Dragons

[danrak]

Many cultures all over the world have tales and legends of dragons. Do you think that it is possible dragons to have existed? How did all these cultures come with up with dragons if they didn't exist?

[DJDizzy1]

Interesting question it would be great if they did. Most of my favorite fairy tales involved dragons. Good point though because most fairy tales involve real animals so why would they make up the dragon?

I for one am still rooting for a unicorn.:p

[Melos]

I love dragons. I think they are just fabulous beasts - in all their mythly incarnations. However, I really don't think they were truly real animals. There is no scientific evidence - not only of dragons themselves, but of any six-limbed creatures (other than insects). Besides, dragons span a huge scope of physical appearance.

[danrak]

I love dragons. I think they are just fabulous beasts - in all their mythly incarnations. However, I really don't think they were truly real animals. There is no scientific evidence - not only of dragons themselves, but of any six-limbed creatures (other than insects). Besides, dragons span a huge scope of physical appearance.

That is true about the scientific data. But there have been tales before of creatures that science said didn't exist, until they stumbled upon them one day. They are still finding new dinosours. They have found stuff like the Giant Squid which was thought to be a thing of tall stories. Another great example is for many of years people thought Troy was just part of Homers imagination, until it was found.

I wonder if it is a matter of time until science may stumble upon the bones of one. I wonder how it would change the way history is viewed.

[doodlebug]

Dragons are rather fascinating. It is possible, like many other elements of myths and legends, dragons are based on a real animal or possibly insects but expanded on to make larger than life. Let's face it, these stories would be rather ho-hum if they were mere documentaries of life at the time. Something had to be added to make them memorable, exciting, and worth telling over and over without putting the audience to sleep.

[LilOne1989]

That would be so wild to find proof they existed. But I'm sure they are just one more way that early civizations used stores to explain things that either they couldn't or didn't want to explain otherwise.

[tater03]

I collect dragons. I would love for them to find actual proof that they existed. I think they are awesome creatures.

[Melos]

Hey - I'd definately love it if they found evidence too! However, I still doubt it. Dragons were even popular players in stories up to medieval and renaissance times. That is not that long ago to have actually found some evidence.

[jak80]

I really think that Dragons were just made up creatures from long ago. I am wondering if people passed down experiences with some kind of dinosaur like things that were then made into dragons. I would love to think that they were real, but it just doesn't seem likely.

[DJDizzy1]

Most dragons from stories I have read are huge creatures. Something like that walking around you think somebody would see, especially if they were flying. Plus if they breathed fire it would be kind of easy to track down.

[palefrost]

I think in prehistoric times a creature like it could have existed. Although i dont know about the breathing fire part. I bet it could have screamed or something else out of the mouth though..lol.

[Plumley]

I don't think dragons ever existed but it's kind of a shame if they didn't. Of course, I can say that, since there's no huge, fierce, fire breathing animal gobbling up my flocks. Imagine if you had to actually co-exist with dragons!

[LilOne1989]

Can you imagine what would happen if they actually found a skeleton/fossil of a dragon. That would be totally insane I would really like to see that, know it won't happen but you can always dream.

[Plumley]

Can you imagine what would happen if they actually found a skeleton/fossil of a dragon.

Has anyone seen the television program about just that? It was done in the form of a documentary, as though a skeleton really had been found. There were reconstructions and experts with theories and everything, just as if it had actually happened. Very interesting.

[Melos]

I saw that documentary - on the Discovery channel. It was really well done and, while some of the ideas were a bit far-fetched, it was neat to see how they could have existed. Lots of people thought it was real though.

[Starlily]

I have a wonderful children's book called 'Dragon', that we read as a favorite bedtime story when the children were younger... I also find it interesting that so many cultures had the same creatures, in slightly different variations... like dragons and unicorns... even though they were imagined to look quite different, depending on which type of the world the stories were from, there were still similarities. I think it is quite possible that they were based on early creatures (possibly dinosaurs or lizards) that were then enlarged for fireside stories, which were an important part of life back in the days before all of our modern entertainments.

[danrak]

Has anyone seen the television program about just that? It was done in the form of a documentary, as though a skeleton really had been found. There were reconstructions and experts with theories and everything, just as if it had actually happened. Very interesting.

I saw that too. Very well done I thought. Some of the things they said may be alittle extreme, but it really made it seem real.

[htmlmaster]

Well, they definitely don't exist. However, I remember hearing somewhere that it makes sense that so many civilizations have them in legends. Dragons have to do with primitive humans' form of fear. The main human-killers back in the old days were birds, snakes, and giant cats. Put them all together, add some fire (which humans obviously thought was divine), and you get a dragon.

[rubybeetle]

I missed this documentry, hopefully they'll show it again it sounds interesting. I love dragons, especially water and fire dragons. I'll believe they were real, just to keep the magic going.... :)

[TSA]

I wish I would've caught this particular documentary as well. But dealing with the subject of whether they were real or not...I agree with Palefrost. There might have been an unknown dinosaur that might have resembled one (minus the wings of course)...But wasn't actually one.

The legend/myth of the dragon obviously was inspired in some way by another creature.

