Adragonslayer is a person or being that slaysdragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in theAarne–Thompson classification system.[1] They continue to be popular in modern books, films, video games and other forms of entertainment. Dragonslayer-themed stories are also sometimes seen as having achaoskampf theme—in which a heroic figure struggles against a monster that epitomises chaos.
A dragonslayer is often the hero in a "Princess and dragon" tale. In this type of story, the dragonslayer kills the dragon in order to rescue a high-class female character, often a princess, from being devoured by it. This female character often then becomes the love interest of the account. One notable example of this kind of legend is the story ofRagnar Loðbrók, who slays a giant serpent, thereby rescuing the maiden,Þóra borgarhjörtr, whom he later marries.
There are, however, several notable exceptions to this common motif. In the legend ofSaint George and the Dragon, for example, Saint George overcomes the dragon as part of a plot which ends with the conversion of the dragon's grateful victims to Christianity, rather than Saint George being married to the rescued princess character.
In a Norse legend from theVölsunga saga, the dragonslayer,Sigurd, killsFáfnir—adwarf who has been turned into a dragon as a result of guarding the cursed ring that had once belonged to the dwarf,Andvari. After slaying the dragon, Sigurd drinks some of the dragon's blood and thereby gains the ability to understand the speech of birds. He also bathes in the dragon's blood, causing his skin to become invulnerable. Sigurd overhears two nearby birds discussing the heinous treachery being planned by his companion,Regin. In response to the plot, Sigurd kills Regin, thereby averting the treachery.[2]
Mythologists such asJoseph Campbell have argued that dragonslayer myths can be seen as a psychological metaphor:[3]
"But as Siegfried [Sigurd] learned, he must then taste the dragon blood, in order to take to himself something of that dragon power. When Siegfried has killed the dragon and tasted the blood, he hears the song of nature. he has transcended his humanity and re-associated himself with the powers of nature, which are powers of our life, and from which our minds remove us.…Psychologically, the dragon is one's own binding of oneself to one's own ego."[4]
^Thompson, Stith (1977).The Folktale. University of California Press. p. 27.ISBN0-520-03537-2.
^Byock, Jesse L. (1990).Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.ISBN0-520-23285-2.[page needed]
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Smith, Karen P. (2006). "Serpent-Damsels and Dragon-Slayers". In Csonka-Takács, Eszter (ed.).Christian Demonology and Popular. Vol. 2. Central European University Press. pp. 121–138.ISBN978-963-7326-76-9.JSTOR10.7829/j.ctt2jbmrh.10.
van der Schaaf, Baukje Finet; Ditzel, Ruth; Kooper, Erik (1994). "The 'Lai de Tyolet' and 'Lancelot and the Whitefooted Stag': Two Romances Based on a Folktale Motif".Arthuriana.4 (3):233–249.doi:10.1353/art.1994.0039.JSTOR27869068.S2CID162109364.
Vaz da Silva, Francisco (2003). "Iberian Seventh-Born Children, Werewolves, and the Dragon Slayer: A Case Study in the Comparative Interpretation of Symbolic Praxis and Fairytales".Folklore.114 (3):335–353.doi:10.1080/0015587032000145379.hdl:10071/614.JSTOR30035123.
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