Dragons - Halloween Special

It's our Halloween special and our last episode of the year! How do European and Asian dragons compare? Studied up on your Dragon knowledge for our quiz? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

It’s our Halloween special, and I’m very excited to bring this one to you - and it’s definitely a big one too, with lots of different types and mythologies to go over, it should be lots of fun. 

If you didn’t catch my announcement this week, this will be the last Myth Monsters episode of the year until our holiday special to bring in the new year. If you wanna hear more about that, I’ll say a bit more at the end of the episode or you can watch the Tik Tok video to see what's going on.

DESCRIPTION:

Also just to kick us off, sorry it’s taken so long for me to get this one out too - I know Halloween has passed, but considering I’ve been struggling to get out normal episodes, getting out a massive special is super challenging at the moment! So I hope the spooky spirit is still with you, it’s with me all year round.

To start off with, Dragons are a HUGE topic and there are loads of different types of dragon. So I’m going to split their descriptions into two different categories and go into them in their own right, with European and Asian Dragons. Named Dragons from certain mythologies will get their own episodes in the future, for example Fafnir from Norse mythology, so I won’t spend too long on them in this special.

So European dragons - and when I say European, I mean they came from here but are used across most Western nations including the US as their stereotypical dragon. European dragons are described as scaly and reptilian monsters, ranging from quite small at around 2-3 feet all the way to monstrous sizes to 100 feet. They are usually found to have horns around their face and head, with long pointed snouts and sometimes will have manes like horses. Almost like dinosaurs, they would be covered in thick scales and sharp horns along their backs running down to their tails, which could be made up of hair, sometimes fins or the occasional spiked club or mallet shape. 

They have bat-like wings which usually support their whole body weight, and the larger dragons can have wingspans of up to 200 feet in width, making them incredibly intimidating when above you. Dragons usually have sharp teeth and are sometimes known to breathe either fire or poisonous gas from their mouths, depending on how early you look at their versions. They are usually four-legged, but sometimes can be more serpentine dependent on the variation and location without legs. 

They can sometimes also be said to have multiple heads or a variation of limbs, however, they can fall into other monster categories, for instance, the Hydra from Greek mythology is sometimes considered a Dragon - but I’m not including this in this category, and I personally consider the Hydra to be in a league of its own.

Dragons are generally malevolent towards humans, depending on what fairytale you’re reading about them in. They’re incredibly intelligent and are actually known for manipulating humans into getting what they want, and are sometimes known to communicate with people too. These more intelligent dragons are also known to love damsels, such as princesses, the reasons which we’re not entirely sure why. But their biggest obsession is usually gold or treasure, which they hoard in huge amounts and are extremely protective and obsessive over. 

Dragons usually live in caves, mountains or caverns throughout Europe, but are known for breaking into castles in order to access their wealth and start their draconic hoard. When I say throughout Europe, I truly mean that too - almost every European country has a myth about a Dragon within its mythology, and they generally all match up across the board.

In regards to their powers, European dragons can breathe fire or poison, as noted - but they also have poisonous blood, leading most assailants to their death post-defeat of the dragon, where they would either melt away or burst into flames. 

Dragons are incredibly strong and difficult to kill - with usually only one or two weak spots and complete immunity to poison and magic. To add to the pain of that, they’re usually either immortal or very close to it, and will not die of old age, however, as I mentioned they do have some blind spots, which are usually in the eye or in the chest or belly - which you would have to pierce with something considerably durable and large.

Dragons are completely carnivorous, and tend to eat livestock and people as their main food source, however, sometimes are known to pick up surfacing whales, dolphins, sharks and large fish from the sea. However, they do in particular, enjoy eating us. 

They tend to be solitary creatures, living alone in their caverns with huge hoards of cash - however, when Dragons reproduce, they do so like large reptiles in modern day and will mate, then lay eggs. Female dragons are very protective of their young, and stay with them until they are large enough to hunt on their own, which is when they will leave the nest of their mother for good. 

There are a few variations from the traditional European dragon, such as Wyverns, which more resemble bats with large wings, but no arms and usually have a scorpion-like sting on their tail. I’ll be covering Wyverns in another episode in the future, but they’re worth a mention. Drakes are also a type of European dragon, but are much smaller than their larger cousins. They will have four-legs, but either very small, or no wings at all - they’re a lot easier to fight, but also more likely to develop environment based powers like water powers if based around water or breathing fire if around volcanoes for example.

Another is Wyrms, spelt with a y not an o like the insect thing in the ground. Wyrms are serpentine dragons that resemble Asian dragons more than European ones, and have no legs or arms, but will have wings. Again, this one is big enough to cover in its own episode - so I’ll leave this one here and move onto their Asian counterpart.

