What's the deal with DRAGONS!?

Well, this might be my strangest blog post yet. Instead of talking about a video game, or movie, or what have you, I want to talk about one of the greatest things that doesn't exist. DRAGONS. Why, you ask? I was brainstorming a new project for this blog, and one idea that I really liked was discussing mythological creatures (and other things that have no evidence of actually existing) and their impact on pop culture. Instead of starting small with goblins or mermaids, we're bringing out the big guns with dragons for this new series.

But what exactly IS a dragon? Considering that unlike a lot of classical mythical beasts, the amount of wiggle room for experimentation is quite high, since the only real criteria for something to count as a dragon is that the creature in question must be somewhat reptilian in appearance. This might be because in Western folklore dragons are usually depicted as monstrous lizards with bat-like wings, while in the Eastern side of the world, dragons are more serpentine in appearance and usually go for a more elegant, regal appearance as opposed to the fearsome monsters of the West. They consistently appear in all sorts of ancient stories, either serving an antagonistic role or becoming a wise sagely mentor (depending on the culture). And given the premise of "magical death lizard", humanity has gained an instinctual respect for a creature that by all accounts, shouldn't be able to exist, at least not without some alterations to their anatomy.

The intelligence and abilities dragons possess has always been a little inconsistent. Sometimes they are the equivalent of a wild animal and can only burn things with a flame breath, other times they're smart enough to solve the Rubik's Cube in two seconds and can use a wide variety of magic. Sometimes they go the middle of these two extremes and have the dragon be as smart as your average Joe and basically be a human in a reptile's body. That is, when they aren't being shape shifters and disguising themselves to look like humans. Look, my point is, dragons are kind of all over the place, and again, the only hard criteria you have to meet is "vaguely reptilian" and other than that, you can go nuts.

While it is true that the vagueness on what it "means" to be a dragon means that most fantasy writers (or video game designers, or movie directors, etc) can try out all sorts of crazy concepts, dragons in pop culture usually can fall into three categories. The Beast, where the dragon is a glorified wild animal and can be potentially domesticated, depending on the setting. The Thinker, where the dragon is a sentient being with its own ambitions, dreams and goals. And the Sage, where the writer just bases their dragon off of the wise, sagely Asian serpents. And no, I didn't coin any of these terms, because plenty of people have already discussed dragons thoroughly, and if you do enough digging, you can probably find someone who explains the intricacies of dragons better than I do. I am late to the draconic party, but I want to talk about dragons because let's be real for a minute here. Dragons are inherently cool.

Let's look at some more modern depictions of dragons, just to see how flexible "dragons" can be conceptually. First up is Smaug the Magnificent, the main antagonist of, I don't know if you've heard of it, just a slightly obscure fantasy novel from 1937, maybe you've heard of it, The Hobbit? Anyway, Smaug is your fairly traditional dragon. He's gigantic, powerful, armed with a flame breath, has a sickening addiction to collecting and hoarding treasure, and... Likes poetry? If you were reading The Hobbit for the first time you'd assume that Smaug was an example of the mindless beast type of dragon, based solely off the description that Thorin Oakenshield and his Company of Dwarves gave of him. And when he finally shows up he's strangely sophisticated and polite, a tool he uses to hide his fury. Sadly, despite being the main antagonist, he has a surprisingly anti-climactic death, both in the book and in the film trilogy by Peter Jackson. In both versions of the story, Smaug is defeated not by Bilbo Baggins, not by Thorin, not even by Gandalf the Grey, but a random stranger that the Company of Dwarves befriended earlier in the story. Who managed to down him with two lucky arrows that happened to be made of the one metal that can pierce the scaly armor of a dragon. And that's a relatively common trope. When dragons are depicted as being on par with natural disasters or even god-like in power, they usually have one very specific weakness that can be exploited against them. For stories where dragons are comparatively weaker (such as How to Train Your Dragon), they tend to not have a specific weakness, since there's no real need to give them one when your regular every day kitchen knife can poke out the dragon's eyes.

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For an example of a more benevolent dragon, look no further than the Dragons in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Being inspired by the Eastern serpentine dragons, Avatar's dragons are wise, sagely hermits who offer to teach Aang and Prince Zuko the secret to Firebending without relying on rage. One of the best scenes from that show (and if you haven't watched it, stop reading and go watch it. It's probably the best Nickelodeon show in existence), and a prime example of the wise sage archetype. That's all I have to really say about this archetype, and in my experience this is probably the rarest of the three main dragon archetypes. I could be wrong.

