Ultimate Comfort
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0The entire existence of dragon economies (that’s a phrase you’ve probably never read before) seems entirely predicated upon A) stealing and hoarding gold, jewels, and magical swords and B) princesses. We hadn’t had any idea what the princesses had to do with their livelihood until now. Now we understand.
The princesses are everything.
If you can’t get a good night’s rest, your entire society falls apart. Now all the stories make sense.
Dragons are one of those ubiquitous creatures in human folklore, making appearances in cultures on every continent. What they’re all about varies depending on who you talk to, but the basic shape and structure of the creatures themselves are very similar.
The ones we know best here in the Western world are the ones infamous for kidnapping young royalties for no fathomable reason, showing up in everything from Norse legend to the Christian Bible. Dragons, in almost all of these European tales were the greatest of foes to be bested. Equipped with bat wings, a powerful tail, fiery breath, and raking claws, conquering a dragon was the greatest feat anyone could achieve. It was also a great way to score a date with fetching young ladies.
Dragons, despite the very physical descriptions seen in much of folklore, have always been considered spiritual creatures by the majority of cultures that tell tales of them. The power and strength of the dragon has been featured on heraldry in Europe, harnessed in the name of infantry units in Asia, and held a place in the most essential portions of Norse myth. The diversity of descriptions nearly matches the diversity of their roles in legend throughout the world.
It is this importance and power in the literature of ancient history that has kept dragons a part of our lives even into modern times. These days, it’s impossible to believe in the actual physical manifestation of dragonkind when such large and fiery creatures would undoubtedly show up on Google maps. Fantasy novels and games, however, would never let such a resilient concept die out. Since the time of J.R.R. Tolkien, dragons have become a staple in fiction, playing many of the same parts they have since their earliest usage. They range from villain to savior, always harkening back to those cultural memories that float on the surface of the human subconscious even today.
Dragons, whether you love them or hate them, will likely continue being a part of our stories far into the future. Something about them, the power, the fear or joy they can invoke, keeps them with us.
The dragons are, likely, pleased as can be with that. Just so long as they can continue gathering up princesses for their beds.
Apologies for the lack of a strip on Friday, I was terribly ill and unable to write anything. To make up for it, Liz helped me write something like twenty great strips, so I’ll try to start getting ahead in case something happens again!
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I can’t remember exactly /where/ I read it, but I recall reading at some point in some novel/game supplement/etc that Dragons actually find mounds of gold to make rather comfortable nests as it is one of the softer metals. This struck me as both strange and appropriate.
I remember seeing something similar in a kid’s fantasy movie that I rented from Blockbuster when I was a wee one. I have no recollection of what it was called, but I too always thought the gold is comfy thing to be really appropriate.
You probably heard that from the Flight of Dragons (either the movie or the book; I can’t be expected to read your mind.) Both are wonderful works of art. They do like gold because it’s a soft metal, but they like metal because it doesn’t ignite when they’re sleeping on it and they belch a little fire.
The movie is simply a very fun story animated by the team that did The Hobbit and therefore looks wonderful. It also has James Earl Jones voicing the bad guy, so it’s basically a can’t miss. The book is actually not a fantasy novel, but a lengthy treatise (also with great illustrations) on how dragons COULD have existed: how they fly, why their flight would mean they don’t leave fossils, the mechanism that allows them to both fly and breath fire, etc. It’s very internally and logically consistent and also a very fun read. I recommend them both.
Yeah, I used to read The Flight of Dragons all the time as a kid, it was awesome.
IIRC (mind you haven’t read it in well over a decade) the reasoning was that the dragon’s stomach produces volatile to aid digestion, fire-breathing, and staying aloft. It’s constantly being produced, and needs to go somewhere when the dragon is at rest; so it seeps out of channels through their scaly hide and drips onto the ground. Gold is ideal because it is resistant to corrosives (unlike stone and dirt) and is softer than other metals. Plus it’s shiny.
volatile acid*
Most likely from the D&D 3.5 Draconomicon.
I’ve always seen dragons as one or another archetype of man. One is man’s lust; man gathers great wealth and holds tight to his trophies, and in Norse Mythology, the lust of wealth, gold and jewels literally turns you into a dragon. The second is the Ouroborosian thread, a symbol for many spiritual paths, but mainly that which is a continuous cycle until man kills the serpent, and becoming the serpent, liken Seth and Apep. Also, what would Dark Age poetry, stories, saints and art be without a heap of dragons to F everything up?
