What is your favorite dragon from the history of literature?

BarcelonaThe dragon is one of the quintessential fantastic animals in the history of literature. Its power has fascinated millions of readers, young and old, spurred by the creativity of novelists and poets from all over, but the image it presents has been changing: the dragon can be menacing, dangerous, and violent, although also, on some occasions, benevolent and compassionate, and it can even possess a wisdom superior to that of humans. "I am fire. I am death," proclaims Smaug, the imposing and fearsome dragon against whom Bilbo Baggins must verbally contend in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. "Never give up, and sooner or later you will find good luck," recommends Fulgor, the majestic white dragon, to the intrepid Atreyu in The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende. For Ursula K. Le Guin, who expanded and renewed the abilities of these enigmatic animals in the Earthsea novel cycle, dragons represent the human capacity to imagine: "If dragons frighten us it is because we tend to consider the works of imagination as suspicious or even despicable," the author defended in the article "Why Are We Afraid of Dragons, Americans?" (1974).

A magical animal or a beast?

The dragon guards the precious golden fleece in the 'Argonautica'

Dragons have arrived by land, sea, and air for millennia. In Yijing. The Book of Changes (in Catalan by Pagès, translated by Jordi Vilà), one of the quintessential Chinese philosophical and oracular texts – dated around 2400 BC – dragons have the power to "provoke lightning and the thunder of storms", but they use their magic benevolently. In the Babylonian epic poem Enuma Elix (1200 BC), the dragon is a divine force that emanates from the depths of the sea – named Tiamat – and is capable of creating chaos.

In Western tradition, dragons are initially associated with the earth, perhaps because the Greek word that defines them, drákontos

, means serpent and has as its main characteristic the ability to kill with a glance. It is against a serpentine dragon that the hero Jason contends in the Argonautica, an epic written by Apollonius of Rhodes in the 3rd century BC, available in Catalan by La Magrana, versioned by Francesc J. Cuartero. The beast guards the precious golden fleece, which Jason must obtain if he wishes to reign in Thessaly. Aware that the dragon is invincible, because it never rests and lives coiled around the tree from which the fleece hangs, Jason teams up with Medea, who lulls the monster to sleep and allows her future husband to snatch the treasure. Just as happens in many other Greek myths, ingenuity and cunning manage to defeat a colossal force.

Save the maiden from the monster

The fruitful medieval tradition: from the legend of Saint George to 'Tirant lo Blanc'

Since, at the end of the 1st century AD, John of Patmos wrote the Apocalypse or Book of RevelationsAnother legend that has become literary material is that of Saint George, as collected by Jacobus de Voragine in his most popular work,

Another legend turned into literary material is that of Saint George, as collected by Jacobus de Voragine in his most popular work, The Golden Legend (1260). In this case, the notable element that Voragine adds is that the knight's great feat involves saving a maiden from being devoured by the dragon. This is the starting point of a very long literary tradition related to the legend present in many cultures: in Catalonia, Joan Amades fixes it in the Costumari català, and among the differences with other versions is the detail that, from the pool of blood spilled by the monster, a rose bush full of red roses is born.

Joanot Martorell incorporates the element of saving the maiden in one of the many adventures he includes in Tirant lo Blanc picks up the element of saving the maiden in one of the many adventures it includes in

From physical strength to verbal power

The visions of William Blake and Thomas De Quincey precede Tolkien's great dragon

The fearsome physical strength of dragons is present in other classics of medieval literature: an unnamed dragon is the final enemy that Beowulf must defeat in the epic poem of the same name, dated in the 8th century AD, which is currently being translated into Catalan; in The Song of the Nibelungs, written in German at the beginning of the 13th century in stanzas of four verses that rhyme in pairs – in Catalan it can be read thanks to the excellent version by Joan Dalmases for Adesiara—, the hero Siegfried must face one of them, often identified with the name Fafnir, and once he has killed it, he bathes in its blood, thanks to which he will become invulnerable.

The transition towards greater literary complexity of dragons in the 20th century comes through three unsuspected paths. The first begins with William Blake, because dragons are one of the many mystical visions collected in books such as The First Book of Urizen (1794), and shortly after they infiltrate as terrifying crocodiles in the state of clairvoyant reverie caused by opium consumption in

Thomas De Quincey, as he recounts in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822; in Catalan by Bromera, translated by Enric Sòria). The second path is that of the then nascent literature for children. Two of its precursors contribute to creating the archetype of the good, benign, and even enlightened dragon: Kenneth Grahame does so in The Reluctant Dragon (1898; in Catalan by Estrella Polar, translated by Víctor Aldea) and Edith Nesbit in The Last of the Dragons and Other Stories (1901; in Catalan by Nòrdica, translated by Anna Llisterri). The third path is that of nonsense literature: the most linguistically playful dragon is described by Lewis Carroll in the poem Jabberwocky, included in Through the Looking-Glass (1871), the second part of the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, available in Catalan by Quaderns Crema, translated by Amadeu Viana.

