Slayers

As all good has evil, dragons, too, have antagonists. In many modern stories, however, Dragon Slayers seem to be less and less popular, and for some reason people seldom point out slayers. Some interesting facts include: Some dragons call Dragon Slayers "Georges", after Saint George.

• Dobrynja
• Haymo
• Hercules
• Saint Clement
• Saint George
• Susa-no-o
• Yorimasa
• Footnotes

Symbolism: Saint George is a symbol to the Catholic Faith as a saint and a fighter. He is a strong fighter and is often depicted on a white horse with a spear (or the like) crushing a dragon.

History: Saint George was actually a Roman Calvary officer and a Christian. He, attempting to rid the world from evil, decided to slay the dragon who was tormented the area around Cappadocia. The local townfolk, not knowing any other way to get rid of a dragon, fed it sacrifices of their best sheep. Sadly, this only appeased the dragon for a short time, and it attacked again.

Now, Saint George happen to come into town when they were sacrificing their young virgin princess. With that, he slew the mighty dragon and saved the princess. Many others, trying to follow Saint George, also began to save damsels in distress and slay dragons.

Religious Ties: Saint George is a symbol for many things. His honor and valanty displayed on the battle field and before the dragon obviously make him important. To the Catholics, though, he is a Saint with a legend.

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Symbolism: Hercules is the son of the god Zeus and a mortal, which did not please most of the gods. He was thought to be favored by Zues and thus poor blood spread between he and his half-family. He is a symbol of strength and goodness to the Greeks.

History: In order for Hercules to claim the right to his throne in Mycenae, Eurystheus sent him on twelve labors. The second labor was to slay the hydra what lived in the swamp of Lerna. The hydra was deadly, and would, on its occasion, venture out into the plain and kill livestock and such. The hydra also had multiple heads (either six or nine, depending on the version of the story) and the first one was immortal. And, to make matters worse, the hydra's blood was deadly.

Hercules then lured the hydra out of its home by shooting arrows of fire into its lair. After that, the Hydra summoned up a crab to attack Hercules' feet. Sadly, the crab was not immortal and got crushed into nothing, and Hercules continued to attack the vile hydra. Much to Hercules' demise, each time he cut off a head, two new ones would grow in is place.

Hercules then called upon his friend Iolaus to help him. Iolaus stopped the head's growth by singeing the heads with fire. With that, Hercules cut off the final head and he burried it and stuck an extremely heady rock on top of its burial.

Religious Ties: Hercules was a part of both the Greek's and Roman's mythologies. He was not only the slayer of the hydra, but he also slew many other mythological beings.

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Symbolism: Haymo is the "good giant" that defeated the larger foe. It is said that the dragon represented the power and force of the Sill River, and only a mythological force - a giant - would be able to defeat it.

History: Haymo was a giant of noble birth. Being over twelve feet tall, many people of the city of Innsbruck looked up to him. So, when a dragon inhabitted the local mountain-forest, he was called to the task.

The dragon that happened to inhabit the area gaurded a grand horde. During heavy rains and floods, some of the dragon's horde would be swept away with the waters down the Sill River. People would find gold lying about. Sadly, the dragon would rampage, destroying all that laid in its way until it found its lost gold.

Haymo took up his armour and attacked the dragon. When the dragon retreat to its cave, Haymo became relentless. After battling the dragon in its own lair, Haymo successfully slew the dragon. After that, he cut off the dragon's tounge and brought it back to the locals as proof. This made Haymo famous.

Religious Ties: Unknown

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Symbolism: Dobrynja is both a wise and a foolish man. He failed to heed a warning, yet he managed to make it up later on in the tale. He is the classic Dragon Slayer, so to speak.

History: Dobrynja, though expressly told not to bathe in a particular river, rode his horse one day and decided to bathe. He most likely forgot the warnings of his mother, and he striped and began bathing. As soon as he did, the sky turned black and a dragon named Gorynytch decended with seven heads. The hero escaped to shore and found that most of his items - his weapons, his horse - were all gone.

While the dragon was breathing fire, Dobrynja bent on his knees to grab his helmet. Gorynytch thought that Dobrynja was begging for his life, so she did not attack immediately. However, Dobrynja struck the dragon with his helment and knocked one of her head clear off!

