Dragonsong

Okay... so maybe not so much of a song and a bit more of a musing. While riding home I got into a discussion with a friend about the associated traits of dragons (geeky I know). I shall continue and include the comprehension here as I can sadly actually lay claim to being something of an expert on this topic (degree in medieval lit and folklore, of which this concerns both). So on to dragons.

Here are the main traits I've identified (western dragons only)
- magic / fire breathing
- evil
- greedy (hoard gold, demand sacrifices)
- maidens?
- green?
- reptilian?

The pondering question was: how does a creature gain associations with such humanly personified traits. Granted that other creatures gain this too (lions with power/royalty and eagles with wisdom) why do dragons have these traits in stories?

Possible solutions:

- "a wizard did it" in the middle ages and before, or basically any time that there was a clear lack of scientific knowledge and method, many things which could not be explained were obviously done by magic. This list includes the dying of green fabric, the production of steel, electrostatics, and of course any sort of chemistry.

- "...from hell's heart..." the link to breathing fire may in fact directly link dragons to evil and greed in that fire was often connected to the idea of hell (borrowed from the fires of tartarus) this will be expounded upon later.

- "the green eyed monster" greed, now why would they be associated with greed. I'll hit two birds with one stone here. The color green is associated with greed, jealousy, and envy. Dragons are often green. Simple. Second, the personified rule of human ownership: namely that if you have something and I kill you, now I own it. Or since dragons were powerful, and needed powerful champions to kill them (knights, saints, kings) these dragons would end up collecting or inheriting things from all the people they killed, almost all of which a dragon cant use (no prehensile thumbs and cant fit into a suit of armor... Doh!) Last dragons, like men, often ask for some form of tribute, in the case of the mongols this was in riches. Pay a dragon off maybe he'll leave alone your cows?

- "Virgin sacrifice" maidens, yeah so late into the dragon tradition we see princesses and such being taken by dragons and half the time NOT EATEN. What's up with that? I think there are two easy explanations. First there is the continued idea of placation, namely if you cant pay it off with riches, give it women. It works for invading hoards, check the history books (also a good way to get rid of that pesky pedophile nobleman and at the same time get into the royal line). Second back in the old days of the Greeks and Romans, virgin sacrifice was a great way to ward off war (story of Theseus) and bad crops (look up ancient Ceres worship and the birth of crucifixion). So if there is a problem, sacrifice a virgin to it and it might go away (potential fix to all of life's problems)!

- "Green" already covered.

- "Draco, Draconis" okay so I said earlier something about fire linking dragons to hell which may make them evil. Well there is a lot more to it. Reptiles in general get a bad rap from religions (except for those that worship them. Christianity not being one that does). In the bible several times things like snakes, various amphibians (i know, not reptiles), and monsters (if they are bad they get reptilian personifications) are often linked to the snake in Eden, or the Dragon that is the Devil, or so forth. Technically the word Serpen, Serpentis means "creeping thing" and the word Draco, Draconis means "reptilian creature" (in latin) so realistically a dragon can be any sort of reptile, and they are all generally bad or have deplorable demeanor's.

That's it for now, got questions, comments, refutations? Send your check or money order to me care of me at me and my house. Donations to the Children's Awareness and Security Hotline (please write in abbreviated form) also accepted.