Toothless from How to Train your Dragon is an example of a more benevolent Western style dragon. He is, by all definitions, a dragon of the Beast archetype. It's easy to forget with his bond with Hiccup that Toothless is still just an animal. An unusually intelligent animal, but an animal nonetheless. The Beast archetype lends itself well to Boy and his Dog style stories, including How to Train your Dragon. The beast archetype is also the one that's most likely to see usage from dragon riders. Because it is a whole lot harder (in theory) to convince a Thinker or Sage dragon to let you ride on their back into battle. Not saying that fantasy writers always use beast dragons when they want dragon riders in their setting, since the dragons in The Inheritance Cycle are very much Thinker dragons, yet because of how dragons work in that setting (each dragon shares its soul with a human), they have no problem letting humans ride them since it just makes it easier to protect their literal soulmate.

Okay, so I know I keep talking about the three main archetypes of dragons, but I lied. There's a FOURTH type, and I don't see people talk about this one too often. Probably because of how weirdly specific it is, but it is worth talking about anyway. And that is what I am going to call the Shape Shifter. Shape Shifter dragons have a lot of overlap with the Thinker, in that they are both intelligent, sentient beings with goals more complex than mere survival. Unlike Thinker dragons, the Shape Shifter (as the title implies) can change their appearance, usually taking on a human form either as a disguise or for the sake of convenience. Jake Long from American Dragon is a very good example of the Shape Shifter dragon.

And now that we have gotten the three (actually four) archetypes out of the way, now we can move on to the important question. Why do dragons keep showing up in popular culture? We could say "Oh, well dragons are cool, duh!" and leave it at that. But dragons appear in pop culture more often than any other mythical creature. So allow to explain my hypothesis. Firstly, because of the amount of wiggle room there is for what actually counts as a dragon (as the dragons I've previously listed show), it gives dragons, or rather the concept of dragons, a lot of versatility in writing and storytelling. They can fit pretty neatly into almost any setting and people wouldn't bat an eye. Of course, with something like Sci-Fi it becomes harder to justify the existence of dragons, unless you go "Oh these aren't REALLY dragons, they're aliens that happen to LOOK like dragons!" Or you can have them be some kind of genetic experiment escaped from the government or something.

But to give an idea of how flexible the dragon concept is, imagine this. A Gothic Horror story where the protagonist, let's call her Jane, and her friends are being hunted by a dragon similar to the one posted above. If it is a Beast dragon, it could stalk them like a hungry predator waiting for its next meal. If it is a Thinker dragon, it could be deranged serial killer. Heck, we could make it a Shape Shifter and have it murder one of the main characters, then change into human form to evade the authorities. Honestly, dragons seem like they could make for a good horror villain, yet I am surprised nobody at Hollywood thought of using a dragon that way. And I really hope that somewhere, a novelist wrote a story similar to what I described, because this is a gold mine for thrills and/or chills.

That's not to say that dragons only work in serious settings. As Spyro the Dragon proves, dragons can work in a sillier, more cartoony style. This is because of the many ways dragons can be interpreted. Either fearsome and deadly or cute and cuddly. Heck, they can even be used to teach kids valuable life lessons, as seen in Dragon Tales. And while I do agree that with enough creativity, you can make any mythical creature work in any setting, dragons are, at their core, the perfect utility creature. Allow me to explain what I mean. Beast and Thinker/Shape Shifter dragons make excellent antagonists, Sagely dragons can be used as a mentor for the protagonist, and Thinker dragons can be protagonists in and of themselves. On top of this, Beast and Thinker can also fulfill the role of the supporting friend/pet that helps the protagonist on his or her adventure. Because of the many ways dragons can be interpreted, they can perform pretty much any role in the story. Heck, if you wanted to, you could even make your Shape Shifter dragon the love interest of your protagonist, and it would only be slightly weird. Unless your protagonist is also a Shape Shifter dragon, in which case never mind.

That said, and I am speaking as a massive fan of dragons (hence why I am writing this post), there are a few things that bother me about dragons in modern stories. Namely the whole debate over two legged dragons (aka wyverns) and four legged dragons. This is mostly just a stylistic choice but deciding how many legs your dragon has is actually pretty complicated. The classic four-legged, two-winged dragon is the most iconic form dragons are depicted (at least if you live in the West), but scientifically speaking, an animal with that kind of anatomy is literally impossible... On a few conditions. Namely, the main reason its impossible is because animals with internal skeletons (which dragons are usually implied to have) can have no more than four limbs total since there isn't a single vertebrate with more than four limbs (tails do not count, since tails are just extensions of the animals spine). And those mighty wings do indeed count as limbs. And you can't really take a Western dragon's wings away, otherwise it just becomes an unusually large lizard. So two-legged dragons are more "realistic" (or at least as realistic as a flying death lizard can be). But I am honestly not a fan of the way two-legged dragons look. Or rather, I feel they can only pull one specific look. That being the fearsome, antagonistic Beast. Smaug is literally the only two-legged dragon I know of that can be considered a Thinker. I think the main issue I take with two-legged dragons is that it makes the animal feel less like a unique mythical creature, and more like a glorified pterodactyl or bat. 

