The Dragons of the World

Dragons

 Dragons have been our lives for centuries, influencing each other's culture. DBZ fans should know this one here.

Familiar with this one Zelda Nerds?

They may look different, but Shenron* and Valoo* are both dragons. The word dragon came from the Greek word "δράκων", meaning dragon or water serpent.

Western Dragons

Lets start with where the word dragon came from, Greece

"the first mention of a "dragon" is derived from the Iliad* where Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and an emblem of a three-headed dragon on his breast plate"

-Wikipedia

Now we could probably guess dragons first started in Greece, but no, the term δράκων has already been used for snakes, so we can't be sure. 

In 217 AD, Flavius Philostratus discussed dragons in India in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, meaning before Greece came in touch with dragons, India beat them to it. The description of the Greek dragons goes as follows, "In most respects the tusks resemble the largest swine's, but they are slighter in build and twisted, and have a point as abraded as sharks' teeth" According to a collection of books called On Animals by Claudius Aelianus, he mentions a species of dragons in Ethiopia that hunted elephants. It could grow up to 180 feet, or 54.864 meters and had a lifespan rivaling that of the most enduring of animals. Famous Greek Dragons are the 100 hundred head dragon Ladon and the Hydra.

Then we travel to the Medieval age of Europe,

European dragons are tied with Chinese/Japanese dragons in popularity. These dragons are depicted in mythology and folklore, living in rivers or an underground lair or caves. They are said to be covered in armored or hard hide, rarely described as flying even with leathery bat-like wings. They are said to be malevolent under Christianity and pre-Christian dragons, such as Y Ddraig Goch, the Red dragon of Wales are seen as benevolent.

Most European dragons are evil, exceptions in Welsh folklore. Its has some Greek influence and partly Germanic.

Slavic dragons are different in their own ways, they have similarities, but are mostly Russian, Bulgarian, Polish and Consortia of origin. The three head dragon, Zmey Gorynych, is an example.

South and East Asia

Now, We head to the other side of the world, and the largest Continent, Asia, mainly South and East Asia.

We start with Ancient India.

Vedic Religion states that Vritra, a Asura and naga* or dragon-like creature that was the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. Flavius Philostratus, yes the same guy up there a few paragraphs, wrote that, according to Apollonius of Tyana India was highly infested by dragons, which is obviously not true since India isn't in flames and that in India belief. Nobody is sure how he got the idea. Vritra has three heads like Zmey Gorynych 

Persian dragons go by the name of Aži Dahāka, modern Persian, azhdahā means dragon. They appear as banners of war. Persian believe baby dragons are the same colour of their mother's eyes(How cute) 

Interesting mother, must be those rare types with two different eyes colours.

Anyway, on to East Asia Dragons. The most recognized dragon tied with European Dragons.

Chinese dragons and Japanese are similar, both have long, elongated bodies, scales, wingless, associated with rainfall and bodies of water. Chinese Zodiac Calendars show the dragon as the fifth animal. If you went to China, you could see dragons pretty much everywhere(not as living things).

Bhutan made the dragon, Druk(Thunder Dragon), a national symbol of their country. 

Manipur has an interesting one, its has a Pakhangba, a mythical hybrid dragon of a deity of the Meithei people preceding Hinduism in the region. It looks like a Chinese Dragon, except with lion legs and no mane.

Vietnamese people are, according to an ancient creation myth, descendants of a dragon and a fairy(uh).  Anyway, like the Chinese, Vietnamese dragon are bringers of rain and represent the symbol yang*, universe, growth, life and existence. Not much is known about the Vietnamese dragon due to the fierce changes of history with the sinicization of the Nguyễn Dynasty.

The inspirations of dragons might have came from many animals, such as crocodiles, spitting cobras and skeletons of large sea mammals and dinosaurs. You readers may have heard of the Komodo Dragon, a giant lizard that lived solely in the Indonesian Islands, Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Padar. This creature is a beast, poisonous saliva that it drools constantly and may infected wounds of its prey using its curved claws. Its hunting tactics goes as follows. First, find and wound prey, making sure it infects the prey with saliva, second, leave it alone to run away allowing the poison to kill it, third, use scent sensing tongue to find dead prey.The dinosaur version of this animal is even worse, and may have the strongest possibility to be what inspired the dragons, it had napalm like saliva, scorching the things it touch with saliva. Prey that may have been fossilized might have made people that found it think that dragons did this.

But we may never know if they truly exist, for some things can't be explain by science. Anyway, all credit goes to Wikipedia and those who filled its pages. Credit for pictures goes to their respective owner.

Word section

Shenron: The dragon of Dragon Ball Z, he grants one wish to he who find the Dragon Balls.

Valoo: An NPC from Legend of Zelda, he appears in Wind Waker as the guardian of Ruto Tribe, sitting atop a volcano, giving a feather to the Ruto child that climbs to the top. Tip: Use his tail to fight the Boss of Dragon Roost Island. Grapple it.

IIiad: A book by the Greeks

Naga: Serpent, not that thing from Twilight Forest.

Yang: In Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese belief, the yingyang symbol is used to represent the spiritual being of every thing in the universe.