Labbu

Labbu

Region of origin: Mesopotamia

Labbu, the lion-serpent, was a massive dragon spoken of in what remains today only as fragmentary texts. Thought to be created by the chief deity Enlil, to eliminate humanity which had become a nuisance to him, Labbu terrorized the beasts of the sea, air and land, including the cities of man. The other gods, fearing the power of the creature, enlisted a hero Tishpak to slay the creature and aided him in performing the task, though the specifics of the fight have been lost. After being slain, it was said Labbu was so massive it took three years, three months and a day for the body to fully bleed out.

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Tatzelwurm

Tatzelwurm

Region of origin: The Alps

With the first recorded sighting occurring in 1779 and persisting into the Twentieth Century, there have been numerous accounts of a strange reptilian creature attacking travelers in the Alpine regions of Europe, peaking in the mid-1800s where stories of the creature had become so widespread details of it were included in Bavarian hunting manuals. The Tatzelwurm was described as a dragon or serpent often with feline features at its front half and either only two legs or a set of short, stubby hind-legs. Sightings of the Tatzelwurm petered out by the mid-1900s, but interest in the creature’s existence was maintained by evidence in the form of a photograph and a skeleton, both of which were later shown to be hoaxes, and continued accounts of eyewitnesses finding strange lizards in the Alps.

Originally posted on Tumblr on November 29, 2016

Goodra

Goodra

Region of origin: Laverre Nature Trail, Route 14, Kalos

A gastropod-like dragon, Goodra and its related species live in swamps and other damp environments to help keep their slime-covered skin from drying out. The slime it excretes can be used for assisting in locomotion of its bulky body, as well as functioning as a natural defense both by being corrosive and helping prevent potential predators from getting a hold upon it. It has underdeveloped visual organs running down the lateral sides of its body, with the four horn-like antennae doing most of the sensory heavy lifting. A gentle giant, domesticated Goodra are loyal to their trainers and will often attempt to hug them, unaware of the danger their mass and slime may pose. As a mollusk-like dragon, there are several analogues in world mythology, including the Shussebora, the Chinese Shen and France’s Lou Carcolh.

Originally posted on Tumblr on November 17, 2016

Zburător

Zburător

Region of origin: Romania

A demonic spirit who is often seen in the bestial form of a wolf-headed dragon with a flaming tail, the zburător, Romanian for “flyer”, is in fact an incubus. He will assume the form of a handsome young human (or simply be invisible) and in the middle of the night enter the bedchambers of women, especially attracted to newly-married ones, to sleep with them and feed off their life energy as he does so. As he flies across the sky in his more animalistic form, he can be mistaken for a shooting star.

Originally posted on Tumblr on August 31, 2016

Pūķis

Pūķis

Region of origin: Latvia

A goblin or faerie that takes the form of a dragon with a flaming tail, a pūķis was a familiar kept by sorcerers who used the creature to help them hoard wealth. The pūķis would steal into neighbor’s houses and gorge upon their food and wealth, its red skin turning blue as it filled up before returning it to its owner. Temperamental, if the pūķis felt it was not being properly compensated for its work in the form of food and respectful treatment it would turn on its master and burn their house down. It bears some relation to neighboring Lithuania’s aitvaras.

Originally posted on Tumblr on June 12, 2016

Melusine

Melusine

Region of origin: Northern France

One of three daughters of a Scottish king and the faerie Pressyne, Melusine was raised on Avalon away from her father because he had broken one of the taboo of the fae folk. Learning this on her fifteenth birthday, Melusine sought out to punish her father for his behavior but learning of her daughter’s attempts at revenge, Pressyne put a stop to it and instead cursed her daughter to take on a demi-serpentine form every Saturday. Years passed and eventually Melusine was married (to whom varies with the telling, but often a nobleman from Poitou) but forbade her husband from viewing her on Saturdays, locking herself away in a bath for the day. One day the husband’s curiosity got the better of him and he spied on her in her chambers, and, either through the terms of the curse or fueled by her own rage, Melusine’s serpentine form consumed her, turning fully into a dragon and flying away. Never able to return to a human form, she is said to live on, acting as a guardian of her descendants.

Originally posted on Tumblr on May 26, 2016

Lou Carcolh

Lou Carcolh

Region of origin: France

A serpent with a mollusk’s shell said to inhabit cave systems in the southwest of France. Instead of going out to hunt its prey, Carcolh would stay in its cave and reach out with the sticky tendrils around its mouth, which could stretch for miles, to ensnare people and livestock which ventured too close and were dragged back down to the lair to be consumed.

Originally posted on Tumblr on April 5, 2016

Pyrausta

Pyrausta

Region of origin: Cyprus

A small, insect-like dragon. It lived its life inside fires and could not survive outside of them.

Originally posted on Tumblr on March 16, 2016

Afanc

Afanc

Region of origin: Wales

The afanc is a lake monster, in turns a demon or dragon, utilized in various Welsh folklore and stories, although which actual lake it calls home varies heavily depending on the source. The tales often involved terrorizing and eating townsfolk, being mollified by beautiful maidens and finally slain by knights and heroes once it could be lured from the safety of its watery domain, including some stories attributing killing the beast to King Arthur himself; the site of which is memorialized by a hoof-print on the shore of Llyn Barfog supposedly left by Arthur’s horse Llamrai as she dragged the afanc out of the water.

Originally posted on Tumblr on February 24, 2016

Peluda

Peluda

Region of origin: La Ferté-Bernard, France

With a name meaning “hairy,” the peluda was covered in poison-tipped “hairs” it could harden into quills and fire as projectiles, or soften and use as whip-like tendrils. An ancient beast, it was supposedly denied access to Noah’s arc and instead survived the flood by hiding out in a cave in northern France until it was safe to emerge, from where it proceeded to terrorize the countryside.

Originally posted on Tumblr on January 3, 2016