And now for a brief reprieve from sacramental metaphysics…

It can take a little bit of time for people who have just met me to figure out when I am being sincere about something. Often, I will say something sarcastically or will talk passionately about an idea that I don’t really believe in as a joke, which can be tough for people who don’t know me to decipher. Eventually people tend to catch on, and my long-time friends will begin to help newbies by giving helpful tips like, “don’t listen to Josh, he doesn’t actually believe what he says, he is just being sarcastic.” Thick veils of sarcasm seem to have become more and more common these days, the many potential reasons for which could be its own long discussion. I do however believe (no seriously this time guys not sarcasm) that it is important for me to able to cut through the veil at any time and be earnest with my thoughts and beliefs when someone asks. The thing is, every once in a while, I have a thought where I myself am unsure if I am being earnest or not.

About a year ago I began to tell people that, “dragons are real,” and to be quite honest, I’m not exactly sure what I mean by that. I hear that and I think, “how can you not know what you mean?” To which myself then thinks in response, “I don’t know, how can anyone understand this guy? He’s thinking to himself about not understanding what he’s thinking.” Then, it’s pretty much all tumbling downhill from there. But at the bottom of that hill is a beat up, crumpled, rolled over little 1989 Toyota pickup truck of a thought. And that thought is that when I say the phrase, “dragons are real,” I am expressing something sincere about what I see in the world. Now I’ve seen some of the newer models of thinking about dragons but to be honest, I don’t care as much for the fancy new 2025 Tundra. A bit too complex and she kind of misses the mark for me. So, let’s hop into the ravine, drag that ’89 pickup of a thought out, and fix her up a bit because she’s a Toyota, so she’s probably still running.

Part 1: Dragons Are Just Like, CHEMICALS and Stuff Man…

Let’s start to take this apart. When I say, “dragons are real,” is that a statement that they are physically or metaphorically real? I will begin with the physical reality of dragons. Famous scientist and narcissist Neil deGrasse Tyson once famously said in an interview about science, “Dragons are not real. They can’t possibly be real because that would be wicked awesome and nothing awesome has EVER HAPPENED. You are just STUFF and CHEMICALS.” He then proceeded to kiss a mirror to prove that in a mirror, you can only kiss yourself on the lips, as well as to show that he is a narcissist. Now, I disagree with Mr. Tyson. I think that wicked awesome things can and do exist. But could a beast as large and ferocious as a dragon have lived on earth? Where did this super cool beast thing go? Well, I have seen a wicked awesome video of a Komodo dragon swallowing a live kid whole (take it easy parents, not THAT kind of kid) ((sorry goat lovers, THAT kind of kid)). Of course, while that’s pretty awesome, that’s still very tame compared to what we conceptualize as dragons. Then again, Mr. Narcissist would tell you that the Tyrannosaurus rex turned into a chicken or something, so if dragons became like the Komodo dragon, I guess they actually did alright for themselves.

In all seriousness, I do have difficulty believing in the physical reality of dragons on the earth. It pains me to say but I do secretly like science and generally trust the work of scientists. They tell us they have no physical evidence for the existence of dragons. From that I would then like to simply say, there is no scientific evidence for the existence of dragons, so they must not be physically real. Some sceptics may say that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” However, I know that phrase was coined by a man who used to talk to his “cousin”, a chimp at the zoo, about how he was still looking for the remains of their great-great-grandfather. Nice chap, but a bit strange and I don’t want to steal his intellectual property. The scant “evidence” in favor of dragons existing bodily I would say includes the ubiquity of dragon imagery across cultures, and even continents. From fighting St. George in Cappadocia to Quetzalcoatl in Mesoamerica, dragons have been depicted all around the grlobe.

Of course, the Bible uses a lot of imagery of dragons and in the book of Job, along with some other scattered verses, describes the leviathan, a massive sea serpent.

 I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame. Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth. In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.