[Veles]

In Macedonian folk stories there are two names for dragon: zmej (read zmey) and lamja (read lamya). Lamya is more archaic and more prevalent in folklore.
The lamya is usually evil, it kidnapps girls and holds them againsts their will (until some brave shepperd saves them and fights it off). It more rearly does any real damage - like destroying cities and villages and things like that.


Anyway, I find the fact that many nations in the world have dragons in their folklore quite interesting, and even though they are sometimes quite different in their representation, most traits are still common.

[duck]

I read in a Science book once and I found that scientists think they found a type of "dragon", an extinct dinosaur that "breathed" fire. :eek:

BTW, you may want to check out this dragons of the world page: BBC - h2g2 - Dragons (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A152317)

[htmlmaster]

Would it be really small, really old, and stored in a little glass case? I think I've seen the same thing. I'm pretty sure it's at the Smithsonian.

[TinyStar]

There is always a little truth to myth and legend, I believe. Perhaps the dragons weren't a huge as legend tells but there are a lot of things that we imagine bigger to make them seem more impressive.

[aprilcanadian]

well we have komodo dragons!

perhaps dragons were dinosaurs that managed to stick around after the catastrophic event that killed most of them...a few straglers left behind.

i think it is interesting more then one cultre from far reaching areas had dragon legends.

[htmlmaster]

perhaps dragons were dinosaurs that managed to stick around after the catastrophic event that killed most of them...a few straglers left behind.

That's very unlikely. Firstly, "a few straglers" would have to be a lot more than a few for every human to see them. Second, we would also have seen fossils from 60 million years ago till about 15,000 years ago, which obviously isn't the case.

[Laurel Tavington]

I'm not certain if the giant flying reptiles that we have come to associate with dragon lore ever truly existed, but the Komodo Dragon is considered to be the only "true" dragon alive. As for the reason why many cultures have draconian legends, the simple answer is cultural drift. This is, if you don't already know, when one culture comes into contact with another and aspects from these cultures are shared. In other words, on culture, like the Chinese, had stories about dragons; and when they came into contact with other culture (Japanese, Indian, Islamic) through trade, warfare, or migration these stories were picked up by the other cultures and spread farther. Eventually variations of such stories exist in many different counties, and new ones are created.

[ThoughtOnFire]

I think it is fascinating as a mythological creature that Dragons breathed Fire. It is commonly just overlooked because we all know the they Breathe Fire. But think about how cool it actually is! All animals shy away from Fire except humans who were given Fire by Prometheus or another trickster of mythology. But Dragons...! They Breathed Fire! They were Masters of It!

That would be amazing if evidence of Dragons was uncovered somewhere. Though I personally believe they are representations of Kundalini! In the Mythologies of Mesoamerica we have the Feathered Serpents which could have been a Prototype for Dragon Lore, and then there is the Caduceus which has appeared there. Which seemingly represents the Ida - Pingala - and Sushumna of The Yoga wisdom tradition(s).

Still further with personal ideas: The Sacrum bone, which is last to burn in Fire, the Sacred Bone, where the Kundalini rests in three and half coils, actually looks similiar to a Dragons Head...with the Spine being the Dragon's Tail.

Just some thoughts :)

[Rascaduanok]

I am wondering if people passed down experiences with some kind of dinosaur like things that were then made into dragons.I wonder if people unearthing dinosaur bones at first ‘reconstructed’ their shapes incorrectly and created some sort of dragon–like creature from them.

But legends do persist of dragons. I think they have entered our imagination and culture now, and like werewolves or vampires, will remain fertile ground for discussion, reverence, belief, and so on.

[Swordmaster]

Hm, dragons, truly magnificent creatures. To soar the seemingly endless skies with such freedom and grace, it would be a majestic picture. Though some may lash out against such comments as what will come from my mouth, I speak the truth of my mind.

Logically, how can dragons be possible?

Commonly thought, a dragon could most likely be related to or even an actual pre-historic beat like a dinosaur. Yes, a 'dragon' can indeed exist as a dinosaur or other such being with similar qualities, but we have no true proof; well, none that I know of.

By human nature, people tend to twist facts subconsciously, this in truth is proven with fact. Though many religious believers may hate for my next few words, I believe it should be said. Ever since humanity's early and primal days, we have striven to 'define' the 'undefinable'. Such instances as sudden illness and miracles of life were more than likely interpreted as 'the will of God/the will of the gods'. Now, if our pre-historic ancestors were to see some kind of large reptile with striking resemblances to a dinosaur... what do you suppose we, humans, would do? We would warp such a feared creature into something even worse. Though, depending on the person, the shape and form of this creature may be warped as well as their standing.

Some perceive dragons as enormous creatures which are blood-thirsty killers, while others think of them as gentle guardians of their designated element (whether it be water, fire, lightning, ice, or mother earth). Nagas, wyrms, wurms, wyverns, dragons, they all share striking resemblances to each other, truthfully, I think these legendary creatures are merely different perceptions of the same universal beast.

Though, there are things which science cannot explain, those things are what I'd like to believe are magic, surreal, special. Dragons, truly enigmatic.

[Eragon]

of course they are real! there is evidence of them all around us like deer in trees with missing limbs or scorched grass and most of all there not beast they're their own race most of them are more intellegent than all humans! if you wanna know more just tell me