Dragons.
When many people think of fantasy, their minds will inevitably drift towards Dragons.
Regal, terrifying, conniving, powerful, dragons come in many different shapes and sizes.
Although they now hold a firm spot in the realm of fiction, like many aspects of fantasy,
their origins are steeped in folklore and mythology.
Nearly every culture across the globe has had myths of dragons or dragon-like creatures,
from the great serpent Jormungand of Norse belief, to brave European knights slaying
dragons and rescuing princesses, to the enigmatic dragons of China that can bring good fortune
and good weather.
This video won't go over every culture's version of the dragon, but it will provide a summarized
look at one of the most legendary fictional creatures.
It's hard to say where or why the first concepts of a dragon appeared, but practically all
early dragons more resembled giant serpents or other reptiles.
This is likely due to an innate fear within much of humanity for snakes, but it's also
possibly due to people finding dinosaur fossils that they couldn't explain, or even exaggerated
myths about living reptiles such as the Komodo dragon or alligators.
Large serpentine monsters appear throughout Mesopotamian literature and artwork, often
combing aspects of a snake, lion, and bird.
These entities can be both benevolent and malevolent, and some were depicted as guardian
figures at the entrances to temples and palaces.
Tiamat, the Babylonian creation goddess, is often depicted as a great sea serpent or dragon,
believed to be responsible for giving birth to all other dragons and snakes.
This viewpoint would be later popularized in the Dungeons and Dragons RPG, depicting
Tiamat as an evil 5-headed mother of dragons.
Another great serpent deity is the Egyptian god, Apep, often shown as a giant snake, but
occasionally as a crocodile.
Apep embodied chaos and darkness, and therefore was the greatest enemy of the sun god, Ra.
It was said that every day, Apep would wait in the underworld, just below the horizon,
and as Ra sailed across the sky each day providing light to the world, Apep would lie in wait
for him.
Once Ra reached the horizon, Apep would attempt to devour him in the underworld, causing night
to come.
Fortunately, Apep would always fail in part thanks to the vigilant prayers of the Egyptians
for Ra's victory, and Ra would return to the sky once again at dawn.
Apep was also believed to be responsible for shaking the earth on occasion, and sometimes
thought of as the eater of souls in the underworld.
Great sea serpents feature in a number of religions and mythologies, such as Vritra
in the early Vedic religion, Jormungandr in Norse Mythology, and Leviathan in the Hebrew
Bible.
Leviathan especially is given a description much like what we'd expect from a dragon,
reading, "I will not fail to speak of Leviathan's limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that
no air can pass between.
They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth."
This concept of a great sea serpent being slain by a powerful deity or hero would extend
across the eastern hemisphere.
In greek mythology, Zeus was said to have battled the many-headed snake Typhon, for
supremacy of the cosmos.
Some said that Typhon was capable of breathing fire, and many others agreed that he was a
great winged serpent.
Their battle shook the earth, but Zeus triumphed thanks to his mighty thunderbolts, and cast
Typhon into the depths of Tartarus.
Similarly, the demigod hero Heracles was sent to kill the many-headed Hydra, said to be
an offspring of Typhon.
This theme continues with the hero Jason, leader of the argonauts, who set out on a
quest to retrieve the golden fleece, which was ultimately guarded by a dragon.
Rather than slaying the dragon, Jason used a potion to make the dragon fall asleep so
he could grab the fleece.
This would be a prime example of dragons protecting great and valuable treasure.
In the epic poem Beowulf, a slave steals a golden cup from a dragon's lair, causing the
dragon to go on a rampage across the countryside, burning everything in sight.
Beowulf goes to fight the dragon alone, joined by only one of his men, and the two successfully
slay the dragon, although Beowulf is mortally wounded in the process.
In the Norse Saga of the Volsungs, the hero Sigurd hears of a great treasure horde guarded
by the dragon Fafnir, and sets out to slay the dragon.
Instead of confronting Fafnir directly, Sigurd hides in a pit and waits for Fafnir to pass
over it, at which point he stabs the dragon through the heart, killing it.
It was said that great power would come to whomever ate the dragon's heart, so Sigurd
did so, and took the treasure, including a cursed ring that would lead to his downfall.
Many stories featuring heroes slaying dragons or sneaking past them to steal their treasure
would pop up across Europe.
The Chinese however had taken a much different approach to dragons, with their stories more
focused around training, respecting, and worshipping dragons.
