Fun mythological fact: Here in Brazil we know the legend of Boitatá, which literally means "Fire Serpent" in tupi language. However, the portuguese settlers associated "Boi" not with serpents, but with oxes. With result, the Boitatá usually mixes serpentine and cattle aspects, sometimes being represented as a big fire snake with bull horns.
For a long long time I thought the "Boitatá" was literally an ox called "Tatá". Our native's cultures is so rich, we should study if waaayyyy better in school
There is Many interesting myth in caucasian region Specilly Most of them come from Country called Georgia Not u.s.a state Country georgia🇬🇪 for example devi is Georgian myth about creature which looks like ogre and most powerfuel devi is 9 head devi
Makes more sense in reverse: a dragon is a terrifying dinosaur! Or are they terrifying because they actually once existed unlike dragons and are now extinct! And if much larger and mighter creatures then us could die off, could we as well?
You've given a whole new meaning to calling Smaug "A whale of a dragon!" It was wonderful to work with you all and we look forward to joining you around the campfire again in the future.
Honestly believe the reason we know about Dragons around world is: Thunder Storms Lighting: Fire Breath from the sky Thunder: Dragon's Roar Twister: Wind Serpent
I have heard one theory that builds on the snake theory based on primate instinctive fears. What are the things that primates are most scared of? Snakes, eagles, and big cats. What do you get when you combine a snake, an eagle and a big cat? You get a dragon. Dragons may be amalgamated constructs of our combined predatory fears, an outlet for our repressed prey instincts.
Funny. I saw a video once that talked about how dromaeosaurs (the clade of dinosaurs commonly referred to as raptors) have characteristics of big cats, reptiles (including snakes), and eagles (the latter of which are also referred to as raptors), and that this is why people are so captivated by then.
European dragons tend to be one part apex predator, one part warlord (they're known for stealing livestock, young women, and wealth) and one part natural disaster (fire, poisonous breath or blood, smashed buildings and ravaged fields) They're like everything a peasant fears at once.
@@gavinallison3635 is that before or after all the incest? Before or after God commanding for children to be enslaved? Be more specific otherwise you'll just seem more of a lunatic then you already do
One of my favorite theories behind the origin of dragons: large snakes like pythons tend to be very easy to catch when they are lethargic and digesting prey - a task that can take them several weeks. Now imagine you are a small tribe of hunter gatherers in paleolithic times, and manage to come across a lethargic python holed up under a tree. You easily slay the snake with a quick blow to the head and drag the body back to camp. You set it down in a pile of coals to start cooking it, when...it just explodes, expelling a gout of fire out of its mouth and anus. You see, python stomach acid is so concentrated that during digestion pythons end up building a large reserve of hydrogen vapor as the bones and hooves of its prey break down. And hydrogen is highly flammable (think of the Hindenburg disaster for a reference, as the zeppelin's lifting gas was hydrogen) - add the heat of a campfire to the corpse of a python all filled up with hydrogen from digesting bones, and the situation can turn explosive. So after seeing this happen, your tribe has to come up with an explanation, and they decide that the python must have a stomach full of fire that it can spit out when angered. With a bit of exaggeration and a few thousand years re-telling the story, the legend goes from "large snakes can breathe fire" to "a fire breathing reptile is called a dragon". Incidentally, this is not the only cold-blooded critter that got associated with a mythological counterpart because it behaved strangely when set on fire. European legends of the salamander, a spirit of fire that takes the form of a lizard, likely came about because in real life many salamanders native to Europe have bright red coloring and tend to hide in fallen logs. So people noticed that sometimes a bright red colored amphibian would leap out of fires and decided that the salamander was born from the fire, rather than assuming it was merely fleeing the flames that were destroying its dead-log home.
Chinese mythological dragons were not really seen as benevolent and lucky all the time. When you assign someone dragon-like traits (as seen in the zodiac wheel) you may want to call them strong instead of brutish. However, many dragons of myth could also be depicted as destructive (the most prominent example being the journey to the west), evil, OR a creature that brings rain to your crops. Honestly, China is a big place. There will definitely be variation from region to region.
Dragons are seen mainly as 3 things. Evil, power, and nature. Chinese saw dragons as both wise and powerful but also as part of nature, for example river dragons myths that were born from when rains made rivers wreck havoc on nearby villages
@9dragonkings The Journey to the West was written in the Ming Dynasty but was actually a mask disguising the author's dissatisfaction with the government, the kings the party meets on the way representing the foolish and corrupt, and so on.
I remember hearing that the dragon is thought to be the sum of all our primal fears. Fire, claws, talons, serpentine, and flight all rolled into one being that evokes awe, fear, and respect in the most primitive parts of our brains that remember when things with those traits used to eat our distant ancestors.
There's actually lots of non dragon african creatures that match the descriptions of dragons such as the Ninki nanka, the Grootslang Bida the black serphant Aido-Hwedo was described as a great serphant who keeps the world spinning She's also often described as a dragon in some mentions Grootslang were said to both a python and an elephant in one hunted to near extinction because the gods thought they were to powerful they live in caves hoarding vast wealth of gold and jewels Zulu have myths about giant sky snakes whose withering causes tornadoes said to have the head of a Zebra body of a snake and eel and a Giraffe's neck
Not really, because a lot of what we call "Dragons" are super disimilar creatures that have, over time, just vbeen seen as analogs and made more similar to one another. Go back and look up actual medivial depictions of dragons, they look almost nothing like what we imagine the sterotypical medivial dragon today, many not even like reptiles. On the flip side, Quetzalcoatl isn't a creature, it's a god. On that note, So i'm gonna nerd out a bit about Quezalcoatl here, since it only got a brief mention and most of the video was focused on the contrasting conventions of European and Asian dragons: Feathered Serpent deities like him stretch way back into Meesoamerican history and are worshipped by a wide variety of other civilizations in the region: you see prototypical versions of the Feathered Serpent way back at the Olmec site of La Venta where it shows up on Monument 19, which apparently dates back to the phase of the site covering 1400 to 1000BC, or around 3000 years prior to the Aztec (People don't realize just how much history there is in the region, it's a shame so little of it gets taught) Monument 19 also shows it with some sort satchel, typically identified with religious officials, while the headdress the figure wears is reminissict of Maya royalty. Also, additionally rulers in earlier periods of Mesoamerican civilization tended to be associated with divinity and had theocractic rule, which all goes to link the Feathered serpent with religious power and royalty, a trend you see continue to an extent, though not so much for the Aztec Quetzalcoatl. You also see iconography here setting up a dualism of the Sky and Earth, which relates to the dietie's nature as both a flying and slithering animal. Duality is also a pretty big deal in Aztec philsophy and metaphysics, so that's an element that stuck around. In any case, Feathered Serpent gods and Quetzalcoatl and his direct equivalents seem to really take off with the influence of Teotihuacan in the classic (200ad-800ad) period: Teotihuacan was a MASSIVE city, with 100k to 150k people, with a dense urban core covering 24 square kilometers, covering 37 square kilometers (bigger then Rome!) if you include the less dense areas. It was outright in the top 5 largest in the world at the time; and was massively influential politically and culturally (and probably militaristically, as we have records of it conquering and installing puppet rulers in Maya city-states over 500 miles away) throughout the region. You see Quetzalcoatl, pretty much as he would later be used by the Aztecs, in a absolutely gorgeous facade on the side of a pyramid that's thankfully survived today, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. Interestingly, Teotihuacan has him with aquatic associations: The Facade is also adorned with depictions of fanged/goggled Rain god (another pan-mesoamerican god archtype, known to the Aztec as Tlaloc), shells and other marine animals (interestingly, Quetzalcoatl to the Aztec and Toltec also is associated with a spiral shell pendant, albiet signifying an association with the wind, as conches blow air), and the temple's plaza was able to be flooded with water for ceremonies, a symbolic aquatic tunnel was found running underneath the temple, and rivers were re-routed through the city's grid layout to align with the temple perpendicularly. Moving from the Classic to the Postclassic, The Toltecs (according to Aztec accounts, anyways, but how much of these are historical and or legendary is very much up for debate) would rise to power in Central Mexico were Teotihuacan once did, and a lot of the Aztec's myths and beliefs about Quetzalcoatl are inseparable from a specific Toltec ruler known as Ce Acatl Topiltzin, whose life is well documented but also heavily mythologized, to where it's hard to say what's about the person vs the god (or what was Aztec propaganda, as our knowledge of the Toltecs comes from their records, and the Aztecs had an interest in misrepresenting Toltec history to ustify their own political influence); or what was later retroactive catholic distortion, as the Spanish associated Quetzalcoatl with Jesus and other gods with Satan to further aid converting the native population (which is where the "Aztec gods were white" stuff comes from) So if stuff like Ce Acatl/Quetzalcoatl rejecting human sacrifice, or him leaving Central Mexico to sail to the east and to one day return (which would become a major part of myths about Cortes being seen as the returning god, though most Mesoamericanists view this as a myth originating in the colional period) was legitmate belifs about the God, actions of a specific king (which if so, links with theories that the theorized Toltec capital of Tula and Chichen Itza seem to share a lot of urban design similarities; and feathered serpent gods are more promiantn amongst the Maya in the Postclassoic; if perhaps the Toltec king/migirations arrived into the Maya area., but these findings are controversial, as with everything about the Toltec), or inventions of the Spanish are hard to say. Following the alleged collapse of the Toltec in the 1100's; you begin to see the migrations of the Nahuas into Central Mexico from northern mexico; with them giving up their nomadism to take up Mesoamerican style urbanism and statehood, and the city-states they formed would, after a serires of conflicts, form the Aztec Empire; though the term "Aztec" is most associated with the Nahua subgroup of the Mexica, the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, the effective captial of the Aztec Empire. To the Mexica (their myths and accounts of him being the same I talk about with the Toltec above, since these are the sources we get the Toltec from) and perhaps other Nahua groups, Quetzalcoatl, was mostly associated with learning, the arts, and the like, as well as with the wind; and as mentioned previously a Sky/Earth duality. However, he is NOT associated much with rulers, that association primarily going to the god Tezcatlipoca, also associated with jaguars, sorcery, and the fickle nature of fate/fortune/misfortune. Tezcatlipoca is often set up as Quetzalcoatl's rival in myths, and it was he who in myths drugged Quetzalcoatl, causing him to elope with his own sister, and set out to the east in shame. Some have theorized that this myth is a symbolic representation of a change in political power in the postclassic, since you see political power shift from being theorcractic in nature, with the priestly caste holding power; to a more "secular" system where military officials held more political power and royalty tended to be generals and the like. Anyways, that's where I'll leave things. I didn't talk about how the god was viewed by the Maya in the Yucatan or the Zapotec and Mixtec in Oaxaca/Guerrero much, but I'm not as informed on how it was viewed there.