Long time reader, first time commenter.
I sorta study folklore as a hobby, so my knowledge is mainly limited to books I’ve found in Barnes and Noble and on Amazon.com, and a couple of classes at college, and I tend to focus on dragon stories (’cause I like reptiles a lot). The weird thing I’ve noticed is that there’s very few stories where dragons actually kidnap princesses. There are quite a few where princesses or noble women are sacrificed to dragons, like the Cetus part of Perseus’s myth or the story of St. George and the dragon, but none of them seem to suggest that the dragon actively seeks out princesses. It’s more like it’s just convenient for the town to get rid of the women, which… well, kind of makes sense considering that women were essentially considered property in the middle ages.
So, uh, yeah. Do you know of any myths that specifically mention dragons kidnapping or demanding princesses? Or is that just something we’ve gotten from pop culture osmosis?
It’s actually a little bit more complicated. In most stories, involving rescuing princesses from dragons, the act of the dragon itself kidnapping a woman is either non-existent or not described. Many times, it’s people themselves that offer the dragon a sacrifice, as in Li-chi Slays the Serpent, to save themselves, protect their village, or acquire water or food. A hero then comes along and saves them or, in very very few cases, the woman enacts self rescue and saves herself. The idea itself isn’t just limited to dragons either, the monster holding the princess or woman takes many different shapes. The woman, as well, isn’t always a princess, but the general idea is the same.
You’ve listed the two major ones, but there are some others, just off the top of my head. The story of a young man named Ivan fighting a sorcerer and the dragon Gorynich to save the Czar’s daughter (can’t remember what the title of this one is), “Li-Chi Slays the Serpent” is pretty close, and “The Two Brothers” by the Brothers Grimm.
That said, the idea of Dragons kidnapping Princesses has definitely gained more momentum today as a kind of meme, thanks to pop culture. The cut and dry idea of a dragon just taking a princess and hauling her back to its lair is rarely seen in folklore, that has been a product of comedy mostly.
Great comment, I should have probably put some of this info in the blog but I was so tired last night. I’ll add a bit to it this morning
K, did you ever think about dragons in terms of the serpent in Eden? Supposedly the serpent in Eden had legs, and a serpent with legs might look something like a dragon. These stories about giving the dragon something in exchange for something else, then taking back what we gave it seems like an effort to trick the serpent that tricked us, to prove our triumph over the evil the serpent in Eden represents. The gold could represent the knowledge the serpent had, regarding the tree of good and evil and the royal sacrifice could represent a loss of innocence to evil. I’m not sure which story came first, because I haven’t really studied mythology that much, but it’s also possible that the Eden story came from these dragon myths, if they came first. I’m beginning to learn that there are a lot of parallels between Bible stories and earlier myths.
Looking at the broader picture of dragons around the world, you can kind of see how cultures view dragons based on their views of serpents. In European folklore, for thousands of years, snakes have been seen as more negative than positive. However, there were some nature worship cults that focused heavily on the serpent as a symbol.
Christianity took root in Europe and influenced everything there, but Europe also influenced Christianity. The Christian view of the serpent clearly comes from prior folklore indigenous to Europe but it ALSO is likely an influence from those cults in Europe that it was competing with. There’s a lot of symbolism in The Bible that refers to pagan worship going on around the time of its writing over the first 500 years of Christianity’s existence. The snake, it seems, became a symbol of the pagans within the Church.
Anyway, European dragons embodied the fears of European people. Bat wings, a poisonous tail, fiery or poisonous breath, and the body of a serpent (which was now a REALLY scary thing, thanks to the Church) was about as bad as something could get. I’m not entirely sure about whether there was or wasn’t religious symbolism in general dragon myths, but there’s definitely some undertones of stamping out Paganism in the myth of St. George. My instinct on this is to say that your thoughts aren’t entirely on base, it seems unlikely that the general populace would think to include such deep religious symbolism, though if they did that would be incredibly interesting. It could be that they did it unconsciously, or that the Church had some hand in it, but it seems unlikely considering how wide spread these concepts are.
Keep in mind, some of this conjecture, it’s a bit murky looking into all these odds and ends in folklore and I’m only an amateur.
At least the dragons’ fixation with gold is easy enough to trace back to Norse folklore, originating with the tale of Sigurd and Fafnir. Fafnir was transformed from being a man into the shape of a dragon for his greed. His only desire was the accumulation of wealth and thus the gold hoarding. There are probably other tales that influenced people to use this idea in dragon stories, but this one was, and remains, very well known.