Job 41 v.12-22

The description continues to the end of the chapter where we are told, “On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.” It’s quite the passage, certainly very poetic and filled with metaphors, though this has led to many Christians accepting the leviathan itself as a metaphor. But for whatever reason, I now hope for the existence of the leviathan to be more than just a metaphor. In part, my assertion to others that “dragons are real” is an expression to myself to believe that such beasts can exist bodily in the world. And I think the belief in bodily manifestation is becoming of great importance to me. Perhaps what I have come to dislike about dismissal of the leviathan as just a metaphor God used and not a beast, he created in a body is that I have come to really believe that he works in bodies. He himself is not just a metaphor or a higher spirit. He himself became a body. In a way, dismissal of dragons as only being metaphors of chaos with no bodies is akin (though to a lesser extent) to believing that love himself did not truly come and become a man, Jesus Christ. Our God truly does work in the physical world as he does in the realm of the spirit. Something about that reality pushes me to believe that disorder and evil are more than a spirit as well.

So then, this is my confliction for the physical existence of dragons. Scientists will say, “we have no evidence of such creatures.” I want to believe the scientists, but something remains in my mind. Just as truth and beauty and love are manifested bodily, so too I reason must disorder and ugliness. “Human evil is the manifestation of the ugliness and what the leviathan and other beasts are metaphors for!” I hear other Christians say (though in a high nasally tone that makes them sound ridiculous). Well step back and wipe off your thick rimmed nerd glasses please because the next section is about dragons and metaphors and why that interpretation (and the portrayal of dragons in general) stinks.

Part 2: How to Misunderstand Your Dragons

Before talking about dragons in more abstract and metaphorical terms, I think it’s important to define them more solidly first. So, what is a dragon? Dear reader, let me tell you if you don’t already have an idea about them in your mind it’s going to be very difficult for you when you start to read this article. Dragons are serpent or lizard-like creatures which appear in stories and myths in various forms in many cultures around the world. The most popular form for depictions of dragons in the west are Indo-European style dragons, they are the focus of my thoughts on dragons depicted as metaphors. These dragons are most often depicted with a pair of wings for the ability to fly. A distinction can be made between a true classical dragon and a wyvern. The true dragon has four legs and a pair of wings while a wyvern has only hind legs and wings. Recent depictions of dragons from film/tv such as Game of Thornes and Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit are actually images of wyverns as the front appendages are not separate legs but are part of the beast’s wings. It is worth making the distinction between Peter Jackson’s movie for The Hobbit compared to Tolkien’s book since in the book, Smaug is a true dragon with all four legs. I heard recently that Jackson initially tried to give Smaug four legs but decided against it when he and the editors thought it looked “silly.” I myself have seen the footage of Benedict Cumberbatch writhing about on the floor in a grey skintight jumpsuit and believe the filmmakers actually missed the “silly” exit a few miles back, but that’s show biz.

As far as I can tell, dragons can be classically depicted with fire breath or with some kind of deadly poison/venom. This venom association I would guess comes from their deep association with snakes, making not just their look but also the danger they pose more like that of serpents. What seems to have come recently is the addition of even more elemental breaths for dragons to attack with. The popular DreamWorks franchise How to Train Your Dragon depicts in film a dragon with freezing breath and another which creates an explosive gas. Now, H2TYD (as we in the dragon realist community call it) does do a good job of depicting actual dragons rather than just wyverns. The main hero’s dragon is a proper four-legged beast along with many of the other dragon “species” which appear in the franchise. They still classify some wyverns as dragons but, in this true dragon sparse landscape, we take what we can get. However, H2TYD is one of the worst culprits of what I hate about modern depictions of dragons and how far they are deviated from what dragons really are.

Before I am accused of being a hater let me just say, I am a hater. Before I am accused of being a hater of H2TYD let me just say, I enjoyed watching the movies, I just don’t think they are “cinema” or whatever YouTube video-essayists seem to consider these films. Look… listen, they are fine. They just do the most annoying modern dragon things to a tee. The first thing, the dragons are dogs. They are just big dogs. This is a thing with a lot of kid’s movies. Basically, any animal companion is going to stick out their tongue and wag their tail whether it be a horse or a bear or whatever. In these depictions, dragons are just big ol’ pitties looking for some love. Put a collar around her neck, name her princess, and watch her burn down your entire village. Sure, she’s dangerous but if you train her right, she’ll protect you and never maul anyone. Before I am accused of being a hater of pit bulls let me just say, I am a hater of pit bulls.