There are 3 origins that cultures use to create a dragon: Crocodiles so large they could eat humans, snakes and/or birds looked on with fear and reverence, and ancient fossils of dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts. All of these origins are put to use in explaining natural phenomena, gods, or great daemons
One theory was that someone found a snake, and over the years the story was morphed. The snakes little flicking tongue, turned to a massive flame coming from its mouth. The slithering body turned into a massive twisting body, and even added legs to the story to add some kind of connection on top of the other traits.
"Where did dragons come from? Why is it so universal? We're way too smart to admit we don't know, so let's start throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks." -Humanity
Except they aren't really universal because the "dragon" that people connect together have actually very little in common, as you will find exceptions to any characteristic you want to ascribe to them: - big & scaly (no some european dragons were furry or feathered) - long body with legs (no many don't have legs) - lizard with wings (no many don't have wings) - snake with horns or non-snake faces (lots don't have horns, many not very snake-like, some have snakey faces) .... Plus cold areas that have few reptiles tend to not have dragon-esque creatures in their mythology.
@@agilemind6241 I missed part of your reply. The Norse have several serpentine creatures, Fafnir seeming to be the most draconic. The Inuit also appear to have dragons according to David E. Jones.
@Genki Gal My little Pony friendship is magic much more living human anatomy than Horse mythology. You saw G4 Spike in the video? Is because he's collected gems to grew bigger into adult dragon can size living half mountain. Back into Topic video, If video mentioned Dragon head like a horse has sharp jaw instead bulk flat jaw. In the past Generation, Christian Peoples told Dragon is connection Of Demon has slave innocent creatures and Human killed Dragon.
The weird thing is I always thought snakes were cute. Those tiny faces with big eyes, and when a constrictor wrapped around my arm It felt like a hug to me.
Something interesting to look up are Persian dragons, as well as other dragon myths from Central Asia and East India. You may think that European and East Asian dragons are maybe two different creatures, but if you see the dragons between them things get interesting. Persian dragon depictions actually depict dragons much like Chinese dragons, but much shorter and stockier, but they depict them in the same role as most European dragons- as a monster to be slain by a hero. Early European dragons also were more snake-like, and the terms “serpent” and “dragon” where interchangeable, but even some of the artistic features used made them resemble East Asian dragons more such as more mammal-like features and even a thick brow. These are because of artistic influences spread through trade and cultural exchange all around. East Asian dragons did not change in how they were depicted for a very long time, European dragons on the other hand were re-shaped by pop culture in the 20th century to become more lizard or dinosaur like and we have these ultra spikey winged behemoths from D&D. So you could say that East Asian dragons descended from a common ancestor but remained unchanged for a long time. Recently the film “Spirited Away” brought into popularity an “update” to East Asian dragons (Sorry Falkor, the dog look probably was too much) as more fuzzy and sleek. Now a lot of artwork out there has East Asian inspired dragons as being huge furry snakes with antlers. Hmm wait, now that I think about it, I’ve seen furry East Asian dragons before that, if I recall there a Digimon that was a huge fur snake dragon known as Holydramon or Magnadramon, hmm so maybe it predates it and was from somewhere else.
3:40 The fossil part, I remember it was from one of the videos this channel made or some other video mentioned that even a fossil was depicted (allegedly) in an Ancient Greek pottery. It was a skull of some sort of theropod dinosaur on a vase.
+Chow Yee Yee *if* you watched the Lupin's Transformation into Werewolf form (from Harry Potter) you would understand how a transformation should be *extremely* painful in real life D:
Jake Long's Season 2 Dragon was a really good depiction of a dragon imo. It looks weird and awkward, like it's a mishmash of two cultures. Like it's half-european dragon and half-eastern. Almost like an allegory for Asian Americans.
Crocodiles seem like a pretty plausible explanation for some of them. Komodo dragons and other really big reptiles, giant sturgeons and oarfish too. It's also possible that human myths have carried over from times when our early ancestors lived along side now extinct giant animals and the fear and awe of them stuck around in our subconscious and stories. And as mentioned, dinosaur fossils.
Got so many Double Dragon flashbacks seeing that 1:44 artwork. Kind of surprised you didn't mention the welsh flag having a dragon, or that buildings in asia have giant holes in them because of a belief in the dragon spirits. Then more of a pet peeve discussion, the differences between a wyvern and a dragon.
One theory I've heard is that dragons combine the most powerful and feared animals. They are combination of snake (as explained), lion and eagle. It makes sense that in areas where lion is not know, the dragon might look more like a wolf/dog.
It's always struck me that the crocodile is one of the closest animals to a dragon. They're also REALLY old, utterly terrifying, and their heads are as draconic than horses or camels. I'm surprised they didn't get more mention here.
I literally always hear the name *Ahmed Ziad Turk* for as a legendary Patron so as someone who can't afford to contribute, I just wanted to say *thank you for helping to make these videos happen* :)
I do have a little nitpick, as somebody that works regularly with snakes around people. The instinctual fear of snakes theory has a lot of evidence against it. For example one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, have to be taught to fear snakes by using mechanical cobras and toy snakes if they have been orphaned. It suggests that fear of snakes is taught by our environment, and not our instincts. When you think about how many times snakes are portrayed as vicious in media, and then you add scared adults on top of that and suddenly children get a lot of reasons to develop a fear of the noodles. I am by no means an expert nor a professor, but I can see it every day at work as well. The ones that are most likely to be scared of the snakes are the older folks, while children are most likely to approach the snakes with more excitement and curiosity. Other than that, wonderful episode! I always love me some dragon lore on my feed ^^
I like how the nerds in the class(me included) find places like extra-mythology to express their knowledge and not be made fun of, and very much appreciated.
