Dragon Myths Survey

[Lugh]

I'm considering working on a story soon that has dragons, but I need to know of some of the mythology surrounding them before I can begin... here is a short list of what I can think of off the top of my head... can you add to it?

1. eat virgins
   
2. fly although their size says they shouldn't be able to
   
3. breath fire / acid / ice / other substance
   
4. horde their 'treasure'
   
5. live for 'eons'
   
6. magical
   
7. various body parts are used for magical ritual / healing
   

(crossposted in blog / "land of the fey" forum)

[Graeme]

Your traditional dragon only breathes fire. It was a D&D extension to have types of dragons that breath ice, acid, gas, etc.

 

Beside breathing fire, they have acidic blood, but tasting the blood of a dragon is supposed to allow you to understand all languages.

 

There is a great book called "The Flight of Dragons" by Peter Dickinson, in which he provides an evolutionary explanation for dragons. To summarise, dragons developed the ability to produce hydrogen by the selectively application of acid to calcium (ie. bones). This explains why they could fly (they were natural hydogen balloons), could breath fire (defensive mechanism evolved from their lighter-than-air characteristic). If you can find a copy at your local library, it's well worth reviewing. He covers most of the myths about dragons (including eastern dragons) and explains how many of those myths can be traced back to that single evolutionary trait.

[jalaki]

Yeah, it really depends on what you're going for, heh. Myself, I'd probably mix-and-match between 'traditional' dragonlore and the various things created from later (eg, more recent) fiction. So there's a LOT you can do with them.

 

Per the breath attacks, the normal D&D setup (though I've seen similar ones in other places that have nothing to do with RPGs) is that red dragons breathe a cone of fire, green breathe a cone of corrosive (acidic) gas, blue breathe bolts of lightning, white breathe cones of frost, and black breathe jets of acid. All are naturally evil and referred to as the 'chromatic' dragons. The metallic dragons, on the other hand, are all good in nature; gold breathe a cone of fire, brass breathe a stream of fire, bronze breathe bolts of lightning, copper breathe streams of acid, and silver breathe a cone of cold.

 

Various folklore give various sizes to dragons. Wyrmlings can range from the size of a medium-sized dog to a small pony; 'ancient' wyrms can dwarf houses. They are usually not technically immortal, but are capable of living for thousands of years, growing ever-larger and more powerful. All are supposedly capable of flight. Many times dragons are often able to use magic the same as a human (or other race) would use it (eg, spellcasting), as well as having various natural magical abilities they can use at will. Many are able to change their shape into other creatures as well.

 

As for draconic activities - all dragons are considered greedy and will go at great lengths to build up, maintain, and protect a horde, usually stored in an out of the way location such as inside a volcano, a cave, deep in a swamp, or in arctic territories. The only stronger instinct in them is the femsles' protectinon of their young. Oftentimes they don't even bother doing much else than sleeping, eating/hunting, and admiring or adding to their collections of wealth. It's usually when they get bored that they start interacting with the 'lesser' races of whatever world they inhabit, doing things like terrorizing small towns and villages (larger ones are often too well-protected ), requiring 'sacrifices', and the like.

 

Draconic combat can be rather neat, depending on how you go about it. Large, powerful jaws, sharp talnos, a thick prehensile tail, and the natural breath weapons all give opportunities for violence. Add in magical attacks, the ability to use their wings to 'buffet' foes, and the concept of three-dimensional aerial battles can also add more to work with. Throw in things like dragon riders and you have a flying, sentient warmount

 

As for body parts...yeah, usually scales and blood are the two most common, and tend to have a variety of uses and effects. Dragon scales are often extremely thick, dense, and strong, and are used for varieties of armor (with the 'colored' dragon types, they often can provide at least some protection from the element the dragon is accustomed to - red dragon scales are heat-resistant, etc). I don't think I've heard of acidic dragon blood before, but that's certainly a possibility, as is the 'know all lnaguages' caveat of tasting it. Sometimes dragon blood (or tears) have healing properties as well. Talons or teeth could also be used as magical components, or possibly in the formation of various types of weapons.

 

 

So, how's that? Need more? Hehehe.

[Lugh]

Are you interested in Western dragon myths only? Dragons are a common element in Eastern (for example, Chinese) mythology as well, and there are differences in the symbolic meaning, although to my mind in a good way.

Kitty

 

Kitty,

 

I'm not sure which way I'm going yet, which is why I'm looking for input.. the more input the better. Thanks.

 

Lugh

[DarkShadow]

Kitty,

 

I'm not sure which way I'm going yet, which is why I'm looking for input.. the more input the better. Thanks.

 

Lugh

 

This is probably going to sound a bit silly, but if I were you, I'd make up my own. Either way, here are some links! Hope that they help.

 

http://www.crystalinks.com/chinadragons.html

http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/dragons.htm

http://www.draconian.com/whatis/whatis.htm

http://www.dragonorama.com/other/index.html

 

Take care!