Asian dragons or really, Eastern dragons, are almost the complete opposite of European dragons. They are typically described as serpentine creatures, again, varying in size from around a grasshopper all the way to big enough to fill the space between heaven and the Earth. Asian dragons usually have deer-like antlers and much slimmer faces and snouts, with long whiskers like cats. They are also scaly, but are very exact - they have 117 scales, where 81 are of the positive yang essence while 36 are of the negative yin essence. 

These dragons don’t tend to have wings, but fly around like giant snakes, weaving through the air gracefully, but also have very small and short legs to support them on the ground. However, the amount of legs can vary as to how large the dragon is. When they do have wings, which is much rarer - they usually have angelic or bird-like wings which have a much wider wingspan than European dragons. 

Asian dragons are usually benevolent to humans, and can even become mentors to humans wanting to understand the ways of the heavens. They are incredibly intelligent, can communicate with people and are actually considered semi-divine, and so are immensely respected and sometimes worshipped. 

These dragons live in the clouds, rivers and seas as they are mostly associated with the fluidity of water, instead of the hoarding dragons of the caves in Europe. They are most commonly found in China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea, however, do feature in most Asian countries in the East Asian space. They also do not hoard wealth, but can create it for others - what they do hoard is knowledge, which they do not share with anyone. 

Their powers are also completely different to the European dragons, where they live and breathe the essence of life itself and can grant powers to humans, such as immortality. They also have the power to shapeshift into human form or other animals.

Asian dragons are also not usually sought after to be killed by humans, and whilst I mentioned they are benevolent, they will defend themselves fiercely if attacked or threatened. And to match the European dragon, they are immortal and to differ from them, they are invulnerable and can make their body completely permeable, to which they would then seek revenge. They have an intense rivalry with tigers for some reason that I couldn’t quite figure out - but they are paired with the Fenghuang, the Chinese phoenix, as their male counterpart, as they are only female monsters. 

We don’t actually know much about the Asian dragons and their eating or reproductive habits unfortunately - as they are almost at a god like status in mythology, so it’s not really ever noted anywhere which is a shame. But we don’t believe they ever ate people unless they were wronged by one, if you’re wondering that I guess.

The other Asian dragons are the Wani, specifically Japanese dragons which resembled sharks and crocodiles and were incredibly ferocious sea monsters. The Imugi are Korean and Chinese dragons, which are again, usually found in the sea and are massive sea snakes. They live like this until they are blessed by heaven to join their cousins in Dragon form and are divine messengers afterwards. 

Heading over to West Asia, there are also Naga, which are sometimes also considered Dragons. These half-snake, half-human hybrids are found throughout West Asia as well as the Philippines, and can be good or evil - but are mostly just shapeshifters. I’ve covered these in their own episode already, so I won’t focus on them here.

ORIGIN:

Onto etymology - we have a couple here for this week as we’re covering continents rather than one country. For European Dragons, this comes from the Latin word, draco or draconis, meaning huge serpent or dragon. However, the Greeks called it drakon meaning serpent, which comes from the Greek word derkomai, meaning I see. We believe this comes from the idea of a deadly glance or sharp eyes, which we see in snakes with their slit pupils. This made its way into English in the 13th century from the Old French, which came from Latin - so it all comes around in circles. 

For Asian dragons it’s a bit simpler, in Chinese - dragon is long and the Japanese is tatsu or ryu - these all very literally mean dragon, so it’s a bit simple for this one and I can’t find any roots anywhere, which implies these are what they are and that’s about it. 

Fun fact, is that Long is a common surname in China and is considered to be very good luck and represent strength and kingship - so if you have that surname, lucky you, you’re a dragon!

For origins, I’m going to start with European Dragons again and then cover Asian Dragons, because it makes it less complicated. But before that, I will mention that it’s pretty unclear in all Dragon history, when Dragons first started being talked about because giant serpents are sometimes believed to be Dragons, and some believe that they are the first mentions of them. I am not one of the people who believe in this - there are giant serpent monsters, and dragons - two different categories. 

However, I will mention that those people believe that the first Dragons were Apep and Nehebkau from Ancient Egyptian mythology, who were both giant snake Gods of the underworld, who were around long before any of these other Dragons. But again, I don’t think these are Dragons - so I’m moving on and separating the two cultures now.

In European history, the Dragon comes straight from the Greeks and Romans, who used that original etymology draco to describe Dragons. Jason, the great hero battled a Dragon during his hunt for the Golden Fleece in the Argonauts myth, Ladon the dragon protected the Apples of the Hesperides and was killed by Heracles, Cadmus fought the Dragon of Ares and Typhon, the legendary father of all Greek monsters, was supposedly a Dragon, who was defeated by the God King Zeus - so they have been around since at least 800 BC.  