I have my own dragon story. The first time I saw him, I was about 5 years old, the dragon was pitch black, about three feet long with a long neck and large head that is probably filled mostly with brains, and he had the cutest golden-yellow eyes ever. I’d say that his eyes were about the size of tennis balls with large pupils. Clearly a nocturnal animal. He appeared from behind a shed in my back yard. I feel a strange connection to him. It’s impossible to explain what it felt like, but I felt quite a bit of fear, which was strange because I was not acting fearful at all. It was as if I was feeling the dragon’s emotions as well as mine. I feel paralyzed. I take one step and he just turns around runs away so fast that I could not even see what happened, but he made a noise similar to jumping into a pile of raked leaves in the fall. But this happened in summer, and there were almost no leaves on the ground, so that noise was probably from his tail whipping around and dragging along the ground as he turned and ran. Since I was only 5 years old, I had no idea what a dragon was, so I thought that he was a Black Racer snake. Fast forward a few years and I’m playing Mario Cart in my living room when the motion sensor light turns on, and when the light turns off, I see a silhouette of the very same dragon standing right in front of my door. And when I looked at him, I felt that same connection that I did when I first saw him. He was now around 5 feet long. The way that my front door is set up, is there is a walkway leading from the driveway to the door and the garage wall to the right and a fence on the left. So, since I did not see the dragon when the motion sensor light activated means that he jumped over the fence and his tail triggered the motion sensor. I sat in my chair just staring at him, then, about 30 seconds later, I feel the connection end as the dragon disappears, probably jumping over the fence again. I still had no idea what a dragon was, so I thought he was an alien from outer space. A few years later and I am now just about to start 6th grade in a few weeks. I just got home from a family Disney World trip. It was late at night, and we just pulled up to the gate and my mom got out of the car to open it. I also got out because I didn’t want to be sitting down for any longer, and I feel the connection. I look to my left and I see the dragon, now about 30 feet long, standing in the middle of the road (my house is on a dirt road and is a different house than the one the one that the first two sightings happened in) the same thing happened as with the previous sightings. But, this time I was able to see much more of him since I was standing less than 6 feet away from him. I first noticed his two legs, they are very powerful looking with large talon-like feet. I then noticed his wings. And they are HUGE! I could not see how big they really were because of how dark it was outside and because he had his wings were folded up. Like many European dragons, he used his wings as legs, and due to his large wingspan, this made him stand in an upright, regal-looking position. I was also able to see a little bit of what his head looked like. His head stayed mostly the same except for two large horns that pointed straight back and angled upwards by about 10 degrees. I feel the connection end and I suddenly start waking to my house. It was as if the dragon told me to leave. After this sighting, I decided to name the dragon “Shadow.” I was not the only one to see Shadow. My neighbor saw him two. I talked to him about it the next day, and he described seeing the same thing that I did. Then, when I was in 8th grade, it was about 2:00 too 3:00pm on a Saturday, and I was in my mom’s car. Then I feel the connection and I look out the window and I see a dragon appear emerge from behind a low-altitude cloud, flying and a speed of over 100 miles per hour. This dragon was not Shadow, despite looking exactly like him. Then, Shadow emerges from behind the same cloud and I could finally get a good look at his wings. His wings were MUCH bigger than I thought they were. Each wing was bigger than his length from nose to tail. The wings were shaped similarly to a swift’s wings, which are built for speed without sacrificing agility. So, how did I know which dragon was Shadow? It was because of the connection. I was able to tell which dragon was establishing a connection with my, and that one was Shadow. So, who was the other dragon? I’ll get to that soon. Fast forward to the beginning of 2019. It was winter break. I am riding my bike up and down the dirt road that my house is on and a stop at the canal at the end. I walk over the edge and I hear something jump. I look to my left and I see a white animal, about 3 feet long jump into the water, making a big splash and just disappearing. Instantly, I realized the situation. The other dragon was a female, which I had named “Umbra,” and the white creature was a baby dragon which is will either name “Luna” or “Sol” depending on if it’s male or female. A few months later, I was helping my neighbor clean up after Hurricane Dorian messed up his yard, and I asked him if he has seen Shadow recently. He said yes. He was helping his dad prepare for hurricane Dorian by taking fallen branches out to the street when he saw Shadow, and a small, white dragon with pinkish-red eyes standing right next to him. Shadow then said telepathically “Come with me.” Then he flew way with the baby following him. I knew that he was capable of doing this since I saw him after my Disney World visit. I felt like he was trying to say something to me, but I can’t remember what he was saying. So, telepathic communication is MUCH crazier than how it is depicted in movies. It’s not like you’re hearing someone speaking. Here’s a good way to imagine it. Think of a sentence and say it in your mind. That is more what it is like. But there is still more. Not too long ago, I was watching a TV show about aliens where some people were interviewing a retired US army soldier who claims to have communicated telepathically with an alien. He said that the US army had s division of medics who are trained to speak telepathically. The reason for this is, many of the patients have been hit with shrapnel, or have multiple bullet wounds are in too much pain to be able to talk. However there is a downside to speaking telepathically. You feel whatever the other person is feeling along with what you are feeling. So, in the case of the medics they are also trained to deal with the unbearable pain of their patients. As for me, it instantly answered my question about what I was feeling whenever I saw Shadow. I was feeling his feelings, which explains the fear I felt in the first sighting. I am still searching for Shadow. When I find him, I’ll make a video about it and you can see Shadow, Umbra, and their albino baby. And I might even get a 360 degree camera and attach it to Shadow, so you can experience what it’s like to ride a dragon
Ooh, include Maleficent's dragon in your ranks, please!!! She's one of my favorites! :D I think it's interesting what you say about dragons used as political symbols, it totally makes sense to me. Demonizing your enemies as these bad giants that a strong leader from your country needs to defeat to save his people, or building yourself up as a figure of strength in your society, the dragon would be a great candidate as your symbol. Coming from a Christian background, I am all too familiar with the dragon used as a symbol of evil in the Bible, particularly Satan in the Book of Revelation. On whether or not dragons really existed, or may even still exist in some form, I'm kinda split on that right now. On one hand, the dragon is largely a symbol of strength, evil, a character in fantasy, etc., and there's no straight up scientific evidence of dragons (at least none that I'm aware of), so I can see why a lot of people would doubt its existence. On the other hand, since I am a believer in a lot of the Bible, I'd like to think it was a creature that maybe existed in ancient times but somehow disappeared, like went extinct, like the dinosaurs, or into another spiritual dimension or something (yes, I believe that's a possibility). But if the Bible mentioned them at all, I'd like to think they existed in some point in our history. And if they did, it would be no wonder to me that many cultures around the world would see them, too. And since dragons are portrayed in different lights from culture to culture, I don't know if I could classify them as fully good or evil. Like all animal species, there were probably some good, some bad, depending on what their natures might have been like. It seems that the Bible would classify dragons as largely evil since they're symbolized as such, but Satan is also represented as things like a serpent, wolf, or goat. But does that symbolism make the entire species of serpents, wolves, or goats evil? Of course not! They're just three more natural species. So methinks maybe the dragon might have been the same way, not all good, not all bad, maybe just another colossal force of nature. But since these animals might have things about their natures that could be decent allegories for evil, like a wolf being a lamb's predator, that doesn't make the wolf evil, it's just in his nature. Again, maybe it was the same case for the dragon.
Thanks again to the MinuteEarth folks for dropping by to share their thoughts on dragons! If you want to hear more about the science and biology behind dragons, you can check them out at ua-cam.com/video/3n1DC_Q-2Ng/v-deo.html
Extrahistory ideas: ExtraMovies: Star Wars (1977) Gladiator (2000) King Kong (1933,1976 and 2005) The Lord of the Rings (Flim trilogy) Jurassic Park lll (2001) A Knight's Tale (2001) Dinosaur flims before Jurassic Park (The Valley of Gwangi,¡Dinosaurs!,When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth,Planet of Dinosaurs,Etc) Japanese Animated movies (1960's to 2020's) American and Mexican Animated movies Other kaiju films.
PLEASE do an episode of Extra Mythology on the story of two of my favorite Dragons of all time: The Welsh Red and the Saxon White (the Dragons Of Merlin/Emrys)!
I very much prefer the eastern myths of dragons being creatures of good luck and protectors... so much so, I have a Japanese dragon tattooed on my back.
I personally think that most serpentlike monster are originated by how a bunch of waves in water look like the reflections of scales; destroyers are disasters and protectors are rivers. E.g. how hercules destroyed the heads replicating hydra could mean diverting the streams of a river in enemy territory.