The Chinese dragon would share a connection with water like many other great serpents,
but would also be a symbol of power, especially in connection to the emperor of china, and
good fortune.
The Chinese dragons are generally depicted as wingless snakes with four legs, but can
take on many different animal forms.
Ancient Chinese people would often uncover dinosaur bones and claim them to be the bones
of dragons, and would use them in medicine.
The dragon would be believed to be the bringer of rain, and a drought would be blamed on
a dragon's laziness.
Many Chinese believe themselves to be descendants of dragons.
Koreans and Japanese also have their own myths and beliefs about dragons, often very similar
to the Chinese.
Western European myths about dragons would develop into the most well known aspects of
modern dragons.
A welsh legend describes the young prophet Merlin witnessing a warlord attempting to
build a castle, but every night the castle would be demolished by unseen forces.
Merlin informs the warlord that in the mountain underneath his foundation is a lake with two
dragons in it.
The warlord orders the lake to be drained, revealing a red and white dragon who begin
fighting.
Merlin prophecizes that the white dragon, representing the Anglo-Saxons, will triumph
over the red dragon, representing the welsh, but someday the red dragon will return and
vanquish the white dragon.
The red dragon would go on to be used as a symbol of welsh power and honor, and currently
emblazons the welsh flag.
Dragons would continue to become terrifying serpentine creatures living in underground
caves with voracious appetites.
Dragons would come to be associated with satan, with some stories featuring dragons being
vanquished by making the sign of the cross.
The legend of St George and the Dragon is one of the most well known from European mythology.
In the legend, a dragon dwelled in a pond near a city, and to prevent it from attacking
the city, people began to give it offerings, starting with sheep, then men, and finally
their children, chosen by lottery.
The lottery eventually fell to the king's daughter, and although he offered all of his
gold to the people to spare his daughter, they refused.
The princess was sent out to the lake, but Saint George arrived by chance at the same
time.
The dragon emerged from the lake, and George charged it on horseback with his lance, seriously
wounding the serpent.
He proceeded to collar the dragon, and the princess was able to lead it back to town
on a leash.
The people of course were terrified, and George agreed to finally slay the dragon if they
consented to converting to christianity and become baptized.
Many of the people, including the king, agreed, and so George cut off the dragon's head.
A church was set up where the dragon died, and a spring flowed from its altar that would
cure all disease.
The story concept of a brave knight rescuing a princess from a terrible dragon would live
on.
Eastern Europeans had similar legends featuring winged dragons capable of breathing fire that
guard princesses.
A popular polish folk tale discusses a dragon living under Wawel hill.
The dragon demanded from the nearby city a number of cattle every week, and for each
one that he was not given, he would eat a villager instead.
The king sent his two sons to slay the fearsome dragon, but they could not do so in direct
combat.
Instead, they devised a plan to fill a calfskin with burning sulfur, which the dragon promptly
ate, killing it.
Depending on the version, one of the brothers kills the other so that he can receive the
glory for himself, blaming the death on the dragon.
The prince's secret is later discovered however, and he is expelled from the country.
Other versions feature the king himself killed the dragon, or a humble shoemaker, each using
the sulfur.
The western concept of a dragon became a firm aspect of fantasy, and many books began to
be written featuring them.
One of the most famous of dragons in modern fantasy is Smaug from J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Many of Smaug's aspects would come from myths and folklore regarding dragons, particularly
the epic poem Beowulf.
Ancient, winged, intelligent, greedy, vengeful, and capable of breathing great gouts of flame,
Smaug embodies all of the concepts that most people associate with dragons.
Tolkien's stories would feature other dragons of course, such as Ancalagon the black, the
greatest of all dragons, and Glaurung, who likely drew inspiration from the Norse Fafnir,
as he was also killed from underneath by a hero stabbing at his belly.
Dragons would become an integral part of the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons,
which began to diversify the dragon species into a number of different colors, each featuring
their own abilities and temperaments.
At this point, dragons were a mainstay of fantasy fiction, and over the following decades,
dragons would be featured in countless books, films, video games, and more, with the western
dragon being far more prevalent.
Dragons are a near universal concept, and have been in some form for hundreds and hundreds
of years.
Whether friendly or fearsome, intelligent or savage, fire-breathing or rain-bringing,
dragons are one of the best aspects of fantasy.