Taming the Terror: The Evolution of Dragon Lore and the Decline of Judeo-Christian Morality

Sorry for the long essay! Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this!

Joseph McNerney

Eng 102

Cline

3 November, 2011

Taming the Terror:

The Evolution of Dragon Lore and the Decline of Judeo-Christian Morality

            Who would have thought? Looking back over the millennia of storytelling, it seemed unlikely that one of the fiercest of all beasts should have become so tame. The dragon, oldest foe of humanity, has in recent days undergone a metamorphism in the West and is now more of a neutral or even friendly creature. Dragons have cease to be the evil, wise, ultra powerful monsters of old. That generation appears to have completely died out and new one has risen to power. The dragons of today are sometimes still as wise and definitely as powerful, but they are no longer evil per se, that is they no longer are consistently the archenemies, the nemesis  of man. The cause of this is something that while on the surface seems unconnected, is really deeply fused with dragon lore. The cause is Judeo-Christian culture, or the lack thereof. The more connected we are to Christian culture, the more sinister and evil the dragon becomes. On the contrary, as we move away from being a nearly homogenous population of deep rooted Christians, the dragon takes on a much more appealing, majestic, and even a friendly role. In mathematical terms we could say that the dragons reputation is inversely proportional to the degree of Judeo-Christian influence in society. Hence this phenomena is restricted to Western culture, that has been most heavily influenced by Christianity. Eastern traditions have a completely different set of dragon lore and symbols that will not be discussed here. The trend in Western literature, though, is both as startling as it is obvious.

            While we normally think of dragons as four legged reptilian monsters with wings and smoking nostrils, its origins come from the snake. Michael O’ Brien writes in his book A Landscape with Dragons, “Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, Roman, Aztec and some Oriental mythologies are full of gargantuan reptiles, and their nature is almost always depicted as malicious or sly.” (Obrien 30) Often in ancient literature the words dragon, serpent, and snake are used synonymously. The snake in ancient Greek and Roman literature was generally associated with evil, harm, and destruction. Take for example of the description of the evil god Typhon, the son of Gaia, “ He had on his shoulders a hundred fearsome snake heads, all with black tongues and eyes flashing fire, and these heads were able to imitate every conceivable sound - the bellow of a great bull, the roar of a lion, the baying of a pack of hounds, the hissing of serpents.” (March 47) The strength of Typhon can hurl mountains and its powers of imitation and cunning are great. In numerous other places where snakes are seen, they are generally bringers of evil.  The Gorgon Medusa’s head was covered with snakes, any of which could turn someone into stone. Scylla, the sea monster from the travels of Odysseus, had six snake heads large enough to carry off a man which, of course, she did. Their deaths by her are described in gruesome detail. So the snake even in ancient times was generally seen as dangerous, though not necessarily evil. There are places where snakes and dragons are used as guardians and messengers. Still, heroes like Jason and Hercules slayed these serpents and obtained their treasure. It was in the Jewish culture, the one that would eventually through Christianity dominate all of Europe, that serpents were seen as consistently diabolic. In the books of the bible there is evidence of serpents and dragons everywhere. In Genesis, the very first book, it says “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” (The Holy Bible, 3:1) It goes on to tell thestory of the fall of man, brought about by, interestingly enough, a serpent. The idea of evil being personified by a serpent continues throughout the Bible right into the book of Revelation with the portent of the huge red dragon. To the Jews and Chrisitians then, dragons were more than just a menace. They were the menace. Consequently, as Chrisitianity spread throughout Europe, this concept went with it. Thus, much Medieval literature that contains dragons portrays them as the apex of evil.

            Beowulf, the great epic poem, is one such piece. Written between the sevnth and tenth century, it has become well known as one of the great epic poems about monsters and chivalrous deeds. Our focus  is towards the end of the poem where Beowulf meets the dragon in combat. The poem relates how this is not animal creature that they contend with, but a vicous and above all concious monster that greedily guards its treasure hoard. From the poem itself, at the point in which some person took a cup from the dragon hoard, it says,”So the guardian of the mound, the hoard-watcher, waited for the gloaming with fierce impatience; his pent-up fury at the loss of the vessel made him long to hit vack and lash out in flames.” (Anonymous 157) The dragon is a hater of humans and insists on kiling every one it comes across. Cassandra Eason in the book Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols describes what happened. “…Beowulf led his warriors against the dragon, all ran away except for Wiglaf. Though they defeated the dragon, Beowulf was fatally wounded and was buried in a high place overlooking the sea.” (Eason 49) The message here is that dragons are not something to be taken lightly. If one alone could bring down one of the mightiest warriors, what chance did any commoner have against them? Dragons were evil and dangerous, much as the devil is portrayed. This idea  shows the strong conection to the bible and Christian culture. This idea was carried on for some time after the middle ages as well.

