Let's ask some questions about what is actually going on here:
1. Why does the dragon even want the princess?
2. What does he do with her while she is with him?
3. Why are there hardly any female dragons in lore?
And finally...
4. What is a dragon?
Let's start with the first question. Why does the dragon even want the princess? If there is one thing we associate dragons with, it's hoarding. They love to just gather up all the shiny things in the world and put them in one single spot. And what do they do? They sleep on it. Smaug from "Lord of the Rings" is a fantastic example of this. He didn't have a princess though. I can only imagine this was because there were none to have in the area.
Dragons probably like princesses for the same reason they like jewels and gold. They are generally virgins and untouched. Why not add it to the collection? If a dragon can see the beauty in a ruby, I'm sure they can see it likewise in a human beings.
But what does he actually do with her when she is with him? That was my second question. Here we may be getting into a disturbing area. Although I am unsure if any sexual contact ever took place--mainly because of an obvious size difference--the concept of it is very plausible. There's no reason for a dragon to do anything like that with inanimate treasure, but there very well could be a sexual attraction to a beautiful princess.
Fairy tales do not often go into what happens between dragon and princess. Most stories will either show her languishing away in a cage or trapped between his body and his tail. She could simply be considered a pet, but most of these stories generally focus on the prince or other type of hero going out to save her. As most people who write and tell stories tend to be somewhat prudish, it is reasonable that the relationship between the dragon and the princess could be a sexual one. Otherwise what would be the point of abducting an attractive woman?
So why is the prince never abducted by a female dragon? Where are the females anyways? I'm sure they exist. In fact, I sometimes wonder if some of the princesses are being abducted by female dragons as well. But none of them want princes. Men are not really beautiful. There's no reason to put them anywhere. Let's face it: men are rugged beasts who were born to go about fighting and killing things! A dragon looks at a prince and says, "Ew." Then he looks as the princess and little hearts float around above its head.
So a dragon kidnapping a prince would be a very silly thing. I'd actually wonder what is wrong with that particular dragon. Where did he come from? Why is he staring so creepily at that man? Why does he have a set of little human-sized dresses nearby. Oh no. No! Not that! WHY???!!!
What is a dragon? Very likely this is another dragon creature of old. Demons are basically hybrid spirits mixed with some sort of animal or another organic substance. In this case, probably dinosaurs. The difference is that the dragon is intelligent enough to recognize what beauty is. Demons have a long history of sexual misconduct. It makes perfect sense that they would want to steal away princesses to do whatever in the quiet of their hoard.
You can imagine how scary these greedy creatures were. They were huge, had massive power, and had no qualms about terrorizing others for their own benefit. No wonder there were people who went out to slay them. Nevertheless, the dragon became a cornerstone of popular fairy tale stories. Even to this day we discuss them and talk about their lore. Dragons will never truly go away. They have gone down in history as one of the most exciting and interesting villains of all time.
Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Golly, I sure hope so! In any case, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Rawr!
The REAL "dragons" were dinosaurs. Angels are called "serpents" and "dragons" and are of a celestial sort. The stories of the dragon taking "daughters of men" is probably angels taking women. The Watchers did it in Genesis and the Book of Enoch. Satan did it with Eve, Olympia and probably other women. The legend probably hearkens to the Watchers, who "saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." These "dragons" did not ask. They TOOK what they wanted. They took the precious daughters of Man, the race of the King.
ReplyDeleteDragons are pretty commonplace in legends. They HAD to be real. There have been anomalies in fairy tales that I have believed in that had less recurrence then this. Dragons are all over the damn place. Yes, they were real and they wanted women!
DeleteFascinating, indeed you don't really hear about any female dragons ancient lore. I could see why, the very masculine nature of it all taking what they desire only to have it as a trophy. That's the difference in being Human and other animalistic or Demonic beings, we desire but humanity is the choice of not indulging. To become like a dragon would be the choice of giving up your soul. By the way the thought of a man being abducted by a dragon was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteIt's hilarious because it isn't true. People have to force these things to make them real. Remember the female dragon from Shrek? Keep in mind that the movie series was a comedy.
DeleteThese tales tend to focus on a hero overcoming the dragon. Though powerful and intelligent, the creature is a mere obstacle to be surmounted. Then, the hero receives his reward in the form of the princess.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Don!
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