Dragons

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We at Abominable Snowman Internet Resource Study Group wonder if the idea of dragons was inspired by seeing horses breathing steam, out of noises or really air, in the cold air, and being seen for the first time, running at huge paces compared to humans. A iron age person would have been shocked to see a attacker on a horse for the first time.

The dragon is a mythical creature typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile with magical or spiritual qualities. Mythological creatures possessing some or most of the characteristics typically associated with dragons are common throughout the world's cultures. It is well known that there is a negative image in the western world of the dragon, but in East Asia, especially in China, the dragon has a positive image and is a benevolent god.

Although dragons (or dragon-like creatures) occur commonly in legends around the world, different cultures have perceived them differently. Chinese dragons and Eastern dragons generally, are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent (there are of course exceptions to these rules). Malevolent dragons also occur in Persian mythology (see Azhi Dahaka) and other cultures.

Dragons are particularly popular in China. Along with the phoenix, the dragon was a symbol of the Chinese emperors. Dragon costumes manipulated by several people are a common sight at Chinese festivals.

Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many Eastern and Native American cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity. They are commonly said to possess some form of magic or other supernormal power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers. In some cultures, they are said to be capable of human speech. They are also said to be able to talk to all animals and converse with humans.

Dragons are very popular characters in fantasy literature, role-playing games and video games today.

The term dragoon, for infantry that move around by horse, yet still fight as foot soldiers, is derived from their early firearm, the "dragon", a wide-bore musket that spat flame when it fired, and was thus named for the mythical beast.

Joseph Campbell in the The Power of Myth viewed the dragon as a symbol of divinity or transcendence because it represents the unity of Heaven and Earth by combining the serpent form (earthbound) with the bat/bird form (airborne).

Dragons embody both male and female traits as in the example from Aboriginal myth that raises baby humans to adulthood training them for survival in the world. Another contrast in the way dragons are portrayed is their ability to breathe fire but live in the ocean--water and fire together. And like in the quote from Joseph Campbell above, they also include the opposing elements of earth and sky. Dragons represent the joining of the opposing forces of the cosmos.

Yet another symbolic view of dragons is the Ouroborus, or the dragon encircling and eating its own tail. When shaped like this the dragon becomes a symbol of eternity, natural cycles, and completion.

The Latin word for a dragon, draco (genitive: draconis), actually means snake or serpent, emphasizing the European association of dragons with snakes, not lizards or dinosaurs as they are commonly associated with today. The Medieval Biblical interpretation of the Devil being associated with the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, thus gave a snake-like dragon connotations of evil. Generally speaking, Biblical literature itself did not portray this association (save for the Book of Revelation, whose treatment of dragons is detailed below). The demonic opponents of God, Christ, or good Christians have commonly been portrayed as reptilian or chimeric.

In the Book of Job Chapter 41, there are references to a sea monster Leviathan, which has some dragon-like characteristics.

In Revelation 12:3, an enormous red beast with seven heads is described, whose tail sweeps one third of the stars from heaven down to earth (held to be symbolic of the fall of the angels, though not commonly held among biblical scholars). In most translations, the word "dragon" is used to describe the beast, since in the original Greek the word used is drakon.

In iconography, some Catholic saints are depicted in the act of killing a dragon. This is one of the common aspects of Saint George in Egyptian Coptic iconography, on the coat of arms of Moscow, and in English and Catalan legend. In Italy, Saint Mercurialis, first bishop of the city of Forlì, is also depicted slaying a dragon. Saint Julian of Le Mans, Saint Veran, Saint Crescentinus, Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Martha, and Saint Leonard of Noblac were also venerated as dragon-slayers.

However, some say that dragons were good, before they fell from grace, as humans did from the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve's Original Sin was committed. Also contributing to the good dragon argument in Christianity is the fact that, if they did exist, they were created as were any other creature, as seen in Dragons In Our Midst, a contemporary Christian book series by author Bryan Davis.

Chinese zodiac
The years 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036, 2048, 2060 etc. (every 12 years — 8 AD) are considered the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.

