Holiday dragons are a very mysterious breed. They are only seen during winter, and even then it is hard to catch a glimpse of one. They are responsible for the general cheer that spreads during the holidays. In essence, they are the “Spirits of Winter.”

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Nows considers learning to read and write one of his greatest achievements, as demonstrated by the handwritten "LIAR" nailed over the entrance of his lair. He was illiterate until adulthood, so he found learning the meaning of those squiggles very difficult compared to peers whose parents taught them from a young age. Nows skipped the "sound it out" approach that dragons and humans have learned to follow—he just memorizes the rough configuration of words and hopes no one will ask him to spell anything. This is most evident whenever he comes across a new word and makes up the pronunciation as he goes. When someone points out to the snow dragon that he should try going through the word syllable-by-syllable instead of guessing wildly, he accuses them of unjustly criticizing ("ujunlys criscitr...srzrnrng") him and marches into his LIAR to ignore everybody for the next few hours or until he gets bored.