The Dragon: Fear and Power

Thing about dragons in Chinese mythologies (and to a certain point the East Asian Dragon mythos) is that dragons are neutral to good creatures that are typically a sign of awe, justice, fortune and wisdom (think Shenron in Dragon Ball anime) but can also be evil like in the famous Chinese story of Nezha conquers the dragon king which is a dragon-slaying story.

Dragon is also used as a symbol of respect. Someone you rever to is usually referred to as a dragon (if you're male) which is known in Chinese as 人中龙凤. The emperors of China saw themselves as living dragons or dragon emperors and were referred to as such. Dragons were part of the divine beasts of China and are considered lucky and are involved in other Chinese aspects like the Chinese horoscope.

Also the article didn't discuss the feathered serpent or dragon of Aztec mythologies or the Nagas of Indian mythologies which are lost opportunities of discussion.

I recently finished reading "An Instinct for Dragons" by David E Jones, which goes the route of arguing that the composite image we have of the dragon is created by unifying the three main predators of early humans: serpents, big cats and raptors.

This is used to explain common characteristics of the dragon, such as the scales and serpentine nature, the fangs, claws and cat-eyes, and the wings and talons. You can even see incomplete composites in other mythological beasts, such as gryffins, feathered serpents, harpies, sphinxes and manticores.

The dragon image is then used to tell stories about our ideal relationships to predators, the unknown and to power.

It was a fascinating book, and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the concept of the dragon.

I'm glad to see this here. What are we to make of our collective fascination with dragons? What does it say about us, or what does our unconscious know about the universe that it is struggling to communicate?

A scenic addition from A Wizard of Earthsea:

""You are a very young wizard," the dragon said, "I did not know men came so young into their power." He spoke, as did Ged, in the Old Speech, for that is the tongue of dragons still. Although the use of the Old Speech binds a man to truth, this is not so with dragons. It is their own language, and they can lie in it, twisting the true words to false ends . . . "

Something I feel I am seeing more and more lately is the idea of a dragon not only being benevolent, but heroic as well. There has to be an interesting anthropological take on that trope as well.

My favorite dragon-related thing I saw this year was by far Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (https://myanimelist.net/anime/33206/Kobayashi-san_Chi_no_Mai... -- I prefer the JP dub)

> ... with a notorious preference for aristocratic or royal virgins.

#NotAllDragons are those lolicons...