The Chinese zodiac purports that people born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also supposedly honest, sensitive, brave, and inspire confidence and trust. The Chinese zodiac purports that people whose zodiac sign is the dragon are the most eccentric of any in the eastern zodiac. They supposedly neither borrow money nor make flowery speeches, but tend to be soft-hearted which sometimes gives others an advantage over them. They are purported to be compatible with people whose zodiac sign is of the rat, snake, monkey, and rooster.

Dragons are commonly symbols of good luck or health in some parts of Asia, and are also sometimes worshipped. Asian dragons are considered as mythical rulers of weather, specifically rain and water, and are usually depicted as the guardians of pearls.

In China, as well as in Japan and Korea, the Azure Dragon is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellation, representing spring, the element of Wood and the east. Chinese dragons are often shown with large pearls in their grasp, though some say that it is really the dragon's egg. The Chinese believed that the dragons lived underwater most of the time, and would sometimes offer rice as a gift to the dragons. The dragons were not shown with wings like the European dragons because it was believed they could fly using magic.

A Yellow dragon (Huang long) with five claws on each foot, on the other hand, represents the change of seasons, the element of Earth (the Chinese 'fifth element') and the center. Furthermore, it symbolizes imperial authority in China, and indirectly the Chinese people as well. Chinese people often use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" as a sign of ethnic identity. The dragon is also the symbol of royalty in Bhutan (whose sovereign is known as Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King).

A naga guarding the Temple of Wat Sisaket in Viang Chan, LaosIn Vietnam, the dragon is the most important and sacred symbol. According to the ancient creation myth of the Kinh people, all Vietnamese people are descended from dragons through L?c Long Quân, who married Âu Co, a fairy. The eldest of their 100 sons founded the first dynasty of Hùng Vuong Emperors.

The Naga - a minor deity taking the form of a serpent - is common within both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Technically, the naga is not a dragon, though it is often taken as such; the term is ambiguous, and refers both to a tribe of people known as 'Nagas', as well as to elephants and ordinary snakes. Within a mythological context, it refers to a deity assuming the form of a serpent with either one or many heads.

Occasionally the Buddha is depicted as sitting upon the coils of a serpent, with a fan of several serpent heads extending over his body. This is in reference to Mucalinda, a Naga that protected Sakyamuni Buddha from the elements during the time of his enlightenment. Separated from the contextualising effect of the Buddha story, people may see only the head and thus infer that Mucalinda is a dragon, rather than a deity in serpentine form. Stairway railings on Buddhist temples will occasionally be worked to resemble the body of a Naga with the head at the base of the railing. In Thailand, the head of Naga, in a more impressionistic form, can be seen at the corners of temple roofs, with Naga’s body forming the ornamentation on roofline eves up to the gables.

Where the original concept of a dragon came from is unknown, as there is no accepted scientific theory nor any evidence to support the past or present existence of dragons. While the concept of dragons may be true or false, the fact that dragons are a myth in so many places that had no contact with each other suggests that dragons are possibly extrapolations based upon some ordinary forms of creature coupled with common psychological tendencies amongst disparate groups of humanity.

Some believe that the dragon may have had a real-life counterpart from which the various legends arose — typically dinosaurs or other archosaurs are mentioned as a possibility — but there is no physical evidence to support this claim, only alleged sightings collected by cryptozoologists. In a common variation of this hypothesis, giant lizards such as Megalania are substituted for the living dinosaurs. All of these hypotheses are widely considered to be pseudoscience or myth.

Dinosaur fossils were once thought of as "dragon bones" — a discovery in 300 BC in Wucheng, Sichuan, China, was labeled as such by Chang Qu. It is unlikely, however, that these finds alone prompted the legends of flying monsters, but may have served to reinforce them.

Herodotus, often called the "father of history", visited Judea c.450 BC and wrote that he had heard of caged dragons in nearby Arabia, near Petra, Jordan. Curious, he travelled to the area and found many skeletal remains of serpents and mentioned reports of flying serpents flying from Arabia into Egypt but being fought off by Ibises Histories. Histories (Greek). Retrieved on 2006-06-14..

