Trope Talk: Dragons

"My ancestors sent me a lizard?" "Hey, I'm a dragon, DRA-GON, I don't do that tongue thing." does the tongue thing

Ancient Mythology: Themes of storm gods killing dragons Me: Is that why dragons in Dark Souls are weak to lightning damage?

I love how portrayal of dragons turned from "basically a god" into "an oversized huggable reptile"

The real reason dragons are so popular globally is because dragons are cool

Dragons: Exist Storm Gods: So anyways, I started blasting-

it's a crime they're extinct

Dragon: exists Storm God: "Finally a worthy opponent, our battle will be legendary!"

I love how Fire Emblem essentially uses all possible dragon tropes and roles. Dragon hero? Check Dragon villain? Check Divine dragon? Check Demonic dragon? Check Apocalyptic dragon? Check Nuisance dragon? Check Human-like dragon? Check Animalistic dragon? Check Dragon-shifter? Check Dragon jewelry? Check Dragon riding? Check Dragon banging?... C-check

I think it’s cool that basically every culture saw a reptile and decided “what if it could fly and do magic that’d be sick as hell”

Someone: "Big lizard that probably flies." People all over the world all throughout history: " YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO "

Seeing as dragons can range from nigh-omniscient to mindless, can appear in a practically uncountable number of ways, and the consistent through-line of their portrayals is that they're incredibly powerful, I'm putting forth the thesis that dragons are Lovecraftian eldritch beings that decided to look more fashionable at the cost of not being able to melt someone's frontal lobe just by existing

I always thought gold was a dragon's equivalent to twigs and sticks to make comfortable beds for them like how twigs and sticks are to birds.

"I'm punk, so I must rebel" "I'm asian, so I must like math" "I dye my hair crazy colors, so I must be looking for attention" "I'm a dragon, so I must be defeated by a storm-god"

Dragons: Exist Storm gods: and I took that personally

In Korean folklore, there are 'near-dragon' entities called 'Imugi's. When a serpent lives for a hundred years, it becomes an imugi, which has the ability to bring storms and waves. An imugi must survive another thousand years and earn the 'Yeouiju' and ascend to become a dragon without any mortals watching it. Most Imugis are depicted as nice and helpful, but there are some 'evil' imugis in korean folklore. For example, an imugi lived for 1000 years and found the Yeouiju and when it was finally ascending to the sky, a mortal saw it ascending (which makes him turn back to an imugi), and it obviously became mad and killed the mortal. The 'evil turned' imugis become monsters called 'Gangcheori's and cause drought and fire (kinda similar to the flame breathing dragons) Imugis that succeed in ascending become dragons and become immortal.

A spider/insect-based dragon is actually a sick concept.

Ok but using a tiny DRAGON as a weapon is the most metal thing ever, and of course it came from the people that did blood sacrifices

Red: "He's a dragon! He's a dragon! You're a dragon! I'm a dragon! Are there any other dragons I should know about?" Toothless: "Meow"

Dragons as cats: Stares at viking leader, unblinking for a solid minute, his paw outstretched, watching the viking leader keep saying "Noooooo! Don't you do it!" as the Dragon mimes knocking the lower-ranked viking off a cliff

There is one example of dragon riding in folklore. The Romanian concept of the Scholomance was a black magic school taught by the devil. One of the graduates would be chosen to become Weathermaster, riding a dragon to control the weather. This idea was adapted into the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik, minus the devil and the dragon. R.I.P. Weather Dragon. Also storms and dragons...again.