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Dragon Slayers are the Good Guys - Part 1

© Sharon K. West

Part One of a Two-Part Article

Ask anyone what he or she thinks about dragons and most all have some sort of an opinion, anywhere from dragons being a representation of evil to their being based on a real animal. In the new movie, "Shrek," a classic, fire-breathing dragon guards the beautiful princess who resides in the highest tower of the castle. This is a most popular rendition of the dragon story where the handsome prince has to slay a dragon to rescue the princess. But the fact is dragons appear in many cultures, in many different ways, and not only in children's stories and the screenplays of Hollywood.

Now . . . who will go on a quest with me for the illusive dragon? You, sir? You, fair lady? Very, well, m' lads and m' ladies, the quest begins, but in order to do that, we will have to set forth a bit of proper groundwork for the understanding of dragons. Let us traverse the mysterious territory of information to reach the dragon's lair. Never fear, we shall reach our destination however far afield we may have to trek.

Part one of this two-part article will deal with collecting information about dragons. In keeping with that, we will begin with the historical image of a dragon. Dragons are usually depicted as a winged, fire breathing reptile with claw-like talons and a frightful tail to be reckoned with. The Greek word "drakon" came from the word, "Darc," meaning to see, or to see clearly. Dragon legends depict them as being found on land, underground, and in the sea, rivers and lakes. In recent times, some stories and movies have presented an assortment of cute, friendly dragons that help people.

The dragon shows up in cultures around the world. An excellent place to read about these is at Dragons on Eliki.

In the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, dragons and serpents are used to represent evil or the embodiment of Satan. The Archangel Michael, or St. Michael as he came to be called in church history, is associated with the slaying of dragons based on the account in scripture. Therefore, early Christian church policy was to build churches dedicated to St. Michael over older religious sites and other pagan sacred places to evidence the "slaying" of evil. The vision of a knight slaying a dragon represented the victory of Christianity over paganism. The early church had 40 saints who were called dragon-slayers.

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