According to Marco Polo's journals, Polo was walking through Anatolia into Persia and came upon real live flying dragons that attacked his party caravan in the desert and he reported that they were very frightening beasts that almost killed him in an attack. Polo did not write his journals down — they were dictated to his cellmate in prison, and there is much dispute over whether this writer may have invented the dragon to embellish the tale.Polo was also the first western man to describe Chinese "dragon bones" with early writing on them. These bones were presumably either fossils (as described by Chang Qu) or the bones of other animals.

It has also been suggested by proponents of catastrophism that comets or meteor showers gave rise to legends about fiery serpents in the sky. In Old English, comets were sometimes called fyrene dracan or fiery dragons. Volcanic eruptions may have also been responsible for reinforcing the belief in dragons, although instances in Europe and Asian countries were rare.

In Hindu mythology, Manasa and Vasuki are serpent like creatures associated with the dragon. Indra, is the Hindu storm god who slays Vritra, a large serpent like creature on a mountain.

The Vietnamese dragon is the combined image of crocodile, snake, lizard and bird. Historically, Vietnamese people lived near rivers, so they venerated crocodiles as "Giao Long", the first kind of Vietnamese dragon. Then, many kinds of dragon were developed in architecture, painting, literature and Vietnamese consciousness.

In Greek mythology there are many snake or dragon legends, usually in which a serpent or dragon guards some treasure. The first Pelasgian kings of Athens were said to be half human, half snake. The dragon Ladon guarded the Golden Apples of the Sun of the Hesperides. Another serpentine dragon guarded the Golden Fleece, protecting it from theft by Jason and the Argonauts. Similarly, Pythia and Python, a pair of serpents, guarded the temple of Gaia and the Oracular priestess, before the Delphic Oracle was seized by Apollo and the two serpents were draped around his winged caduceus, which he then gave to Hermes.

The Greek myths of Hercules and Ladon and others are believed to be based upon an earlier Canaanite myth in which Hadad overcame Lotan, and the Israelite god Yahweh overcame Leviathan. These stories too go back still further in history to the Hittite or Hurrian hero Kumarbi who had to overcome the dragon Illuyankas of the Sea.

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, the Rainbow Serpent was a culture hero in many parts of the country. Known by different names in different places, from the Waugal of the South Western Nyungar, to the Ganba of the North Central Deserts or the Wanambee of South Australia, the rainbow serpent, associated with the creation of waterholes and river courses, was to be feared and respected.

Also, some legends and myths of the dragon describe it as a thick-scaled, solitary creature, with a long snaking tongue, which ate various minerals, would occasionally walk bipedal, and described as having a fire or steam come from its mouth (possibly indicating a warm-blooded creatures tendency to breath out steam during colder weather.) These descriptions may also apply to the Pangolin Genus, which is found in Modern Africa and Asia, and once existed in Europe. To further support this idea, many African tribes and old chinese myths hold similar mythic properties for the Pangolin's scales as the dragon's. Although a counter-point to this is Pangolin does not have the wings that dragons have in so many myths, although the fact that some species of Pangolin live in trees may be partially responsible.

Recently, the Discovery Channel ran a programme entitled Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. The program explored several plausible scientific explanations to portray dragons as if they had actually existed

Indonesian dragon Naga or Nogo Naga is a mythical animal from Indonesian mythology, and the myth encompasses almost all of the islands of Indonesia, especially those who were influenced heavily by Hindu culture. Like its Indian counterpart, it is considered as divine in nature, benevolent, and often associated with sacred mountains, forests, or certain parts of the sea.
In some parts of Indonesia, Dragon or Naga is depicted as a gigantic serpent with a golden crown on its forehead, and there is a persistent belief among certain peoples that Nagas are still alive in uncharted mountains, lakes and active volcanoes. In Java and Bali, dragons represent goodness, and gods send dragons to the earth in order to maintain the force of good and gave people prosperity. Some natives claimed sightings of this fabled beast, and considered as a good omen if someone happen to glimpse one of these animals, but misfortune if the dragons talked to them.

