A dragon is a mythological creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities.

Overview

The various figures now called dragons most likely have no single origin, but spontaneously came to be in several different cultures around the world, based loosely on the appearance of a snake and possibly fossilized dinosaur remains.

Chinese dragons (among others) are generally seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent. However, malevolent dragons are not restricted to Europe and also occur in Persian mythology (see Azi Dahaka) and other cultures.

Malevolent dragons are prominent figures in Christian belief. In Revelation 12:3, an enormous red dragon with seven heads is described, whose tail sweeps one third of the stars from heaven down to earth (held to be symbolic of the fall of the angels). In Revelation 12:9, Satan is identified as this "great red dragon", who was cast down to earth along with his angels.

The biblical dragon carries over thirty possible references, with the fire-breathing leviathan described in Job 41. Strong's Hebrew 03882: [1], 08568, 08577, and Greek 1404.

In medieval symbolism, dragons were often symbolic of apostasy and treachery, but also of anger and envy, and eventfully symbolises great calamity. Several heads were symbolic of decadence and oppression, and also of heresy. But they also served as symbols for independence, leadership and strength. Colours often determined what symbolism a dragon carried.

Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many oriental cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature and the universe.

Some believe that the dragon may have had a real-life counterpart from which the legends around the world arose — typically dinosaurs are mentioned as a possibility — but there is no evidence to support this claim. Another less common claim is that they are based upon some sort of flying machines possessed by some ancient, unknown culture. Both of these hypotheses are pseudoscience.

Dragons are very popular in video games today, especially role-playing games, and are typically used as very powerful bosses and villains.

The word "dragon" should not be confused with dragoon (infantry that moves around by horse, yet still fight as foot soldiers). However, numerous fantasy settings (such as the Final Fantasy games) make varying degrees of association between dragons and the dragoon character class (such as in the helmet of a dragoon-class character).

Dragons of myth and folkore

• Asian dragon
  • Chinese dragon
  • Indian dragon
  • Japanese dragon
  • Korean dragon
  • Persian dragon
• European dragon
  • Celtic dragon
  • Egyptian dragon
  • Finnish dragon
  • French dragon
  • Greek dragon
  • Norse dragon
  • Polish dragon
  • Serbian dragon
  • Slavic dragon
  • Romanian dragons (Zmeu and Balaur)
  • Tatar dragon
• Meso-American Dragon
• South American dragon
  • Frost Dragon
  • wyvern dragon
  • marsupial dragon
  • lindworm dragon
  • ampithere dragon
  • Norwegian Ridgeback dragon
  • Chinese Fireball dragon
  • Chinese lung dragon
  • Tibetan dragon

Living things named after ancient dragons

• Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), a large lizard (a reptile)
• Some small species of lizards in Australia, in the family Agamidae
• Dragon trees (Dracaena), the resin is known as dragon's blood once believed to be a powerful item of medieval magic and alchemy
• The fruit of the pitaya cactus, often called dragonfruit
• The Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) flower, a small annual in the family Scrophulariaceae
• The dragonfly, an insect of the Order Odonata, Suborder Anisoptera.
• The leafy sea dragon or weedy sea dragon, two fish species in the seahorse family.

Other things named after ancient dragons

• Draco ("dragon"), a constellation
• Dragon, a sign in the Chinese zodiac
• Red, green and white Chinese dragons in the Mahjong game, see Mahjong tiles
• Dragon 32/64, 1980s home computers
• M47 Dragon, anti-tank weapon
• Dragon Variation, a chess opening
• Dragon, a French rocket
• HMS Dragon, a warship in the British Royal Navy
• Dragon, a class of racing sailboats
• Smocza Jama ("dragon's den"), a cave in KrakГіw, Poland
• Benefon Dragon, a model of a mobile phone
• Vlad II Dracul Vlad II the Dragon, father of Vlad III Dracula (Vlad ЕўepeЕџ or Vlad the Impaler)
• Dragon, Artemisia dracunculus a herb.

Dragons of modern literature and culture

• Puff the Magic Dragon, a poem, then song; dragons in children's culture.
• Middle-earth dragons, from the books by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Swamp dragon, a fictional reptile species from Terry Pratchett's Discworld
• Pernese dragons, from the books by Anne McCaffrey
• Zagorothian Dragons, from the books by K. Excelthior Wright
• Dragon King or the Lizard King, Jim Morrison
• The many characters in the Dragoncharm trilogy
• Dragons in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games (e.g. RГЄve de Dragon).
• Dragon Magazine, a Dungeons & Dragons magazine
• Dragon (band), a New Zealand band.
• Pickled dragon, a hoax involving a fake dragon fetus in formaldehyde
• Dragon and Dragon Reborn, of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
• Dragon Tales the animated children's series on PBS
• The dragons in Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real, a special on Animal Planet
• Eragon, book one of the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini.
• Day of the Dragon, book one in a series of books based on the Warcraft universe. Written by Richard A. Knaak
• Draco from the movie Dragonheart
• Figment of Walt Disney World's Journey Into Imagination ride at Epcot
• Trogdor from Homestar Runner
• American Dragon: Jake Long a Disney Channel animated series.
• Dragons in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
• Dragons in the movie Reign of Fire, responsible for the disappearance of Dinosaurs.
• The Gap Dragon in Piers Anthony's Xanth novels.
• Dragon Ball Japanese anime loosely based on the Chinese Journey to the West novel.
• In Laurence Yep's book Dragonwings, the protagonist's father Windrider explains a dream. In this dream the Dragon King tells him of his past as a boastful flyer and an unpredictable dragon before he died and returned as a human.

See also

• An Instinct for Dragons
• List of dragons
• Draco Malfoy
• The Dragon School (sometimes just The Dragon), Oxford, England – a Dragon can also refer to a current pupil at the school
• Draconity
• Dragon (Wheel of Time)

Further reading

• Dragons, A Natural History by Dr. Karl Shukerca:Drac