            Even as recently as the stories by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein, dragons have kept their diabolical demeanor. Eustace Scrubb, a boy from the book Voyage of the Dawn Treader by Lewis, is turned into a dragon after thinking “dragonish thoughts in his heart” (Lewis 91) Lewis shows by this portrayal that it is what is in the heart that makes something dragonish rather than the physical appearance alone. Lewis was a deeply Christian man, and therefore much influenced by the Christian culture. Tolkein too was a Christian, and the dragons in his books, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion not only follow the traditional style of dragon, but he also endows them with speech. This allows them to not merely terrify the onlooker, but if they are careful, they can be persuasive to attain their ends. In The Children of Hurin, Turin Túrambar, the unlucky protagonist and eventual slayer of the dragon Glaurung is deceived by him to rescue his relations rather than the woman he loves, who later dies at enemy hands. Glaurung says deceitfully “I offer you freedom. Go to your kin, if you can. Get you gone! And if Elf or man be left to make tale of these days, then surely in scorn they will name you if you spurn this gift.” (Tolkein 180)  He later finds those who he came to save have gone off to look for him and are in fact meeting the dragon themselves.  Tolkien’s dragons also have the power to work spells and control minds, making them intellectual enemies. This hearkens back to the dragon in Beowulf who is definitely an intelligent creature. The dragons from these books are always shown in a light that betrays their heart’s wikedness and malice. The changing of the heart of Eustace from the Narnia series brings about his physical change as well. Glaurung and his offspring live and die as evil creatures, there to test the brave of heart. The message is still clear. While dragons in these stories may not represent the absolute evil of the earlier centuries, they are still associated with corruption, sadism, and vile intentions. Then suddenly at the end of the nineteenth century and seemingly without warning, the dragon changed entirely.

            Dragons in recent days have either moral neutrality as animals or are seen as good friends and allies to humanity. In Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling, the dragons are the first task that Harry and his comrades must overcome. There is nothing inherently evil about them.They are classified by species, the dragon’s instincts are described in an animal-like way, and she is handled as the beasts in the Colluseum were long ago.  “”What breeds you gout here Charlie” said Hagrid… “This is a Hungarian Horntail,” said Chralie, “There’s a common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one--a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray—and a chinese Fireball, that’s the red”…The Horntail did not seem to want to take off, she was too protective of her eggs…Harry saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail…” (Rowling 326-356) This show the dragon as more of an animal that needs training than an evil monster that must be killed by the heroic knight. Their moral neutrality is in itself a dramatic change, yet some autors such as Christopher Paolini, go even further. In the immensely popular Inheritance Cycle, dragons are more than just animals. They are wise individuals and the allies of the book’s heroes. Just as Tolkien’s dragons could talk, so does Saphira, the dragon from the series. Yet their messages are entirely different. Far from deceiving anyone, Saphira is there as a friend and mentor to young Eragon. She shows intelligence as well as emotions of frustration and love. “Saphira snorted, and a puff of smoke rose from her nostrils. Wear it, Eragon. If you wish to remain above the forces here, do not let anyone’s disaproval dictate your actions.” (Paolini 439) What could have caused the change in these portryals? How did we go so rapidly from evil nemeses to friendly couselors? The answer lies in the abandonment of Judeo-Christian morality and the rise of relativism.

            As we see from the other older sources, serpents were shaped according to ancient tradition. For the west, this was done with a strong Christian, and therefore also Jewish, influence. For almost two thousand years there were relatively few people in the West that were not some denomination of Christian. Hence, their writing reveals their belief system. The same cannot be said for today’s society.”Serpents and dragons are now tamed like pets by some, worshiped by others,” says O’brien. (Obrien 57) This is due to the fact that becoming a globalized community has greatly diluted the concentration of writers who are devoted to Christian ideals. We then add to this that faith is no longer as important to people as it was even a hundred years ago, let alone one thousand years ago.  The Gallup poll on religion states that the number of people who said that religion was not very important in their lives increased from twelve to twenty percent between 1992 and last year. (Gallup 1) This trend will not go undetected in the literature that is being written. It is clear that as we move away from being a Judeo-Christian society, the dragon will continue to take on more and more new roles. The traditional dragon will become just another kind, another “species” as the Harry Potter books put it, set apart from the others only in that it once held dominance over literature.

            In the end, it comes down to this: Literature is more about the person who writes the piece and about the time that in which they lived than about entertainment or fame. The dragon is evidence of this. The next time you read about a dragon, do not think just about the plot. Think about the context that the dragon is used. Relate it to the author’s views or the era that they lived in. You will find that there is more symbolism in a dragon than you might expect.

Works Cited

Anonymous. Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Heaney. Bilingual. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2000. Print.

Eason, Cassandra. Fabulous Creature, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Gallup. "Religion." 2011. gallup.com. Document. 3 November 2011. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx#1>.

Lewis, C. S. Voyage of the Dawn Treader. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1952. Print.

March, Jenny. The Penguin Book of Classical Myths. London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.

Obrien, Michael. A Landscape with Dragons. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998. Print.

Paolini, Christopher. Eragon. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2000. Print.

The Holy Bible. "Genesis 3." 1995. Bible.com. Document. 3 November 2011. <http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Genesis+3&version1=49>.

Tolkein, J. R. R. The Children of Hurin. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. Print.