Chinese dragon Lóng (or Lung) Lóng have a long, scaled serpentine form combined with the attributes of other animals; most (but not all) are wingless, and has four claws on each foot (five for the imperial emblem). They are rulers of the weather and water, and a symbol of power. They also carried their eggs which were thought to have been huge pearls in their hands.
Japanese dragon Ryu Similar to Chinese and Korean dragons, with three claws instead of four. They are benevolent (with exceptions), associated with water, and may grant wishes; rare in Japanese mythology.
Vietnamese dragon R?ng or Long These dragons' bodies curve lithely, in sine shape, with 12 sections, symbolising 12 months in the year. They are able to change the weather, and are responsible for crops. On the dragon's back are little, uninterrupted, regular fins. The head has a long mane, beard, prominent eyes, crest on nose, but no horns. The jaw is large and opened, with a long, thin tongue; they always keep a châu (gem/jewel) in their mouths (a symbol of humanity, nobility and knowledge).
Korean dragon Yong A sky dragon, essentially the same as the Chinese lóng. Like the lóng, yong and the other Korean dragons are associated with water and weather.
yo A hornless ocean dragon, sometimes equated with a sea serpent.
Siberian dragon Yilbegan Related to European Turkic and Slavic dragons
Indian Dragon Vyalee and Naga There is some debate as to whether or not Vyalee is considered a dragon. It is found in temples and is correlated with the goddess Parvati. Naga is the main dragon of Indian and Hindu mythology. Nagas are a race of magical serpents that live below water. Their king wears a golden crown atop his head. The Nagas are associated with Buddha and mainly with Lord Vishnu and his incarnations (Dasavataras). When Krishna was a child, he wrestled with a Naga that was obstructing a lake.
European dragons
Sardinian dragon scultone The dragon named "scultone" or "ascultone" belongs to the tradition of Sardinia, Italy from many millenniums. It had the power to kills the human beings by its gaze. It was a sort of basilisk, lived in the bush and was never killed.
Scandinavian & Germanic dragons lindworm Or the "Draco serpentalis" is a very large wingless serpent with two legs, the lindworm is really closer to a wyvern or to a knucker. They were believed to eat cattle and symbolized pestilence, but seeing one was considered good luck. The dragon Fafnir, killed by the legendary hero Sigurd, was called an ormr ('worm') in Old Norse and was in effect a giant snake; it neither flew nor breathed fire. The dragon killed by the Old English hero Beowulf, on the other hand, did fly and breathe fire and was actually a European dragon.
Welsh dragon Y Ddraig Goch The red dragon is the traditional symbol of Wales and appears on the Welsh national flag.
Hungarian dragons (Sárkányok) zomok A great snake living in a swamp, which regularly kills pigs or sheep. A group of shepherds can easily kill them.
sárkánykígyó A giant winged snake, which in fact a full-grown zomok. It often serves as flying mount of the garabonciások (a kind of magician). The sárkánykígyó rules over storms and bad weather.
sárkány A dragon in human form. Most of them are giants with multiple heads. Their strength is held in their heads. They become gradually weaker as they lose their heads.
Slavic dragons zmey, zmiy, or zmaj Similar to the conventional European dragon, but multi-headed. They breathe fire and/or leave fiery wakes as they fly. In Slavic and related tradition, dragons symbolize evil. Specific dragons are often given Turkic names (see Zilant, below), symbolizing the long-standing conflict between the Slavs and Turks.
Romanian dragons balaur Balaur are very similar to the Slavic zmey: very large, with fins and multiple heads.
Chuvash dragons Vere Celen Chuvash dragons represent the pre-Islamic mythology of the same region.
Asturian dragons Cuélebre In Asturian mythology the Cuélebres are giant winged serpents, which live in caves where they guard treasures and kidnapped xanas. They can live for centuries and, when they grow really old, they use their wings to fly. Their breath is poisonous and they often kill cattle to eat. Asturian term Cuelebre comes from Latin colubra, i.e. snake.