But as well as the Greeks, the Ancient Celts of Britain and Ireland were also into Dragons, who wore them as protective symbols against the Roman invasions, funnily enough, and wore them from around 400 BC. We’re actually not sure if they had Dragons before the Roman influence, but it was in Britain from this far back.

Just when the Brits thought they were safe, Christianity came along, and Dragons were associated with the devil as the Book of Revelation in the Bible says that Satan is flame red, a dragon with seven heads and ten horns - which then forever linked the Dragon to evil. This image really has never left European Dragons and it was only in the Middle Ages when they came back into society. 

In the Middle Ages in Europe, which was 500-1400 AD, Dragons made a kind of comeback - because people genuinely believed that they were real creatures and were petrified of them due to their size, powers and link to the devil. The Vikings mentioned Dragons in their epic poem, Beowulf, as well as having their own mythical Dragon, Fafnir - and the idea of Dragons became that they wanted to live in castles with gold, are greedy and glutinous and want young, virginal women to look after. And who dealt with them, well, heroes of course, just to make the sad days of plague-ridden peasants a bit nicer. 

The Christians of Europe also decided to make a saint a hero who slew a dragon, Saint George. His story is about taming and slaying a dragon that demanded a sheep and a human virgin sacrifice every day. When the dragon went to eat the princess, Saint George stabbed the beast and subdued it by making the sign of the cross and tying the princess's girdle around its neck. Saint George and the princess led the now docile dragon into the town and George promised to kill it if the townspeople would convert to Christianity. All the townspeople converted and Saint George killed the dragon with his sword. Saint George actually died in 303 AD and this story was much later, but he is the patron saint of England, and we have a fond attachment to Dragons here in the UK.

Dragons are often linked to Britain due to Saint George and due to the Celts, do have a natural origin story here too. It’s also featured massively in our heraldry, the Pendragon coat of arms was two red dragons with crowns for King Arthur, who wasn’t a real king, by the way. King Arthur also kills a large dragon or serpent in one of his tales - but again, he wasn’t real so I don’t know what to tell ya.

The most important Dragon in the UK though is the Welsh Dragon, this gorgeous beast sits proudly on the Welsh flag in bright red and is linked to legend of a visionary who saw a red dragon representing the original Britons of Wales fighting and defeating the White dragon of the Saxons. But Dragons in wider Europe still represent power, greed, evil, aggression and corruption from greed, which makes them a super cool figure within our media too, which we’ll get onto later. 

Now let’s go over to Asia, where again, the history and symbolism is so different from over here. 

Historically, the Asian dragon, in the earliest depictions were much earlier than the European, going all the way back to 6200 BC and the Chinese character for Dragon, or Long, was introduced in 4700 BC, which is considerably before the European dragon was even a twinkle in folklorist’s eyes. This is from discovering ‘dragon bones’ in Ancient China, which were most likely bones of large mammals including the extinct horse, Hipparion and the fact that the ancient Chinese self-identified as "the gods of the dragon" because the Chinese dragon is an reptile that represents evolution from the ancestors and qi energy.

The traditional image that we think of with Asian dragons though appeared in around 1766 BC and introduced the Dragon God or the Dragon King of the Four Seas. Each Dragon King is associated with a colour and a body of water, with the Azure Dragon representing the east, the Red Dragon the south, the Black Dragon the north, the White Dragon the west, and then there’s the yellow dragon, who is the incarnation of the Emperor. 

These dragons also work with the four celestial elements, with the Azure Dragon representing the East, Spring and wood, the Vermillion Bird representing the South, Summer and fire, the White Tiger representing the west, autumn and metal, the Black Tortoise representing the north, winter and water and then coming together to form the Qilin or sometimes the Yellow Dragon, representing the central element, midsummer and earth.

But these aren’t the only dragons within Chinese folklore, there are loads within their stories and you may know of some named Dragons, such as Tianlong, Yinglong, Zhulong, Shenlong or any of the other Godly dragons or Nine Sons of the Dragon, who controlled certain aspects of the world - but I won’t go into their stories today and maybe we’ll cover them all another time.

In Japan, dragon legends are heavily intertwined with Chinese dragons, even using Chinese words for dragon names. It is believed that Buddhist monks from across Asia transmitted dragon and snake legends from Buddhist and Hindu mythology to Japan, although there are some examples of indigenous dragons described in ancient texts too, so we’re not 100% sure.

