Dragon

Dragons

   "Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool! You aren't nearly through this adventure yet."
   —Bilbo Baggins to himself after confronting Smaug (The Hobbit, Chapter XII: "Inside Information")
   

Etymology

dragon (n.)[NOTE 1]

mid-13c., dragoun, a fabulous animal common to the conceptions of many races and peoples, from Old French dragon and directly from Latin draconem (nominative draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Greek drakon (genitive drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see" (source also of Sanskrit darsata- "visible;" Old Irish adcondarc "I have seen;" Gothic gatarhjan "characterize;" Old English torht, Old High German zoraht "light, clear;" Albanian dritë "light").

Perhaps the literal sense is "the one with the (deadly) glance, the one with (paralyzing) sight." The young are dragonets (c. 1300). Fem. form dragoness is attested from 1630s. Obsolete drake (n.2) "dragon" is an older borrowing of the same word, and a later form in another sense is dragoon. Used in the Bible generally for creatures of great size and fierceness, it translates Hebrew tannin "a great sea-monster," also tan, a desert mammal now believed to be the jackal. also from mid-13c.

   FONT: https://www.etymonline.com/word/dragon

D&D Dragons

Chromatic Dragons

(https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/Chromatic_dragon)

Black Dragon

Black dragons, or skull dragons, were the most vile-tempered and cruel of all chromatic dragons. Excellent swimmers who normally lived in swamps and marshes, they preferred ambush attacks. They had a corrosive acid breath weapon.

Blue Dragon

Blue dragons, or storm dragons, were manipulative, lawful evil chromatics who were infamous for their skill at creating hallucinations, and their cruel use of such things. They preferred aerial combat, which allowed them to use their electrical breath weapon most efficiently. Blue dragons most often lived in arid wastelands and deserts.[7] They were the second most powerful of the chromatic dragons.

Green Dragon

Green dragons were highly territorial, deceptive, forest-dwelling creatures who loved secrets and intrigue. Although lawful evil, they were duplicitous and cunning foes who loved combat. They were the third most powerful of the chromatic dragons. Their breath weapon was a cone of poisonous green gas.

Red Dragon

Red dragons were greedy, chaotic evil creatures, interested only in their own well-being, vanity, and the extension of their treasure hoards. They were supremely confident, being the largest and most powerful of the chromatic dragons. Typically found living in mountainous regions, they breathed a cone of fire.

White Dragon

White dragons, also called ice dragons or glacial wyrms, were the smallest and weakest of the classic chromatic dragons. However, they were by no means harmless. White dragons were extremely well-suited to their arctic habitat and had excellent memories. They were more feral than other dragons, though, and always chaotic evil. They breathed a cone of ice or frost.

Notorious Dragons in D&D Lore

• Bahamut
• Inferno
• Palarandusk
• Tchazzar
• Tiamat

Tolkien's Dragons

Notorious Dragons in Tolkien's Immaginarium

• Glaurung

Glaurung is described as the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, and the first of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of Angband (first introduced in The Silmarillion, 1977; also appears in The Children of Húrin).

• Ancalagon the Black

Ancalagon, who is the largest dragon of Middle-Earth (The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954; The Silmarillion, 1977)

• Scatha the Worm

Scatha,(The Return of the King, Appendix A.II, 1955)

• Smaug the Golden

Smaug is a classic, European-type dragon; deeply magical, hoards treasure and burns innocent towns. Contrary to most old folklore and literature, J. R. R. Tolkien's dragons are very intelligent and can cast spells over mortals. See also dragons listed at Dragon (Middle-earth). (The Hobbit, 1937)

• Fire-drake of Gondolin
• Gostir
• Lhamthanc