Tatar dragons Zilant Really closer to a wyvern, the Zilant is the symbol of Kazan. Zilant itself is a Russian rendering of Tatar yilan, i.e. snake.
Basque dragons Herensuge Basque for "dragon". One legend has St. Michael descending from Heaven to kill it, but only when God agreed to accompany him, so fearful it was.
Sugaar The male god of Basque mythology, also called Maju, was often associated to a serpent or snake, though he can adopt other forms.
American dragons
Meso-American dragon Amphitere Feathered serpent deity responsible for giving knowledge to mankind, and sometimes also a symbol of death and resurrection.
Inca dragon Amaru A dragon (sometimes called a snake) on the Inca culture. The last Inca emperor Tupak Amaru's name means "Lord Dragon"
Brazilian dragon Boi-tata A dragon-like animal (sometimes like a snake) of the Brazilian Indian cultures.
Chilean dragon Caicaivilu and Tentenvilu Snake-type dragons, Caicaivilu was the sea god and Tentenvilu was the earth god, both from the Chilean island Chiloé.
African dragons
African dragon Amphisbaena Possibly originating in northern Africa (and later moving to Greece), this was a two-headed dragon (one at the front, and one on the end of its tail). The front head would hold the tail (or neck as the case may be) in its mouth, creating a circle that allowed it to roll.
Dragon-like creatures
Basilisk A basilisk is hatched by a cockerel from a serpent's egg. It is a lizard-like or snake-like creature that can supposedly kill by its gaze, its voice, or by touching its victim. Like Medusa, a basilisk may be destroyed by seeing itself in a mirror. It is also portayed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a large grey snake, with foot long fangs and yellow eyes. Anybody who looks into these eyes will be killed.
Leviathan In Hebrew mythology, a leviathan was a large creature with fierce teeth. Contemporary translations identify the leviathan with the crocodile, but in the Bible, the leviathan can breathe fire (Job 41:18-21), can fly (Job 41:5), and cannot be pierced with spears or harpoons (Job 41:7), his scales so close that there is no room between them (Job 41:15-16), his upright walk (Job 41:12), his teeth close together (Job 41:14), an underbelly that could cut a person (Job 41:30) so the identification does not precisely match. Over time, the term came to mean any large sea monster; in modern Hebrew, "leviathan" simply means whale. A sea serpent is also closely related to the dragon, though it is more snakelike and lives in the water.
Wyvern Much more similar to a dragon than the other creatures listed here, a wyvern is a winged serpent with either two or no legs. The term wyvern is used in heraldry to distinguish two-legged from four-legged dragons. Also sometimes noted as the largest species of dragon.
zmeu Derived from the Slavic dragon, zmeu are humanoid figures that can fly and breathe fire.
cockatrice A bird-like reptile sometimes confused with a basilisk. In Gerald Durrell's book "The Talking Parcel", they attempt genocide against dragons by stealing the last dragon eggs
Quetzalcóatl A Central-American or Mexican creature with both scales and feathers is worshipped by the Toltecs and Aztecs.
Azhi Dahaka was a three-headed demon often characterized as dragon-like in Persian Zoroastrian mythology.
Similarly, Ugaritic myth describes a seven-headed sea serpent named Lotan.
The Hydra of Greek mythology is a water serpent with multiple heads with mystic powers. When one was chopped off, two would regrow in its place. This creature was vanquished by Heracles and his cousin.
Smok Wawelski was a Polish dragon who was supposed to have terrorized the hills around Kraków in the Middle Ages.
Y Ddraig Goch is now the symbol of Wales (see flag, above), originally appearing as the red dragon from the Mabinogion story Lludd and Llevelys.
Nidhogg, a dragon in Norse mythology, was said to live in the darkest part of the Underworld, awaiting Ragnarok. At that time he would be released to wreak destruction on the world.
Orochi, the eight-headed serpent slain by Susanoo in Japanese mythology