I do prefer the four-legged versions of dragons, because the extra pair of legs gives the creature a posture more dignified and graceful than the two-legged version, which is usually more hunched over and bestial. I fully acknowledge the fact that they cannot occur naturally, but since dragons are the poster-children of impossibly cool legendary monsters that permeate human history despite there being no actual evidence that these guys ever existed, I think it's safe to say we can take a few artistic liberties when designing a dragon.

And we're going even further down the rabbit hole and discussing another trope associated with dragons. That if dragons play a predominant role the story, there MUST be different sub-species of dragon. Optionally, each sub-species will be based around a specific biome, natural element, or other such theme. The tamer examples include your fairly stereotypical fire dragons and ice dragons, but some series can get pretty crazy with their dragons. Wings of Fire has fairly standard biome themed Tribes, but some of the crazier Tribes include mind-reading prophets and arthropod-themed dragons, complete with insect wings, wasp stingers, and a hive mind. And for the most part, I really the idea of there being different kinds of dragons that developed different characteristics and abilities. Just make sure that not one specific breed of dragon is so overpowered that it renders the existence of the other kinds pointless. So no, you can't have a fire dragon coexist in the same setting with a SUPER ULTRA AVATAR GOD BUSTER dragon, because that second breed of dragon completely overshadows the humble fire dragon.

There is yet another reason why dragons might be so popular in modern entertainment. You see, humans are known to be scared and concerned about things. What do humans do when they are scared or concerned? They attempt to rationalize their fear through metaphor and allegory. Dragons can be used to convey several different themes, depending on the writer's intention. A greedy, wicked Thinker who hoards treasure and leaves the common folk to starve could be used as an allegory of the decadence of the rich and prosperous. An elusive, predatory Beast could express the primal fear of nature itself. But dragons don't need to be negative monsters for writers to use them to convey a theme. A wise Sage could represent the ideals that future rulers should aspire to meet. A tamed Beast and its rider could represent the symbiotic bond between man and nature. Or it could just be really dang cool to have a cool guy or cool gal ride upon the back of a cool magical death lizard into a cool battle. That's usually the main reason to even bother with dragons in entertainment. They are just inherently cool things.

This scaly boy/girl right here is the closest thing we're ever getting to a
dragon in real life, and that makes me sad. 

In conclusion, dragons. Are really. Dang. Awesome. But the reason why they are so awesome is partly because we instinctively attach poetic meanings onto these magical death lizards whether we do so intentionally or not. Effectively being a mish-mash of the deadliest predators in the real world probably helps. The lack of exact criteria of what makes a dragon so draconic is vague enough that fantasy writers are given a lot of room to experiment and try out various concepts. And given the many interpretations they have gone through throughout human history, dragons can lend themselves to fill out almost any role in a story and have it still work just fine. So to finish this blog post off, really fast, here's my Top Five Favorite DRAGONS in no order at all.

1. Ridley (Metroid) - An example of a dragon in a strictly sci-fi setting. They never specify whether he is a dragon, or an alien that looks like a dragon. He's in the same boat as Smaug, being cunning and ruthless Thinker dragons that many are quick to assume are actually just Beast dragons.
2. Namielle (Monster Hunter World: Iceborne) - I've gushed about this thing before, but long story short, it's a dragon fused with a jellyfish fused with a vampire squid, and it is the best monster in that series.
3. Spyro the Dragon - A heroic Thinker dragon who grabs gems, roasts bad guys, and acts like a 90's skateboarder. When he isn't having his star power exploited to sell one of the shortest-lived fads in gaming history.
4. Smaug the Magnificent (The Hobbit) - You can't spell Dragon without several letters from Smaug's name. This poetry-loving, treasure hoarding, boastful lizard is what really popularized the image of the fearsome, antagonistic dragon.
5. Pretty much any Wings of Fire dragon - This is my favorite book series. It has dragons. I'm biased, and I admit that I am biased. But still, Wings of Fire is a series that handles the whole "dragon sub-species" concept very well, since even the more powerful Tribes have some glaring flaws and weakness, whether it be something biological, or a side effect of their culture and philosophy.

And now, I have nothing left to say. So I hope you've learned the reason why dragons are the coolest thing in the universe and why we will collectively never stop writing/drawing/animating dragons. 

P.S. Is it just my imagination, or are the number of video games where you get to play AS a dragon really low? Off the top of my head the only games I know of are Spyro, Battle of Giants, and Day of Dragons. That last one doesn't count since it's an Early Access title which means that it technically isn't officially released. But still, it's weird how dragons are rarely playable in video games, but keep showing up all the time.