After this, the dragon begged for her life. She explained that she had hatchlings that would die if she did not feet them. Dobrynja, feeling a bit sorry for her, allowed her to be free, but only if she made a promise. The dragon could not attack him again...and it was agreed upon.

Yet, as the dragon left, he stole High Duke Vladimiris' daughter and took her back to her lair. When Dobrynja went to the Duke to find out what had happened, he was instructed to go save the daughter himself.

Immediately, he returned home. After putting him to bed, his mother made him a fine silk whip and got his grandfather's horse. She instructed him to kill all the dragon hatchlings as well by having the horse trample them.

The next day, Dobrynja rose and listened to his mother's wise words. He did exactly what he was told, and Gorynytch returned to find all of her children dead, for the horse had trample them all.

Enraged, the battle lasted three days and nights. Finally, Dobrynja remembered the whip and used it to subdue and kill the dragon. The three-day battle caused Dobrynja to be wounded, however. To make matters worse, the blood of the dragon was poisonious, and Dobrynja was bathing in it. In order to prevent his death, he used the silk whip to rid himself of the blood.

After that, he went throught he chambers of the dragon, freeing all the people in the caves. He rescued the princess, but the reward to Dobrynja was never told.

Religious Ties: Unknown

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Symbolism: Susa-no-o was cast into the Yomi Land (Netherhell) when he managed to force his sister, the Sun Goddess, into seclusion with his mischevious ways. However, when he decended from heaven, he became well-respected, but he was also noted to be mischievious. When he slew Yamata-no-orochi, he did it in a wise way. Therefore, he was a clever trickster. He is a symbol of being reformed.

History: One day, Susa-no-o heard weeping. He found two elderly people and a young girl. The two elderly people were Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi, and there daughter, Kushi-nada-hime, was also with them. They were crying because a huge, eight-headed serpent called Yamata-no-orochi had devoured their seven other daughters and was returning to eat this last one. On the promise that Susa-no-o would be able to marry Kushi-nada-hime, he promised to slay the serpent. He ordered the two elderly parents to make eight cups of sake, which they did. With this, he went out to slay Yamata-no-orochi.

Yamata-no-orochi was a huge dragon, eight hills long with fur and cypress trees growing down his back. When seeing the sake, he promptly drank it down with each head and became very drunk. Susa-no-o took this opportunity to slay the dragon. While doing this, he found a sword called Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, which he sent up into the Heavens.

Religious Ties: Unknown

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Symbolism: Yorimasa was said to be the bravest of all the Emperor's knights, being a common symbol for bravery and knighthood.

History: One of the Emperors became very, very ill. Due to a terrible, terrible noise he heard at night, he was unable to sleep. It came from the Purple Hall of the North Star, which was the roof of the palace. Everyone who saw him or attended on him knew that, unless something was done, the Emperor would most certainly die. Several people decided to see what it was that was plaguing the Emperor, so they waited up a night and soon saw what was bothering him. A dark, black cloud came from the Eastern horizen, and it settled on top of the palace. Inside the bed chamber of the Emperor, scratches could be heard...undoubtedly, the cloud was no cloud, but a monster with huge claws.

Yorimasa, the only knight brave enough to fight against this unknown creature, decided to help end, and hopefully help cure, the Emperor's plight. For this task, he took steel headed arrows, his best bow, his armour, and a ceremonial cap (not his helmet).

Night fell, and Yorimasa waited outside and soon saw the black cloud. He aimed one of his steel arrows at the creature, and soon he had hit it. It fell from the roof of the palace to the ground, and he persued the creature with his sword.

This nameless dragon was the said to be the size of a horse with an ape's head, a tiger's body and claws, a serpent's tail, a bird's wings, and a dragon's scales. Yorimasa slew the beast, and the Emperor ordered that the skin (scales) of this dragon-monster to be kept in the Emperor's treasure house.

For Yorimasa's deed, he recieved a sword called "the King of Lions", or Shishiwo. He later married Lady Ayame.

Religious Ties: Unknown

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1. Dragons of History
2. Dragons of History
3. Haymo, a Tyrolean Dragonslayer
4. Gorynytch, the dragon and Dobrynja, the heroe
5. Japanese Mythology by Juliet Piggot
6. Myths and Legends of Japan by F. Handland Davis

For more information, see the Bibliography.