In the East, the Dragon is a symbol of many positive forces, including life energy but in Western culture from time immemorial, the Dragon was an Enemy of Life, of humanity and Nature, a greedy creature coveting treasure and gold without ever appreciating its beauty, without creativity or the ability to share. The Western Dragon was a destructive force propelled by Greed and Hunger to emerge periodically from its underground habitat, to pillage, destroy by flame and its own immense hunger. It somehow could sense the presence of anything valuable or beautiful and it directed its gaze instantly towards this, raping civilisation in essence, and taking everything back to its underground 'Muck Heap' where it simply lay atop it, defecating over it, in a sort of perpetual half-coma, until hunger once again drove it to seek food and more treasure.
The Dragon is not alone in this role in ancient cultures. In the mythology of Canaan, this position was held by the God Mot. Mot now is the word for Death in Arabic and Mot lived in a cave underground where his main rival was a sky god named Baal. Baal simply translates to Lord. It was the God El who was the high god, over all the other Gods.
It is far more complex than this but the original myths speak of Mot's insatiable hunger in a description of a tongue that extends from the earth to Heaven. Mot was a Barley God as well, a Sacrificial God, who was cut down, harvested and winnowed in a cycle that alternated with the Sacrifice of the Bull, Baal. Beyond this, however, I believe Mot is another manifestation of the primal Dragon.
How did the Dragon diminish into a playful tameable creature that people love and admire? Tolkien certainly followed the traditional definition when he wrote about Smaug, and there was NOTHING admirable or even negotiable about Smaug. Smaug was an agent of greed and destruction, pure and simple.
My own introduction to the changed perception of the Dragon came when I read fantasy writers like Anne McCaffrey, with her Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragons, if caught when small and relatively harmless, could be TAMED to serve humans, to act in a symbiotic relationship with humans and actually work towards positive ends.
Move forward to writers like George R. R. Martin and the fabulous Daenarys Targaryen, 'Queen of Dragons'. The dragons of 'Fire and Ice', aka Game of Thrones, like Anne McCaffrey's Dragons, if approached in the right manner, can be tamed and made to obey the will of humans. They remain destructive, but protective towards the masters or mistresses they serve.
My question is: are we being misdirected here to view a 'weapon of mass destruction' as a force that can be tamed and actually work for the good of the earth and humanity or is this simply a very different creature from its Western ancestors? I submit that it may be a form of subtle brainwashing. If the 'collective unconscious' exists, Dragons exist there as a warning against Greed and a force that negates Art, Beauty and Life.
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