Species: western dragon

A type of dragon portrayed in European mythology. Also known as draco in Latin, draig in Welsh and sometimes called a drake.

They are characterized by the resemblance to lizards—unlike Eastern dragons to snakes—possessing wings in addition to arms/forelegs. Western dragons will usually also have spikes/horns and a body covered in skin or scales, as well as a natural breath power, such as breathing fire or poison. Western dragons sometimes have opposable thumbs and are capable of switching between quadruped and biped locomotion, even as a feral.

Fafnir (of Norse mythology) is considered one of the oldest examples of a Western dragon, and influences many aspects of their design even up to the modern day. The modern examples of a Western dragon include Smaug, Spyro, and Toothless (or Night Fury in general).

In traditions, western dragons have been depicted as malevolent or chaotic in their nature, but have been increasingly depicted as benevolent in modern media. Regardless of whether they are malevolent or benevolent, a near-universal trait is a penchant for collecting piles of things in a lair. In mythology, they are often personifications of chaos, evil, or the unknown, featuring prominently on the edge of old maps and symbols of unforgiving or unexplored environments. They are also popular as heraldic animals in Europe.

Tags about dragons

Named species of dragons
Types of dragons
Common anatomy to dragons
Common actions of/with dragons

Not to be confused with

  • demon - While they can have dragon-like qualities to them, demons are not necessarily dragons.
  • Anthropomorphic snakes, lizards, and eastern dragons
  • Other species with just horns or long_ears/pointy_ears
  • Lore based species classifications that use terms such as "dragon type" from franchises such as pokemon or digimon. Many such species do not resemble dragons at all.

Related:

See also:

The following tags are aliased to this tag: dragon_(europe), dragon_(european), dragon_(west), dragon_(western), europe_dragon, european_dragon, west_dragon (learn more).

This tag implicates dragon, scalie (learn more).

The following tags implicate this tag: dracthyr, light_fury, netherdrake, night_fury, western_dragon_humanoid, western_dragon_taur (learn more).

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