Dragons

[conall]

hey, im new here on this site but not new to the wheel of time

This is a question i presume we'll never get a complete answer to, but i just wanted to get it out there....was their dragons in the Age of Legends?? Ive always wondered also is the skeleton in the museum in Tanchico the skeleton of a dragon?

[aball]

"Look, Frodo it's an oliphant!"

[mb]

hey, im new here on this site but not new to the wheel of time This is a question i presume we'll never get a complete answer to, but i just wanted to get it out there....was their dragons in the Age of Legends?? Ive always wondered also is the skeleton in the museum in Tanchico the skeleton of a dragon?

There have been recent threads about this.

[Agitel]

I don't know about dragons, but the skeleton in the museum seemed to be a giraffe.

[maryemi'jigede]

I thought it was a dinosaur, lol. I must admit, I have been half-expecting a real Dragon to appear in AMOL.

[Mandro]

There weren't dragons as I understand. Every reference to dragon, or dragons are directed to Rand, LTT or his previous incarnations. Moridin presumes to recall previous lives, and has only used the phrase "the one they call Dragon."

 

It might be a part of racial memory from those ages before the wheel needed to turn out heroic souls so those who can recall, were outside of the preceding periods that allowed for the existence of "dragons."

 

A TWoT equivilant of Stobor I guess.

[Mandro]

I thought it was a dinosaur, lol. I must admit, I have been half-expecting a real Dragon to appear in AMOL.

 

I think a "real" dragon will arise in the final book, but it would be more like the constantinian concept of him always marching under a halo. Constantine always had a halo, and Rand will always have the dragon.

[Hyronimus]

It's a form of the great serpent, tail out of mouth , in reference to the importance of the soul's thread in the pattern.

 

Not the beginning, but a beginning. Not the end but an end.

[Ferdawoon]

I'm amazed that no one seem to reflect that the old cultures could have found a dinosaur skeleton and from that got the idea of a dragon, seeing as dragons seem to have the general body-style of some of the dinosaurs (minus wings maybe).

 

It is not that farfetched that in one age, or one parallell world, there are or were dinosaurs.

[coolpool]

i thought that the term dragon for rands soul was a play on eternity, the snake eating its own tail is the same as a dragon eating its own tail like the consellation draco.. it can be seen as a dragon like in the film dragon heart or as a snake... i thought it was used to reflect that the wheel will keep spining and rands soul will be reborn time and time again..

 

anyway.. to the topic... IIRC i think i thought it was a girraff as well

[TLHansum]

The word Dinosaur is a new word (talking RL here), previous to the late 1800's 'dinosaurs' were called 'dragons'.

 

Since the word dragon has fallen from meaning 'dinosaur', certain cultures have adopted it to a more mythlike version. See oriental and american versions.

[Spirit1025]

I think the origin/existence of dragons (other than "the Dragon"/"Dragon Reborn") in the books is going to be left a msytery. It's not really crucial to the story, and there's really not time and space to go into it, with only one book left and so many things to tie up. I am ok with that. It's fun that there are so many mysterious things to speculate about, it will give us something to do when we've finished reading the last book.

 

From what information is available to us, there is no evidence that there were (or weren't) dragons in the Age of Legends. Also, the skeleton in the Tanchico museum is a giraffe. I think somewhere else it mentions that on the carved wooden paneling in the Amyrlin's study, there are strange animals with ridiculously long necks.

[Suttree]

It was a dinosaur skeleton, per RJ there are no Dragons in his world.

[Mandro]

Best explanation is the ouroboros, of the eternal serpent.

[tlburchhardt]

Raken and To'raken

[mb]

It was a dinosaur skeleton, per RJ there are no Dragons in his world.

If "dinosaur" and "dragon" were the only options, that would be so; yet there is a chance of other animals/creatures fitting.

[Suttree]

It was a dinosaur skeleton, per RJ there are no Dragons in his world.

If "dinosaur" and "dragon" were the only options, that would be so; yet there is a chance of other animals/creatures fitting.

 

 

Well yeah, when I said dinosaur I was referring to a generic term that would include Seanchan exotics like Raken and what not...

[NetSlider]

I thought it was fossil dino too?

 

In fact,I still think so, unless there is a source clarifying it. I mean, dinos are what, 65 million years? Well within full 7 revolutions of the wheel i would guess.

[mb]

It was a dinosaur skeleton, per RJ there are no Dragons in his world.

If "dinosaur" and "dragon" were the only options, that would be so; yet there is a chance of other animals/creatures fitting.

Well yeah, when I said dinosaur I was referring to a generic term that would include Seanchan exotics like Raken and what not...

generic use might still limit; depending on how the term is interpreted.

[jnabers]

The eternal serpent is a really good explanation but it doesn't address one flaw: Dragon's had to existed at one time in or before the age of legends becuase if it didn't, where did the idea for the dragons on Al'Thor's arms and flag come from?

 

It clearly looks nothing like the ouroboros with it's mane and claws. The dragon would have to be either something imagined to go on Lews Therin's banner, or be inspired by something from their real life.

[mb]

There is a chance of dragons originally being someone's imagination.

Fantasy is full of creatures that do not exist in real life; also mythology, and I think also fairy tales. Most of them consist of different body parts from various real life animals.

[nojnomad]

I have figured it out...

Dinosaurs were the minions of the dark one last time he tried to breakout.

Or maybe they were the sentient form of life in the last full turn.