You can find dragons in: Indonesia Komodo island. Fun fact!: baby komodo dragons are big like their parents.Also we have a myth about a man from Java was cursed and turned into stone because the man was a liar and now people in Indonesia are scared of lying.
It always struck me as pretty weird that we insist on calling them all "dragons" when most are only vaguely and superficially similar. They're really just a whole bunch of unrelated monsters that had kind of a drifting definition because of geographically close cultures; and by the time distinctly different cultures met they just kinda pigeonholed the new scaly things into the "dragon" category.
Yeah it could simply be a case of baader meinhoff syndrome, seeing patterns that aren't necessarily real or related. Even so, the idea of how a powerful mythic creature represented in one society differs from another is worth looking at.
@Mullerornis it's not a meme it is the truth dragon is a European word and the European dragon has 4 legs and 2 wings, unlike a wyvren which only has 2, a distinction made it seems only for European dragon kin
Mullerornis you calling my cultural heritage a meme? European dragon has 4 legs 2 wings, a wyvern has two legs two wings, the Asian dragons have no wings
4:38 there is One huge Exception in The Legend of King Arthur There is a Good Red Dragon that Merlin believes represents the Coming of King Arthur would love a Video on That. It also said that King Arthur is a Descendant of Dragons.
Non seelundai I don’t get it. Is that a Gamera reference? Considering that Gamera spits water & breathes fire; can grow things on it’s back; and can fly, even at outer space. Oh wait! Never mind. It’s Blastoise and Torterra. My mistake.
Ohhh, there is just so many dragons around the world and I appreciate how many diffrent ones you have mentioned. What the hay, even Spike is here on 6:32!
Magic, Australia was inhabited by the aboriginal people for millennia before Europeans came. I think they’d been there, mostly geographically isolated, for 40,000 years before Europeans set foot on it.
I read somewhere about ancient people hearing about cobras and thinking that a cobra’s hood was some kind of wing. I wonder if that had anything to do with the idea of dragons.
I had a cat that looked EXACTLY like Toothless btw, she incidentally lost teeth also. Anyway, one wilder theory... Dragons did once exist. It's hard to believe completely separated cultures the world over would refer to something fake but still talk about them to this day for thousands upon thousands of years.
When I was a kid, I read in a history book that spaniards during the conquest here (south america) believed crocodiles were dragons and burned then. I've seen some drawings from those days representing that
Another interpretation of dragon/snake mythology (by Graham Hancock): They could have been based on Taurid meteor showers: green streaks of light with a fireball, often wreaking havoc on the landscape (like Tunguska event). Shape of a snake + flight + fire. Also since their radiant was in the Taurus contellation, there could have been a connection to the bull cult, like sacrificing bulls to stop the disasters.
Water seems to be almost constant. "Journey to the West" has sea-&river dragons. SJG's GURPS Dragons describes dragons almost universally as personifications of primal chaos, which always is described in conjunction with water.
"Show us a snake and out internal alarm starts to go off" Speak for yourself lol, when I was in high school I saw a snake and immediately chased after it and caught it. GF was terrified, I was fascinated
Fun mythological fact: Here in Brazil we know the legend of Boitatá, which literally means "Fire Serpent" in tupi language. However, the portuguese settlers associated "Boi" not with serpents, but with oxes. With result, the Boitatá usually mixes serpentine and cattle aspects, sometimes being represented as a big fire snake with bull horns.
sounds like a dragon to me
For a long long time I thought the "Boitatá" was literally an ox called "Tatá". Our native's cultures is so rich, we should study if waaayyyy better in school
@@rfMokou true
"La Serpe Bove". I even found this translation of the dragon's name in Italian ins ome book
BR HUE
"And then there's Whales"
Oh, yeah. Wales has a dragon on their flag
"Dragons across Northern Europe and Asia are related to water"
OHHH!!
Stephen Hugh Cook I had exactly the same reaction.
There is Many interesting myth in caucasian region Specilly Most of them come from Country called Georgia Not u.s.a state Country georgia🇬🇪 for example devi is Georgian myth about creature which looks like ogre and most powerfuel devi is 9 head devi
I'm so glad I live in Wales. Best flag.
@@willrope5839 Well done.
アラブA D N A N Ø
Oof
the only thing missing is a tierzoo video on dragons
Hashirama Senju I need this
Dragongirls better come in s tier
@@isuckatusernames4297 Girls with dragons come in S tier. LUL
I wonder what Tier Wyverns are placed.
Dragons are coming on the next upgraded DLC. But first humans have to spawn more so dragons have something to eat.
speaking of dinosaurs, the Chinese word for "dinosaur" is "terrifying-dragon".
you're welcome.
Chinese: Kong long
Japanese: Kyouryuu (I knew this from Zyuranger and Kyoryuger)
Korean: Gongyong
Also used to describe very ugly women
In Cantonese we say pork chops instead
the dinosaurs fossil is called dragon bone in China，maybe dragon is from fossil .
Technically yes but I never thought about that and I don't now if that's how people came up with the word
Makes more sense in reverse: a dragon is a terrifying dinosaur!
Or are they terrifying because they actually once existed unlike dragons and are now extinct! And if much larger and mighter creatures then us could die off, could we as well?
You've given a whole new meaning to calling Smaug "A whale of a dragon!" It was wonderful to work with you all and we look forward to joining you around the campfire again in the future.
MinuteEarth so you’ve also posted a video about dragons at the time.
Honestly believe the reason we know about Dragons around world is: Thunder Storms
Lighting: Fire Breath from the sky
Thunder: Dragon's Roar
Twister: Wind Serpent
Bruh
E
@@thetophatgentleman4634 lets npt drag-on this
4:05 Its the fisherman's tale syndrome, you know, "The one that got away is always bigger than the one you actually caught" 😂😂😂
I have heard one theory that builds on the snake theory based on primate instinctive fears. What are the things that primates are most scared of? Snakes, eagles, and big cats. What do you get when you combine a snake, an eagle and a big cat? You get a dragon. Dragons may be amalgamated constructs of our combined predatory fears, an outlet for our repressed prey instincts.
An Instinct for Dragons - David E. Jones.
Funny. I saw a video once that talked about how dromaeosaurs (the clade of dinosaurs commonly referred to as raptors) have characteristics of big cats, reptiles (including snakes), and eagles (the latter of which are also referred to as raptors), and that this is why people are so captivated by then.
Then there is of course the size and fire fear factors as well
Yeah, that was a Vsauce video wasnt it?
European dragons tend to be one part apex predator, one part warlord (they're known for stealing livestock, young women, and wealth) and one part natural disaster (fire, poisonous breath or blood, smashed buildings and ravaged fields) They're like everything a peasant fears at once.
European Dragons: *MAJESTIC! FLYING LIZARD OF DOOM! FIIIIRE!*
Asian Dragons: glorious snek
Pyrrhian Dragons: **MAGIC INTENSIFIES**
persian dragons: look like most asian dragons, but are evil
Aztec sneks: me square
lol
Both are the same with diffrent meaning
"Snakes… why did it have to be snakes."
Asps... very dangerous...
You go first...
Read genesis in the Bible you’ll find out
@@gavinallison3635 is that before or after all the incest?
Before or after God commanding for children to be enslaved?
Be more specific otherwise you'll just seem more of a lunatic then you already do
rev it’s the serpent in the garden of eden there’s a verse in there saying he’s cursed him to crawl upon his belly and eat dust
One of my favorite theories behind the origin of dragons: large snakes like pythons tend to be very easy to catch when they are lethargic and digesting prey - a task that can take them several weeks. Now imagine you are a small tribe of hunter gatherers in paleolithic times, and manage to come across a lethargic python holed up under a tree. You easily slay the snake with a quick blow to the head and drag the body back to camp. You set it down in a pile of coals to start cooking it, when...it just explodes, expelling a gout of fire out of its mouth and anus. You see, python stomach acid is so concentrated that during digestion pythons end up building a large reserve of hydrogen vapor as the bones and hooves of its prey break down. And hydrogen is highly flammable (think of the Hindenburg disaster for a reference, as the zeppelin's lifting gas was hydrogen) - add the heat of a campfire to the corpse of a python all filled up with hydrogen from digesting bones, and the situation can turn explosive. So after seeing this happen, your tribe has to come up with an explanation, and they decide that the python must have a stomach full of fire that it can spit out when angered. With a bit of exaggeration and a few thousand years re-telling the story, the legend goes from "large snakes can breathe fire" to "a fire breathing reptile is called a dragon".
