Dragons Case

Kori Schwindt

HUM 115 – World Mythology

Essay #5 – Ancient and Modern

Dragons

One of the most common mythological creatures in human folklore is the dragon. They are considered extremely intelligent creatures with a fantastic source of knowledge and wisdom. Throughout the world, many cultures have a different understanding of the physical descriptions and meanings of these magnificent creatures.

Dragons come in many different shapes and sizes, depending on what part of the world the belief comes from. They could have two or four feet, and may or may not have wings. Some dragons may have horns, and others might have a beard. They may be small, similar to the size of a horse, or as large as a dinosaur. Some dragons spit fire, and others may spit poison, or nothing at all.

European cultures have a wide variety in beliefs when it comes to physical descriptions of dragons. The French, for example, believes dragons are extremely large with four legs and giant wings and horns on their heads. This is the most common belief around Western Cultures, as well as what we usually see in fairy tales and modern stories in Northern America. Asian countries, however, believe dragons are smaller in size, and look more like bearded serpents with long bodies, four legs and no wings.

Dragons have different meanings for different cultures as well. Western and Europeans believe dragons are a symbol of evil, war and death. They believe dragons are greedy and would murder anyone who came across them or their treasures, which many of them guard. Asian cultures, however, hold a high respect for the bearded dragons. They symbolize heroism and protection and serve no threat to society. They are also a symbol of beauty, power, wisdom and luck, and are honored in various ceremonies and parades throughout the year.

A popular mythological story about dragons is a Nordic story about a dwarf named Fafnir. He was one of three sons of the dwarf king, and was the most powerful and fearless out of the three. He was so strong and brave, that his father trusted him to guard their gold and treasures. Until Fafnir’s father demanded gold and jewels from Odin in compensation for one of his son’s death. Odin cursed the gold and a ring so it would bring death to whoever possessed it, and Fafnir slew his father and stole the gold.

Fafnir became so ill-natured and greedy that he turned into a dragon (a symbol of greed) and hid in a lair to guard his treasure. He breathed poisonous gas around his area to keep intruders and thieves out, and terrified the people in the surrounding towns. One of Fafnir’s brothers, Regin, recruited his son, Sigurd, to slay the dragon and steal the treasure. Regin instructed his son to dig a trench near the stream for Fafnir’s blood to run into. Sigurd waited in the trenches until Fafnir came to drink the water and stabbed the dragon in the left shoulder, leaving him to die in the trenches. Sigurd stole the treasure for Regin, but, in the end, death ultimately came to everyone who possessed the cursed treasure.  

In the modern world, dragons are still a very popular creature to write about in literature and films. One of my favorite modern stories is about Toothless, the Night Fury, from How to Train Your Dragon. In this story, dragons terrorized the small Viking town of Berk, and the Vikings trained each and every day in the art of war to kill the dragons. The story centers around a young boy named Hiccup who is training to be a dragon hunter. He goes on his first hunt and shoots a Night Fury, an extremely dangerous and rare type of dragon. The creature is trapped, injured and cannot fly, and Hiccup sets it frees rather than killing it.

Hiccup later tracks down the Night Fury and ends up earning the dragon’s trust. He names the dragon Toothless, and cares for the dragon. He realizes the giant creature is not evil and mean, but instead very playful and loving, similar to a pet dog or cat. He creates a prosthetic tail to help his injury and assist Toothless in flying. The dragon takes Hiccup to the dragon’s nest where a larger red dragon is killing and eating other dragons. Toothless, Hiccup and some friends end up fighting the red dragon and saving everyone from the evil.

Hiccup, and his friends show the town that Toothless, and some of the other dragons they saved, are not dangerous, and in fact very friendly. The creatures and the Vikings of Berk come together and clean up the city, and in the end, everyone in the city has their own dragon as a sort of pet. Hiccup even ends up with a matching prosthetic leg, due to an injury sustained during the war with the red dragon.

The story of Toothless and the other dragons in How to Train Your Dragon is a great example of how Claude Levi-Strauss explained characters in mythology. The dragons, in the eyes of the Vikings of Berk, were mean, evil creatures, which would be considered by Levi-Strauss as falling on the raw axis. The dragons used fire and poison to terrorize the cities and caused enough blood shed that the Vikings stuck back, and hunted the dragons to death.