When, in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit –in Catalan by La Magrana, translated by Francesc Parcerisas–, where the dragon Smaug appears, he has in mind the heritage of medieval monsters like that of Beowulf and that of The Song of the Nibelungs, but also the later variations developed during the 19th century. Smaug is endowed "with a bestial life" but also "with his own thoughts," as he acknowledges in an article included in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983; in Spanish by Minotauro). In the hands of the author of The Lord of the Rings, the dragon is a creature as ancient and powerful as it is intelligent. When Bilbo Baggins enters his lair and finds Smaug guarding a lavish treasure, he will maintain a tense and witty dialogue in which he will have to try to resist the psychological manipulation that the animal wants to exert over him to change his mind, until he discovers that someone has stolen a golden cup from him and gives in to rage. "I am fire. I am death," he proclaims.

If Tolkien rediscovers dragons for new generations of adult readers, C.S. Lewis does a similar exercise for younger ones thanks to The Chronicles of Narnia. In one of the seven novels, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1953; in Catalan by Destino, translated by Jordi Arbonès), one of the characters, Eustace Scrubb, transforms into a dragon due to his greed, and is condemned to a solitary and bitter life.

Dragons for all tastes

The wise gaze of Ursula K. Le Guin and the return to force by George R.R. Martin

Thanks to the unstoppable expansion and consolidation of fantastic genres in literature, dragons have enjoyed unbeatable health since the second half of the 20th century. Anne McCaffrey inaugurates with Dragonflight (1968; in Spanish by Roca, translated by José M. Acervo) the extensive saga set on Pern, a feudal society in which riders, instead of fighting on horseback, do so mounted on their dragons, with whom they communicate telepathically. Michael Ende looks to Eastern magical dragons when creating Fuixur, Atreiu's adventure companion in The Neverending Story (1979; in Catalan by Alfaguara, translated by Francesca Martínez): together they must find the Empress and manage to stop the Nothing from forever devouring the fantasy world, of which that endearing and intelligent animal is an inextricable part. "Never give up, and sooner or later you will find good luck," he repeats to Atreiu when he is discouraged.

One of the most transformative and influential contributions has been that of Ursula K. Le Guin, who in the Earthsea cycle, which begins with A Wizard of Earthsea (1968; in Catalan by Raig Verd, translated by Blanca Busquets), features wise and powerful dragons such as Yevaud, Orm Embar, and Kalessin. Le Guin's dragons, as explained in Tehanu (1990; also by Raig Verd), decided to separate from the human race, with which they formed a primal whole, because they chose to be free and follow their instincts. Humans, on the other hand, preferred to lead ordered lives. The dragons, who speak older languages than ours, help the young Ged, who aspires to master magic, and one of their most important teachings is that he will not achieve true knowledge until he learns to listen to others.

The fascination that dragons exert on many authors leads them to have them accompany them in extensive narrative cycles. Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis have done so in the trilogy Dragonlance Chronicles (1984; in Spanish by Minotauro, translated by Tere Casanovas and Marta Pérez), Terry Pratchett in the Discworld series, especially through Guards! Guards! (1989; in Catalan by Mai Més, translated by Ernest Riera) and Christopher Paolini in the tetralogy that began with Eragon (2003; in Catalan by La Galera, translated by Jordi Vidal i Tubau).

In the still-unfinished A Song of Ice and Fire, of which George R.R. Martin has published five of the seven planned volumes –in Catalan by Alfaguara with translation by Mercè Santaulària, Esther Roig, and Anna Llisterri–, dragons regain their past destructive power. The saga, which begins with Game of Thrones (1998), features Daenerys Targaryen as one of its main protagonists, who manages to hatch three fossilized dragon eggs when the species had already become extinct. "I am the blood of the dragon," asserts Daenerys, who will use the dragons Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion to triumph on the battlefield. Are the dragons of A Song of Ice and Fire tools of justice, or weapons of terror? Whatever the answer, they continue to be supernatural, intriguing, and uncontrollable animals, much like imagination.