Incidentally, this is not the only cold-blooded critter that got associated with a mythological counterpart because it behaved strangely when set on fire. European legends of the salamander, a spirit of fire that takes the form of a lizard, likely came about because in real life many salamanders native to Europe have bright red coloring and tend to hide in fallen logs. So people noticed that sometimes a bright red colored amphibian would leap out of fires and decided that the salamander was born from the fire, rather than assuming it was merely fleeing the flames that were destroying its dead-log home.
This is really fascinating
Chinese mythological dragons were not really seen as benevolent and lucky all the time. When you assign someone dragon-like traits (as seen in the zodiac wheel) you may want to call them strong instead of brutish. However, many dragons of myth could also be depicted as destructive (the most prominent example being the journey to the west), evil, OR a creature that brings rain to your crops. Honestly, China is a big place. There will definitely be variation from region to region.
Dragons are seen mainly as 3 things. Evil, power, and nature. Chinese saw dragons as both wise and powerful but also as part of nature, for example river dragons myths that were born from when rains made rivers wreck havoc on nearby villages
so then the chinese had a multi pourpouse dragon eh
@@thomaseasley2938 well there is rainbow dragon...... Basically they said the rainbow is just a really long dragon crossing the sky
@9dragonkings The Journey to the West was written in the Ming Dynasty but was actually a mask disguising the author's dissatisfaction with the government, the kings the party meets on the way representing the foolish and corrupt, and so on.
journey to the west is awesome bro
I remember hearing that the dragon is thought to be the sum of all our primal fears. Fire, claws, talons, serpentine, and flight all rolled into one being that evokes awe, fear, and respect in the most primitive parts of our brains that remember when things with those traits used to eat our distant ancestors.
asteroids that break up in earth's atmosphere can look like fire breathing serpents, too
6:44 "I'm thinking of so many Dragons!"
*Shows Charizard*
*shows yoshi*
***the dinosaur***
Scrolling through comments looking for this 👍
Kobayashi san chi no dragon reference
Still wondering why charzard ain’t dragon type
@@syed39 because its suppose to be a rare type? They do give charizard dragon typing though, as Mega Evolution
There's actually lots of non dragon african creatures that match the descriptions of dragons such as the Ninki nanka, the Grootslang Bida the black serphant Aido-Hwedo was described as a great serphant who keeps the world spinning
She's also often described as a dragon in some mentions
Grootslang were said to both a python and an elephant in one hunted to near extinction because the gods thought they were to powerful they live in caves hoarding vast wealth of gold and jewels
Zulu have myths about giant sky snakes whose withering causes tornadoes said to have the head of a Zebra body of a snake and eel and a Giraffe's neck
why are they non-dragons?
Maybe Zulu talked about powerful meteor showers.
Dragons are always fun to learn about, and I quite liked the theory at the end. It's not perfect, but it does raise a good point.
"Every culture has something that we might call a dragon"
Well thats enough proof dragons had ever existed m8
Not really, because a lot of what we call "Dragons" are super disimilar creatures that have, over time, just vbeen seen as analogs and made more similar to one another. Go back and look up actual medivial depictions of dragons, they look almost nothing like what we imagine the sterotypical medivial dragon today, many not even like reptiles. On the flip side, Quetzalcoatl isn't a creature, it's a god. On that note, So i'm gonna nerd out a bit about Quezalcoatl here, since it only got a brief mention and most of the video was focused on the contrasting conventions of European and Asian dragons:
Feathered Serpent deities like him stretch way back into Meesoamerican history and are worshipped by a wide variety of other civilizations in the region: you see prototypical versions of the Feathered Serpent way back at the Olmec site of La Venta where it shows up on Monument 19, which apparently dates back to the phase of the site covering 1400 to 1000BC, or around 3000 years prior to the Aztec (People don't realize just how much history there is in the region, it's a shame so little of it gets taught)
Monument 19 also shows it with some sort satchel, typically identified with religious officials, while the headdress the figure wears is reminissict of Maya royalty. Also, additionally rulers in earlier periods of Mesoamerican civilization tended to be associated with divinity and had theocractic rule, which all goes to link the Feathered serpent with religious power and royalty, a trend you see continue to an extent, though not so much for the Aztec Quetzalcoatl. You also see iconography here setting up a dualism of the Sky and Earth, which relates to the dietie's nature as both a flying and slithering animal. Duality is also a pretty big deal in Aztec philsophy and metaphysics, so that's an element that stuck around.
In any case, Feathered Serpent gods and Quetzalcoatl and his direct equivalents seem to really take off with the influence of Teotihuacan in the classic (200ad-800ad) period: Teotihuacan was a MASSIVE city, with 100k to 150k people, with a dense urban core covering 24 square kilometers, covering 37 square kilometers (bigger then Rome!) if you include the less dense areas. It was outright in the top 5 largest in the world at the time; and was massively influential politically and culturally (and probably militaristically, as we have records of it conquering and installing puppet rulers in Maya city-states over 500 miles away) throughout the region. You see Quetzalcoatl, pretty much as he would later be used by the Aztecs, in a absolutely gorgeous facade on the side of a pyramid that's thankfully survived today, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.
Interestingly, Teotihuacan has him with aquatic associations: The Facade is also adorned with depictions of fanged/goggled Rain god (another pan-mesoamerican god archtype, known to the Aztec as Tlaloc), shells and other marine animals (interestingly, Quetzalcoatl to the Aztec and Toltec also is associated with a spiral shell pendant, albiet signifying an association with the wind, as conches blow air), and the temple's plaza was able to be flooded with water for ceremonies, a symbolic aquatic tunnel was found running underneath the temple, and rivers were re-routed through the city's grid layout to align with the temple perpendicularly.
Moving from the Classic to the Postclassic, The Toltecs (according to Aztec accounts, anyways, but how much of these are historical and or legendary is very much up for debate) would rise to power in Central Mexico were Teotihuacan once did, and a lot of the Aztec's myths and beliefs about Quetzalcoatl are inseparable from a specific Toltec ruler known as Ce Acatl Topiltzin, whose life is well documented but also heavily mythologized, to where it's hard to say what's about the person vs the god (or what was Aztec propaganda, as our knowledge of the Toltecs comes from their records, and the Aztecs had an interest in misrepresenting Toltec history to ustify their own political influence); or what was later retroactive catholic distortion, as the Spanish associated Quetzalcoatl with Jesus and other gods with Satan to further aid converting the native population (which is where the "Aztec gods were white" stuff comes from) So if stuff like Ce Acatl/Quetzalcoatl rejecting human sacrifice, or him leaving Central Mexico to sail to the east and to one day return (which would become a major part of myths about Cortes being seen as the returning god, though most Mesoamericanists view this as a myth originating in the colional period) was legitmate belifs about the God, actions of a specific king (which if so, links with theories that the theorized Toltec capital of Tula and Chichen Itza seem to share a lot of urban design similarities; and feathered serpent gods are more promiantn amongst the Maya in the Postclassoic; if perhaps the Toltec king/migirations arrived into the Maya area., but these findings are controversial, as with everything about the Toltec), or inventions of the Spanish are hard to say.
Following the alleged collapse of the Toltec in the 1100's; you begin to see the migrations of the Nahuas into Central Mexico from northern mexico; with them giving up their nomadism to take up Mesoamerican style urbanism and statehood, and the city-states they formed would, after a serires of conflicts, form the Aztec Empire; though the term "Aztec" is most associated with the Nahua subgroup of the Mexica, the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, the effective captial of the Aztec Empire. To the Mexica (their myths and accounts of him being the same I talk about with the Toltec above, since these are the sources we get the Toltec from) and perhaps other Nahua groups, Quetzalcoatl, was mostly associated with learning, the arts, and the like, as well as with the wind; and as mentioned previously a Sky/Earth duality. However, he is NOT associated much with rulers, that association primarily going to the god Tezcatlipoca, also associated with jaguars, sorcery, and the fickle nature of fate/fortune/misfortune. Tezcatlipoca is often set up as Quetzalcoatl's rival in myths, and it was he who in myths drugged Quetzalcoatl, causing him to elope with his own sister, and set out to the east in shame. Some have theorized that this myth is a symbolic representation of a change in political power in the postclassic, since you see political power shift from being theorcractic in nature, with the priestly caste holding power; to a more "secular" system where military officials held more political power and royalty tended to be generals and the like.