Then, the even worse trope that H2TYD and so much of modern fantasy falls into which I hate with a burning passion: dragons are misunderstood. This trope kills me. This trope shoots me dead with a .38 special. This trope shoots me dead with a .38 special in a ditch as I’m trying to get my flipped ’89 Toyota back on its wheels. What is a dragon? Reader, a real dragon is not misunderstood.

In some of my spare time I have been trying to write poetry. I adamantly adored the alliterative epic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and was presently persuaded to write a poem of Saint George and the Dragon in some similar style. While looking for information and adaptations of the story (I was browsing Wikipedia, SO WHAT??) I found out about the story of The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahme. A children’s story published in 1898, The Reluctant Dragon is a reimagining of the story of Saint George and the Dragon. In this version of the story, an old decrepit Saint George rides out to confront the dragon terrorizing the city and discovers the dragon is actually quite nice. He is no threat to the people and simply wishes to live in peace. The kindhearted knight stages a fight with the dragon before all the people of the town, pretending to best the beast and then convincing the town that the dragon has been shown the error of his ways and will no longer be of harm to anyone.

A cute story. One that, by itself, may not be much of an issue to me. But this has become the dominant picture of dragons in modern fantasy. So often the dragon is “not so bad” and “just misunderstood.”. Perhaps the dragon is just doing what it must to survive. It’s not evil, just an animal like any other. Give it what it needs to survive, and the dragon is no threat. This here, this is the depiction of dragons so radically departed from the stories of the past that it annoys me whenever I see it. What is a dragon? To me, dragons are THE evil creature. In fantasy, giants are large and dangerous like dragons, but they are more a metaphor for the danger of the natural world. To look at the example of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the knight who comes to the court of Camelot to challenge the king’s courage is a mountainous man. His green garb gives us a glimpse of great forests. The weapon which he wields is a woodsman’s favored tool, a tremendous and terribly sharp axe. While the giant invites images of mountains, forests, and nature to be conquered, the dragon is a distinctly unnatural beast. While they are still creatures and not spirits like demons, the classical Indo-European dragon is more dangerous and terrifying than nature.

The Bible associates the leviathan and dragons with chaos, a force even greater and older than nature itself. God creates order from the chaos of the seas but creates beasts to fill the sea. Myths from other cultures provide more examples. Tiamat of ancient Mesopotamian religion was a dragon of chaos which was slain by Marduk to create the heavens and earth. Norse mythology gives us Jormungandr, the world serpent, an evil dragon who encircles all of Midgard. Across all these various cultures, dragons are consistently depicted as the ultimate evil creature. Something about them is even greater than the danger of the natural world, setting them as a greater danger than even giants. Along with the symbolism of dragons as beasts of chaos, Indo-European cultures also seem to have all settled on a single cure for dragons. They must be killed. From Saint George to Marduk, Thor, and Beowulf the great legends of these cultures prescribe dragon slaying. No bartering, listening, and understanding them will do.

I will so graciously, humbly, and quietly acknowledge that there is a good lesson being taught by the story of The Reluctant Dragon. The story is about dealing with other people. It teaches that while we may initially be afraid of others, if we act with kindness, we can discover that they are not our enemy and can actually be our friends. This lesson is good and true, but it is true because the dragon in the story is not a real dragon. The dragon is a stand in for a person. It does not symbolize what an actual dragon symbolizes. The actual dragon is not a dog, it’s not just some metaphor for chaos, and it is not misunderstood. The actual dragon is Satan.

and another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diaderns. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world- he was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 12 v.3 & 9

Here is perhaps my hangup on how modern fantasy treats dragons. Dragons are overly humanized and divorced for their long-standing association with real, pure evil. The same has been done with the devil and his demons. Modern stories are obsessed with certain subversions of archetypes. They are desperate for the priest to be an abuser, a knight to be cruel, and for a dragon to be peaceful. They are unwilling to show what a dragon really is, pure uncomplicated evil. I think then that this is what I mean when I say, “dragons are real.” There is an entity which exists that truly is evil. It has looked and beheld the face of God, the source of all life, love, and beauty and it hated him. It hates you. There is a real dragon out there and it hates YOU specifically. Fortunately, while dragons may be real, God is a dragon-slayer

The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Genesis 3 v.14-15