The Old English epic Beowulf ends with the hero battling a dragon.

Dragons remain fixtures in fantasy books, though portrayals of their nature differ. For example, Smaug, from The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, who is a classic, European-type dragon; deeply magical, he hoards treasure and burns innocent towns. Contrary to most old folklore and literature J. R. R. Tolkien's dragons are very intelligent and can cast spells over mortals.

A common theme in literature concerning dragons is the partnership between humans and dragons. This is evident in Dragon Rider and the Inheritance Trilogy. Most notably it is featured in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragons in Pern (genetically modified fire-lizards, which were Pernese natives) are ridden by dragonriders to protect the planet from a deadly threat, the Thread.

In Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series, the portrayal of dragons undergoes significant changes from book to book. In the original, they resemble Smaug, with unbounded greed for hoards of precious Jewlery; later, they grow in stature and nobility, to become virtual demi-gods who speak "the "Language of Creation" as their mother tongue; later still, it is revealed that they share an ancestry with humanity, and that some rare humans (always women) can change into dragons at will (or they may be considered as dragons who can take human form at will).

Dragons in the Deltora Quest's third installment are portrayed as very intelligent and proud; as being divided into seven distinct tribes; as having the capacity to reproduce by parthenogenesis; and as each having a virtue to which it adheres, such as Strength, Honor, Luck, Faith, Hope, Joy, and Truth.

The dragons in Harry Turtledove's Darkness series, a magical analogue of the Second World War, are beasts, highly pugnacious and under incomplete human control. In the storyline they are the analogue of fighter planes and dragon riders are obviously intended to represent fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe and the RAF.

In Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings series, dragons and humans coexisted in the distant past. Their essences became mixed in some cases, producing scaled humans referred to as Elderlings, or small, rubbery-skinned dragons, called "Others" and treated as abominations. Humans carved living dragon statues out of special living stone; these statues were later used as a weapon against the Outislanders by King Verity Farseer of the Six Duchies. Hobb's dragons would begin life as sea serpents, who would swim upriver to a special beach where they would cocoon themselves and hatch as dragons the next year. After a natural disaster changed the shape of the land, the serpents could no longer find their cocooning grounds and remained in the sea, as the cataclysm wiped out all but two of the dragons.

Dragons in Christopher Pike's Alosha series also start life as legless, wingless, tailless, and without fire; in this form, they are known as Kouls. Later in life, a Koul develops legs, a tail, wings, and fiery breath. To do this, a Koul must risk its life for protection of others, learn to swim, and take a literal "leap of faith" from a high place.

In the present-day fantasy novel Collinsfort Village by Joe Ekaitis, mural painter Dorian di Drago (a 40-foot tall dragon) gives up flying on the same day a famous aviatrix disappears in 1937.

Dragons are mentioned throughout the Harry Potter books and a baby dragon appears in the first installment and dragons later play a significant role in the fourth. They are portrayed as having strong magic (even in their blood), but they do not exhibit any hints of intelligence or self-awareness. Within the series, dragons are considered very dangerous by most characters (Rubeus Hagrid being a notable exception) and private ownership of dragons is illegal.

Dragons have been portrayed in several movies of the past few decades, and in many different forms. In Dragonslayer (1981), a "sword and sorcerer"-type film set in medieval Britain, a dragon terrorizes a town's population. In contrast, Dragonheart (1996), though also given a medieval context, was a much lighter action/adventure movie that spoofed the "terrorizing dragon" stereotype, and depicts dragons as usually good beings, who in fact often save the lives of humans. Dragons can also be passionate protectors, just like the dragon in Shrek and Shrek 2, who displays her affection for a donkey. Reign of Fire (2002), also dark and gritty, dealt with the consequences of dormant dragons reawakened in the modern world.

In the popular Real Time Strategy game series "Warcraft", dragons are very intelligent and divided into 5 distinct tribes, each ruled by an "Aspect", or overlord dragon. The different tribes are Red, the life dragons, ruled by Alexstrasza; Green, the dream dragons, ruled by Ysera; Bronze, the time dragons,ruled by Nozdormu; and Black, the earth dragons; formerly ruled by Neltharion, before his betrayal of the other for aspects and his ascension to the lofty title of Deathwing. The Warcraft dragons tend to disassociate themselves with the other races of "Azeroth". They only get envolved when the world itself is in danger.

Dragons are common (especially as non-player characters) in Dungeons & Dragons and in some computer fantasy role-playing games. They, like many other dragons in modern culture, run the full range of good, evil, and everything in between. In Dungeons and Dragons the color of the dragon shows if it is evil or good. Metallic dragons are forces of good and the are led by the mighty dragon-god Bahumat. Chromatic dragons are evil creatures ranging from white (the weakest) to the mighty red (the strongest). The chromatic dragons revere Tiamat, a five-headed dragon-god with heads of each color of evil dragon (red, blue, green, white, black).