Anyways, that's where I'll leave things. I didn't talk about how the god was viewed by the Maya in the Yucatan or the Zapotec and Mixtec in Oaxaca/Guerrero much, but I'm not as informed on how it was viewed there.
@@MajoraZ Have you ever seen the depiction of Quetzalcoatl in pop culture? Especially Japanese pop culture.
@@MajoraZ let me have bliss in my ignorance
What the hell happened here
@@Omar_ayach a 5 paragraph essay happened
"What do you think of when I say dragon'
Me: Toothless
Me: King Ghidorah
Me too
Me:Bowser.
Me:worm
@@ДмитрийСимаков-я2ч bowser Based off beast not dragon
There are 3 origins that cultures use to create a dragon: Crocodiles so large they could eat humans, snakes and/or birds looked on with fear and reverence, and ancient fossils of dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts.
All of these origins are put to use in explaining natural phenomena, gods, or great daemons
Hmm I kind of agree with you!
One theory was that someone found a snake, and over the years the story was morphed. The snakes little flicking tongue, turned to a massive flame coming from its mouth. The slithering body turned into a massive twisting body, and even added legs to the story to add some kind of connection on top of the other traits.
"Where did dragons come from? Why is it so universal? We're way too smart to admit we don't know, so let's start throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks." -Humanity
Or: "We're way too curious to just let it go an we just have to find an explanation." -Also Humanity
Except they aren't really universal because the "dragon" that people connect together have actually very little in common, as you will find exceptions to any characteristic you want to ascribe to them:
- big & scaly (no some european dragons were furry or feathered)
- long body with legs (no many don't have legs)
- lizard with wings (no many don't have wings)
- snake with horns or non-snake faces (lots don't have horns, many not very snake-like, some have snakey faces)
....
Plus cold areas that have few reptiles tend to not have dragon-esque creatures in their mythology.
@@agilemind6241 as a rebuttal, I challenge you to name a culture of more than 100,000 people that does not have giant flying serpentine lizards.
@@YourFunkiness Agilemind bodied
@@agilemind6241 I missed part of your reply. The Norse have several serpentine creatures, Fafnir seeming to be the most draconic. The Inuit also appear to have dragons according to David E. Jones.
I am 100% interested in learning where these fantasy creatures I am constantly seeing/fighting in games originally came from. More please!
Dragons are my favorite. Even when I was little I found them fascinating.
"When i say dragon what do you think of"
Ender Dragon
Short wings 6 limbs so it's a no
@@Zed9659 yeah i totally thought it was real totally
@@Zed9659 the enderdragon lives in a different dimension
Jesus
Idk why but when u said dragon it reminded me of a flying chicken with a tail. Was it cockathrice?
Edit: Crispy *cock* atrice
Sounds right
Either a cockatrice or a basilisk.
I was thinking a flying lizard
Aye that's a cockatrice.
Cockathrice: A flying chicken with a chicken head and body with a snake tail
I've always found it interesting that dragons and phoenixes appear around the world, in seemingly disconnected ways.
During Mongolian invasion they often sent flying burning sails towards the direction of usually fully wooden villages.
Came here from Minute Earth, enjoyed the video immensely, and I'm now subscribed!
Most people: Eeek, a snake!
Me: Awww, who's a cute little danger noodle?
Just, you know, so long as they can’t put me in the hospital with a bite
Worms?
You trapped a person with short term memory in this infinite loop between the two Dragon videos
*Komodo Dragons: Are we a joke to you?*
Those are giant murder geckos
@@ubee2014 STFU. Dragons are *lArGe lIzArDs*
@@sheepuswoolius LARGER LARGE LIZARDS
When you fly you get your dragon/poison certificate
@@flameBMW245 THE LARGEREST LIZARDS
This popped up on the “My Little Ponies - Topic”
Seems about right
Less likely, it not showed a young fashion hair horse.
The topic was more focused enormous beast.
@Genki Gal My little Pony friendship is magic much more living human anatomy than Horse mythology. You saw G4 Spike in the video? Is because he's collected gems to grew bigger into adult dragon can size living half mountain. Back into Topic video, If video mentioned Dragon head like a horse has sharp jaw instead bulk flat jaw. In the past Generation, Christian Peoples told Dragon is connection Of Demon has slave innocent creatures and Human killed Dragon.
The weird thing is I always thought snakes were cute. Those tiny faces with big eyes, and when a constrictor wrapped around my arm It felt like a hug to me.
wtf. When were u playing with a constrictor lmao
@@docinabox258 he’s probably from Australia, it’s an average day for them
@@docinabox258 class had one as a pet.
"Dragonite's not going anywhere with those tiny wings"
Untrue! He's soaring into my heart UwU
i really love dragons, and i also really like pokemon that look like dragons.
(Charizard, rayquaza, Etc.)
Rayquaza's a badass. Plus, Gyarados is probably my favourite Pokemon full stop.
“Full stop”
What does that mean?
Frickin' Dragonites.
@@thehorseformerlywithoutana2522 Dragonite had smaller wings than Charizard.
Simon Klintlyng H.C.A. Skolen 6B the symbol “.” or maybe you recognize it as “period”
Something interesting to look up are Persian dragons, as well as other dragon myths from Central Asia and East India. You may think that European and East Asian dragons are maybe two different creatures, but if you see the dragons between them things get interesting. Persian dragon depictions actually depict dragons much like Chinese dragons, but much shorter and stockier, but they depict them in the same role as most European dragons- as a monster to be slain by a hero.
Early European dragons also were more snake-like, and the terms “serpent” and “dragon” where interchangeable, but even some of the artistic features used made them resemble East Asian dragons more such as more mammal-like features and even a thick brow. These are because of artistic influences spread through trade and cultural exchange all around.
East Asian dragons did not change in how they were depicted for a very long time, European dragons on the other hand were re-shaped by pop culture in the 20th century to become more lizard or dinosaur like and we have these ultra spikey winged behemoths from D&D. So you could say that East Asian dragons descended from a common ancestor but remained unchanged for a long time. Recently the film “Spirited Away” brought into popularity an “update” to East Asian dragons (Sorry Falkor, the dog look probably was too much) as more fuzzy and sleek. Now a lot of artwork out there has East Asian inspired dragons as being huge furry snakes with antlers. Hmm wait, now that I think about it, I’ve seen furry East Asian dragons before that, if I recall there a Digimon that was a huge fur snake dragon known as Holydramon or Magnadramon, hmm so maybe it predates it and was from somewhere else.
I like that Hong Kong builds skyscrapers with holes for dragons to go through
When I hear the word DRAGON I see A BLACK CAT GREEN EYED THING THAT LOVES FISH AND HATES EELS (TOOTHLESS)
I see Alduin
Me to
@@omegaraptor1057 me to and video game dragon
“When I say the word ‘dragon,’ what do you think of?”
Me: *T O O T H L E S S*
+
3:40 The fossil part, I remember it was from one of the videos this channel made or some other video mentioned that even a fossil was depicted (allegedly) in an Ancient Greek pottery. It was a skull of some sort of theropod dinosaur on a vase.
American Daragon: Jake Long and Seraphina present my two favorite takes on dragons.
+Chow Yee Yee *if* you watched the Lupin's Transformation into Werewolf form (from Harry Potter) you would understand how a transformation should be *extremely* painful in real life D:
Jake Long's Season 2 Dragon was a really good depiction of a dragon imo. It looks weird and awkward, like it's a mishmash of two cultures. Like it's half-european dragon and half-eastern. Almost like an allegory for Asian Americans.
Cerdan Lopez it was to represent his mixed heritage
HE'S YOUNG AND FAST HE'S THE CHOSEN ONE
Theres only one American Dragon, and his name is Daniel Bryan.
this has to be my favourite Extra Mythology episode, alongside the Anansi myths
Crocodiles seem like a pretty plausible explanation for some of them. Komodo dragons and other really big reptiles, giant sturgeons and oarfish too. It's also possible that human myths have carried over from times when our early ancestors lived along side now extinct giant animals and the fear and awe of them stuck around in our subconscious and stories. And as mentioned, dinosaur fossils.
Got so many Double Dragon flashbacks seeing that 1:44 artwork. Kind of surprised you didn't mention the welsh flag having a dragon, or that buildings in asia have giant holes in them because of a belief in the dragon spirits. Then more of a pet peeve discussion, the differences between a wyvern and a dragon.
