It changes based on the book and situation, honestly. Sometimes a weyr boasts than none has got through their wings for several years. Sometimes it’s just a couple of Threads. But often, whenever a character is caught outside, it’s taken to be certain death. For example
Spoiler
Menolly’s fire lizards die as they’re hatching and go out into thread
I can’t remember the book, but one punishment for murderers is to leave them outside in Threadfall to be killed
In Renegades of Pern, many of the traders die in the opening chapter despite there being dragonriders nearby
I feel like a lot of Anne McCaffrey’s writing is inconsistent and is more based on what’s good for the plot than anything else. And (at least in the early editions I own) could have done with a better proofreader. Couple of spelling mistakes, but a lot of people and dragon names changing and other consistency errors. But I still love the books, don’t get me wrong!
Yes, this. The assumption of certain death outside during threadfall, and the supposed inate fear humans have of Thread just doesn’t work. If only a few Thread get through for the ground crews, you could just run away. It falls slow enough. For books, you can get away with that. But film would need to rework Thread significantly.
It changes based on the book and situation, honestly. Sometimes a weyr boasts than none has got through their wings for several years. Sometimes it’s just a couple of Threads. But often, whenever a character is caught outside, it’s taken to be certain death. For example
Spoiler
Menolly’s fire lizards die as they’re hatching and go out into thread
I can’t remember the book, but one punishment for murderers is to leave them outside in Threadfall to be killed
In Renegades of Pern, many of the traders die in the opening chapter despite there being dragonriders nearby
I feel like a lot of Anne McCaffrey’s writing is inconsistent and is more based on what’s good for the plot than anything else. And (at least in the early editions I own) could have done with a better proofreader. Couple of spelling mistakes, but a lot of people and dragon names changing and other consistency errors. But I still love the books, don’t get me wrong!
Yes, this. The assumption of certain death outside during threadfall, and the supposed inate fear humans have of Thread just doesn’t work. If only a few Thread get through for the ground crews, you could just run away. It falls slow enough. For books, you can get away with that. But film would need to rework Thread significantly.