We’ve talked a bit about symbolism for the Asian dragon, with the Emperor, but they also have a major part to play in the Chinese zodiac, where they are one of the twelve animals representing the 12-year cycle. They represent the element of earth and are the 5th animal on the cycle, as well as being reflected in the stars under the constellation Draco. 

Because they are a sign of the Emperor, they are often seen in Chinese celebrations with dragon dances and are a sign of harmony, good luck and prosperity. I recently watched my cousin get married in China and the dragon dance was my favourite part of the whole ceremony - and this is done because the bride and groom are meant to represent the Emperor on their wedding day!

Now, bringing them back together - we have to talk about literature as a separate entity as Dragons are famously within some of the most famous books ever written. We of course have the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien, the Harry Potter series, the Game of Thrones series by George R.R Martin, the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini are just a few. 

Dragons are still some of the most sought after monsters in fantasy books and media, and rightly so - based on all that I’ve told you today, I’m sure you’re aware of the affect they’ve had culturally throughout these two continents and they just look massively cool - so long live Dragons is all I can say!

I need to mention Sea Serpents quickly, because whilst I did mention earlier that big serpents aren’t Dragons, I’m sorry - but neither are Sea Serpents, hence me not talking about them. Yes, sometimes they can breathe fire but very rarely, and they are monstrous - but they are a WHOLE other category of monster, just like the Hydra.

But just to end the origin section - what do people think that they could possibly really be or come from? Well of course, we do have actual dragons still on this planet with Komodo Dragons, the world’s largest lizard, who get their Draconic name from their poisonous saliva and massive size, teeth and claws. These lizards are not to be messed with, but are immensely cool to look at from a distance, but ancient people could have totally thought this was a small dragon. We also have crocodiles, alligators and larger snakes like Anacondas, which are often associated with Dragons, due to their size, ferocity and general looks and again, could be mistaken for one. 

QUIZ

Now onto our Halloween special segment, and wouldn’t be a special without a special part in the middle now would it? I’ll read out these questions, and then I’ll post them in polls on Twitter so that I can see your answers! 

Now some of these have not been covered in the podcast, and are general knowledge or modern media questions - so it will be tricky!

Ready? Let’s go!

1. What is the name of the ancient symbol that depicts a dragon eating its own tail?
2. Yin and Yang
3. Ouroboros
4. Enso
5. Celtic Knot

2. Which culture has a dragon within their zodiac? 

1. Indian
2. Greek
3. Chinese
4. Japanese

3. What is the name of the Dragon in J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit? 

1. Elliot
2. Caraxxes
3. Mithrandr
4. Smaug

4. How many Disney movies feature Dragons? 

1. 31
2. 14
3. 65
4. 82

5. In 2010, which of these countries had dragons on their national flags?

1. China and Wales
2. Wales and Barbados
3. Bhutan and China
4. Bhutan and Wales

6. Which anime card game featured the Blue-Eyes White Dragon? 

1. Pokemon 
2. Yu-Gi-Oh!
3. Digimon
4. Dungeons and Dragons

7. Which of the following is NOT a term for a type of Dragon? 

1. Wyrm
2. Wyvern
3. Lycan
4. Tarragon

8. What are the names of Daenerys dragons in the Game of Throne series?

1. Meleys, Sunfyre & Moondancer
2. Belarion, Viserion & Syrax
3. Vhagar, Dreamfyre & Tyraxes
4. Viserion, Rhaegal & Drogon

9. What is NOT the difference between Asian and European dragons? 

1. Western dragons have wings
2. Western dragons are reptilian, Eastern dragons are amphibious
3. They represent different aspects
4. Eastern dragons are serpentine

10. What is the type of Dragon Harry Potter must face in the Goblet of Fire? 

1. Hungarian Horntail
2. Chinese Fireball
3. Swedish Short-Snout
4. Common Welsh Green

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed that and I’ll have the questions up on Twitter by the end of today so you can show off your Dragon knowledge!!

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we obviously have loads so I’ve tried to condense these into the most popular, so if I’ve missed something then apologies - it most likely just didn’t make the cut!

For art, have a look at Saint George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccello from 1470 or Illustration of a winged dragon by Friedrich Justin Bertuch from 1806. There’s not a lot of named artwork this week, so have a look at independent stuff because obviously it’s gonna be so cool.

In movies, we have; Ne Zha, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Beowulf, Eragon, Harry Potter, Dragonheart, Mulan, Raya and the Last Dragon, Sleeping Beauty, Dolittle, Godzilla, The Sword in the Stone, How to Train Your Dragon, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, D-War, Son of the White Horse, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Pom Poko, Mythica, Seventh Son, Pete’s Dragon, Atragon, The Missing Link, Damsel, Nimona, Shrek, The Flight of the Dragons, Wish Dragon, Dragon Fighter, On Drakon, Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School, Castle in the Sky, Quest for Camelot, Onward, The Neverending Story, Star Wars, Reign of Fire, Willow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spirited Away & Tales from Earthsea.