There's something awe inspiring about dragons being such a force of nature. You just got to love 'em.
One theory I've heard is that dragons combine the most powerful and feared animals.
They are combination of snake (as explained), lion and eagle.
It makes sense that in areas where lion is not know, the dragon might look more like a wolf/dog.
It's always struck me that the crocodile is one of the closest animals to a dragon. They're also REALLY old, utterly terrifying, and their heads are as draconic than horses or camels. I'm surprised they didn't get more mention here.
Or dragons are just real, and that's why all cultures have them.
1:56
Of course, it could also be an inherited trait from Adam and Eve in the Bible
Wowww a creationist
Bible is not evidence
Yeah agreed
I literally always hear the name *Ahmed Ziad Turk* for as a legendary Patron so as someone who can't afford to contribute, I just wanted to say *thank you for helping to make these videos happen* :)
I do have a little nitpick, as somebody that works regularly with snakes around people.
The instinctual fear of snakes theory has a lot of evidence against it. For example one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, have to be taught to fear snakes by using mechanical cobras and toy snakes if they have been orphaned. It suggests that fear of snakes is taught by our environment, and not our instincts. When you think about how many times snakes are portrayed as vicious in media, and then you add scared adults on top of that and suddenly children get a lot of reasons to develop a fear of the noodles. I am by no means an expert nor a professor, but I can see it every day at work as well. The ones that are most likely to be scared of the snakes are the older folks, while children are most likely to approach the snakes with more excitement and curiosity.
Other than that, wonderful episode! I always love me some dragon lore on my feed ^^
1:47 Meanwhile me, watching with my ball python huddled up against me under my sweater: "But she's adorable."
I like how the nerds in the class(me included) find places like extra-mythology to express their knowledge and not be made fun of, and very much appreciated.
An interesting episode concept for Extra Myhtology! Would love seeing more
I have my own dragon story. The first time I saw him, I was about 5 years old, the dragon was pitch black, about three feet long with a long neck and large head that is probably filled mostly with brains, and he had the cutest golden-yellow eyes ever. I’d say that his eyes were about the size of tennis balls with large pupils. Clearly a nocturnal animal. He appeared from behind a shed in my back yard. I feel a strange connection to him. It’s impossible to explain what it felt like, but I felt quite a bit of fear, which was strange because I was not acting fearful at all. It was as if I was feeling the dragon’s emotions as well as mine. I feel paralyzed. I take one step and he just turns around runs away so fast that I could not even see what happened, but he made a noise similar to jumping into a pile of raked leaves in the fall. But this happened in summer, and there were almost no leaves on the ground, so that noise was probably from his tail whipping around and dragging along the ground as he turned and ran. Since I was only 5 years old, I had no idea what a dragon was, so I thought that he was a Black Racer snake. Fast forward a few years and I’m playing Mario Cart in my living room when the motion sensor light turns on, and when the light turns off, I see a silhouette of the very same dragon standing right in front of my door. And when I looked at him, I felt that same connection that I did when I first saw him. He was now around 5 feet long. The way that my front door is set up, is there is a walkway leading from the driveway to the door and the garage wall to the right and a fence on the left. So, since I did not see the dragon when the motion sensor light activated means that he jumped over the fence and his tail triggered the motion sensor. I sat in my chair just staring at him, then, about 30 seconds later, I feel the connection end as the dragon disappears, probably jumping over the fence again. I still had no idea what a dragon was, so I thought he was an alien from outer space. A few years later and I am now just about to start 6th grade in a few weeks. I just got home from a family Disney World trip. It was late at night, and we just pulled up to the gate and my mom got out of the car to open it. I also got out because I didn’t want to be sitting down for any longer, and I feel the connection. I look to my left and I see the dragon, now about 30 feet long, standing in the middle of the road (my house is on a dirt road and is a different house than the one the one that the first two sightings happened in) the same thing happened as with the previous sightings. But, this time I was able to see much more of him since I was standing less than 6 feet away from him. I first noticed his two legs, they are very powerful looking with large talon-like feet. I then noticed his wings. And they are HUGE! I could not see how big they really were because of how dark it was outside and because he had his wings were folded up. Like many European dragons, he used his wings as legs, and due to his large wingspan, this made him stand in an upright, regal-looking position. I was also able to see a little bit of what his head looked like. His head stayed mostly the same except for two large horns that pointed straight back and angled upwards by about 10 degrees. I feel the connection end and I suddenly start waking to my house. It was as if the dragon told me to leave. After this sighting, I decided to name the dragon “Shadow.” I was not the only one to see Shadow. My neighbor saw him two. I talked to him about it the next day, and he described seeing the same thing that I did. Then, when I was in 8th grade, it was about 2:00 too 3:00pm on a Saturday, and I was in my mom’s car. Then I feel the connection and I look out the window and I see a dragon appear emerge from behind a low-altitude cloud, flying and a speed of over 100 miles per hour. This dragon was not Shadow, despite looking exactly like him. Then, Shadow emerges from behind the same cloud and I could finally get a good look at his wings. His wings were MUCH bigger than I thought they were. Each wing was bigger than his length from nose to tail. The wings were shaped similarly to a swift’s wings, which are built for speed without sacrificing agility. So, how did I know which dragon was Shadow? It was because of the connection. I was able to tell which dragon was establishing a connection with my, and that one was Shadow. So, who was the other dragon? I’ll get to that soon. Fast forward to the beginning of 2019. It was winter break. I am riding my bike up and down the dirt road that my house is on and a stop at the canal at the end. I walk over the edge and I hear something jump. I look to my left and I see a white animal, about 3 feet long jump into the water, making a big splash and just disappearing. Instantly, I realized the situation. The other dragon was a female, which I had named “Umbra,” and the white creature was a baby dragon which is will either name “Luna” or “Sol” depending on if it’s male or female. A few months later, I was helping my neighbor clean up after Hurricane Dorian messed up his yard, and I asked him if he has seen Shadow recently. He said yes. He was helping his dad prepare for hurricane Dorian by taking fallen branches out to the street when he saw Shadow, and a small, white dragon with pinkish-red eyes standing right next to him. Shadow then said telepathically “Come with me.” Then he flew way with the baby following him. I knew that he was capable of doing this since I saw him after my Disney World visit. I felt like he was trying to say something to me, but I can’t remember what he was saying. So, telepathic communication is MUCH crazier than how it is depicted in movies. It’s not like you’re hearing someone speaking. Here’s a good way to imagine it. Think of a sentence and say it in your mind. That is more what it is like. But there is still more. Not too long ago, I was watching a TV show about aliens where some people were interviewing a retired US army soldier who claims to have communicated telepathically with an alien. He said that the US army had s division of medics who are trained to speak telepathically. The reason for this is, many of the patients have been hit with shrapnel, or have multiple bullet wounds are in too much pain to be able to talk. However there is a downside to speaking telepathically. You feel whatever the other person is feeling along with what you are feeling. So, in the case of the medics they are also trained to deal with the unbearable pain of their patients. As for me, it instantly answered my question about what I was feeling whenever I saw Shadow. I was feeling his feelings, which explains the fear I felt in the first sighting. I am still searching for Shadow. When I find him, I’ll make a video about it and you can see Shadow, Umbra, and their albino baby. And I might even get a 360 degree camera and attach it to Shadow, so you can experience what it’s like to ride a dragon
I think you might have some kind of mental illness that makes people hallucinate......
Is this a….dragon fanfic?
An episode on my favorite mythological creature? YES!
I LOVE dragons, thanks for this video
Ooh, include Maleficent's dragon in your ranks, please!!! She's one of my favorites! :D
I think it's interesting what you say about dragons used as political symbols, it totally makes sense to me. Demonizing your enemies as these bad giants that a strong leader from your country needs to defeat to save his people, or building yourself up as a figure of strength in your society, the dragon would be a great candidate as your symbol.
Coming from a Christian background, I am all too familiar with the dragon used as a symbol of evil in the Bible, particularly Satan in the Book of Revelation. On whether or not dragons really existed, or may even still exist in some form, I'm kinda split on that right now. On one hand, the dragon is largely a symbol of strength, evil, a character in fantasy, etc., and there's no straight up scientific evidence of dragons (at least none that I'm aware of), so I can see why a lot of people would doubt its existence. On the other hand, since I am a believer in a lot of the Bible, I'd like to think it was a creature that maybe existed in ancient times but somehow disappeared, like went extinct, like the dinosaurs, or into another spiritual dimension or something (yes, I believe that's a possibility). But if the Bible mentioned them at all, I'd like to think they existed in some point in our history. And if they did, it would be no wonder to me that many cultures around the world would see them, too.
