I have actually wondered about this. Not taming them as such, but reasoning with them – trying to find a compromise.
The usual response is that they’re forces of natural and incapable of understanding us even if they wanted to. But at least two of their champions have been converted to our ‘side’, simply through being given an opportunity to understand other races.
Also I’m sure when Prophecies first came out people would have said much the same about the charr (who were portrayed a lot more simply back then – there was none of this lore with warbands and legions and ancient roman themes, they were a lot like the grawl – tribes of monsters who worshipped whatever powerful and scary thing came along.)
But the elder dragons have already shown a capacity for understanding us. In several of the Pact missions Zhaitan deals with you in very human ways, like using mesmers to spread dissent among the ranks and cast doubt on the leadership.
Jormag apparently has enough of an understanding of our races, or at least the norn, to be sexist towards them – only granting his power to the men. An indifferent force of nature wouldn’t even notice there were different sexes.
Actually you missed a number of subtle points that go strongly in the opposite direction. Its not the elder dragons are mindless….. they are highly intelligent, knowledgeable, and ruthless. This isn’t because they are incapable of sympathizing, they simply have no reason to. Its not much different then humans then not caring about Ants until they become a nuisance.
On a side note, of the dragons, Zhaitan’s has shown to be the most conditional of the corruptions. Kralkatorrik can corrupt things directly, as does Jormag, though the process is much slower. We know Mordramoth basically grows his own minions. But Zhaitan “needs” the husks of once living creatures to create its minions. The process also gives him access to all the knowledge once held by his minions, which is why his ability for subterfuge is as it is. Against a strong force, the undead are not particularly effective, even if they are durable…. so in order grow his army, he goes about it methodically. Gnawing away at the edges, exposing weakness, driving them into disarray, and then overwhelm and subvert them on one swift move. His ranks, once gained, are never lost; allowing him to spread his corruption like a slow plague.
As for the story of Glint, she was “freed” by the Forgotten. This indicates that her previous form and personality were similar to what it was before her stint as dragon champion, sans the crystal body. It was mentioned somewhere (that I can’t find the source of) her ability to read minds was helpful in communicating with the other races; but I don’t think it was the sole reason she empathized with them. (It sounds more like something that would make sense in the Pale Tree’s story)
And then theres the Charr. We knew from Prophecies (around the point of the Rin mission), its revealed that Ascalon was once Charr lands. Warbands were mentioned to be a major organizational structure for the Charr- but their significance as a “small group” wouldn’t be made until EotN (or in the extra missions I never played). But most importantly…. they were a Hoard. To compare them to the Grawl as “tribals” would be like comparing the Mongrel hoards to a bunch of road side thugs. And thats where they drew their parallels.. the Mongrels. Not much was known about their culture at the time, but it crystal clear that they were not only very well organized, but remorseless and ruthless in the face of their enemies.
