“Warmth crept up the dragon’s throat, a growing ember beneath his scaled and impenetrable skin. His bright yellow eyes caught the clicker of a blade as a man dashed from the side of the stone wall toward him. The threat loomed closer and as it did; he opened his mouth and let the warmth flow from his throat into his mouth. A rush of heat and light slipped between his razor-sharp teeth, spilling forward in a spew of heat and flame that engulfed the man with the blade. Or did it? The dragon’s keen eyes perceived movement through the dissipating flames and the smoke that rose from his nostrils. The man still lived. Or so it seemed. He opened his mouth again, but this time the ember was weaker. He had used too much in the first blast. With swift steps, he darted toward the now thrashing man. When fire failed, claw and tooth would prevail. No man had ever entered his dominion and left alive. And none ever would.”

Claws, teeth, scales, and fireballs. Winged wraiths and monstrous lizards. Dragons are a piece of legend and story so crucial that much lore and myth fall to shambles without them. St George, Beowulf, Siegfried, I could go on and on with the thrilling tales, but really what I want to ask today is what are dragons?

Obviously a myth, some say, a figment of man’s imagination. A monster to conquer to teach children courage, perhaps. Or the distant memory of creatures that died long before man roamed the earth. Well, my belief in the Bible and God tells me it cannot be creatures that roamed and died before man—read Genesis 1-3 to know why—and myths always come from somewhere. So what are they?

In 1841, an English scientist by the name of Richard Owen coined a new phrase when describing the fossilized bones of various reptiles in his possession. The word was Dinosaur. A Latin phrase that translates literally to Terrible Lizard. So before the mid-1800s, when men found bones, shared drawings, or spoke of the fierceness of beasts of old, they used the word Dragon. In fact, a gazetteer in the Jin Dynasty of China (265-316 AD) reported the discovery of “Dragon Bones.” Greek writers spoke of dragons being able to strangle an elephant with their tail. Then we have the legends themselves, written as history. Beowulf, the first book written in the English language, describes dragons and monsters as if they existed there.

These are only a few examples, but they show us ancient men regarded dragons as real. Some say that they put fossil and legend together, others say the bones made the legends. I say the living creatures beside man were the legend once they all died out. And meteorites do not create fossils. Catastrophic floods do, though. A flood such as the one described in Genisis. So my conclusion is dragons are/were dinosaurs.

You would think it’s an easy conclusion to come to, but some never think of it. After all, drawings of dragons don’t always mimic dinosaurs, although sometimes they do. However, if I told you to draw a platypus from memory and then twenty people who didn’t know what a platypus was copied it, you would have a garbled creature.

And then we have to consider that depictions of dinosaur may not be accurate. We often think we know everything about a species because we dig up a few bones, but the reality is if you dug up my bones, you probably wouldn’t know I have blue eyes, unruly brown hair, or what my personality is. In the end, most of what we know that dinosaurs is they had bones! There are other hints that flesh them out more—no pun intended:) For instance, organic material, membrane fossilized on the wings of pterosaurs, the imprint of scales found with fossils. All of these show us that these creatures were indeed lizards-reptiles, and that they did not live as most say millions of years ago. Organic material doesn’t last that long, not to mention the evidence that man and dinosaurs lived side by side. Email me for more info if you want to see such evidence exists.

Scientists say man and dinosaurs couldn’t live together because of their presupposition that the earth is millions of years old, and men have descended from a long evolving lineage of slime to fish, fish to frog, frog to ape and ape to man. A supposition that is just that, a theory, nothing more. True science continually tests its own theories by evidence to establish their credibility, or the lack thereof. And as a Christian, I have dug for the evidence and searched for credibility for my beliefs. Yes, there is faith involved in believing God, but it also takes faith to believe evolution happens when you can’t see it.

I digress. If you, as a Christian, believe that the modern scientist knows better than the Lord, I encourage you to seek where your foundation is, and who you trust more God, or man.

If you are not a Christian, then I encourage you to look at the world, nature, and simple logic and ask yourself what hard evidence supports this theory. Have you seen a cat turn into a dog? Has anyone in the last thousand years observed a mutation causing bearded dragons to sport feathers and fly? No pressure, just a good exercise to see if your theory stands up against reality.

Anyway, back to dragons and why I wanted to write all this in the first place. I love the thought of dragons. I’ve always loved dragons. Magnificent beasts of power and fury that we have but echoes of. The desolation of Smaug, the taming of Toothless. Every story with a fire breathing reptile I’ve ever read has captured my heart. And my own works inevitably have included dragons, and yes, fire-breathing dragons. I write books with dragons in them because I believe dragons existed and dragon-slayer stories have more truth than most think. If the medieval man believed dragons existed, then why not write books in a medieval world where they do?

Dragons are more than beasts, though. They are the bearers of theme, either the monster with no pity that must be destroyed, or the powerful force that must be tamed for some greater good. Either way, the story of dragons is always men overcoming dangerous obstacles. Of conquering or conserving nature. As the quote goes widely attributed to G. K. Chesterton.

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

So regardless of your thoughts on dragons and what they were/are, let us be grateful for the impact they bring to stories. Whether you prefer the story of the man who rides the dragon or the man who kills them.

And we can always look to the true myth, the legend of legends, to know with certainty that the great dragon, and the little dragons of man’s sin, shall be put down under the heel of Jesus Christ. What a comfort to know I follow a master who can slay my dragons and give me the armor I need to fight them. If you do not have the assurance and comfort of belonging to Christ, I encourage you to seek him and pick up a copy of the bible and read it. There is hope and rest to be found if you will open the page and take a look.

So what are dragons?

Well, I’ve given my opinion and if you want to let me know what you think drop me an email because I would love to hear your opinion. If you disagree, reach out and we can have a discussion about it.

Hopefully, you find these thoughts entertaining/thought provoking, and enjoyable.

As always, many blessings.

Carter