Dragons in Western Lore

For this blog post, I read and drew my information from Dr. Karl Shuker's book Dragons: A Natural History.

     The "typical" Western dragon is an easily recognizable figure- scales, a long neck, legs, and membranous wings. However, not all of these dragons look alike. Some are more serpentine, lacking wings and even legs- others are wyverns, who have wings, but only one set of legs. Still others have no wings, and only one set of legs! Despite their physical differences, these dragons tend to share the same penchant for causing mayhem and inspiring terror. 

    However, these dragons are not considered cunning. When one is attacked with brute force, the attackers are often annihilated. When a heroic figure comes along with a plan, the dragon is quickly subdued. For example, in the tale of the Lambton Worm (worm, in this case, being one of those dragons without legs or wings), the dragon is defeated when it tries to wrap itself around the hero, whose armor is covered in blades. In doing so, the dragon is cut to pieces and is washed away by a river. Interestingly, some dragons need not be slain, but are instead subdued by a religious figure. In this case, the tamed dragon may be led back to the town it had terrorized and tamely accept punishment, even death.

     Dragons are often used as symbols of evil, and especially in the Middle Ages, the taming of the dragon was used to symbolize the power of Heaven over Hell. Think of the tale of St. George and the Dragon- St. George defeated a horrific dragon, saving a princess. In return for slaying the dragon, the king agreed to be baptized. The gentling or destruction of the dragon was the triumph of good over evil. Indeed, some dragons were defeated when the image of a cross was held up before them.