Bowen quotes from Dragonheart (1996)

Bowen

You should have eaten her.

Bowen

Don't clutter up a clever scheme with morality.

Bowen

There's nothing noble about crushing desperate men.

Bowen

A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked.

Gilbert

My humble life is indebt to your exalted prowess, your dauntless courage, and your superb, swift sword!

Bowen

You have the poet's gift of exaggeration.

Gilbert

Oh, sir, you should read my histories.

Bowen

You can keep your gratitude, I'll take the gold, yours or the king's.

Gold, knight?

Bowen

We made a bargain, didn't we? One dragon killed, one bag of gold.

Gilbert

Your honor has a price, Sir Knight?

Bowen

It has expenses. Honor won't feed my belly nor shoe my horse.

Gilbert

I've decided to compose the Ballad of Bowen! How do you prefer I should write this?

Bowen

Far away!

Draco

Why must you knight errants, out to make a name for yourselves, always pick on us dragons?

Bowen

I don't need a name! And I've got a collection of my own!

Draco

You're one who kills dragons for money.

Bowen

It's honest enough work! One must earn a living!

Draco

Oh yes, one must live. Well, since you seek a profit, we might as well begin.

Bowen

Oh, don't flatter yourself! It's not the profit, it's the pleasure!

Draco

Perhaps less pleasurable and more costly than you think!

Draco

If you win, you'll be out of work.

Bowen

I will not stop until I've rid the world of every last one of you.

Draco

I AM the last one!

Bowen

Oh, good lord...Sir Eglamore. (throws the arm out behind him)

Draco

Oh, thank you very much. That's been stuck down there for months. Would you mind getting your buttocks off my tongue?

Bowen

Why should you be comfortable? My armor is rusting in your drool, and your breath is absolutely foul.

Draco

Well, what do you expect with old knights rotting between my molars?

Bowen

What does a dragon know of the Old Code, anyway?

Draco

His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth.

Bowen

Shut up. I remember. That's all it is, a memory. Nothing can bring it back.

Draco

You sound like one who tried.

Bowen

And failed. So I no longer try to change the world, dragon, I just try to get by in it.

Draco

Yes, well, it's better than death, I suppose.

Bowen

Oh, is it? I should think you'd welcome death. You know, the last of your kind, all your friends dead, hunted wherever you go...

Draco

Do you delight in reminding me? Yes, knight, I do long for death... but fear it.

Bowen

Why? Aside from your misery, what's to lose?

Draco

My soul.

Draco

You must have hated us very much.

Bowen

I hated one of you. These I killed because I wanted to kill him. But I never found him. And I never will; if you're the last, he must be dead.

Draco

Oh, yes. Tell me - what was he like, this, uh, dragon that you hated?

Bowen

He only had half a heart. But even that was enough to pollute an innocent boy.

Draco

Einon was no innocent! He polluted the heart!

Bowen

How do you know that?! How do you know that, dragon?

Draco

All dragons know that story! What was to be their hope became their doom! A spoiled, ungrateful child was given a great gift and destroyed it!

Bowen

No! I knew Einon. I was his teacher. I taught him the ways of honor, of right.

Draco

Then he betrayed you, just as he betrayed the dragon whose heart he broke.

Bowen

That's a lie, dragon!

Draco

STOP CALLING ME "DRAGON"! I have a name!

Bowen

Well, what is it?

Draco

Huh. You couldn't possibly pronounce it in your tongue.

Bowen

Try me!

Draco

It's-- (suddenly roars in pain and clutches at his shoulder; in Einon's castle, Kara has stabbed him)

Draco

Have you been watching over me all night?

Bowen

I've been thinking.

Draco

Yes? About what?

Bowen

Many things. Mostly about what to call you. I think I've found you a name.

Draco

You say that as though you reached up and plucked it from the sky.

Bowen

I did. Up there. Do you see that group of stars? (points at the Draco constellation)

Draco

I know those stars very well.

Bowen

Do you see the shape that they make?

Draco

Mm-hmm, a dragon.

Bowen

Yes. They call it Draco. It means "dragon" in the scholars' speech.

Draco

So instead of calling me "dragon" in your tongue, you'll call me "dragon" in some other tongue?

Bowen

You're right, it's silly.

Draco

No! No, I would be honored to be named after those stars. I... I truly would. Thank you, Bowen. "Draco"...

Draco

Who's the girl?

Bowen

A nuisance! Get rid of her!

Draco

Why?

Bowen

They're trying to placate you with a sacrifice.

Draco

Oh, now whoever gave them that bright idea?

Bowen

Never mind! Just get rid of her!

Draco

How?

Bowen

Eat her!

Draco

Oh, please. Yuck!

Bowen

Aren't we squeamish? You ate Sir Eglamore, hypocrite!

Draco

I merely chewed in self-defense, but I never swallowed.

Bowen

Improvise!

Draco

All right, all right!

Gilbert

Well done, Bowen! You've done it again! What a brute! That's even bigger than the last one!

Bowen

Actually, he's about the same size.

Einon

Times have not been kind to you, Bowen. You should have never broke with me.

Bowen

It was you who broke with me!

Einon

And yet, you returned to me with this girl I lost.

Bowen

I think she wants to stay lost.

Einon

Not her decision, I'm afraid! [draws his sword] I'm ready for my lesson now, knight!

Einon

Lay down, Bowen! You're the sad remains of dead systems and dead beliefs!

Bowen

They were your beliefs!

Einon

Never! Never mine!

Bowen

But... you spoke the words...you spoke them from your heart!

Einon

I vomited them up because I couldn't stomach them! Because I knew it was what you wanted to hear!

Bowen

Lies! Liar! I taught you!

Einon

You taught me to fight, that's all! I took what I needed from you. You taught me to fight! [stabs Bowen in the shoulder, disarming him] You taught me well.

A knight is sworn to valor.

Bowen

A knight is sworn to valor!

His heart knows only virtue.

Bowen

His heart knows only virtue!

His blade defends the helpless.

Bowen

His blade defends the helpless!

His might upholds the weak.

Bowen

His might upholds the weak!

His word speaks only truth.

Bowen

His word speaks only truth!

His wrath undoes the wicked.

Bowen

His wrath undoes the wicked!

Draco

Now it's you, Bowen. It's you that has to do it.

Bowen

What are you talking about?

Draco

As the heart binds Einon to me in life, it binds us in death.

Bowen

That's not... true!

Draco

You've seen that it is! Through the heart, we share each other's pains and power. But in my half beats the life source! For Einon to die, I must die!

Bowen

Einon is dead!

Draco

HE LIVES!

Bowen

It doesn't matter. Don't you hear it? Our rebels have stormed the castle; alive or dead, Einon's beaten! We've won!

Draco

You will never win until Einon's evil is destroyed, and to do that, you must destroy me!

Bowen

No.

Draco

Once you swore your sword and service were mine, to call when I had need of you, to ask what I would of you. I hold you to your vow, knight! [looking aside] He's coming. Coming to stop you! Strike before it's too late!

Bowen

You are the last.

Draco

My time is over! Strike!

Bowen

You are my friend.

Draco

Then as my friend, STRIKE, PLEASE!

Bowen

I can't.

Draco

Then I will make you! [starts snarling and clawing at Bowen] Fight back, dragon-slayer! Defend yourself!

Bowen

What now, Draco? Without you, what do we do? Where do we turn?
Draco's voice: [comforting] To the stars, Bowen. To the stars.