| by Bruno Flexer, Author of: Dragon Over Washington for Kindle, Dragon Over Washington Paperback The Fire At The Gates Automatic Rebellion UK Amazon: Bruno Flexer's Works |
The Pinnacle of Science Fiction and Fantasy - The Dragon –
What is a dragon ?
 |
| Red D&D Dragon by LittleDrakon |
There
are a lot of mythical dragon tales, as dragons are one of the most interesting
creatures through all ages. They have been mentioned thousands of years ago and
still today dragon books and movies are churned out in alarming quantities.
Therefore, the interesting question arises, what is a dragon ?
One of
the features that are associated with dragons is their reptilian nature. They
are usually scaled, possess a snake's forked tongue and large, frightening eyes
that usually glow. Dragons' reptilian nature is a strong feature in Japanese
dragon tales, and is often mentioned in western tales. The dragon Cadmus fought
was reptilian, as was the huge sea dragon Perseus vanquished, as was the Hydra.
Some
times, dragons are said to be a larger, meaner form of serpent. This can be seen
in the story of the dragon with eight tails and eight heads, as the story of the
dragon Cadmus fought and also when we try looking at a Basilisk description. Of
course, we must not forget that the Hydra possessed nine serpent heads.
Another
common and recurring feature of dragons is flight. Strangely, most of the
dragons in the Greek mythology do not possess this feature, though a witch was
said to use two flying dragons with her chariot. In Japanese tales the dragons
usually possess the power of flight and certainly in later western folk tales
almost every dragon can fly.
Dragons
are usually said to possess additional strange powers. Most of the dragons can
breathe fire from their nostrils and smoke from their mouths, though sometimes
it is the other way around. They usually have poisonous blood and sometimes
poisonous breath. A few examples have stranger powers, from transfixing a victim
with their stare, to killing with their stare, to regeneration. Perhaps one of
the strangest powers was that of the dragon Cadmus killed, whose teeth, if
planted, would grow a crop of armed warriors who would spring out of the ground
and attack.
But
dragons had a fearsome reputation not only because of their physical powers, but
that deserves an article in itself …
No comments:
Post a Comment