are dragons evil?

[Demona]

Hope this is fine to make a new topic...the others were towards the bottom of the page here. 

I don't believe in dragons, all they are to me is fantasy creatures from stories. Cool nevertheless. I know the medieval European ones were portrayed as monsters, but the Asian kind are something of good luck. What do you think a dragon is?

[Thundergod]

possibly a culmination of human fears. giant lizards maybe, dinasours who like crocidiles survived the ages but later died out. machines created by man to breath fire perhaps. or the devil himself. there are so many things we do not yet know.

[Demona]

Humans were not yet around when dinosaurs lived, so unless we're talking bones discovered, then who knows. As far as devils go, and that sort of thing, I don't really believe they have an appearance at all, so that's just using imagination.

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

I copied this from another post but it applies here equally well.

From a mythological stand point, each particular region had it's own version of a dragon.  There are some commonalities between them though. 

Most are seen as a combination of creatures, the Middle East thought of them as Head and tail of a serpent, front part of a lion and hind legs of a falcon... In East Asia they are a combination of the horns of a deer, head of a camel, carp scales, tiger feet and eagle claws
All are high symbolic: European and Middle Eastern traditions viewed them as the opposite of man or completely un-human; while the Asian lands viewed them in several different ways, both good and bad
All viewed them as powerful (albeit sometimes fearful!)

I would go on to say that it seems plausible that there existed some form of large creature that struck awe into man in every area of the globe.  I think that they were called 'dragons' out of a lack of any other definition.  I also think that, like all camp fire tales, became exagerations of the truth.   

In three hundred years, I would be interested in knowing what our descendants will think of our attitudes towards dragons.  Seeing all the tatoos on people, neon signs hanging in shops, etc.  How humorous would it be if this was a big practicle joke started in the Babylon (oldest version of a dragon I'm aware of: Marduk VS Tiamat) to scare little children into being good and now look where we are at!!!

ZRY

ZRY

[Demona]

I copied this from another post but it applies here equally well.

From a mythological stand point, each particular region had it's own version of a dragon.  There are some commonalities between them though. 

Most are seen as a combination of creatures, the Middle East thought of them as Head and tail of a serpent, front part of a lion and hind legs of a falcon... In East Asia they are a combination of the horns of a deer, head of a camel, carp scales, tiger feet and eagle claws
All are high symbolic: European and Middle Eastern traditions viewed them as the opposite of man or completely un-human; while the Asian lands viewed them in several different ways, both good and bad
All viewed them as powerful (albeit sometimes fearful!)

I would go on to say that it seems plausible that there existed some form of large creature that struck awe into man in every area of the globe.  I think that they were called 'dragons' out of a lack of any other definition.  I also think that, like all camp fire tales, became exagerations of the truth.   

In three hundred years, I would be interested in knowing what our descendants will think of our attitudes towards dragons.  Seeing all the tatoos on people, neon signs hanging in shops, etc.  How humorous would it be if this was a big practicle joke started in the Babylon (oldest version of a dragon I'm aware of: Marduk VS Tiamat) to scare little children into being good and now look where we are at!!!

ZRY

ZRY

Head of a lion, tail of a serpent...haven't you just described a Chiamara? (sp?)

[Moloch]

A 'Chimaera', had three heads usually. Therein lies the difference.

[Demona]

But certainly some dragons could have had three heads also, couldn't they?

[Moloch]

Yes, but all three heads would have been dragon heads. On a Chimaera, each head is of a different creature entirely.

[Seth]

Let me go ahead and say this and sound like an idiot:

Dragons ARE real, they DID exist, and no one can tell me otherwise!

Ok, now that that's done, I don't think all dragons are evil.  If they existed, God made them. (Yes, I'm Christian).  If God made them, then they were intended for a good purpose.  If they were half as intelligent as people make them out to be, then there's a good likelihood that Satan got involved in the mix and corrupted them just like humans were corrupted.

Think i've thought about this too long? 

[Moloch]

Indeed.

[Thundergod]

not long enough, check out revelations a little. im not highly religious but i know enough to know that in Christian culture and folk lore dragons are considered evil, and servants or demons/Satan himself. u should think about it more.

[Seth]

*snorts* i have my theory on that one.

It's medieval Europe. (or whenever revelation was written). what is the one thing everyone fears? Dragons! What would you use in a symbolic story to tell people that they should fear this particular thing/person? A dragon!

Revelation uses symbolism to tell the story.  Considering how long its been since then, God knew they wouldn't be able to understand tanks and missiles and the like.  So I let that apply to the dragon too.

[Moloch]

Revelation was written BEFORE even the Roman Empire began its rise to power. That being the case, no, dragons were not used in that capacity. Please, try again.

[Raziel]

make a dragon smilly! rawr.



Dragons symbolize power and authority right?( the teeth denoting its fierceness. the fire its nature and arrogance.)

Therefore when it was used in the book of revelation, wouldn't it be plausible that they were different heads(leaders) to a giant powerful, influential organizartion/ entity?
(conspiracy theorists rejoice!!!)
Like a religion of some kind or maybe another type of ideology?

*cough*USA*cough*Roman ChathO*cough* pizza HUTTTT!!!!

[Moloch]

It's Starbucks, not Pizza Hut. Stop picking on the pepperoni providers!!

Seriously though, that is more or less what is meant by it in the Bible. Keep in mind though, that the Bible has been corrupted many times over and in my honest opinion should not be taken at face value any more.

Seth, while you adore Dragons and such, keep in mind that they are not the same creatures with the same purpose in all cultures. The Western Dragon, as many of us know them, is a ferocious killing machine, something to be feared. In the Eastern traditions though, it was lucky being, and was also represented as spirits of the Air, Land, and Water. Take also into account that allegedly, dragons were originally a trick played on sojourning knights. Many "baby dragons" alleged to have been brought back by knights after the parent had been vanquished were nothing more than embalmed monkeys.

There is no evidence one way or the other as to the truth of their existence. If you believe in them, then you do just as Christians and many others do - you believe on faith alone.