Many cultures around the world feature dragons or dragon-like creatures in their mythologies, and no one is exactly sure why. Some believe that all of these individual cultures came to believe in dragons through the accidental discovery and misinterpretation of dinosaur fossils, or run-ins with snakes, crocodiles, monitor lizards and other out-sized reptiles. Stories based on these encounters were passed from person to person, each time becoming a bit more embellished. Anyone who has ever played the “telephone” game as child will know how quickly a simple statement can become garbled in the retelling. Now imagine playing “telephone” for thousands of years!
One fringe theory suggests that the dragon began as hallucination induced through the use of various psychedelic drugs, and was ultimately adopted as a religious symbol. Of course, to believe this, it is also necessary to believe that a dragon or serpent-like creature was a commonly encountered image for hallucinogen imbibing shamans around the world. (Even if this is so we’d still be left wondering why it’s such a common image.)
Another theory, one even less popular – or “fringier” if you will – than the “dragon as hallucination” one, is that the dragon is the ultimate embodiment of a genetically encoded fear of snakes that we inherited from our primate ancestors. There are problems with this theory, too. For one thing, the jury is still out regarding whether we’re born with “instincts” at all. Even defining what would constitute an “instinct” when it comes to human beings can be tricky. (Great fun: If you ever want to start a huge fight ask a bunch of behavioral scientists if we’re born with instincts. Step back and enjoy the show.) For another, the latest studies suggest that we’re not actually hardwired to fear snakes: a study published in Current Directions in Psychology</em> demonstrated that human beings can detect the presence of a snake in a photo very rapidly, and that we can acquire a fear of snakes more quickly than we can a fear of other things, but that children aren’t born with any innate fear of the creatures.
I find the idea of misinterpreting living animals to be the most believable of all of these possible explanations or the near-ubiquity of dragons, but regardless of how or where or why these strange beasts found their way into our collective unconscious, they’re obviously not going anywhere. Mention the fantasy genre at all to someone, and they’re likely to bring up dragons. The scaly, fire-breathing serpents cast a long shadow.
Traditional conceptions of dragons vary from place to place. Many northern European cultures depicted them as universally evil beasts. Some storytellers said that dragons were once miserly human beings transformed into monsters by their lust for gold and treasure. Later Christian writers attributed the monsters to Satan himself – even describing Satan himself as a great dragon. Physically, dragons varied in shape and size according to those who chronicled their tales (tails?). There were big dragons and small dragons. Some dragons had wings, some did not. Some had four legs, some only two. Some breathed fire, others spat poison. Fortunately, no matter the size or shape of said dragon, there was always a knight or other brave warrior to slay it…and maybe go down fighting in the process. (Sorry, Beowulf.) Dragons got off a little easier in Asian cultures, many of which considered the creatures to be kind and powerful servants of gods and heroes. In China, the dragon was the symbol of the emperor, and even today it is considered crude to disfigure or vandalize a dragon painting or sculpture. In ancient Japan dragons were associated with the water, and the Japanese emperors were supposed to have descended from dragons.
Dragons continue to play a big part in the fantasy entertainment of the modern world. South Korea’s largest budgeted film of 2007 was Dragon Wars, or D-Wars, a splashy action flick depicting massive dragons wreaking havoc upon Los Angeles. In 2002 Spyglass Entertainment released Reign of Fire, a post-apocalyptic science fiction film about a group of human survivors scrounging for an existence in a dragon-dominated London. Dragons, of course, were present in the Harry Potter films, too, and next winter will see the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, featuring J.R.R. Tolkien’s dragon par excellence, Smaug. Video games likewise show a preponderance of dragons as of late. The plot of Skyrim, one of the year’s most well-received video games, specifically centers around dragons.
Just like they did in days past, dragons continue to stalk the margins of our literature. George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons and Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance are just two recent books to feature the fiery serpents, both bestsellers. Next year will mark the release of the seventh book of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series: Crucible of Gold.
Dragons, unlike their other fantastical kin – unicorns, griffins – show staying power that just can’t be denied. Why that might be is up for debate, but no matter what, as long as there’s an unknown corner of the map of our imaginations it will likely remain labeled “Here be dragons.”
