This paper focuses on the role of dragons in Anne McCaffrey´s Dragonriders of Pern series and Ursula K. Le Guin´s Earthsea cycle. It deals with the portrayal of the main characteristics of dragons in the context of archetypal criticism, while the emphasis is predominantly on the gendered aspects of exemplified dragon tales. The paper further addresses the individual contributions of selected authors to the development of the dragon motif in literature. The aim is to analyse the relationship between the figure of a dragon and gendered aspects of fantasy worlds from modern literary perspectives, such as feminist theory.