The dragon needs a rig to fly. A rig is a set of joints, controls, and features that lets us control and animate a three-dimensional character. In claymation, a clay character is built on top of a wire armature to give it structure and make sure its limbs bend at the elbows, knees, and other joints. In three dimensions, the process is the same but backward. We make the character first, then we place an armature inside it with joints and bones.
The Armature object type stores a rig composed of these bones. Bones utilize parental hierarchies to move correctly; rotating your chest will move your arm, which moves your forearm, which moves your hand. Before working on the dragon, let's play around with armatures to control the simple tasks of a basic tentacle rig.