Basic Dragon Information

Dragon Colors

Color symbolism has been a powerful component in art and myth for thousands of years. Here the symbolism of color, and its impact upon dragons, will be explored.

• Color Symbolism: An Introduction
• The Complexity of the Color Experience: The Science of Sight
• A Quick Reminder
• Color Shorthand and Colloquial Expressions
• Black Dragons
• Blue Dragons
• Bronze Dragons
• Brown Dragons
• Gray Dragons
• Green Dragons
• Gold Dragons
• Purple Dragons
• Rainbow Dragons
• Red Dragons
• Silver Dragons
• White Dragons
• Yellow Dragons
• Footnotes

Colors are closely associated with mental and emotional states,⁶ and as recent research in advertising and marketing has shown, color can have a tremendous impact on emotional states. . Modern designers consciously use color symbolism in designing everything from artwork to brochures to websites. Other conscious application of color symbolism can also be seen in the Christian liturgy, heraldry, alchemy, art, and literature. ⁸

While the symbolism of colors can be found universally, it cannot be said that there is universal agreement over what particular colors represent. As subjective experiences of color continue to be compared, however, there has been some very basic agreement within certain areas. For example, many artists and interior decorators agree that certain colors can be classified as "cold," such as blue, while others can be classified as "warm," such as red.¹

Humans possess binocular vision, unlike many animals that have their eyes spaced on either side of their head, like frogs.¹⁰ This is important to remember because human eyes have overlapping views of the visual world; both eyes collect visual impressions over a shared space.¹¹ For any animal with binocular vision, including humans and cats, the brain must piece together visual information from the two eyes and create one, whole, unrepeated image for the visual experience, and to do this, ocular columns develop with the organism.¹¹

In certain instances, such as animals with the albino mutation which robs them of their pigmentation, the development of ocular columns can be derailed.¹² The pigment epithelium, which is the layer of tissue in the back of the eye that gives the eye its color, lies behind the neural retina tissue, which contains the necessary neurons and photoreceptors that are need for the development of the optic nerve.¹² When the pigment epithelium does not have appropriate color, as in the case of an animal with the albino mutation, the normal interactions between photoreceptors and the optic nerve are disrupted.¹² The development of the visual system is disrupted, as is the brain development associated with it, causing abnormal experience of the visual world.¹²

The biological complexity of human sight is an important consideration for the symbolism of color. Since humans must develop the optic nerve and associated brain tissue to generate the visual experience of the world, it is sensible to suggest that colors contribute a great deal to human visual development, along side of human emotional and physiological development.

Finally, consider this complexity: humans name the color wavelengths of visual light, which correspond to the range of 400 nanometers (nm) to 700 nm, or from violet to red.¹⁷ When people teach others about colors, it is always through example and direct correlation. Perhaps there was a large, green block labeled "GREEN," or a big, red truck labeled "RED." Humans agree that one is green and the other is red, but there is no way for anyone to know if humans perceive the same visual colors of red and green. Even color blindness is tested and discovered through visual examples that rely on color contrast. In short, humans name the wavelength but cannot know how that wavelength translates subjectively into the visual cortex of any other person. We may, in fact, have a very different visual experience when we see green or red, but because that experience is too subjective, we cannot know.

Related Link: For more about color blindness, check out The Color Lab.

However, because many dragons in art and myth have been stylized or used representatively, the symbolism of color can be an important key to unlocking the meaning behind the story or the image. This is not meant to be an encompassing color chart that predicts behavior and personality of a dragon, nor it is meant to be used as an all-inclusive dragon-color-decoder that will unlock the secrets of every single dragon. Instead, it is a comprehensive look at color symbolism in various cultures throughout history and its correlation to the dragon.

In the West, the sexes have been often associated with colors, pink for female and blue for male. Sports teams select colors to boast their pride. And in the twentieth century, colors still associate with political movements; for example, red is associated with communism and green is associated with the environmental movement.

Various colloquial expressions in the West also use color to animate their meaning. Consider the following English expressions and their meaning:

• green with envy denotes extreme jealousy
• in a black mood denotes depression
• feeling blue denotes sadness, sullenness
• seeing red denotes anger and fury
• off color denotes sickness or illness
• yellow-bellied denotes cowardice
• grey-area denotes a middle ground or an area of uncertainty

Despite the associations with color in these colloquial expressions, however, the symbolism of color in the West remains complex. It is very easy to fall back on previous assumptions and experience with color symbolism (i.e. assuming that yellow denotes cowardice in all situations, cultures, and geographies because that has been your primary experience with the color's meaning) because it has been so tightly interwoven into our cultural experience.

All of the dragon graphics on this page were created by Donna Quinn.

1. Stevens [Ariadne's Clue] 145
2. Stevens [Ariadne's Clue] 147
3. Stevens [Ariadne's Clue] 148
4. Stevens [Ariadne's Clue] 149
5. Stevens [Ariadne's Clue] 150
6. O'Connell and Airey 114
7. O'Connell and Airey 115
8. Cirlot 52
9. Cirlot 53
10. Blumberg [Instinct] 76
11. Blumberg [Instinct] 77
12. Blumberg [Instinct] 79
13. Lanse 4
14. Lanse 5
15. Lanse 6
16. Lanse 7
17. What Wavelength Goes With a Color?
18. Visual Color Symbolism Chart by Culture

For more information about footnotes and references, please see the bibliography.