Either way, stories of dragons definitely came long before Christianity. The Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda is just one example, and there are older Mesopotamian, Indian, and Asian tales of dragons that could have made their way to Europe long before Christianity was even a twinkle in the Apostles’ eyes. Without a doubt, there has been a lot of back and forth influence from cultures that came in contact with Christianity and vice versa. Serpents and dragons are inextricably tied together in regions all around the world.
Whew, that was a doozy of a comment!
Thanks for the reply. I enjoy your blog because I actually learn something from it. =)
Hey no problem, I love the comments from everyone, it’s totally great to get such intelligent and friendly people posting here all the time! Really makes my day
Okay, good! That answers my question.
I’ve noticed some other trends in western dragon myths, too, like knights dressing up in armor covered with spikes to kill dragons (the Lambton Worm, the Mordiford Wyvern, the Dragon of Wantley) and women being able to tame dragons (the Tarasque, the Mordiford Wyvern, Medea’s role in the whole Argonauts quest). So I found it kind of odd that the one of the biggest trends people think about when it comes to dragons doesn’t really come up often, or at least not in the way people tend to write it.
It definitely works in modern dragon stories, since Western dragons have kind of evolved into a smarter breed of monster than their folkloric ancestors. Now they’ve got the brains to be a bit more active and just steal the girls outright.
So yeah, I find dragon folklore pretty interesting, and your comic’s pretty keen.
In the book, “Song in the Silence” the dragons in it are intelligent creatures that keep themselves to themselves. They’re a bit like man, but with less of a tendency towards cruelty and violence. Anyway, in the book, dragons actually manage to turn the stone of their dens into gold and other precious metals simply by proximity, and they then shape it with their fiery breath to form comfortable bowl-like beds for themselves. It was a take I hadn’t encountered anywhere else, and I found it to be extremely interesting.
Anyway, that set of books brings up some interesting story elements anyway — namely, the romance of a human and a dragon, and their initial understanding that they’re so physically different that their love can be nothing more than emotional. It sounds like such an odd story on its face, but without spoiling anything I can’t really do it justice. It’s interesting and maybe others will find it to be entertaining as well; I liked it because it seems to be one of the few pieces of draconic fiction that breaks from the typical mould of chromatic=bad, metallic=good of fantasy staples.
That, and the weird romance angle was just too… well, weird for me to pass up.
Also cats=draconic descendants, I’m sure of it.
OH MAN….those 20 something strips. People are going to flip when they read them they’re so good.
Also…I lol’d at “tempurpedic got nothin’ on this shi”
THAT HOVERTEXT…oh my god. that hovertext…oh my god
Great pun? Or greatest pun?
it is the KING of puns hahah
This made my day, lol.
What I like about western dragons is that they seem to represent greed incarnate. I like that the Knights (those with political and physical power over others) must constantly do battle with greed itself first and foremost.
princesses are few and far between these days- they should try sleep number beds. those things are magical.
The ugly truth about Western Civilization dragons – Every European royal family tries to connect itself to genealogical line of David – Starting with Adam – Moses – Abraham – Issac – David and ending with Jesus. Mary wasn’t any old errr I mean, young virgin – she was a daughter in the House of David with key ties to England and Europe. So, God himself procreates a child from this line with Jesus. Now Satan – known as the dragon is also looking to have a kid in the Lineage of David. So, He goes around Europe stealing virgin princesses in that effort to have a child.
Dragons are organic spaceships.
They are powered by gems and gold.
They take women back to their planet for the purposes of breeding.
The facts are all there if you just look at it right
I had always though the dragon kidnapped princess for so they can lure in they favorite dinner, ready to cook men in metal. Just heat with your trusty inner fire and then peal away the the metal. Then you have a nice roast knight!
It’s nice to see little K helping the dragon by carrying some gold for it. Heart warming.
the first time i even saw anything consisting a princess being captured by a dragon was in the movie: Shrek, as stupid as that sounds. maybe that is where we hit cultural osmosis
its true that dragons find maidens to be comfortable for sleep…but not quite that way. for instance the ones I’m fond of usually were armor and sword. because they tend to keep the knights away. and cause they be sexy.
Have you ever heard of the book series The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede? The first book, Dealing with Dragons, basically has a princess hire herself out to word as a dragon’s aide, sorting treasure, cooking meals, tidying the cave, etc. all to avoid an arranged marriage. It’s smashing good fun and was one of the most formative fantasy books of my childhood.