And since dragons are portrayed in different lights from culture to culture, I don't know if I could classify them as fully good or evil. Like all animal species, there were probably some good, some bad, depending on what their natures might have been like. It seems that the Bible would classify dragons as largely evil since they're symbolized as such, but Satan is also represented as things like a serpent, wolf, or goat. But does that symbolism make the entire species of serpents, wolves, or goats evil? Of course not! They're just three more natural species. So methinks maybe the dragon might have been the same way, not all good, not all bad, maybe just another colossal force of nature. But since these animals might have things about their natures that could be decent allegories for evil, like a wolf being a lamb's predator, that doesn't make the wolf evil, it's just in his nature. Again, maybe it was the same case for the dragon.
I’m so happy that you guys made an video of dragons, cause I love dragons and plus that I was born in the year of the dragons in the Chinese zodiac
Thanks again to the MinuteEarth folks for dropping by to share their thoughts on dragons! If you want to hear more about the science and biology behind dragons, you can check them out at ua-cam.com/video/3n1DC_Q-2Ng/v-deo.html
Extrahistory ideas:
ExtraMovies:
Star Wars (1977)
Gladiator (2000)
King Kong (1933,1976 and 2005)
The Lord of the Rings (Flim trilogy)
Jurassic Park lll (2001)
A Knight's Tale (2001)
Dinosaur flims before Jurassic Park (The Valley of Gwangi,¡Dinosaurs!,When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth,Planet of Dinosaurs,Etc)
Japanese Animated movies (1960's to 2020's)
American and Mexican Animated movies
Other kaiju films.
PLEASE do an episode of Extra Mythology on the story of two of my favorite Dragons of all time: The Welsh Red and the Saxon White (the Dragons Of Merlin/Emrys)!
In Peru we have the amaru, a dragon with a llama like head xD (I´m not joking, it actually exists in our mythology)
Do u like dragons?
If yo put a like is that u like it, me too
Ye
0:56 Apep looks like he’s just vibing rn
dragons in Asia (except in Persia) were basically praised like gods
6:48 Zoe is Toothless!
I very much prefer the eastern myths of dragons being creatures of good luck and protectors... so much so, I have a Japanese dragon tattooed on my back.
As a dragonkin, i find this video fascinating.
I personally think that most serpentlike monster are originated by how a bunch of waves in water look like the reflections of scales; destroyers are disasters and protectors are rivers. E.g. how hercules destroyed the heads replicating hydra could mean diverting the streams of a river in enemy territory.
No connection with tornadoes? Particularly the Asian ones.
AySz88, tornadoes are pretty rare in most of the world. They’re only common in a few places, mostly Bangladesh and the central USA.
@@evilsharkey8954 Rarity doesn't preclude having myths about them!
Or meteorites?
That quote there in the intro
Real nice
Oficially confirmed that zoey is a night fury in disguise
You can find dragons in: Indonesia Komodo island. Fun fact!: baby komodo dragons are big like their parents.Also we have a myth about a man from Java was cursed and turned into stone because the man was a liar and now people in Indonesia are scared of lying.
It always struck me as pretty weird that we insist on calling them all "dragons" when most are only vaguely and superficially similar. They're really just a whole bunch of unrelated monsters that had kind of a drifting definition because of geographically close cultures; and by the time distinctly different cultures met they just kinda pigeonholed the new scaly things into the "dragon" category.
Yeah it could simply be a case of baader meinhoff syndrome, seeing patterns that aren't necessarily real or related.
Even so, the idea of how a powerful mythic creature represented in one society differs from another is worth looking at.
A true dragon has 4 legs and two wings
@Mullerornis it's not a meme it is the truth dragon is a European word and the European dragon has 4 legs and 2 wings, unlike a wyvren which only has 2, a distinction made it seems only for European dragon kin
Mullerornis you calling my cultural heritage a meme? European dragon has 4 legs 2 wings, a wyvern has two legs two wings, the Asian dragons have no wings
4:38 there is One huge Exception in The Legend of King Arthur There is a Good Red Dragon that Merlin believes represents the Coming of King Arthur would love a Video on That. It also said that King Arthur is a Descendant of Dragons.
Charizard is not a Dragon 6:43
Just wanted to say something
Non seelundai
Well! Only in its Mega X form. It’s Fire/Dragon type.
Non seelundai they deserve to be dragons!!
A turtle that spit water or a turtle that have things growing on it's back or a fire breathing beast that is a dragon. That would be a little op
Non seelundai
I don’t get it. Is that a Gamera reference? Considering that Gamera spits water & breathes fire; can grow things on it’s back; and can fly, even at outer space.
Oh wait! Never mind. It’s Blastoise and Torterra.
My mistake.
The Hydra in Greek mythology is, according to me, a dragon with a function: (x-y)+2y
Me: (Plays Dragonforce)
My sub box a minute later: Extra Credits and MinuteEarth uploading videos about dragons.
Through the Fire and the Flames we carry on.
Ohhh, there is just so many dragons around the world and I appreciate how many diffrent ones you have mentioned.
What the hay, even Spike is here on 6:32!
Why do they all look like dragons to us?
Because we told our artist to draw them that way!
- Is not actually that far from the truth
As a Chinese student who studies in America，I am glad to hear the origions of different dragons！
As Trey the explainer says: "GLIDING TREE SNAKES"
Excellent use of Spiritomb
4:02 Not a whole lot of indigenous Australian's talking 'bout dragons dude.
Wasn't australia first inhabited by europeans looking for somewhere to dump their prisoners?
@@magic914 Europeans did do that, but there were indigenous people living there for centuries before they "discovered" it.
Magic, Australia was inhabited by the aboriginal people for millennia before Europeans came. I think they’d been there, mostly geographically isolated, for 40,000 years before Europeans set foot on it.
I read somewhere about ancient people hearing about cobras and thinking that a cobra’s hood was some kind of wing. I wonder if that had anything to do with the idea of dragons.
I had a cat that looked EXACTLY like Toothless btw, she incidentally lost teeth also.
Anyway, one wilder theory... Dragons did once exist. It's hard to believe completely separated cultures the world over would refer to something fake but still talk about them to this day for thousands upon thousands of years.
0:25 it's obviously missing buffed bicepped arms
3:04 - *everything* that an actual [fat] tyrannosaurus ever desired... *long hands!*
When I was a kid, I read in a history book that spaniards during the conquest here (south america) believed crocodiles were dragons and burned then. I've seen some drawings from those days representing that
Anyone here for kaido???
Zoey, it's nice to share! Besides, people we share with are more likely to share with us later, so let's call it Enlightened Self-Interest.
Who came here from Minute Earth?
Me lol
Would love to see a series on italian culture and the civil war involving the pope and the holy roman empire.
We want more of Toothless-Zoe, the Dragon-cat!
Another interpretation of dragon/snake mythology (by Graham Hancock): They could have been based on Taurid meteor showers: green streaks of light with a fireball, often wreaking havoc on the landscape (like Tunguska event). Shape of a snake + flight + fire. Also since their radiant was in the Taurus contellation, there could have been a connection to the bull cult, like sacrificing bulls to stop the disasters.
Ah, the Dragon, the overlord of the collective unconcious
Water seems to be almost constant. "Journey to the West" has sea-&river dragons.
SJG's GURPS Dragons describes dragons almost universally as personifications of primal chaos, which always is described in conjunction with water.
"Show us a snake and out internal alarm starts to go off"
Speak for yourself lol, when I was in high school I saw a snake and immediately chased after it and caught it. GF was terrified, I was fascinated
Me too. Used to go out herping in grade school. Grew up to be a zookeeper and worked with snakes plus have my own little corn snake.
It's more likely people actually saw living dinosaurs rather than dead ones
Dinosaur don't exist
Yoshi isn't a dragon and neither is Charizard.
Don't forget look at its body charizard, not focus class.
@@arocomisgamusclademork1603 Dragonite is almost the same as charizard yet it is a dragon, there must be some difference there.
GOD THAT INTRO GIVES ME CHILLS EVERY DAMN TIME