For TV, we have; Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Slayers, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Ben 10, Dragon Hunters, Grimm, The Dresden Files, Jackie Chan Adventures, The Dragon Prince, Farscape, Kamen Rider, Wakfu, Transformers, Knightmare, Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, Hellboy Animated, American Dragon: Jake Long, Power Rangers, Merlin, Hilda, One Piece, Naruto, The Munsters, Wishfart, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lost Tapes, Monkie Kid, Dragons; Riders of Berk, The Librarians, My Little Pony, Primeval, Fangbone!, Round the Twist, Special Unit 2, Xiaolin Showdown, Star Trek, Bleach, Supernatural, Dragon Ball, Super Sentai, Fairy Tail, Inuyasha, Ultra series, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Miraculous Ladybug & Kaijudo. 

In video games, we have ones such as; Hyrule Warriors, The Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Balder’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda, Them's Fightin' Herds, The Legend of Spyro, Dragon’s Lair, Metroid, Shantae, Fe, Destiny, Guild Wars, Lineage 2, Dragon Project, Rift, Phantasy Star Online 2, Runescape, Temtem, Kirby, Donkey Kong County: Tropical Freeze, Titan Quest, Megaman, Super Mario Bros, Grow, Puzzle Quest, Age of the Ring, Black Myth: Wukong, Dark Souls, Breath of Fire, Chrono Cross, Dragon Age, Elden Ring, Disgaea, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, The Witcher, Golden Sun, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pillars of Eternity, Monster Hunter, Jade Empire, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, The Legend of Dragoon, Touhou Project, DragonVale, Total War: Warhammer, Heroes of Might and Magic, Age of Wonders, Skylanders, ARK: Survival Evolved, Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft & Terraria.

My book recommendation this week is any of the literature I mentioned earlier for starters, but otherwise have a look at A History of Dragons: Their Influence on Life and Culture by Sarah-Beth Watkins, The Penguin Book of Dragons by Scott G. Bruce, Dragons, Wyverns and Serpents: Myths and Legends by Jean Menzies or The Dragon: Fear and Power by Martin Arnold.

Or if you have little ones, have a look at The Dragon Atlas: Legendary Dragons of the World by Anna Claybourne or Dragon World by Tamara Macfarlane for some cute dragon facts with great illustrations!

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Yes, I definitely do - but in a much smaller space. I believe that Dragons as a whole were misidentified from the start, especially European ones. Larger reptiles definitely explain Dragons in my eyes, but that’s not to say that that’s a stupid conclusion from a Middle Ages peasant - they are massive, strong and scary as well as being reptilian, which a lot of people are scared of anyway. 

I do think the Serpent dragon thing is still not a dragon and I’m sorry, I’m sticking with it - they are giant serpents, it doesn't matter if they have some draconic connections, it doesn’t make them a dragon. I also think giant snakes are cool enough on their own to not be associated with Dragons, they have their own category and I think that’s awesome - you won’t see me compare Jormungandr to Fafnir, that’s for certain. 

But Dragons are honestly the most brilliant and one of the most universal monsters we have, and one that we can all share a connection to in some way. It’s not unusual to call something old draconic, or to refer to a grumpy old person as a dragon or use the term Dragon’s hoard - and we may think of different types, but it brings us together as a collective and I think that’s great. 

I also think they’re super cool, and whilst they’ve been overdone by terrible tattooists since the 00’s, I think they look SICK. Like look at the Dragons from Game of Thrones and tell me they’re not the coolest and scariest things ever, and who doesn’t want to ride one?

But what do you think? Did Dragons exist among us across Europe and Asia? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

Well what a brilliant monster to have as our honorary Halloween guest, and honestly, who doesn’t like dragons? They’re so cool - so I’m glad we could cover this one finally. 

Well that’s it folks, I’m off til the new year! I’ll be back around late December/early January to kick off with a holiday special but I really need to take some proper time off. I’m super burnout and I’ve not really had any time to really relax without worrying about the show for the past 3.5 years and I think it’s time, so that you get the best content and I get some well-earned relaxation time. 

I’ll be back though - and in the meantime, use this time to catch up on your missed episodes, relisten to some of the super old ones, I’d really appreciate the support - which has been amazing since the announcement, so thank you so much and stay spooky whilst I’m away.

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, including some very cool merchandise - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.