In Robert Heinlein's novel Between Planets, the sentient inhabitants of Venus are huge flightless dragons, who are described as highly intelligent with an enormous aptitude for scientific research, who are very warm and friendly to humans. Since humans can't prononce their real names, they habitually take - while conversing with humans via a special device - the name of a prominent past human scientist (the book's main dragon protagonist calls himself "Sir Isaac Newton").

On the lighter side, Puff the Magic Dragon was first a poem, later a song made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary, that has become a pop-culture mainstay. The poem tells of an ageless dragon who befriends a young boy, only to be abandoned as the boy ages and forgets him. This is sometimes suspected of being riddled with references to the drug Marijuana, though the authors have publically ridiculed this notion.

Some stories give accounts of dragons in human form, notably the fourteenth-century French story "Voeux du Paon" tells the story of Melusine, a beautiful woman who seemed faithful but refused to take communion in church. When confronted, she turned into a dragon and fled. She has been depicted in Russian art of the 18th century as a woman's head on a dragon's body. The Earthsea cycle relates of Tehanu and Orm Irian, each of whom was a dragon in human form who acted as a diplomat between her races.

Another famous dragon is Spyro the Dragon who is the main character of many video games. In the first game he was portrayed as a small purple dragon with wings, four legs and had the ability to breath fire, charge with his horns, and glide short distances. As the game developed he was able to learn to swim, climb, and use power-ups. In the game Spyro: enter the dragonfly he is able to learn other breaths including bubbles, electricity and ice. Later, in the game Spyro: A Hero's Tail bubble-breath was replaced by water breath. In the latest installment of Spyro; The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning he is shown as a young dragon while the game describes how he came to be. In this game water breath is replaced by earth breath. Also this game includes melee attacks, breath bombs, and fury attacks, which can all be upgraded with special gems.

Dragons have also appeared in the popular massively-multiplayer online role-playing game RuneScape in different varieties, ranging from weak green dragons to fierce black dragons. There is also a dragon/hydra known as the King Black Dragon.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels describe two types of dragons: Noble Dragons (Draco Nobilis) which are typical European-type dragons, which are extinct by the time the books take place but can be summoned by magic or created with a lot of magic and imagination; and the Swamp Dragons (Draco Vulgaris), which are the size of small dogs, bred as pets, and, due to their complex, fire-producing anatomy, have a tendency to self-destruct.

The Breath of Fire series of Role-Playing Games made by Capcom, have their story revolve around the recurring hero, Ryu, who is a Light Dragon, who needs to defeat the Dark Dragons and ultimately, a goddess by the name of Myria, who is an enemy of the dragons. In the third game, nothing is mentioned of a war between the Light Dragons and the Dark Dragons, only of a war between the Brood (the race of dragons) and the goddess Myria (or Tyr). Note that 'ryu' is Japanese for 'dragon', which is the name of the main protagonist of the series, who is a dragon.

The Massively Multiplayer Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft includes many dragons, one of which is named Onyxia. Onyxia is a major dragon boss and requires a multiple-man raid consisting of 20+ separate players, all working together with a certain plan of action designed to hopefully defeat her. Almost all the dragons depicted in the game are about five times the height of a player and are massively powerful elites, which means each one is a type of boss and therefore much harder to kill than a normal creature. The other dragons in the game are smaller, pocket versions of the full size dragons, called whelplings. These are much easier to kill and are not bosses at all. If one is lucky enough to kill the right whelpling, in some cases the loot collected from the dead creature can include a whelpling pet (which can be summoned to fly alongside the owner of the pet at will), which is extremely rare on the game and can be sold for several hundred gold.

The dragon is the emblem of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The city has a dragon bridge which is embellished with four dragon depictions. The city's basketball club is nicknamed the "Green Dragons". License plates on cars from the city also feature a dragon depiction.

Y Ddraig Goch (Welsh for the red dragon) appears on the national Flag of Wales (the flag itself is also called the "Draig Goch"), and is the most famous dragon in Britain. There are many legends about y Ddraig Goch.