A dragon is a large reptilian creature, often, but not necessarily, carrying wings and covered in scales. It usually has a tail and sometimes has the ability to breathe different kinds of elements, sometimes from multiple heads – three to seven heads being common numbers of heads, if the dragon has more than one.
Types[]
Body[]
Some dragons have fur, feathers, or even leathery skin, contrary to the common scales.
Feet[]
There are other dragons in which have two feet, which are considered a sub-species called wyverns, while others have four. Some dragons also have webbed feet to help them swim in water.
Wings[]
While it is common for dragons to have wings, a significant number of dragons do not have them, in particular the Asian dragons.
Abilities[]
Flight[]
Many types of dragons have wings, feathered or membrane. However, both the ones with wings that cannot carry their full weight as well as the ones that do not have wings, may use their magical abilities to stay in air. Some dragons will only float short distances instead of flying.
Dragon Breath[]
One of the major traits of a dragon is that it has a "dragon breath" where it can breathe fire, spew water, spray toxic venom, shoot frost breath, or some other elemental ability. Depending on the type, acquiring control over this ability may take a while.
Examples of Dragons[]
- In Beowulf, the hero becomes a king after defeating two monsters that plagued a kingdom, but while he was king, a dragon starts to attack a village and Beowulf had to kill it in order to protect his people, at the cost of his own life.
- There is a story simply called 'The Ice Dragon' where the dragon lived nearby a village, but the people didn't trust it until the village was attacked by other dragons with bandit riders. That's when the ice dragon fearless flew into battle to protect the village.
- In the Disney movie known as Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent is the sinister mistress who curses Princess Aurora. As the movie reaches a suspenseful point, she transforms into a dragon.[1]
- In the movie from Disney referred to as Mulan, Mushu is a dragon who has a close friendship with the protagonist. Much like Spike from My Little Pony, he is unable to fly due to his lack of wings.[2]
- In the video game series Spyro, dragons are a very common species. They are either bipedal or quadruped, as it varies. They all have a power that is based on the color of their scales (i.e. Red is fire, yellow is electricity, blue is ice, etc.), and purple dragons, like the protagonist, Spyro, can control other powers that normal dragons can't, and even time to a certain extent.