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Common Attributes of Roman and Greek Dragons - Part 2
1. The revenge factor. Slaying a dragon will not be easy but the really nasty bits usually come when it's dead. Then the hero lets down his guard and that's when the dragon kills him, from poison in its blood, an avenging god who just lost his pet or something similar.
2. The dragon's influence extends for miles and miles. A dragon will not be a small, tame thing that eats a few people now and then. A dragon ravages entire countries and its appearance is a national calamity.
3. For every dragon there exists a hero. A dragon cannot be slain by normal men at arms loosing arrows from a distance. Whole armies will fail to vanquish it. The only one that can deal with a dragon is a hero. Some will be courageous farm boys. Others will be famous demigods or even full fledged gods. But all of them will be heros.
4. Pick the right tool. Slaying a dragon requires the correct tool. A sword made from meteorite iron. A magic ring. The bow and arrows and a god. The winged boots of Mercury. Only very rarely a dragon will be slain by mundane means.
5. Intelligence. Dragons are not mindless beasts. Usually, they are thinking beings, able to understand and sometimes even use human speech. Some are extraordinary intelligent like Python the Oracle Dragon and Fafnir who could speak the human tongue.
6. Unique. Somehow, the dragons are unique. You won't usually find a family of dragons, a father, mother and three dragon younglings together. Each one is usually one of a kind, at least as far as the story goes.
7. The human connection. Dragons tamed by humans, ridden by them and used as pets or mounts, or even friends are modern inventions. The dragons were always independent creatures that refused to submit to any human. There were a few dragons employed by gods and only one human, the Dragon Witch Medea, managed to tame a few dragons and put them under her spells.
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