The origin of the Dragon symbol

[Bergevin]

One thing I've always wondered is where does the Dragon - as in the red and gold creature on the dragon banner - come from?

We know this is Lews Therin's symbol in the AOL, and he is called the Dragon. Rand is the Dragon Reborn, adopting this symbol and getting it tattooed, along with the Clan Chiefs, on his forearms by the glass columns...but we don't know where the symbol itself comes from.

 

We see so much of our own myth and legend stemming from the time of the books, and they in turn derive much from us (Mercedes symbol, Merk and Mosk, etc), but nowhere in the turnings of the wheel can we say 'there be dragons' and point to a time or place where the creature on the dragon banner actually existed, or provide an explanation for how AOL people and Lews Therin would have inheritted that knowledge.

 

I half expected to see one in a portal stone world on an alternate future in AMOL, but we didn't, or maybe a scene with a To'raken and a dragon firing creating some kind of myth, but nothing that explicit occured.

 

Has this ever been discussed before?

[rand4747]

I would just guess its been passed along as a myth. We created the "Dragon" in our world and its been in existance a long time so I think it could last to then.

[Agitel]

It seems to be a position of commanding general of the Aes Sedai, or even the entire united world war effort. It may have been a very old position that hadn't been used in a long time but was reinstated for the war, or maybe it was new. It also fits in with the idea of the "Great Serpent."

 

Slightly aside, the idea of the Dragon seems to be related to "the Beast" from the Christian book of Revelation. "The Beast" in Greek is Θηρίον, pronounced Thērion, which looks awfully similar to "Therin."

[Rhienne]

I don't think the dragon was ever a real creature in Randland.  Its just a symbol, much as we have mystical animals in our world, e.g. the unicorn faces a lion in British symbology, and many cultures have dragons like Wales and China (which the Randland dragon is very similar too).  In China the dragon is a symbol of imperial power, and was used to represent the emperor.  Maybe Rand's turning of the wheel has the dragon from myths of the Chinese empires which have been corrupted?  Or maybe the Chinese emperor's get their dragon symbols from the 4th age