easter egg in a list of dragons' names in the fourth episode of that book series adaptation, Game of Thrones.

For many it's Anne McCaffrey's elaborate world of Pern, where genetically engineered intelligent dragons bond with their riders; for others, it's Smaug in The Hobbit, guarding his hoard deep in a cave.

Credits include writer Dennis O'Neil, and artists Marie Severin and John Tartaglione, in Marvel Super Special #20.

[28] Australian label Southern Cross initially released an unauthorized soundtrack album in 1983 on LP (a boxed audiophile pressing, at 45 rpm), and in 1990 on CD.

The new album features newly mastered audio from the original LCR (Left-Center-Right) mix, previously unreleased source music, and alternative takes.