 The dragons believed that if one should reveal one's true name, those who knew that individual's name had great power over them and so the dragons rarely revealed their names and only did so to those they truly trusted.Long ago the dragons of Deltora were quite numerous, until the Shadow Lord sent his monstrous birds, the Ak-Baba, to hunt down the dragons until one of each tribe remained.This was when ""Doran the Dragonlover"", or ""Dragonfriend"" to the dragons, came to each of the remaining dragons, having them swear an oath.