Types of Dragons

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There are many types of dragons throughout world history, myth, legend and literature. Collected on this page are some of the most recognisable types.

The Compendium

Please note that the Chinese and Japanese have many types of dragons that relate to specific events, places or concepts in their societal philosophy. Rather than reproduce those here, please see the Eastern Dragons page instead.

Dragonet

Tracing their origins back to Middle-Ages era Switzerland, the dragonet is a small variant of the more traditional western dragon, possessing the same legs, claws and wings structure, as well as the ability to breathe fire.

Despite being considerably smaller than their brothers, the dragonets were no less fierce or less powerful, hunting in packs in the high mountainous regions.

Drake

An English word for dragon, descended from Anglo-Saxon and Latin, the term drake applies to the specific type of angry, flying, fire-breathing, bloodletting dragon that pervades the old stories of villages left burning in ruins after a violent attack.

The firedrake also shares kinship with the ice-drake, a variant of this beast that was said to have breath of ice and snow and could freeze and shatter its foes.

Gargoyles

A type of dragon that came to light through the story of La Gargouille, a reptilian sea serpent that terrorized the village of Rouen on the river Seine in France.

Hydra

Represented most famously in Greek myth, this dragon is usually wingless and rarely breathes fire. Its most distinguishing characteristic is its many heads, which, when severed will grow back two-fold. They are believed to have one immortal head in the center of the other heads.

Lindworm or Lindwurm

A wingless cousin of the Wyvern that would grow to large sizes and consume cattle, the Lindworm is most common in Scandinavian and German legends, which tell of Princesses rescued from their coils and of Princes who appear as grotesque lindworms but are really handsome humans beneath their layers.

The distinction between Wyvern and Lindworm is a subtle one, but is most commonly delineated by the wings; Wyverns have them whereas Lindworms do not. Both types of dragon may have two legs, but as one might expect, lindworms frequently have none.

Worms, Wurms or Wyrms

Representing a class of Old English and Germanic dragon legends, they are thought of as the distant ancestors of the modern western dragon. They would lair deep within the earth, frequently protecting precious metals and gems and were known to breathe fire.

Their name comes originally from the Old Germanic word wurm, which found its way into Old English as wyrm and into modern English as worm. The draconic worm, however, is easily distinguished from the common garden worm by its steel-hard dragon scales, massive size and ability to regenerate or stitch its disparate parts together if cleaved.

Wyverns

These reptilian creatures are often regarded as cousins to the traditional dragon. They usually have only two legs and cannot breathe fire, and are said to possess a cat-like intelligence and temperament.

Bibliography

http://www.sommerland.org/ondragons/races/races_european.html
http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/dragons.htm
http://northstargallery.com/gargoyles/aboutgargoyles.htm